Babies first solids

I was so excited to start the babies on solids. I had this vision of how it would be - DH there with the camcorder, me with the little bowl of cereal and the tiny spoon - gently putting it to DD1s lips and she sticks her tongue out to taste it and makes a funny little face, because she's never tasted anything solid before and doesn't know what to do with it - maybe she even spits it back out with a grossed out look on her face. But I keep trying with the spoon and it's just great fun for the whole family, and a cute video we can watch later and show to all our extended family and friends. My mother had called and said she wanted to be here to see it, so I said "Great!" thinking now DH and I could each spoon feed one baby while she took the video and it would be even CUTER!

IT WAS NOTHING LIKE THAT!

I was planning on giving them the cereal for their dinner, around 6 pm or so, whenever they woke up from their last nap of the day.

First of all, DH was asleep and I was mad about that. He worked nights the night before, and on his way home at 6 am, the car in front of him hit a deer. The deer wasn't dead but had broken both of its back legs and was flailing all around and crying, so DH had to kill it. But he did NOT have to put it in the trunk of his police car and bring it home! But he did, and he was SO EXCITED about it. (Men are so weird.) So instead of going to sleep when he got home he had to skin and clean this deer, all proud of himself for bringing home deer meat. (Like we can't get meat at the grocery store!) So when it was time for me to feed the girls their first solids, he was sleeping.

When DH was sleeping I was glad my mom would be here just to watch with me. But when I called her at 5 when Amelia woke up she said she would not be able to make it as she was held up at work. So it was just me and the girls.

I put Amelia in the bouncy chair and made the cereal - I was still so excited! First problem - the doctor had told me to make it to baby food consistency - well I have no other children and can not remember what baby food consistency is, so I think I made it too dry, it was like paste. But what did I know? So I go and put it near her lips, and she sticks her tongue out, tastes the cereal, and starts screaming and crying. She turned all red, like it was the most horrible, worst thing she could possibly imagine and it was causing her mouth great pain.

Seriously, you would have thought she was in physical pain by the way she was wailing. So I calmed her down and tried again. Same thing. Well now I start to cry, because I am so disappointed that she doesn't like it, and that there was no cute moment, and that even if there had been a cute moment it wouldn't have been on video, because I was feeding her by myself.

At least the screaming woke up DH and he came to help, and did video the end of me feeding Amelia, which was basically the 3rd spoonful. She hated it. I ended up adding more formula to the cereal and I think that helped a tiny bit, but not a whole lot because she was traumatized. I let DH try to feed Lily, we made her cereal more liquidy, we learned that from the attempt at feeding Amelia. She pretty much hated it too, but at least she didn't throw a tantrum.

Guess I'll try again tonight.

Is that normal to hate it so much? That Amelia is such a drama queen! (she takes after me!)

 

I don't have much advice but HUGS, I TOTALLY know what it's like to have this idea of how something is going to go and then when it doesn't to be dissapointed!

The only piece of advice I have is to

a) make it more liquidy which I think you've already discovered
B) to add some fruit to it. plain cereal doesn't HAVE to be babies first food, my pedi said that it can be fruits or veggies (in the 4-6month category) my babes dont care much for the plain rice cereal but fruits and veggies mixed with some rice cereal and formula they LOVE!!

good luck on your second attempt and I'm sure it'll go better

 

Aw! Your set-up was exactly how I imagined the girls' first food experience.. and even though I had DH there, and the camcorder, and two cuties in their high chairs for the first time ever, and they *ate* the food, it was still anticlimactic.
Oh and I think I made the cereal too runny the first time. My pedi said make it slightly thicker than their formula bottles.

I would say wait a few days or a week and try again. They just might not be ready. Also, when did you time it? Between feedings? Close to a feeding? Make sure they aren't too hungry or they will be p****d "WHERE IS MY REAL FOOD WOMAN!?!" GL! Maybe next time you try it will all fall into place with DH and the camera!

