Food | Romé's First Experiences

Holidays and parties are over now, so it's time to focus on the serious stuff again - Rome's eating plan! Every mom will tell you that this is quite a messy story, from the first bowl of porridge, to the time they start to use the spoon themselves …....  I remember how the porridge flew through the air with Danru's first feeds - I mean, how would an inexperienced mom knows that those little hands can grab a spoon so quickly and forcefully!

Well, Romé recently started the journey of food and surely this new experience is much more interesting, colourful and exciting than a bottle of milk.

How did I know she was ready?

There are all sorts of advice on when babies are ready, certain weight, sit up right, rolling over etc. The one that makes the most sense to me is when they can sit upright.  I put Romé in her Bumbo chair and I can feed her without worrying about choking.

This might sound strange, but I realised that she was showing interest in our food.  Her eyes would follow the forks moving from our plates to our mouths and then she would start licking her lips - almost as if she wanted to tell us - hey, I also want a bite!

Where to start?

I started her on rice cereal to practice the new skill - how weird it was for her when she finally managed to swallow some.  After she got that right, I introduced her to veggies and yoghurt to learn about some different tastes and textures.  My paediatrician’s advice with Danru was to only let them have fruit a month or so later than the veggies - should they taste the sweetness of the fruit first you might struggle to get them to eat veggies again! {What I did was to give some fruit-puree as a desert once he was used to the veggies}.  Initially the amount they take in might be small, but don't be discouraged by this, it is part of the learning process.

Water, water, water - certainly the best beverage to teach our kids to drink.  As the milk intake reduces, it is now the time to start with this essential fluid. As with the veggies and fruit, it is better to stay away from juice, cold drink and teas, as once they have tasted those, the water might not be the favourite choice anymore.  This method worked for Danru and he loves water, so we always keep a bottle near.  To Romé it is still new and I hope she will end up loving it too!

FORCE-feeding?

It's always fun watching parents {except if the Parent is yourself :-)} encouraging their babies to take a bite - aeroplanes flying through the air, trains choo-ing towards the mouth, anything just to get that little mouth to open!   I believe that babies are like us when it comes to food - we have preferences and we are not always hungry when the food arrives! 

This is the only place where children can exercise control - to open, or not to open their mouths - in everything else we as parents make the decisions.  No wonder the dinner table is often referred to as the war-field - KID vs PARENT! I know it is difficult to take back an untouched bowl of food and try again later, but I am sure this is less exhausting than the 'fighting' without results and in the process creating a negative connection to food? On the other hand, I must admit, after tasting the baby food myself, I don't blame them for sometimes sealing their lips tightly when the spoon comes near.

Off course this does not mean that we can scratch the plates clean after every meal and later, when they are hungry, replace it with cookies or other sorts of treats.  In fact, this will worsen the eating process.  Keep those plates, and when they do complain about a grumpy tummy, offer them the food again.

Going forward!

At this point Romé’s schedule is as follow:

Early morning bottle;

Rice Cereal;

Late morning bottle;

Yoghurt;

Afternoon bottle;

Veggies for dinner;

Bottle when going to bed. 

The next step I am planning, is to give a lunch {that will consist of veggies} and increase the dinner portion to also include meat and starch.  During this process the food will actually start to fill up her tummy and the bottles will reduce one by one.