For the last two weeks or so, Chrissey and I have been trying to figure out if it’s time to start Alex on “solid” (albeit mushy and runny) foods or not. He’s been grabbing at glasses and trying to drink from them and we’ve let him try water a few times to no ill effect. He’s been watching us eat and has tried to intervene many times and he loves sucking on a spoon. It seems to me that Alex is saying he wants to try out this whole food thing.
The AAP says that you shouldn’t feed your kid solid foods until he is 6 months old. Full stop. No questions asked. As if some magical thing happens to every child at exactly the same age regardless of any other factor. This seemed to me to be somewhat arbitrary and confusing since babies are inherently HUMAN. Humans aren’t exactly even close to the same. We usually agree with what they have to say, but this seems kind of crazy.
So. We read what the experts said and thought that it was crap or questionable at best. Then we checked out our favorite baby book which is handily called The Baby Book by the well regarded Dr. Sears. He is probably one of the most well read individuals on the planet and we’ve taken much advice from his books in the past. In the latest edition, he takes the AAP’s advice and adds the twist of actually listening to your baby.
This wasn’t a search for the answer we wanted, mind you. We want to do what’s right by Alex so that he doesn’t end up with some awful chonic stomach illness down the line. He’s been doing all the things they say to look for when it comes to eating. He’s obviously ready and we didn’t want to do something incredibly dumb if there really was a hard and fast good reason to not feed him solids. Turns out we don’t think there is.
Alex’s first solid food is BANANA! I sat him on my knee, put some squished up banana on my finger and let him suck it off. At first he was a bit confused and then the light turned on. It was a revelation. He loved it and wouldn’t stop eating. I had luckily only pulled off the very tip of the banana to eat, or he would have gone bonkers.
I’m so happy he’s eating food now for the simple reason that I can satiate a need that was so obviously, to us, being unanswered. I’m happy to watch him grow and learn new things and every little new trick in his arsenal is amazing.
Here’s a picture. There are more on the flickr stream.
