Starting solids

The day Mia turned 6 months, we started her on solids!  She was showing signs of readiness around 5.5 months, when she was able to sit up on her own, but we decided to wait until 6 months.  The main reason why we waited was because of the AAP recommendations of exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months.  This article was also very informative and was another reason why we decided to wait until 6 months to start solids.  

We ended up starting her on sweet potatoes, yum!  We were trying to decide between avocados, sweet potatoes, or squash.  Mikol hates avocados, so he did not want to give her a "sucky" food for her first food, ha!  We decided on sweet potatoes, since we thought she would enjoy it the best.  The AAP also states there is no medical evidence that starting rice cereal first has any advantages, so we wanted to start with something more nutrient dense. 

We went shopping a couple of weeks ahead of time to get all of her supplies to start solids.  We were able to use the rest of the Toys R Us gift cards we received from the baby shower/cards in the mail...thank you all!  

So colorful, I love it!

The day we started her on solids, we went to Central Market and Whole Foods to scope out the different organic options for baby food.  We ended up going with Earth's Best.    

Whole Foods is the only place I have found with stage 1 of Earth's Best in our neighborhood

So, the big moment arrived...

Let's get this show on the road!

I don't know why my videos do this...

 Of course Mia wanted to feed herself...such a big, independent girl!  She took the spoon from me and wanted to do it all on her own.  She acted interested at first, but that quickly went south.  She took about two spoonfuls and after that she was done.  Shortly after we stopped recording, she started turning her head away and getting upset.  

We did the sweet potatoes for three days before switching over to pears.  We have also been giving her a sippy cup with water and she seems to enjoy that.  After visiting the doctor for her 6 month wellness check, we got the okay to give her cheerios and puffs to help her with her fine motor skills.  She likes trying to grab them, but once she gets them in her mouth, she does not like them anymore.   

Before the pears:

Happy as can be

After the pears:

Mia's bitter face

We are looking into baby led weaning, since Mia always does so much better with eating when she has some control.  For now, we will keep introducing her to more foods and hopefully she starts to enjoy the process.  

Does anyone have any experience with baby led weaning?  Successful? Any episodes of choking...that's my husband's biggest fear.    

p.s. Happy World Breastfeeding Week to all the breastfeeding mamas out there!