Hitting the Spoon: Solids Preparedness for Baby

So I’m getting myself ready to feed N solids, and I thought it was only fair to start getting him ready, too. I am repeating the 3 things I did to help ready P for solids, 3 things that I think will also help N be a super eater from spoonful 1.

First, I handed him baby spoons to play with—-while supervised, of course. He waves them around, he bashes himself in the face with them, and he even occasionally gets one in his mouth…and gags himself (you now understand why this activity is strictly supervised). I don’t really care what he does with them right now, I just want him to get familiar with spoons. And I go with the rubber-tipped ones, by the way, to start. I found with P that the plastic baby spoons can hurt baby gums, so I use those after some teeth come in.

Second, I’ve begun practice feeding N with an empty spoon. Again, to get him familiar with this strange implement. I can’t expect him to gobble up the food I’m offering on the spoon if he’s too distracted by this strange stick I’m suddenly shoving in his mouth. P really wants to help with this one but I have to hold her back. She pokes the kid in the eye and gags him with spoons more than he gags himself.

Third, I talk to him about eating. Not to sound nuts, but I tell him about how great it’s going to be, what it’ll be like for him to be eating like the rest of his family does, how delicious vegetables are, etc. It’s never too early to get in the habit of talking to your kids about big changes, I always say.

One thing I will NOT do to prepare him is put rice cereal in his bottle. Everything I’ve ever read says not to do this because a big part of a baby eating solids is their eating solids, not drinking them. You want your baby to learn to accept a spoon and food into their mouths, and you want them to learn to chew. So, soupy rice cereal, yes, rice cereal shakes, no.

OK. I think we’re almost ready for some actual food here.