Solid Food

Rule of thumb:
- Always start with a single grain rice cereal. Marley ate rice cereal once for the first week, twice a day for the second week then three times a day for the third week. Mix the rice cereal with breast milk or formula. Not only will it taste better and be a familiar taste but it's a good way to add extra nutrients.

-Start with yellow solid foods. They have the least chance of an allergic reaction. Some experts recommend starting vegetables instead of fruit. Unfortunately there are more yellow fruits than vegetables. Stick with the one food for at least 4 days to see if they have an allergic reaction. Always introduce inthe morning so your not running to the ER in the middle of the night of there is an allergic reaction.

Marley's introduction to solids: (Introdced Saturday to Saturday so Dad could witness her reaction.

When I can I make her baby food. I have made organic peas and grean beans. In all my research I have discovered a coupe of pros and cons. Ready made baby food; the produce is selected from fields where the soil has very little nitrates. When you make your own even organic vegetables and fruits are not going to be tested for levels of nitrates. I still feel that organic is better because I believe that pesticides have to be much worse. It's a question that is still up in the air from all the experts, even Marley's doctor.
Whenyou make baby food. Use a food processor NOT a blender. It's so much faster and easier. Steam the hell out of the food (don't boil, boiling takes away alot of nutrients). I found you can get more peas than grean beans from a 10 oz. pack. I guess green beans naturally hold more water. The cost of using organic frozen vegetables vs. buying Gerber non-organic is the same, at least at my local grocery store.

Week 1-3- Rice cereal
Week 4- Pears (because she was constipated, which cleared up the constipation). She LOVED them.
Week 5-Peas. Not such a big fan, so I mixed a little in with some rice cereal so she could get used to the taste. They are still not her favorite but she'll eat them.
Week 6-Squash. She died and went to heaven! Loves them, loves them.
Week 7-Avocado. HATED IT. I would not recommend. I even tried mixing the avocados with rice cereal, it still did not work. So, I waited a couple of days and went to
Green beans- Same reaction as the squash. LOVED THEM.
Week 8-Apple sauce-YUM!!!!! I bought a jar from the health food store. Less expensive and I can enjoy some too!
Week 9-Sweet potatoes- YUM! Marley was given the go ahead by her Dr. to eat turkey or chicken! That should be fun. Her Dr. also said to start promoting self feeding and suggested a sippy cup with water and Gerber makes veggie or fruit puffs that dissolve in the mouth very quickly. I can't wait it will be fun!
Week 10-Bananas-Yummy!