Mommy Monday: Feeding a Baby Real Food

Babies are hilarious. They do funny things like pass gas in public and make funny noises at inappropriate times. They're even more funny when you try to get them to do adult things. It's like this miniature human, clumsily going about life. Feeding a baby real food for the fist time is right up there with the "best of" funny moments!

A few months back, I posted this about preparing to feed Henry real food. At the five month mark, we gave him oat cereal. Lil' H absolutely HATED it!

"WHAT is this, ma?! Gross!"

He didn't know what the deal was with the spoon in his mouth. He didn't understand the concept of taking a bite and swallowing. I tried once a day for nearly a month, and only on one or two occasions did Henry finish a bowl (we're talking maybe two table spoons of oat cereal here!) Only on about five or six occasions did he actually swallow the oatmeal as opposed to spitting it all over himself.

"Swallow? From a spoon? What?!" Also note that Henry is flipping me off. He hates oats that much.

Around the six month mark, I decided to try sweet potatoes. Don't let this face fool you... After the initial confusion of "what the heck is this stuff in my mouth", Henry decided he loved them!

"This better not be those damn oats again Mama..."

"Ohhh, just kidding! These are those sweet tater thingys. I love these!"

Be forewarned; sweet potatoes make a massive mess and stain what they get on! Since discovering his love of sweet potatoes, we've learned that Henry likes cheese (we give him tiny pieces of shredded cheddar) and yogurt. We only give him one kind of food at each feeding so he can taste it and explore its texture fully. You don't want to overwhelm a baby with too many tastes, smells and textures at once or they'll determine that real food is too confusing. Patience is key!

Up next we have squash and carrots. I'm hoping these won't stain like the sweet potatoes, because let me tell you: babies get food EVERYWHERE. It's in between their fingers and up their nose. Sometimes it's I even find it in his toes at bath time.

Feeding a kiddo is an extensive process with an elaborate clean up, but it is so fun to watch Henry explore new foods. And make funny faces in the process.