Our Approach to Solids: Before the Real Eating

I am finally posting about how we are currently approaching solids with Edith, aren’t you excited? However, before I get right into the solids part I thought I should probably first explain how we started solids before any real food came into play.

Months 0-2.5

When Edith was first born Neil and I were eating most of our meals on the couch with Edith either in the swing, the Boppy lounger or in her bouncy chair. This worked pretty well for us and we ate dinner at our usually (early) time of about 5:30/6pm. However over time Edith decided that sitting in our arms was more fun than sitting in one of her chairs.

Months 2.5-4

We decided to put Edith to bed before we ate so that we could eat with free arms and have a little adult time together. We ended up not eating dinner until closer to 8pm which was a on the late side for us, especially me because I was ready for bed by 9pm.

Months 4-6

This is when things started to really change in how we decided to eat. Neil and I decided that 8pm was way too late for us to be eating dinner because of how close to bed time it was and because we were snacking around 5pm to hold us over, inevitably over eating. The other thing that really changed was our view on meal time. I really think that this is when it finally hit me that soon Edith would be eating solids and we started to think about how we wanted that to look.

We decided to eat dinner while Edith was still awake and sit at the table (most of the time) with her. I would hold her in my arms while we ate and then we would do our bedtime routine with her. This was so much better for us because we weren’t eating at a ridiculous hour and we were starting to expose Edith to food.

At around 5 months we decided to buy one of the high chairs you attach to a dining room table chair. We decided to go with this one because it also came with a toy attachment so that while we ate Edith could entertain herself. It was great because she was able to sit at the table with us and Neil and I could eat with both hands and at the same time we were preparing her for the future.

Also around 5 months we started letting her hold and play with vegetables. We started with cauliflower, broccoli and peppers. She would hold them and test them out with her mouth but never really ate any of them. This is when we started baby-led weaning (BLW) and at the time I don’t think we even realized it.

Months 6-6.5

At just 6 days shy of her 6 month birthday we got the green light from her pediatrician to start solids. Up to this point I was very much like oh we aren’t going to do rice cereal or purees and our pediatrician was guiding us towards the BLW route but for some reason I went out and bought both. Edith’s first real solids meal was brown rice cereal with butternut squash puree. She wasn’t much of a fan.

The second day of solids I tried the brown rice cereal and squash again but still not interested so I moved on to sweet potato puree which she really enjoyed and then to mangos which she loved. Over the next few weeks she tried a few other pureed packets but I never went back to the brown rice cereal. I honestly didn’t even know why I bought it in the first place because I had no real interest in giving it to her- maybe I thought it would help her gain a little weight?

Anyways, for the first two weeks we pretty much only gave Edith packets of pureed foods. We occasionally gave her avocado or a few veggies to play with like leafy greens and slices of bell peppers but we were primarily doing spoon feeding. During this time we were mindful to feed Edith slowly and to also let her touch and play with the puree since we were aware that those are two things that can be easily over looked when it comes to spoon feeding.

We continued to eat dinner together at the table like we had been prior to starting solids but as we did this Edith became less interested in the packets of pureed foods and more interested in our food. This got me thinking about looking more into the method behind BLW. At this point we were doing a little bit of it but had not yet fully taken the plunge so I headed over to Amazon and bought Baby-Led Weaning The Essential Guide To Introducing Solid Foods and Helping Your Baby Grow Up a Happy and Confident Eater.

Up next: The Move to (almost) Exclusive BLW and What Edith Eats