28-7-2009 - The Messy Reality of Feeding Solids

My mood while writing this blog: tired but happy

So you have a vision of your sweet little angel smiling at you and opening his little mouth to take a spoonful of whatever solids you are offering, and then swallowing and ready for another? Ha,ha! Here's the real deal:

-Firstly forget your dry clean-only clothes and wear an old T'shirt for feeding.

-Do NOT try to hold your baby while feeding solids unless you want to be covered from head to toe in baby food. ...and that includes anything within a 5 foot radius of baby

-Have THREE big waterproof bibs handy..ones that open and close quick like the velcro type. Cute designs that are embroidered or fabric are not practical...plain terrycloth over plastic is great. Extra bibs are for mouth wiping and changing when things get too messy. You can"t have enough bibs!

-Baby will tend to look at everything except you...a dot on the ceiling, the cat, a distant toy...and then quickly swivel his head colliding with the approaching spoon and getting food in his nose! Exception is if you are feeding something fantastic like sweet potatos

-Each new food, no matter how tasty you think it is, is often spat out till it becomes acceptable to baby

-Baby will enjoy putting his hands in his mouth along with the food and then smearing food on his face and hair...and yours....tip: don't feed AFTER bathing!

-Baby will try to help you by grabbing spoon and flinging food across the room and not releasing spoon from vice-like grip

-Baby will enjoy getting his foot or hand in the bowl to really help the process along

-A hungry baby will lose patience with the slow delivery of food and either try to get his face in the bowl to speed things up or SCREAM!

Enjoy this new learning curve, ha,ha!...next we'll be trying to convince toddlers to eat their vegetables!