Is Henry ready for baby food?

I have heard babies can start solids as soon as four months. But other resources say to wait until six months or even later. So what does the research say? Most of the experts recommend waiting until around six months, including the World Health Organization, American Academy of Pediatrics and La Leche League. If you choose to introduce food sooner, it is best to delay until baby is at least four months old, since starting earlier can lead to increased risks of allergies, obesity and diabetes.

Rather than rely just on age, there are a few developmental milestones that offer better clues when Henry is ready to start foods:

Ability to sit up with little support
Ability to reach for and grab objects
Ability to bring objects to his mouth

A few weeks before he reaches six months, Henry is definitely working on these skills. He can sit in his high chair with minimal support; he has started reaching out for toys and grabbing at my hair; and everything is headed in the direction of his mouth, although his accuracy needs a bit of improvement.

Although some of my friends with babies want to wait to introduce their babies to food, I’m definitely ready for Henry to start solids. Since our breastfeeding journey ended early, in some way this is my second chance to provide Henry with a good food foundation.

Plus, Daddy is tired of paying formula companies to feed our child. Buying formula can be quite expensive.

So Henry, Daddy and I are ready for the next stage. Let’s get started!

Comments

The Baby-Led Weaning Cookbook

UPDATE (10/2/12): Unfortunately, I did not hear back from our original winner. Congratulations to our alternate winner for "The Baby-Led Weaning Cookbook" -- Robin Pfefer. UPDATE (9/29/12): I am happy to announce that Kashia Clopper is the winner of "The Baby-Led Weaning Cookbook". When I was first thinking about using the Baby-Led Weaning (BLW) model for Henry, I was unsure about whether it would really work. I was excited about BLW’s claims of less stressful meals that the whole family could share together. Plus, I was all for encouraging Henry to gain new skills by learning about the shapes, textures, colors, smells and flavors of food. This sounded ideal in theory, but would it work in practice? After some fun but ineffective attempts at letting Henry feed himself, I went in search of resources to learn more about BLW. I needed to learn how to prepare meals for our family in which Henry could participate. That’s when I found “ The Baby-Led

Do Your Kids Eat Everything?

UPDATE (3/15/2013): Congratulations to Kia as the random drawing winner in this giveaway! Thank you to all those who entered this contest. Before we began our food adventure with Henry, Daddy and I had many conversations about how to encourage Henry to become “a good eater.” After watching other parents constantly struggle with their toddlers, we wanted to know if there was anything we could do from the start to prevent picky eating. That’s when we read “ French Kids Eat Everything ” by Karen Le Billon . The book is an easy and enjoyable read about the year that Karen’s family spent in France and how it changed the way her family eats. The heart of the book explores the 10 French Food Rules for raising happy, healthy eaters. “French Kids Eat Everything” sparked numerous discussions at our dinner table about how our family eats. We have become more conscious of our assumptions about food and how that will influence Henry’s understanding of mealtimes. In addition, the

Please Don't Feed My Toddler Cheetos

Our family has started a new chapter -- last week I rejoined the paid workforce! I am very excited about my new part-time job at a local history museum, coordinating field trips and special events. As part of this transition, Henry is now going to daycare three days per week. Henry meets new friends and plays with new toys on his first day at daycare. Searching for quality childcare was a somewhat stressful experience. We visited 8 childcare facilities who had immediate space available for Henry to begin part-time care. I wanted to be confident that Henry would be cared for by experienced, nurturing staff in an environment that would challenge him to learn new skills and form friendships with other children. Of course, the added cost of childcare also had to fit within our family budget. While interviewing daycares, one aspect that I cared about was food. All eight of the facilities participate in the USDA food program , receiving reimbursement at a set rate for the meals they

How to Feed a Henry

Search This Blog