 

My DD was the same way. Her ped. suggested adding a little bit of carrots or green beans to the rice cereal. Well after I added carrots my DD actually ate the rice cereal.

 

LOL! I too had grand visions of my babies making sweet little birdie mouths and gobbling up their rice cereal. NOT! They totally hated it! They didn't really start eating much until ~7.5 mo adjusted age.

I know it's a disappointment, but try not to sweat it too much. They'll eat when they're ready, and they're getting all they need from their bottles right now.

 

I would play around with the consistency first. If that doesn't work, I would either wait a bit, or I would just move on to veggies and fruits, and see how that goes over. My babies all hated plain rice cereal!

 

They may not be ready yet. Just give it a try again in a week or two. All my kids hated the cereal we do that later but mix it with fruits. We always start with veges. They always eat like champs with that but cereal forget it. I can see why with my last son he hated it so I tried it to see why and omg it was horrible.

 

Sorry it didn't go as planned!! Maybe you can give it a try next month?? They are still on the young end of beginning solids. My DS was like that. I had to wait until 6-7 months to begin a real solid schedule. He just hated it so much, it was like I was torturing him or something. So we just waited until he was ready. I know some babies even go further than 6 months (I know I did...My mom told me I hated solids until 12 or 13 months! lol) Good Luck!!

 

My sister was feeding her son some cereal at Christmas and Meredith and I were sitting there ... so I thought, hey, let's put a little in her mouth and see what she does. Same thing ... total meltdown.

When I "officially" started solids a few days later, at home. I mixed it with EBM and she did just fine ... made the funny little face and tongued it out a little ... and Hannah did the same ... so it was good, no tears ... now they snarf their solids like I never nurse them!!

My point is, don't think that it will always be this way! Just keep trying it and she will get used to it. FWIW, my girls like oatmeal a lot better than rice and they LOVE squash, bananas, apple/blueberry mix, green beans (I ate 100's of cans of green beans when I was PG with them! I craved them?! So weird ... but I wonder if they "remember" them from utero! LOL!) peaches, pears ... once I tried to mix Meredith's cereal with formula and she screamed, this was after a few weeks of eating it just fine. They just don't know how else to tell you that they don't like it and you may have to go through this another time or two before you get your own list of what they like. Mine had a meltdown with peas and they spit sweet potatoes back at me ... if you think of it ... a total meltdown to the first taste of solids is really cute in its own way!

Also, keep that video camera handy! You will get the cute video one day! May not be their FIRST day of solids it may just be their first time with something sour like peaches ... or they may do something really cute ... like my girls, when I am feeding them bananas (clearly a favorite) they open wide and pant ... like I can't shovel it in fast enough.

By the way, you are JUST like me. In your situation ... a lot of people would have just waited until the next day or so to start the solids ... when you could have your awake husband and a videographer ... but I am like you ... when my mind is made up ... that is what is going to happen ... whether I have to do it by myself or not!!! =)

 

QUOTE(mystich @ Feb 19 2008, 08:50 AM) [snapback]628739[/snapback]
They may not be ready yet. Just give it a try again in a week or two.


It is still very early. I agree that they might not be ready for it yet. Don't stress about it, my daughter gave up solids for 3 months after her first month went great. I tried once a week and that was it. She didn't need it, it was just practice with different textures. :hug99:

 

Why don't you go buy a jar or two of carrots or applesauce baby food so you can see what consistency he/she is referring to?

I did b/c I too was clueless as to what mixture to make; It was kind of like 3 to 1 (3 Tbsp milk to 1 Tbsp cereal) if I can remember.

Both my babies HATED cereal except for when I mixed it with veg/fruits.

Have you tasted it, if not, try it and you'll probably agree that it is nasty! :bad: I have ALWAYS tasted whatever I give my babies; DH thinks I'm wacko but if I'm going to make them eat it I want to know what it tastes like.

Don't be discouraged! Trust me you'll have PLENTY of opportunity to get a good video or picture with meals; Wait until you try new foods that have a better taste to them, that's when they real facial expressions make you laugh!!!