One of the first bigger milestones that your child will reach will be when they can begin solid foods. Every child is different in when they begin, based on how early they show signs they are ready, and what your doctor will recommend. Ours told us we could start Cameron on solids around her 4 month appointment, and when we did she didn’t seem as excited as I expected. So we held off for about an additional month, and when we attempted solid foods again at 5 months she seemed much more into it and we had much better luck with her trying more varieties.
After that there wasn’t a solid food that she wouldn’t try, and most she absolutely loved. We did what the doctor recommended as far as introducing solids, by doing it one by one so we could see if and what she was allergic too. Happy to say we still have not ran into any allergies food wise. We stuck mostly with the Gerber branded food, first with the single purées and then moving to the mixed ingredient purées.
Then as she got older, we started introducing what I called “human food.” Yes I know all food she eats is human food, minus the one incident where she got into the cat food, but it’s just what I differentiated when I was talking about her purées vs the actual solid type food we would start to branch out with. We started with some carrots and sweet potatoes baked to make them softer, then other fruits cut small enough for her to pick up and chew. Then we moved to grains, more fruits, veggies, and proteins. Before we knew it, she was old enough that we would just feed her whatever we were eating. It’s become a lot easier to just be able to make dinner and serve her a portion. Not looking forward to when she hits those toddler years where she no longer is interested in all foods and wants to live off chicken nuggets and buttered noodles.
We did have a brief point where Cameron wasn’t interested in some of her lunch options. So we just tried to swap out what she was having a lot of with some different items, then slowly bring back the meals that she turned her nose up at and it worked out pretty well. With her not having a lot of teeth at first, we only had a few lunch options we could give her that weren’t purées. Now she’s got a mouthful and can chew easier so the doors have opened to what we can serve her.
She has taken to stealing whatever we are eating. If we have something, she wants it. If you go into the kitchen, she follows. When she finishes a meal or a snack, she hasn’t quite realized that food goes away and so that makes her a bit upset.
Now we have run into a few issues with constipation, so some of her favorites she had to be weaned off of for a little while we worked out her tummy troubles. But we’ve now found a balance so she can enjoy all her favorites. And she has a lot of them!
Her favorite foods (now) are bananas, cheese, Gerber puffs, Gerber Yogurt melts, Gerber pouches (or any brand, and these work so well for throwing in the diaper bag, or traveling), whatever we are eating, pickles, blueberries, eggs, mashed potatoes, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, bread, and literally any other carbs.
I’m so glad she has not got her mother’s palette because I’ve never been adventurous when it comes to food. Just hoping she stays this way, because it makes mealtimes so much easier.
