Dec 05 2007
Dlittle starts on solids
Starting her on solids has been there on my agenda for quite some time. Her pediatrician, Dr. J, at first recommended to wait until 6 months, but then she seemed convinced after hearing to Dlittle’s feeding schedules and the fact that she reduced from 60th percentile to the 40th percentile.
Dlittle’s feeds last hardly 2 minutes, 4 minutes the max. She doesn’t seem to get hungry soon enough either. Happy go child, does not cry for milk. Only time she cries is when she is sleepy OR when she doesn’t see me around. It gets worse when D comes back from school. The minute her sister enters the house until the sleep time, Dlittle refuses to feed, she just wants to stick her tongue out and keep smiling and giggling with her sister. I love love to see the two playing and talking together, but the little one refusing to feed gets onto me.
Before I deviate from the intent of the post, I guess I just felt the urge to start her on solids. Well.. the thing is.. my mom did all this with D. By the time I took over, D was well over 9 months and eating three meals a day. My thought was to start the process, by the time anything will actually hit her stomach, she would be 6 months!
November 9th was D’s birthday. Deepavali fell on the same day as well. What better day! I had D feed Dlittle a teeny bit of the peda I had made. This was going to be the annapraashan. In our tradition, bua[fathers sister] is supposed to feed the first solid, ain’t happening in this case, so the next best option was chosen. The next two days we were partying, so the real first solid was on the following Monday. D’s school was off for Veteran’s day, papa had gone to work. We three started the project.Put Dlittle in the bouncer, D helped me with putting the bib. This bib her papa had got her when Dlittle was a few days old. Though D can’t read as of yet, she knows the bib reads - I love my big sister 
At first she refused to let go of the bib, claiming it was hers and papa got it for her. After some talking, she herself came forward to put the bib onto the little one.
I took a deep breath and we got started. We had boiled and cooled the filtered water. We had washed the sterilizer, sterilized the bottles, bowls and spoons. One bowl had the gerber rice cereal mixed with formula. The second bowl had water. D insisted on feeding her first. The little sister had sensed something was about to happen and was getting all hyper. Her cooing and gurgling got louder and louder. The first spoon with a teeny bit of cereal went into her mouth. Me and D were looking at her not knowing what to expect. The little one made that ugly face and then phurrrrrrrrr…. it was spit back onto mine and D’s face. Was enough for the sissy to move couple of feet away. I rolled up my sleeves and took the second chance. Dlittle kept making faces, at the same time seemed like she was chewing and eating as well. But to my surprise, the one spoon of cereal I had started with still had one spoon of cereal. I would put the cereal inside her mouth, with the same spoon I would take the one that comes out when she closes her mouth. Feed that right back. ok, I know it sounds gross when I put it in print, but really its not. Every time I did this, it got diluted with her salaiva. Started to feel this was going to be a never ending project. Somehow in about 1/2 hour the bowl was empty, although her bib measured as much as the bowl with the cereal.
She loves water. After the bowl of cereal is empty, she gulps the one ounce of water in a matter of minutes. If I take more then 2 seconds to fetch the next spoonful of water, she is already bending forward in the bouncer hanging her head down trying to reach for it.
That reminds me of Kiddo’s initial days. Though I had started with fruits. Anyway.. all the best
These days whenever I think of feeding kiddo, I am scared deep within, for every feed. Such a poor eater he is. He is 20 months old.
And liking water is such a good thing.
I don’t know many babies who like water - so it’s good that Dlittle likes water. Try giving her something else, I think the babies do that initially untill they are used to solids going in their mouths.
LOL on her phurring on you and D. Yayyy to Dlittle for starting on solids. Reminds me of the time when we started solids for M and N. I was feeding M and my mom was feeding N rice cereal and the first time, - the bib ate more than the baby
Wow - congratulations - she is a big kutti baby now!
Solids!
Don’t tell me - I am dreading having to feed TWO little kids solids. Am praying hard that baby girl should be better than KB as far as eating is concerned. If she is as slow as he is, I will collapse from sheer fatigue!
I was planning to start baby girl on solids only after she turned 6m (Dec 17)old, that too probably end of Dec when I will visit my brother’s place. But you know since I came back from my trip, last two days she has been nursing every two hours during the day. It is driving me nuts having todo that and take care of KB. Am thinking may be she is going through a growth spurt and needs more than just breast milk. I just want to cry - am not ready for this - solids for two kids! No patience left in me!
(am writing at the end of a long day!). And with baby girl I also need to worry a lot about food allergies because she has Eczema and who knows what she may be allergic to! Hope Dlittle and baby girl exchange notes and decide to be nice to us and eat well!
yaay!..way to go little D! Chintu’s initial reaction to solids were very similar too. Did you remember to take pics ?
Made me nostalgic of the time I started Li’l A on solids
but then again…his eating habits are such a nightmare ..hope you have better luck with Li’l D
Ahh.
Takes me back to the time that my mom started S on solids. Same thing happened. And like you said, somehow the food went down. So cute how she loves the water. Just imagining how thirstily sho would have drunk it.
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You know, i laughed when my sister was literally dancing to get food into her daughters mouth. Now, I am pretty much dancing too. Jump, sing, dance, when she opens her mouth, stuff the food into her.
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aargee: Oh, I know what you mean. My mom got D started on solids, by the time I was feeding her, she was eating well. Dlittle seems to be very different from D both temperamentally and in terms of eating.
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2B’s mommy: Thats what I thought. Now, its going to be almost a month and nothing has changed. I pretty much force feed her. I am going to try mixing it with juice and other alternatives after her 6 months visit.
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mnamma: Tell me about it. D learned to phurrr towards the end of first year. This one is out-smarting her.
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noon: I hear you. They say every baby is different, so lets hope that kutti girl will eat with ease to prove different from KB
Hope Kutti girl’s not allergic to anything. Pl. pl. kutti girl be nice to amma, aunty will send you lots of hugs and kisses[which I am sending anyways
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Dee: “Initial”.. gives me hope that it will get better soon. Yes, the first day we took some pix.
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Orchid: Thanks, I need a lot of luck.
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Tharini: She loves water. Now-a-days I bribe her with water. After every 2 - 3 spoon of cereal, I give her one sip of water
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[...] Going down the memory lane, some notes I jotted at her 2 month completion, another at 4, when she started on solids, at 7 months, her fascination with electronics, her 10 month update.. [...]