Cedric is 9 months old today! (If there were a February 30th) He's been enjoying solid food for 3 months. It's going really well. First of all I have to say that I think the risk of babies choking on food is over-exaggerated. You should stay away from hard things like nuts, but I've found that even tough pieces of meat and even some raw veggies mostly just fall out of his mouth eventually. We've had a few gagging incidents that have led to him throwing up a bit. It's how I knew to avoid leafy greens for now and flakey cereal. Those two items get stuck because of their flatness and thinness. But both times he's gagged, thrown up and been totally fine. I make sure the piece of food is smaller than his throat so that it couldn't get lodged in there, but after that, most things are fine.
He still has no teeth, so I try to keep that in mind, but honestly gums work really well. He now is able to move the pieces of food to the back of his mouth and swallow them. He does really well with small squishy things like blueberries and tofu is also super easy for him to manage. Yogurt on a spoon that I hand to him is now actually making it to his mouth and he's getting it down. He is able to hold things, even some slippery things, way better. He even drank out of a cup a couple times. For now regular cups seem to work way better than sippy cups. He tried to use the sippy cup like a breast or a straw and doesn't tip it back, but with a regular cup he understands how it works. We only give him water to drink besides breast milk.
I know I said I didn't want to give him any sweets, but I've totally gone back on that, he's had cookies and cupcake and ice cream... and more. It's not a huge part of his diet, but I just couldn't resist. He has had sugar and I guess that's OK. He's also had french fries! But mostly it's been veggies and fruit and yogurt and hummus and tofu and chicken and bread. He's also starting to handle spicier food better, he used to scream if it was too spicy. We like spice in this house, so I was eager to get him used to spicy food early. Babies in India and Thailand eat spicy food just fine, so I see no reason to hold off. I'm not going to give him habeneros or anything like that, but curry sauces and salsas are great.
His poos have changed a lot and are way more stinky and sometimes more formed. This has increased my desire to catch them in the potty. We catch them every once and a while. He makes a very obvious noise during the poop, but not much before. So sometimes I catch half a poop in the potty and that's a success in my mind.
He's had some skin reaction to acidic foods, or at least that's our best guess, but the reactions are very inconsistent. He got a rash on his face from tomato sauce, but then was fine with curry sauce which has tomatoes in it. Hummus seems to give him a reaction every 5th time or something like that. We really don't think this is a true allergic reaction, just a skin sensitivity, but we have tried to be more alert when he is eating, I look really closely at his face now. It's possible the reactions are only noticeable when he gets really messy, or maybe certain brands of food are more acidic. Or maybe there is a totally different culprit that we haven't figured out yet. But none of this seems to bother him at all.
I have spoon fed him a little, mostly when I have not wanted to deal with the mess. I once made a really messy smoothie and decided to spoon feed him a little of it. I might get him a straw cup for things like this when he's a bit older. Still, 98% of the solids he gets is from self-feeding. Some days he doesn't get to much solids and other days we offer a lot, it all depends on how the day is going and whether he sleeps through meals or not. Way better than sitting there at a specific time every day trying to get food into him. We are very relaxed about it and Cedric is growing well and is a happy, healthy guy. His high chair has become a nice place to put him when I'm unloading the dishwasher or preparing food. If he's in a reasonably good mood I can put him in it and offer him a toy or some food and then I can go about my business, watching him and getting stuff done around the kitchen. Then we can eat as a family with little interruption as he plays with his own food. If he's in a crabbier mood I sometimes eat with him on my lap and he either eats solids from the table or I nurse him.
I also love how portable nursing has become, I can nurse and use the computer, nurse and read, nurse and use the phone, nurse and eat, nurse and hang out with my friends. I've even nursed and hiked! Breastfeeding can be a challenge, but it's a total time saver when your baby gets older, great for lazy people like me. And you really cannot over do nursing, baby will not over-fed himself while breastfeeding. Boob is still the go to object when he is hurt or crabby or mad or tired. It's solves so many problems right now. It's not only for food, it's for pain relief and comfort and relaxation. I don't know what I would do without it. I actually love that my breasts are pacifiers, it means I don't need to go wash and locate a pacifier, that would take too much work! More on pacifiers later and my love/hate relationship with them.
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