A Taste of Something New

Luke has a crazy appetite. The kid is 4.5 months old and weighs 19.5 lbs!!! He gets about 20 oz of breastmilk (that's all I can make) and 10 oz of formula in a day. I know plenty of babies that eat this much and aren't near as big as him. I am diligent in measuring any formula he gets, so I know he isn't getting concentrated formula with higher calories. My only guess is that my milk is high in fat? He's a 'healthy' little boy. That's all that matters. I love his chunky thighs and the rolls on his arms. His little pot belly and two chins make me squint as I smile with glee.

I stumbled across something called baby-led weaning when Luke was first born. It is a concept, from what I understand, to let your child discover food on their own terms and feed themselves. Milk stays their primary source of nutrition for the first year of life, though. Food is for play and exploration only. No cereal, no spooning purées, just safe, soft table/finger foods. Supposedly, it really promotes self-reliance, independence, and decreases 'picky eating.'  A picky eater myself, I would do anything to shield my son from this curse. Maybe start him out on a different foot. Maybe try this baby-led weaning? That was my plan. 

Planning has not seemed to be on my side since the start of wanting a family, though. Why I've assumed it would change from that point, eight years ago, to today... No clue. Incurable optimist I suppose. But with his appetite, and needing more and more to be satisfied, we've been entertaining trying purées. 

It's exciting to think of starting him on solids. And I'll admit, with the baby-led weaning we would be missing out on the very first spoon feeding of messy puréed vegetables that first time parents are so eager to shove into tiny, gummy mouths. 

We broke down and bought some organic purées. Organic because there is a hippie that lives in my soul. We bought the stage 1 stuff that the doctor approved. Carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, and what not. I really just wanted to see where he was in being ready for solids. We decided on carrots first. I didn't expect him to even open his mouth, let alone eat anything. He surprised me. He opened, took most of what was on the spoon, made chewing motions, and swallowed! Josh and I were blown away. 

He actually ate! I couldn't believe it. I was in such awe. And he cried because we couldn't get the spoon back to his mouth fast enough! He loved the carrots! He loved them, gobbled them up, couldn't get enough! 

It was so much fun feeding him, too! He enjoyed it, we enjoyed it. I nursed him and he had 4 oz of formula before we offered any baby food to him. The jar was 2.5 oz, and he took almost half of it! He probably would have taken the whole thing if I hadn't fed him his milk first. But I just want solids to be for exploration right now. I want milk to be his primary source of everything. I really enjoyed feeding him, though. And I liked it so much because he did. 

I've been beating myself up over how to feed my child since he was born. I never realized how much I didn't know about babies until I had my own! It's a lot earlier than I wanted to start solids. I stood my ground when cereal kept getting suggested when he was only 3 months. And I didn't want him to have any purées, or any other solids for that matter, until after 6 months old. But after he took that spoon so well, I'm torn. I just didn't expect that at all from him! I think we are going to continue it simply for the experience and bonding with our little man. When he finally reaches for food, I think we will drop the purées and let him lead his feeding experiences from that point on. 

I'll be sure to update the journey. 

good bye!