I read in a 1997 Little Treasures magazine that Plunket don't recommend starting solids before 6 months unless necessary. However most discussions I've had with Plunket recommend starting between 4 and 6 months before the 'window of opportunity' is gone. The window of opportunity referring to the baby's willingness to try new tastes. 35 years ago, mothers were advised to start their babies on solids at 6 weeks.
This reminds me that there is so much conflicting advice out there, than I'm bound to have screwed up somewhere. Thankfully, neither of our families has got a history of food allergy or intolerances, so I have a good margin of error here.
I've decided to keep going with the solids but without being too rigid with it. If we come across a difficult day, or a yucky taste, I won't stress too much about it. I'm also supposed to try and time this with our family meals so here's yet another change in lifestyle for us. Regular meal times.
New flavours this week:
- Farex Baby Rice. The way it works, is that I'm supposed to have 1tsp of the rice (which is like milk powder) for 2 tsp of boiling water/milk. However I ended up with something the consistency of ice-cream (OK, maybe not ice-cream but I've been obsessed with icre-cream for the last few days now so I can't think of anything else) so I added a lot more water than prescribed to obtain a consistency similar to the baby food. I couldn't smell anything at all.
Well, that was a waste. Nico spat out most of the two teaspoons I gave him, and pulled out his best martyr look. After I tried some, the rest ended in Loki's bowl. That was the most tasteless food I have ever tried. Even pumpkin & sweetcorn was tastier. It doesn't taste bad, it just doesn't taste at all. It is in dire need of some ketchup. And now I have a whole pack left, plus some already mixed in the fridge and what am I going to do with it if Nico still doesn't like it the next time?
I've also learnt a trick. Don't be afraid to feed Nico when he's crying. Because his mouth is already wide open.
If he keeps on crying, it'll be easier to feed him.
If he stops crying, well it'll be harder to feed him but at least he stopped crying.
