Starting Solids

A few weeks ago we started Lincoln on solids. We felt like we were torturing him every time we ate as he followed our food from plate to mouth, with EACH bite. The kid couldn't wait to find out about the glory of food, unlike his sister who we finally started at six months because she still wasn't jumping at the opportunity. Lincoln's first meal was oatmeal cereal. He LOVED the first tastes of food, kicking his feet in excitement and grabbing the spoon to bring to his mouth. Unfortunately, Lincoln had a bad allergic reaction, breaking out in a pretty severe rash around his mouth, which lasted for several days. After that we switched to rice cereal, which Lincoln doesn't seem to like as much, but he was able to eat without an allergic reaction. However, he's really struggling with his constipation again so I'm wondering if that's a result of his rice cereal for breakfast. We've stopped giving him solids over the last week to see if he gets back to normal, but no luck thus far. Poor guy!

The first vegetable we gave Lincoln was sweet potato. This food did NOT result in the same enthusiasm!

Since then, Lincoln has also sampled zucchini, avocado, carrot, pea, green bean, and banana. He's hit and miss on what he enjoys, loving carrots one feeding and rejecting them at another. We also tried the "baby-led weaning" approach which calls for ditching pureed foods and giving baby tiny bits of food that they can feed themselves. I understand the rational behind this method, but Lincoln kept choking and gagging, no matter how minuscule the bits of food. Although the experts say this is normal and the baby will be fine, it was too stressful for me! Granted, they suggest starting this around six months and Lincoln was only four and half months old. For now, we'll take a hiatus on the solids, but hope to let him enjoy them again soon!