I'm Thankful for Momma's Boobies

You might say that Thanksgiving isn't too exciting for a 5 month old. After all, Thanksgiving is a holiday based on the gluttonous consumption of solid foods.



But we chose this Thanksgiving to introduce RJ to the wonderful world of solid foods. Rice Cereal certainly isn't Duck or Stuffing or Pumpkin Pie, but it's a start. Plus, since he's breastfed, he got all the Thanksgiving goodies reconstituted anyway.

Here is a video of his first "big boy" meal. Feeding a baby is never a clean and orderly undertaking, but I was actually impressed with the amount of cereal that made it to his tummy rather than his face or the bib or the tray. He seemed really ready for the experience.

How did we know he was ready? Well, the incessant reaching for our food and pouting when he didn't get it was a clue. For the last few weeks, he has been really interested in our food and his teachers reported that he was very interested in the other children's snacks. Interest is usually a good indicator that a child is developmentally ready for solids. He has also started teething. He drools and chews on everything (our thumbs, his toys, even his own feet). We haven't seen any pearly whites yet, but all signs point to them showing up sometime in the not-to-distant future. And he's been sitting more and more independently by the day, which is another prerequisite to eating solid food in the high chair. So all signs were pointing to solid foods, which our pediatrician had said that we could start when RJ showed interest. We originally had wanted to wait until he was 6 mos. old, which is the general recommendation of the AAP for exclusively breastfed babies, but we wanted to start before heading across the country for the holidays, so that we weren't introducing something new while traveling. Plus, he was so interested, that we figured starting slow, with only a little would be good for him.

More Thanksgiving Pics here: