What Carter Eats

I've been thinking about writing this post for a while, and finally got around to doing it! I know I always appreciate seeing what other parents are feeding their babies, especially since I make all Carter's food. Sometimes I feel like we get in a rut with the same few foods, so adding to our repertoire is always good.

This will be a pretty long post, as I figured I would cover all the solids Carter has eaten up until this point, and then do periodic updates.

So we started Carter on solids at 5 months. She was more than ready, as she had been sitting (supported) for a little while and had started reaching for our food and pretending to chew while we ate. We started with runny rice cereal, and she gobbled it down.

We started feeding it to her once a day around lunchtime for a few days, but then we ran into a problem with constipation. We always made the cereal very runny, and gave her a few sips of water with it, but her tummy and the rice cereal did not get along. She also got a cold right around this time, and we didn't worry about solids while she was sick, so it was a week or two before we started again.

The next couple things we gave Carter were sweet potato, squash, apple, and banana. For the sweet potato and squash I roasted them and scooped out the insides to puree in our food processor. The apples I steamed in my steamer basket on the stove and pureed them. The bananas I just pureed. We keep Carter's food frozen, so I would put the purees in a ziploc bag (for easier dispensing) and pipe them into freezer trays. After a few hours they would be frozen and I would put them in a freezer bag labeled with the food and the date. Easy peasy!

We rotated with these four foods for a while, as they were easy for her to eat and digest and I had made a fair amount of them. We have also worked with Carter to put the spoon in her own mouth, so pretty much from the get go we have put the food on the spoon and she has put it in her mouth. It was initially a bit messier, but now she is a pro!

When Carter 6.5 months or so we gave peas a try. This was the first food that she didn't really like. She would eat it, but would make a face and wouldn't eat it nearly as fast. We also started giving her a few puffs before or after her lunch so she would work on her hand-eye coordination and pincer grip.

We also introduced pears around this time and she loved them. A few times I would mix pear or apple in with the peas to make them more appealing to her. 

Also around this time we also tried plain greek yogurt. She loved it, but it resulted in some pretty explosive diapers, so we decided to table it and come back to it.

Around 7 months we started giving her chunks of foods to feed herself. We started with avocado, which previously I had mixed into a few of her purees if I happened to be eating one that day. She was a fan of the avocado but it was pretty slippery for her to hold onto. I tried crushing up some puffs and rolling it in that, which helped some, but she preferred to eat it from her mesh feeder. I also have given her a few slivers of my toast, which she loved to slobber on until it got soft. Then she gummed it and swallowed. 

A few weeks ago I made waffles with greek yogurt and was reheating them during the week for breakfasts. Just to see how she did, I gave Carter one of my toasted waffle quarters. She loved it! Similar to the toast, she would gnaw on it until it became slobbery and them gum it. She only ate about a third of the quarter, but loved every bite she got!

Since she was doing so well with the puffs, toast, and waffle, I wanted to see if she would feed herself really soft cooked veggies and fruits. We gave steamed carrots a try, but they were a no go.

This was the first time Carter flat out refused food.

We also tried scrambled egg yolk around this time. She liked it ok, but it was hard for her to eat. I think we need to find a different way for her to eat it.

At Easter dinner Carter got to have some squash, applesauce, and (plain) mashed potatoes. She was in heaven!

Next we tried spinach, I know some people don't do spinach because of the nitrates, but our doctor said it was fine in small doses. I just make sure to space it out :) Surprisingly she liked it!

I mentioned earlier that we sometimes use a mesh feeder. Occasionally, depending on what Carter is eating that day or if I need to eat at the same time, we use a mesh feeder and Carter feeds herself. She really likes being independent! When she was teething we would put a piece of frozen banana in there. Here she had avocado, sweet potato, and banana.

She clearly was enjoying it!

In the last week or so we have also tried carrots (in puree this time but still not a fan) and mango (which she likes). No photos of these though!

I think that's about all I can think of. I'm planning to make up some green beans as soon as I can get my hands on some fresh ones, and I think we'll be trying yogurt again sometime soon. Any other suggestions?