Introducing Solid Foods – Infant Care
The morning of the big day, we went to the supermarket as a family to pick out his very first food. I wasn’t prepared for how many cereal choices would be laid out on the shelf before us. There were whole grains, enriched grains, multigrain, fruit-flavored grains. It was a good thing we went in knowing what we wanted; otherwise, I’d have been completely overwhelmed. I wanted to start Micah on an all organic diet but hadn’t anticipated the variety. We went with a box of organic infant oatmeal that contained no gmo’s (genetically modified organisms). I had been carefully monitoring my food intake while I nursed, and I wanted to continue him on a diet full of whole, natural foods.
I surprised myself with how excited I was for this momentous occasion. During his morning nap, I became giddy. I could barely wait for him to wake up and experience food. I had the dry cereal and milk pre-measured. He finally woke after what seemed like forever (that was for sure the only time I WANTED him to wake from a nap)! He wasn’t sitting unassisted yet, so hubby or I would have to hold him in our lap. Since I wanted to see his face, I convinced hubby to hold him while I prepared to rock his world.
I mixed the cereal, placed it on a spoon, and hoped he would like it. He saw the spoon coming toward him and eagerly opened his mouth. I held my breath while he closed his mouth and moved the oatmeal around curiously. His eyebrows raised, his mouth opened, and he seemed to be asking for some more! I reloaded the spoon and brought it to his lips. Again he took the cereal in his mouth and seemed to be enjoying himself. We repeated this a couple more times, hubby and I exchanging delighted smiles with one another, and then something happened.
Micah began to wail, and it was getting louder with each breath. We tried to burp him, but that didn’t work. I offered him some milk, but he didn’t want that either. We bounced him on our knees, and that didn’t solve anything. Micah reached his arm out toward the bowl. He was sitting on my lap now, so hubby took the spoon and offered Micah more cereal. His tears subsided long enough to eat the cereal, and then he began to cry. This little boy MORE than liked his cereal…. he LOVED it. We finally figured out his tears were prompted by our not feeding him fast enough. He just couldn’t get enough! He polished off the rest of the bowl and then let out a huge burp, followed by a smile. By the end of the next week, Micah had his first avocado and his first sweet potato among countless bowls of oatmeal.
This was thoroughly pleasing to us. You see, hubby and I consider ourselves foodies. We eat for pleasure as much as we do for sustenance. It’s part of our culture, it’s who we are. We were thrilled that Micah was enjoying food, too. Welcome to the family, Little Man. There are many great meals in our future!