Abby's first food

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Originally uploaded by samspade21

Believe it or not it became quite apparent that Abby was ready for food recently. She began showing all the signs....sitting by herself, acting quite hungry for more breast milk, and showing keen interest in food (ie, attentively watching mommy and daddy eat). She certainly met the weight criteria, weighing in at just over 17 pounds at her 4 month visit (babies need to have doubled their weight or weigh at least 13 pounds, I think). Anyway, the day came sooner that I was expecting for plopping Abby in the chair and trying out some food.

Which food first? Well, most in our culture start with rice cereal, which is fine, but Brian and Abby went to a class called "First Foods" taught by a well renowned RN researcher here at UW named Ann Keppler. She's become pretty well known around the area for her infant development research and teaches lots of classes to new parents. We learned there were lots of options for first foods including avocado, bananas, sweet potatoes, meat, you name it.

We bought a mini food processor and I set off making ice cube trays full of food for Abby. I have lots of stored breast milk, so I had all the supplies I needed to make food thin enough for Abby to start on.

On the first evening, we gathered the bib, spoon (same and Brian used when he was a baby), bowl, washcloth, and the camera and mashed up an avocado, mixed to a thin liquid with my milk.

The picture tells it better than I, but the Abbster was NOT a fan of the green concoction. I don't know if it was the avocado or just the newness of the situation, but after some shuttering and slight gags on Abby's part we were done with the first trial.

We are trying foods 3 nights in a row before introducing new foods. So far, in addition to avocado, we've tried peaches, bananas, sweet potatoe, and carrots. Her absolute favorite is the sweet potatoes - she gobbles that up!

It's a fun time for Abby and for us. We are proud of our little daughter, growing up so fast in front of our eyes.

-Diana

PS - Libby and Bilbo are patiently awaiting the introduction of Cherrios to Abby's plate so that they can help her with any that go flying off her tray.