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Simon Eats!
Last week we decided to let Simon finally try some real food. He’s 7 months old and I have been holding out based on our pediatrician’s recommendation. Everything I have read also states that there is no advantage to starting solids early and that delaying them can help prevent food allergies/sensitivities. I do have some rather "different" ideas about food and nutrition, but mainly I am just trying to do my best to help Simon establish healthy eating habits. So I baked up a sweet potato for Simon and took pictures as Myles fed him his first bites.
He tried to grab it off the spoon before Myles even got it close to his mouth. 
"What is that!?"
"Hum.. I’m not so sure"
"OK, maybe I will try a little more"
"Pretty good mom!"
After a few more bites we just gave him his own bowl and let him go at it. He really enjoys squishing it between his fingers!
I am not trying to criticize anyone else’s methods or feeding philosophies, I am a big "do what works for you" proponent but we really want to avoid the picky eater scenario where I have to make a separate meal for the kids. I was a horrible picky eater (sorry Mom) so I guess I get what’s coming to me but the theory that I am subscribing to is that if we avoid getting Simon used to eating bland texture-less food then he will be more likely to develop a broad pallet and be willing to try new things. Hayven loaned me her book Feeding the Whole Family: Recipes for Babies,Young Children and Their Parents by Cynthia Lair and I would highly recommend it. Lair, a Bastyr nutritionist, talks a lot about exposing kids to a verity of whole foods but also having the policy "what’s severed is served". She comes across as very loving but firm and I like her approach. Also Heather sent me the book In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michale Pollan which is an excellent read and will probably forever change how I think about food. Pollan theorizes that a lot of the extreme increase in what he call "Western Diseases" (crones, diabetes, colitis, celiacs disease, etc) are directly related to the amount of over processed, nutritionally deficient "food" that we American’s consume (think soda, cheetos, etc). Our pediatrician is on the same page as us and does not recommend rice cereal, the traditional first food. When I thought about it skipping rice cereal made a lot of sense to me. Rice cereal is just over processed white rice, we don’t eat white rice (only brown, or wild verities) so why would I feed it to my baby? This is why we decided to start Simon on sweet potatoes, and I didn’t make them thin and watery. Since this first feeding we have also tried avocado. He really seems to like both.
I like how you’re thinking on the whole food issue… Smart mom! We didn’t do rice either, but did do oatmeal, and I’ve been really pleased that Sarah likes a very wide range of foods. So far she’s not refused anything. She definitely has her favorites, but we all do. I also like the idea of focusing on veggies first, then fruits so as not to encourage a huge sweets fetish… Sarah could eat her weight in either broccoli or grapes.
These are so sweet! Love the sequence!! And that last one – LOL!
I love his sweet little bald head!
Nathaniel LOVES freshly baked sweet potatoes. I think that was a great first food to give Simon.
Another really good one is oatmeal.
Something we’ve done is just grinded up what we are having and give it to Nathaniel. He still does not have teeth (10months) so we don’t leave too many chunks, but he really enjoys all the variety. Both my boys are pretty well rounded eaters, although Andrew is now a toddler and exerting his independance. Not sure how much of that is just him though.
Anyway, love the pictures. Definitely ones to keep for memories forever. Isn’t it wonderful we can do that?
Way to go Simon!! Now watch mom…he’ll keep wanting those solids now that he’s gotten a taste.
Just wanted to let you know, they sell pre-made baby food in these little jars…just kidding
I agree about the picky eater thing. I was a picky eater, and have managed to raise TEN non picky eaters. And we are counting everyone from my two and three year olds, up to my twelve year old. Everyone of them will eat whatever (if if they don’t like it) with a smile. With ten, its not just luck.
So cute. What a great memory to have captured. He looks a little unsure.
i fed my kids food early, they really reached for it and knew exactly what to do. i was big on giving them what we ate, not the jarred stuff. they did great. i just stuck to the basics to avoid allergies. sweet potatos, peas, bananas, green beans, chicken etc. mine had teeth at 3 months so chewing wasn’t an issue! they are not that picky now either. at least not as picky as most of their friends/cousins. simon is a cute eater!
tara
I know Simon is too young for this right now, but here’s how we handle “I don’t like that” at our house. (which isn’t heard often.) We follow a “what’s served is served” approach, too, but we still want them to eat. If they don’t want to eat what’s put on the table, they are free to make themselves an alternative: a sandwich,(usually pb & j), crackers and cheese, or a bowl of cereal, and have some fruit. The key is, they have to make it themselves. Of course, this only starts to work when they are actually old enough to handle making something for themselves.
For my kids, it was around 3 yrs. old. Just thought I’d share!
Sounds like y’all are starting-out right. I did all that, too, and until Evelyne was about 14-15 months old she ate anything and everything. The least picky eater ever. Then out of nowhere the pickiness came…things that were her favorite, she refused to touch. It’s annoying, but I give her limited options, and it’s definitely gotten better over the past few months. She still has her days, but as long as I keep offering, she’ll eventually eat it. Although some days she’ll eat a TON of something she won’t touch a week later, there doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason to it. My thing is that I refuse to make it a battleground or a power struggle. Oh, and I just saw this article recently about getting kids to eat healthy and thought you might be interested:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/health/healthspecial2/15eat.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin