Liza has started eating solid foods this week and it has been a lot of fun! Daddy wanted to start her a lot earlier on some not so great choices, so I guess she technically started earlier. ; ) Our doctor encouraged us to wait till she was 6 months because she didn’t need the extra calories and why go through all of the hassle, if it isn’t needed. This is also what I had read in baby books and online. I wanted to wait till she seemed ready and this kid definitely seems ready. She sits ups, grabs anything she can at the table, and even tries to eat the table.
The one thing I knew that I wanted not to do was buy baby food. The first reason was cost (this tends to be a common theme on my blog). I know of some moms that make their baby food and they even gave me a great website to use Wholesome Baby Food. This was my original goal but then the other night I got excited about feeding Liza and mushed up a small part of a banana. Forget the rice cereal, a banana sounded good to me! This week she has been eating bananas and enjoying them! Also, I didn’t want to buy baby food because it has preservatives in it and might lack in some nutritional value (you can buy organic baby food but it is probably more expensive). This is not to say that buying baby food is bad because that is what my parents did and all three of their kiddos turned out just fine – same for most of the people I know. I think there is something inside me that desires to not necessarily go with the flow and to see if there are other options out there, especially cheaper options.
About two days into the solid food adventure, I read two posts from my most favorite blog Passionate Homemaking about solid foods and tools for starting solids. In these posts she talks about the idea of feeding baby fresh foods versus pureed baby foods (still fresh but more work). Really great info and thoughts! She did the homemade baby food stuff with her first and did fresh foods with the second. One point she brings up is that trying the fresh method is a lot less work, which is what I am all about 
. But on the flip side it is a lot messier, which is also what I am all about (as my family would testify to and my hubby and probably former roommates). This means I am actually using all of the cute bibs I got – I didn’t really need them since breast milk spit up doesn’t stain.
I am still nursing Liza and I hope to continue to for at least a year (never know how it will go when the teeth come in). The American Associate of Pediatrics recommends breast feeding for a year; it’s great for Liza and great for our pocket book!
I was inspired to write this post because Elaine wrote a post on solids. It seems we may be headed in the same direction. She has some great links on her posts, as well! I will try to include some pics of Liza and her solids!
