Friday, August 8, 2008

Jumping the gun

I confess.

We've jumped the gun (but not the shark).

Cooper LOVES to eat stuff. Loves it. He eats computer paper, lint, dog hair, and especially grass and leaves. I can't keep it out of his mouth- he's so quick with his stealth quasi-crawl and then he's really, really good at shoving things in his open maw. And he swallows the stuff (trust me, I know where it ends up) without choking or freaking out. We've been child proofing lately but some things (like dog hair) are a renewable resource around here and thus, unavoidable. I've covered the outlets and so forth, though- I promise!

So anyway, I decided to try out some pureed brown rice and mom-milk squish on him.

He loves it. After one or two confused looks and gags, all of a sudden he was wide eyed, open mouthed, and practically begging for more. He holds his own spoon while I use another spoon to feed him, and he proudly sits up in the high chair like a good little guy. Its pretty cute.

After the initial highly enthusiastic start, we've decided to feed him one ice-cube sized portion a day for a few weeks as a slow start. He really enjoys the process and gets all excited when he's in the high chair and Matt or I pull up with his little spoon and tiny baby bowl filled with squish.

I know it is a month earlier than the current suggested start of solids introduction, but my pediatrician did confirm my suspicion; the kid is way, way more developed in almost every way from the average infant. You can watch him sit, stand, crawl, talk, and use his vicious little teeth (did I mention he bit me hard enough to make bright red marks? on my hand? Yeah, I'm scared for my nipples). None of these things are really skills for a 5 month old, they are more like for a 7 or 8 month old baby. So she said, after I asked, yes it is safe to assume his digestion abilities are also several months ahead of schedule.

Incidentally, I did taste-test the rice and milk squish. It is pretty good. Sweet with a hint of savory. Quite bland, of course.

2 comments:

Jennifer said...

I'm confused. Isn't rice just fine for 5 months?
For me, weaning was pretty much non-negotiable at 10 mo when a bunch of teeth came in at once and she became "bitey". The teeth thing moves at its own pace, and all you can do is roll with it.

MissoulaChick said...

Some schools of thought say nothing until 6 months, others say rice from 4 to 6 is fine. If by "nothing" you mean grass, paper, dirt, fur, and flower petals, then we've totally adhered to that schedule.