MMM Solids!

There are many milestones to look forward to, but feeding Dylan solids has always been one that we have been excited for! A few weeks ago Dylan and I were playing and I was eating an apple. He stopped and watched me intently with each bite. I put it up to his mouth and much to my surprise he opened his mouth and went for it! I got the giggles watching him go to town licking the apple & grinning at me. I excitedly showed Ryan when he got home, and we gave him rice cereal for the first time that night.

Rice cereal day two! Starting to get the hang of things. Still a few unsure funny faces :P

Dylan has been eating rice cereal every day for a few weeks. I plan to nurse him as long as I can, so we weren't too keen on the idea of giving him a bottle with milk and cereal at night. While it has been recommended to help babies sleep longer at night, I enjoy our nightly feeding routine too much to forgo it for a few more hours of sleep. We chose not to put it in his bottle to "fill him up," but to feed it to him with a spoon so he could learn & be ready when we start on real food.

We knew right away that we wanted to make our own baby food! Ryan and I did lots of research on baby food makers. We were really leaning toward a specific device, but changed our minds at the last second. While it is nice that they are multi-tools in the way that they steam, pulverize & warm...and is much more cute on your counter than a huge steamer, we just couldn't see the practicality in only making a few cups of food at a time. So we ordered a Black & Decker steamer that we can use for both baby food & our food as well. It can fit up to 7 quarts of food! There is even a flavor center in the middle where you can add herbs and spices, which we will eventually do for both Dylan and ourselves. Once the food is steamed, I put it into a deep tupperware and use my immersion blender and turn it into mush!

While we decided against the Beaba BabyCook, we did purchase a few of their silicone freezer containers! They make 7 "pods" of food and each pod is at least two or three meals for a baby just starting on solids. We love the Munchkin soft tip spoons - easy to hold & soft on baby's gums.

It is recommended for the first introduction of solids that you do as plain and bland as possible so if the baby is allergic, there is no mistaking what you shouldn't feed him/her. I have been having a blast whipping up (literally) a few different foods...and I can't wait to do more! Shown here is sweet potatoes, apples & carrots.We fed Dylan the sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving so he could join in on our feast!

He still seems to prefer the rice cereal for now, but this weekend on his 6 month birthday we are going to start adding a bite or two each day. I can't wait to use the baby food cook books when we are ready to feed him delicious concoctions! Ryan is definitely the chef in the house, but this is some cooking that I look forward to!