In the past few weeks, more milestones… one in particular. This one though, wasn’t brought about by Dante – it was all my doing.
I admit it. I’ve been chomping at the bit to give him a little taste of real food. I’ve read all the things saying you should wait until 6 months – exclusively breast feed up until then (if nursing is what you’re doing) – and I think even my pediatrician said something to that effect too (I “think”, because I can’t recall really) – but there we were at 5mos:2wks:5days and I know there’s no Magic Switch that goes off once a child hits their 6 month mark. (Unless that’s the Magical Wall Switch that does nothing for you in your own house but in all probability mysteriously switches a light on in some old lady’s house in Germany. That’s another blog entirely.)
In all my web scouring I’ve come to realize that 6 months gives a baby’s intestines time to become “complete”, as up until that point they are considered “open” and allow a mother’s milk – and thus all those antibodies and nutrients – to infiltrate directly through into the bloodstream indiscriminately, which is why you don’t want to introduce food as particles can also move directly into the bloodstream and cause an avoidable food allergy. But like I said, 6 months? A switch gets flipped? Do Dante’s intestines know he was only 5mos:2wks:5days? Highly doubtful.
He’s been giving me all the veritable thumbs-up that a baby can possibly give:
-he can sit up well, supported (damn, he can STAND well when supported)
-he can hold his head up like a boss
-he’s been doing what I call “Chewy Face” – mimicking us when we chew
-and he’s been grabbing at my fork when he’s on my lap and I’m trying to eat.
And then came the final sign, as he started doing Chewy Face when sitting in the kitchen watching me cook, and he was whining soulfully when he’d see me scrape ingredients into the pan of Mexi-rice that I was preparing. “Soon!” I said to him, “Soon enough you’ll be eating this too.
Thus, the adventure into avocado.
I’ve skipped right over the white rice cereal as, with everything else, I’ve read too much negative press about it… that it was considered a traditional starter food because it’s bland for baby (but that’s also contributed to baby being a picky eater later on); That it is low on the scale of causing allergies (okay, I’ll give you that one.) But I’ve also found evidence across several platforms that it is processed to the point of being devoid of nutritional value and contributes to childhood obesity (um, hello? White rice? What are we warned against as adults?); that babies’ intestines are not even complete enough at this point to process grains… that it can contain levels of arsenic… etc etc etc…
Of course you can dig up the dirt on anything if you really want to. The fact of that matter is I have a canister of white rice baby cereal sitting on my shelf, as a few weeks ago, excited about the prospect of bibs and gooey face and food stuck to the walls, I purchased a canister because yes we’ve all been taught – “this is what babies eat first”. That’s not a good enough reason for me anymore.
I won’t go into all of the details of why I chose avocado over anything else – the good fats for Dante’s brain development, the Omega 3s, that it’s a near perfect food – I’ll let you do whatever research you want for yourself. I’m not trying to convince anyone of anything in the form of an 11th grade term paper… this is just what I decided was best for me (and “Bebe”, as yes we still call him).
I took no more than a few cubes of avocado, and mashed them up into a thin pulp along with some breastmilk. (I swear this isn’t my usual recipe for guacamole, so if I bring guac and chips to your house, don’t worry – it’s legitimately breastmilk-free!) I waited until a point when Dante was well-rested, not hungry for milk, and we went for it. I fed him no more than a teaspoon at most. He was way too in awe of what this fascinating object was called a “spoon” that was coming toward his face.
That was the first part of the adventure. As I fed him avocado in the same fashion 3 days in a row, I realized that he actually may not have been liking it as much as I had first assumed… because sweet potatoes then made their entrance, an O.M.G. did he freak out over them!! I had made my own by baking a potato, scraping out the orange meat, and pureeing it with some breast milk. Don’t worry, the portions I froze are clearly marked with the ingredients. I will not be serving this as side dish at my next turkey dinner, honest!
Next came peaches, which he freaked again over, and today we’re at pears… I think the pears are his favorite so far. He now opens his mouth like a little bird waiting for the next spoonful of goodness, as opposed to 2 weeks ago when he would still somewhat push the food out of his mouth, not certain what to do with it. He’s come a long way!
And as his 6-month Well Child visit approaches this week, I’m embarrassed to admit I don’t know how to break the news to his pediatrician that I didn’t wait for the go-ahead!
Next ahead: the uphill battle of peas and green beans…. vegetables, the final frontier.
