A milestone for Jaeger
Today Jaeger had his first solid food — the traditional Gerber rice cereal. He is six months and one and one half weeks old, three-quarters of a month older than Hans was when he had first food, which was non-traditional homemade, no-additives applesauce on the reccomendation of our naturopathic allergy-specialist doctor.
So, with Hans I cheated and started solid food early, not to mention — gasp! — giving him formula from age 4 weeks twice a week while I taught, but I did generally follow Dr. Ginger’s food introduction guidelines, which were quite different from Hans’ peers. Hans has food allergies.
Jaeger has refused various attempts at formula; only pure mother’s milk — mother’s milk without any dairy milk, if you please — is good enough for the Jaeger. So, against my will, Jaeger has not had formula. Also, because of our plans to go to Cannon Beach for Thanksgiving, I did not want to introduce solids — and thus have to pack and mess with them — until after said vacation. Then Jaeger had a cold, and since I wasn’t anxious to spend 20 minutes spoonfeeding the child, I gladly postponed introduction yet again. However, during this time Matt brought up the hope that perhaps solid food would help this non-sleep-loving babe sleep soundly. Ah! This was the hope I needed. Today, Jaeger seemed much recovered. Today, we went to WalMart. Today, Jaeger tasted rice — a staple of the Winckler household. So, I have followed the food-allergy-specialist’s reccomendations up to the point of the first food offered. With Hans, she offered no explanation of why rice cereal should not be used at all, she only said it and told me to start with pure applesauce. I suspect it is her dislike of all things processed. I, however, am drawn to the portability and ease of Gerber’s rice cereal — no need for refrigeration & just add water! So, I disobey once more. Unless she asks, Dr. Ginger will never know. We shall see if Jaeger develops food allergies.
If he does, it’s a toss-up whether I will strictly conform to the rules or through all caution to the wind and blame it on Matt’s genes. Actually, it’s not really a toss-up; it’s fairly clear.
So how did Jaeger take to the cereal?! (And refrigeration has no “d” in it, lol!)
Ugh! ‘Fridge’ has a ‘d,’ ‘refrigeration’ does not — as I say, it’s gotta be blamed on the French. If it weren’t for William the Conquerer, we’d have a perfectly respectable language!
Yes, I guess I forgot that part. Jaeger liked it very much. He ate almost the entire bowl (“Baby’s first feeding: Mix 1 T. cereal with 4 T. water”) without pushing any out of his mouth with his tongue. He didn’t quite get the “open your mouth” part, but once it got through the lips, he gobbled it right up. And now it’s 2 hours of solid sleep, so I had better make my way to bed and grab the remainder — whatever that might be! I had nursed him one hour before feeding him the cereal…so he should be very full.
Hmm… I was going to email you and ask you how you trained Hans to take a bottle since I’m having difficulty getting Ezra to take some. But from this post it looks like perhaps it depends on the baby? I hope there’s something I can do before we go to Michael’s work Christmas party on the 16th… No way am I taking a 2 1/2 month old to a country club!!!
Hans first had a bottle at 4 weeks and took to it right away. We tried Jaeger at 6 weeks, at which point he protested, but did partake somewhat. Since he really didn’t have to take a bottle as Hans did to prevent starving (I teach only 1 hour now, but I taught 3 hours when Hans was a baby, and you have to toss in about 45-60 minutes for travel/arriving early/cleaning up). So we probably didn’t try a bottle again with Jaeger for a month or so, and have tried about 2 or 3 times since and he obstinantly refuses, even if it’s been over 3 hours since he’s eaten (and he dislikes going more than 2, even now). I contemplated trying a pump and seeing if he’d take Mother’s Milk(TM) from a bottle, but decided it wasn’t worth the effort. I feed him before and after my class, and before Bible Study, at which point it’s time for him to go to bed and let him cry if it offends him.
The key to introducing formula is to have someone other than yourself do it. Babies already accustommed to breastfeeding rarely take formula readily from the source of the good stuff. :) They can smell the real stuff and they can taste the fakery. :) Your best hope is if he thinks this is his only shot at sustinence. Jaeger has enough fat that he can hold out and go on hunger strike until Mother returns to take pity on him.
Hmm.. well, that’s helpful,I guess… I’ve left him with Michael before with a bottle, but he’s never taken it from him, even when hungry. (Although I’ve never left him for long enough for him to get Really hungry – he’s a pretty chunky little boy, too). I’ve decided to pump some milk and leave him with my sister-in-laws with a bottle of that. I’ve only pumped twice and already I have 4 ounces, which is probably all I’ll need. We’ll probably only be gone for about 4 hours. In the meantime I’ll keep trying to get him accustomed to the taste of formula – he takes a few sips when I give it to him, for novelty’s sake, but he won’t DRINK it and he just screams when Michael tries to give it to him. It’s a good thing I don’t have to leave him very often!