But when first starting out...I had to follow a pretty strict regime as per the doc's orders. I have a friend who's LM is a few months younger then my LM and asked me the following question back when she was about to start the real time feeding...
Hi Seri,
Hope you guys had a great first fathers day.
Anyway I wanted to pick your brain when you have free time, on what highchair you bought and if you had any reccomendations. Also as usual our pediatrian did not give us a ton of advice about feeding solid food. We are almost through the "stage 1" solid foods but I am only feeding him solids once a day. I was curious what LM's feeding schedule was, when you started feeding him solids more than once and when you cut down the formula if you have. Anyway any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks so much. Love to your boys.
Here's what I wrote back to my dear friend ~
Firstly – I have the nano bloom.
I went with this high chair because I think it looks cool. Being honest! I’m a very fashion over function type gal and poor LM will always suffer from this. I love that it’s sleek and looks modern and goes with our furniture and honestly LM is super comfy in it. The best part is it folds flat so once you’re done with it you can store it away for #2.
*Remember: LM eats only 4 times a day.
4 months: 7am – bottle
11am – rice cereal + bottle
*at this stage they are not eating the rice for nutrition – they are just learning how to eat.
3pm – bottle
7pm – bottle
5 months: 7am – bottle
11am – rice cereal + bottle
3pm – bottle
7pm – rice cereal + bottle
6 months: STAGE 1 food (if you use jars I use ELLA’S (they are in pouches – totally pure, no chemicals – unreal) AND Earth’s best.
7am – bottle
11am – rice cereal + fruit + bottle
*NOTE: solids need to be introduced one at a time so that you can test for a broad range of allergies. It's recommended to give each for 3 days min before moving on. What I did was made a list of all fruit and veggies that I love (i.e.. Carrots, potatoes, sweet potato, zucchini, squash, peas, etc, etc, etc) and just crossed off as I fed him.
3pm – bottle
7pm – rice cereal + bottle
7 months: Stage 2 food
7am – bottle
11am – rice cereal + fruit + waffle/pancakes + bottle
3pm – bottle
7pm – protein (chicken, tofu, turkey, meat, fish, etc etc) + vegetable + bottle
8 months: 7am – rice cereal + yoghurt + fruit + waffle/pancakes + bottle
11am – protein + fruit + bottle
3pm – bottle
7pm – protein + vegetable + bottle
9-12 months: Stage 3 food TABLE FOOD - weeeeee - don't be shy with flavors!! Use spices that are mild and enhance the taste buds a little. Best cook book to show you how to do this is from William Sonoma: Cooking for Baby. My friend got it for me and I used it all the time for ideas and ways to experiment!
11am – protein + fruit + bottle
3pm – snack (i.e. fruit)
7pm – protein + vegetable + bottle
Needless to say – this is just a guideline. I’ve been making all of LM's food and whatever we eat in this house, he eats. I was always very adventurous - using extra virgin olive oil instead of water to mix/blend, spices, herbs. LM loves it all. Became quite the food snob actually...tasty or bust! Some of the dishes were funny to him at first b/c of the texture (i.e.. Turkey, fish...). But I stuck with them and would still try now and then to give him the chance to get used to different styles of food.
His favorite dish back in this developmental eating EARLY phase was pulled pork with sweet potatoes and blue corn pancakes. YUM
