Hallelujah, My Baby Is Eating!

When Lucas was 4 months old our Dr. told us we could start feeding him some baby cereal and slowly add in some fruit and veggie purees, I was stoked!  For about a week and a half Luke ate baby oatmeal once a day and loved it, I planned on adding a second feeding at the two week mark, but one day, Luke just decided that he wanted nothing to do with food.  I wasn't super worried, our Dr. had said that at 4 months, it wasn't super important that he got solid food, it was just practice to get him used to eating off a spoon, he was still getting most of his calories from breast milk.  I still tried to feed him oatmeal two or three times a week but he never ate more than a spoonful, and usually it was by accident and he would spit it out.  Looking back, I think the reason Luke stopped eating his oatmeal is because I fed him some sweet potato about a week in and he ate it fine, but later that night he threw it all up and I think he just was just like "Nope! Not doing that again."

Fast forward to Luke's 6 month appointment, Luke had dropped from the 50th percentile to the 20th percentile for weight, I kind of panicked a little... even though our Dr. told me it was fine, just that breast milk was not enough calories anymore, I need to start sitting down three times a day and at least try to get Luke to eat.  For the first week or so he still didn't want to eat any food.  I tried mixing fruit puree with oatmeal, putting avocado in the mesh fresh food teether, and finally I froze some fruit puree with a spoon the the container to make a popsicle.  The popsicle is what ended up breaking the ice, I think he liked having the control to feed himself.  After the popsicle, I cooked a sweet potato and mashed it up and he ate almost the whole thing and from then on, all of a sudden, it seemed like he liked everything!  

I feed Luke mostly Plum Organics pouches and a few kinds of Beech Nut Organic jar food.  The reason I chose these brands is because there is a very simple ingredient list.  There are not a ton of gross preservatives and dyes and additives, they literally say "pureed sweet potato and water."  I also recently made some of my own baby food, I started with sweet potato and honey-nut squash, they turned out pretty well, Luke eats them with no problem.  I want to find some more recipes and make my own food more often, I had fun with it.

Luke's Typical "Menu"

Breakfast: Fruit puree mixed with oatmeal

Lunch: Fruit and veggie Puree, something like Sweet potato and pear

Snack: Cereal puffs or yogurt drops

Dinner: Veggie puree 

Snack: Cereal puffs or yogurt drops

I also still breastfeed 5 or 6 times during the day, usually right when he wakes up then after each meal and right before bed.  I really don't have a set schedule for breastfeeding, if Luke wants to breastfeed, I let him, I want him to have as many calories as possible.

And now... a thousand pictures of Lucas eating!

Luke loves when Zack feeds him!  He is always smiling and laughing.

This was the popsicle, Luke loved feeding himself but he would start crying because his hands would get cold and I noticed later that day that it made his face kind of raw because the way the food froze was kind of sharp and he was rubbing it on his face.

I couldn't resist!  His feet always look so cute when he sits in his high chair!