On Starting Solids

I took baby boy to the pediatrician for his 6 month checkup on Friday, 5/3.  Thankfully, my mother-in-law Rene was able to take off from school a bit early to come help me with shots as I was terrified from the last time when he totally freaked out afterwards (not that I can blame him!).  Carter weighed in at 14 pounds 11 ounces and was 24 1/2 inches long.  His head circumference is up to 16 3/8.  Although this is all still on the low end of the scale (bottom 10%), his doctor still feels that Carter is doing just fine since his daddy and I are small and since he is keeping steady growth up.

Carter had a different-looking kind of diaper rash that developed the day before we went to the doctor, and he thought it looked like a yeast rash, so he prescribed us some cream to get rid of it.  It has really cleared up fast since using it!  The doctor also gave us a sample of some Claritin to help with Carter's allergies, so we have started taking it daily to see if it helps this runny nose & cough thing he has had going on for a bit.  

Then we discussed food.  I can't even believe it is already time for my little guy to start eating solids, but we were given the green light by his pediatrician so we started over the weekend.  He told us to start with veggies mixed in his oatmeal cereal once a day, then to increase slowly to twice a day and fruits.  We are supposed to try one food only for a few days before adding another new one to watch for allergies.  He also told us to try some half-and-half water/fruit juice in a sippy cup once a day.

We started with sweet potatoes.  And boy does our little Carter love them!  He didn't really care for the cereal on it's own, but he has downed pretty much every bite mixed with sweet potatoes that I have tried to give him so far!  But the apple juice is a different story!  I may have to try a few different types of sippy cups to see if I can get him to really give it a chance.

The best part of the new solid food adventure is that he has slept through the night (from ~8PM-5or6AM) each night so far that he has eaten them!  I sure hope we can keep this up!  Those 2/3AM feedings were killing mommy!

We had originally planned to make all of Carter's baby food at home, but when I looked at the ingredient list, it looked like most of them were pretty much just the veggie pureed with water and of course some preservative type stuff, which probably isn't the best thing for him, but surely can't be too horrible.  So I decided to start with store-bought food before I put too much time and effort into making it at home.  Plus, you can't beat the ease and convenience of the containers you can buy!  I'm on the lookout for some easy DIY baby food recipes on Pinterest.