3 Cheers for Cheerios!

Feeding Monster has definitely become a favorite hobby of mine since he began eating solids.

On my fridge hangs a chart of baby foods sent to me by Heinz along with a free sample and some coupons. Thank you again Heinz! The chart has a list of "beginner" baby foods, and places beside each food to write the date and how your baby enjoyed (or did not enjoy) the food. It also has lists of stage 2, 3, and 4 baby foods with the same charting system.

It's been very handy in the process of recording how long it's been between each new food. However I think I will be developing my own similar charting system once 6 months rolls around and the types of foods Monster can eat/try widens greatly.

For about two weeks now I've been giving Monster a baby Mum Mum rice snack here and there. It's the perfect food to judge how the chewing process is developing in your infant. They devolve almost instantly, but babies have to make the chewing motion in order to break off a piece.

(Please note the APP and BC Interior Health Authorities do not recommend feeding your infant solids until they are 6 months old, everything I feed my Monster is at my own risk.)

He does really well with chewing, but like I said in my previous post Preparing for Solids I'm not really surprised at how quickly he learns when it comes to food. Today I decided to give him Cheerios for his new food. I'm not nuts, our public health nurse gave us a list of 6 month appropriate finger foods and they were on it!

He did fantastically! He doesn't quite have the pincher grasp down, so when he picked them up they ended up in his fist as apposed to his mouth. He chewed them until they broke down and softened then swallowed them like a champion!

Yes, I am one proud mama! ;)

Packing for a Sleep Over

Yesterday I let my Monster go for his third sleepover since he was born.

I am so lucky to have a content baby, and such an established bedtime routine that it's pretty easy for my mom (and a select few others) to care for him at bedtime or overnight. The worst part of the whole thing, isn't even the missing him while he's gone part, but rather the trying to pack everything he could possibly need while he's gone part.

Any parent who has traveled with an infant knows the dread that comes along with packing.

The only way for me to keep my sanity yesterday was to replay his bedtime routine over and over again in my head, checking off each item we use as I packed it up. The next challenge was with preparing enough food, solids and otherwise to send along with him for meal times. Since we've started serving solids to Monster 3 times a day, he has to have his food and bottle times planned out accordingly.

I'm not one for doing things willy-nilly and I know my mom knows Monster inside and out, almost as well I as do, but I still felt the need to write everything out on paper for her to refer to as needed. Worst case scenario, she'd just have to call me anyways.

I managed to remember everything the needed, right down to his nighttime massage lotion for after his bath, but when we pulled up into my moms driveway I realized I had forgotten the bassinet. Of course, the thing he was supposed to SLEEP IN! Fear not readers, my packing short comes were only met with my mom's over accommodation. Before Monster was even born she had invested in a playpen (Where he slept last night), car seat, high chair, and stroller.

What would I do without my mom?

Contemplating a 6 month old's diet: Bottle Vs. Solids

Since we've started Monster on solids, I've tried to develop mealtimes for him so that he learns a routine when it comes to eating. We feed him a fruit and cereal breakfast, then veggies for lunch and supper with all the appropriate bottles in between. He drinks approximately 40 ounces of infant formula a day, with said meals between.

Our current day looks something like this:

6-8am: Monster wakes up - 8 ounce bottle

9-10:30am: 2nd breakfast - Fruit and Rice Cereal
10-11:30am: 2nd breakfast continued - 5 ounce bottle

12:30-1pm: Lunch - Veggies
2-4pm: Afternoon pre-nap snack - 8 ounce bottle

5-6:30pm: Supper - 6-8 ounce bottle, and veggies
7:30-9pm: Bedtime Bottle - 8 ounces

Sometimes we end up skipping the veggies at lunch, and the ounces per bottle vary (give or take about two ounces) depending on his hunger that day, or his growth.

What I'm contemplating, is how much things are going to change once he reaches the six month age, and his food varieties grow immensely. When you start introducing foods and meal times it's supposed to begin replacing breast milk or infant formula (not completely) but at what time does the solids meal out rank the meal from the boob or bottle?

Contemplating Baby Care Guidelines

Part of being a parent is providing for your infant (or child) just what they need when they need it, whether they're able to tell you or not. I pride myself on my ability to read my child and to organize his day in such a way that he wont have to scream at the top of his lungs to tell me I'm a half an hour late in feeding him, or he's ready for his nap.

The real challenge comes in when you decide to give the responsibility of following the routine to another care giver. I'm contemplating a time in the near future when I will sadly have to return to work. Of course I plan on (unwillingly) going back to work, because we live in a two income society. I have people by the arm fulls willing to watch over my Monster for me, and are fighting tooth and nail with each other (and me) to do so.

Of course, ideally, I'd love to be able to afford only working Saturdays and Sundays so Monster's primary care givers will always be my Hubbs or I. That just doesn't seem like an achievable goal. Picking a secondary care giver, out of my armful of volunteers is my next mountain to climb.

The criteria of course would have to include someone who can follow a routine, and listen to instructions about sleep, and nutrition from my Hubbs or I. It will be hard enough dealing with the mommy guilt associated with returning to work, I would love to not need to worry about the care my Monster is receiving while I am away at work.

Breast is Best...

... until you've grown a beast.

A month before I delivered my Monster the doctor was shocked while doing the regulation tummy palpations. "Oh Christine... This is NOT a small baby" she said sympathetically with a slight smile.

No, he was not a small baby, and he has been growing by Monstrous proportions since!

I believe very strongly that breast is best, and adored nursing my son. The closeness, and just knowing the fact that I was his sole nutritional provider warmed me to the core. Then the 3 month growth spurt hit. From the beginning of Monster's 3rd month of life, to the beginning of his 4th month he gained 3lbs 4oz and 2 inches in length.

My mommy guilt began setting in when the days started where I would nurse him until I had nothing left, and he would still drink a 6 ounce bottle of infant formula. The more he needed supplements, the less I produced. At the point when I could only nurse twice a day, I had to make a decision. One or the other, I couldn't keep stressing about how much milk I will produce, and how much he'd need in a bottle after.

The choice to wean my Monster was not an easy one, but with solids in sight, I knew it wouldn't be long before he started getting supreme nutrients from a pureed version of our Earth's bounty. The only thing keeping my mommy guilt at bay is knowing that I did everything humanly possible to keep my supply going for as long as I could, and the support of my loving Hubbs.

Quest for Baby Food

Interior Health Authority (among others in North America) suggest that an infant needs nothing more then breast milk or infant formula until the age of 6 months. At least that's what they're supposed to tell you.

We decided long before Monster's 4 month shots/check up to start him on solids. He was showing all the classic "I'm SO ready to eat!" signs. Watching us eat with and enthusiastic smile, opening his mouth whenever something came towards it, are just a few. He has also had champion-like strength in his neck, making it easy for him to hold his head up on his own.

At 3 and a half months we started Monster on rice cereal despite my knowledge that it has no real nutritional value. I will admit, I had some mommy-guilt in starting him on solids so soon, so I wanted to play it as safe as possible and stick with rice cereal. We fed him the rice cereal once a day for a week before we began introducing another food.

We started with rice cereal, moved onwards to banana's, apple sauce, and now squash on Monday. The apple sauce was by far my absolute favorite, he makes the cutest sour face I've ever seen, and the best part is, it's sporadic like only one in five bites are sour.

My goal until we reach six months is to try as many "beginner" foods as possible, so that he can have a wide variety once he reaches the time when solids are slightly more dominant in his diet then infant formula. Right now, Monster eats three small meals a day in addition to his infant formula. Fruit and Cereal for breakfast, Veggie for lunch, veggie and cereal for supper.

Figuring out how a six month old babies diet should look is the next nutritional mountain of information I plan on climbing.