Monday, March 28, 2011

Solid eating schedule 101




I've been thinking that I needed to start blogging again. I don't know if anyone will actually read it, but I think it will give me some satisfaction in sharing what I learn with Lucas on a regular basis. As a new mom, I frequently read reviews of products and just advice columns that are centered around babies. If I have a question, I know that somebody out there has "been there and done that", and I'm hoping that online I can find out about their experience. Then I can tweak it to help me be a better mom. For instance, I have been reading quite a bit online recently about solid feeding schedules for 6 month olds. That sounds pretty straight forward, right? Oh no, this is an extremely complex issue, and everyone out there has something different to say (which is typically the case with everything baby related!). I don't know if looking at these things is helping me or just making me more confused!! Lucas has been a very hungry little guy over the past week or so, and I thought that it was time to introduce another solid feeding into his daily routine. For the past month, he has been having a serving of cereal, half a vegetable and half a fruit at dinner. I guess this combined with nursing is no longer enough (well, unless I want to nurse him every 2 hours). He has been waking up in the middle of the night screaming. You know, the scream that says "I'm hungry, feed me now!". I have tried to calm him in hopes that he would go back to sleep, but this doesn't work. Once he gets his belly full, he goes right back to sleep. So for the past few days I have been adding a serving of baby oatmeal, mixed with breastmilk and fruit in the morning as a snack. He gobbles this up like it's a Snickers bar :) He continues to nurse every 3-4 hours while awake and then at night we still do dinner and then an extra nursing session before bed. I think that we will stick with this plan for now and see how it goes. I did buy some Plum Organic baby food while at Babies R Us yesterday. I LOVE this stuff! Yes, it is a little pricey (they're having a sale right now, it's $1.00 per package), but it is organic, completely BPA free packaging, and it comes in a squeezable container. This makes it super convenient. I tried the spinach, pea, and pear combination last night and it was quite tasty. I think that unless I start making my own food (which I don't foresee happening), then we will continue to stick with this. We've also tried Sprout baby food, which is a product of Tyler Florence, the celebrity chef. It is also organic with BPA free packaging, but the food is a little difficult to get out of the package. Lucas does seem to really like it, and it can be found at Walmart. If this goes on sale, I would probably snag it up too.

I want to wish our little guy a Happy 1/2 Birthday (technically this was yesterday, but I'm still awake). I cannot believe how quickly these past 6 months have passed. I am so in love with our little guy. Nick looked at me yesterday and said that he loved Lucas so much he could hardly stand it sometimes. Now doesn't that just make you all warm and fuzzy on the inside :)

1 comment:

Kate said...

Making your own baby food is actually fairly easy. With summer coming and fresh fruit and veg, it would be really great to try. Just cook the veg, blend or puree, then spoon into ice cube trays. Freeze solid. Then remove cubes from trays and store in freezer in labeled ziplock bags. You then just microwave what you need and use packaged stuff for while you are traveling.
We love Lucas too!