Bananas

For those who checked this blog entry earlier, the second two video links were wrong, but are fixed now.

After six and a half months, we felt tonight that it would be okay to offer John a solid food. He has been watching us eat, but in the same way he watches every move we make. Recently he's been reaching out with lightening speed and grabbing our food (grown-up food that are types not safe for him to eat yet). I felt sanguine tonight about offering John some food, whether he would take it or not.

I choose well-mashed banana, as it is nutritious and easy to digest. I decided to skip rice cereal because it is an empty carbohydrate and the supposed iron-enrichment is with a form of iron very poorly absorbed by humans (whereas the form of iron in breast milk is the most bioavailable). I'm a "carb addict" as it is and don't need to encourage that in my baby!

First video (13 seconds): Introduction of the bananas.

Second video (33 seconds): Smearing the bananas. Note how John repeatedly looks to Mama for guidance, then looks to Daddy. Mama even ate some banana to show John, which was a sacrifice because she thinks bananas are pretty icky.

Third video (31 seconds): Closed Mouth. We thought that perhaps John didn't get the concept, so I tried to put some bananas to John's lips. In the days when he is putting his mouth around everything, he kept his lips tightly shut at the prospect of food.

Fourth video (28 seconds): Gag Me! I put a bit of banana in John's mouth. That weird throat sound you'll hear is the sound he always makes before spitting up, although this time he kept it in. The bananas were mashed to near liquid, so he was not reacting to a lump, but to the fact that it was food.

So, I guess we'll be waiting longer until my baby boy is ready to eat!