Baby D's First Spoon

At Baby D's 4 month doctor's appointment, I told the doctor that he was nursing every 2 hours, all day AND night. The Doctor said it was ok for me to start him on a bit of cereal. Yay for me! Its been almost a month now its going very well. I started him on a tablespoon in the morning and now he's eating almost 2 tablespoons morning and evening. A few days day ago, we were out and I forgot to bring his cereal with me. When we got home at 8pm I decided to feed it to him anyways and guess what.....he slept ALLLLLL night!!! Since then, I switched his evening feeding to 8-8:30pm and he sleeps like a little angel all night. So yay for me again! I think soon I'm gonna try veggies or fruits! Stay tuned!

Before the first spoon...

First spoon in....

"This is...."interesting" "

Pretty good stuff!

Happy Baby!

Fed him this for about 5 days and switched to oatmeal which he likes a lot better!

Ni-xox

7-1\2 months.....pretty good!

This weekend I finally decided that it was time to stop breastfeeding. It wasnt like baby was really breastfeeding all that much. During the day he isnt interested. The only time I was doing it was once before bed, during the night and once in the morning. These last couple of days, baby falls asleep before his last feeding and he doesnt wake up at night to eat. It was really pointless to breastfeed just once a day for 5 minutes. It was a hard decision to make because it was a good backup plan if I was stuck somewhere without a bottle. Honestly, it was just a comfort thing for me. Anyway. It was time to stop. Baby weaned himself, so I shouldn`t complain. So now I`m just waiting for the milk to dry up. It`s been 2 days. It hasnt been so bad since I was only feeding him like 2 times a day, it already has gradually lowered in supply significantly. So thats it. I`m proud for having breastfed for 7 1\2 months.

Like I was saying before, Baby hasnt been waking up at night. It`s been a couple of days now that he just sleeps all night. It`s wonderful. I think its all the fresh air he`s been getting. When its nice outside, I go for long walks with him every chance I get. I`ve noticed that on those days he sleep much heavier and less restless. It`s fantastic. This week is supposed to be nice. I will try and go walking everyday. Oh and last night he slept all night in his crib!!!!! Yay! Hope this good streak comtinues. *crossing fingers*

Ni-xox-

Not Much but Pretty Busy

I havent posted in forever. Mainly because nothing is new really. However, I have been pretty busy. After everone was done being sick, I had to get back to planning that baby shower for my cousin. It`s in three weekends and I hadnt started buying anything yet. So this weekend (except for Sunday because it was Easter), I went shopping. I bought almost everything. Decorations, games, prizes, etc. I have a few things left that I didnt find or forgot to buy. I still need some prizes, another bag of M&M`s for my guess how many M&M`s in the jar, and the food of course. I decided I`m going to make a brunch menu. I`ll bake different types of muffins, get fresh bread, different jams and jellies, quiche, deviled eggs, fruit platter, cheese platter, small tea sandwiches, etc. I think it`ll just be an easier menu to make and I mean, who doesnt love brunch!?!

Besides the shower, nothing really has been going on. Luca is doing well. He`s been a very happy baby lately. He`s also napping a lot less. Yesterday he only took a nap of an hour and then was awake all day. He wasnt even cranky. Weird! As long as he`s happy, he could stay awake all day if he wants. His nights are getting better too. He`s almost always doing his nights. The other night he slept from 9:30pm-9:00am! Awesome! He`s back in his basinette though. Since he was sick for three weeks, he wouldnt sleep in his crib and it was just easier for me to have him near since he was waking up every 2 seconds. I havent decided when I will try the crib again. Maybe next week.

His feedings are also going pretty well. He mostly likes his food. Some days are a little tricker than others. I find it harder to feed him when we`re out. At home its much easier. Who knows why....whatever! As for the breastfeeding, I only breastfeed him at night. Once before bed, then if he wakes up during the night and once in the morning. The rest of the day he has formula in a bottle. It just seems to work better this way. During the day, he doesnt seem too interested in breastfeeding. I guess he`s weaned himself. Pretty good for me.

So thats pretty much it.

Ni -xox-

Food, food and food!

 I`ve given up on peas for now. Luca really doesnt like them. No point in forcing him. This weekend he started carrots and it seems to be better. At first he always makes the yucky face, but then it gets better. I guess carrots are sweeter than peas. The texture is also smoother. He`s done his 3 days of carrots and now we`re on our second day of sweet potato. It`s going pretty well. He seems to be getting more used to the different tastes. After sweet potato, I will introduce him to Squash. We`re almost done all the first veggies. Cant wait to start him on fruit.

Ni -xox-

Homemade Teething Biscuits

I discovered an awesome website called Babble. (actually I saw it on my friend Jackie`s facebook page. Thanks Jackie!). It has tons of interesting things. I found this super good idea for making your own teething cookies. They are a much healthier alternative to store bought. No sugar or preservatives. All natural and home ingredients. The recipe is very easy to make. There are other recipes too on their site for other teething cookies. These looked the simplest. Well, when the time comes that Luca is old enough to start chewing on cookies, I will definitely be making these.

Ni -xox-

Sweet Peas....or sour?!?!

As I said yesterday, I`ve decided to make my own baby food. Today for the first time, Luca tasted Peas. I bought mini peas because they are supposed to be sweeter. So I boiled them in a little bit of water, mashed them with the water and then strained them to get all the peels out. Let me tell you, not as easy as it sounds to strain peas. But I did it. I didnt think that Luca would like this new food. He didnt really like anything new he`s tasted right away (except Barley cereal). No exception here. He didnt like it. Not suprised. First of all, right now he`s used to eating cereal which pretty much all taste the same. Peas are a really different flavor from anything he`s ever put in his mouth. I`m not worried though. I`m going to try again tomorrow and again the day after. He`ll eventually get used to veggies. Hopefully he`ll be excited like when he sees his cereal. It`s fun now that I can finally say that he`s excited about his cereal. Anyway, if he doesnt like peas, I dont blame him....I dont like them either! Yucky!!

Ni -xox-

Progress

Here are a few things that have beem going on. To follow up my last post, yesterday I put Luca in his crib to play while I was doing some cleaning. All of a sudden he started crying, but it sounded muffled. I thought that maybe he had put his blanky on his face (which he thinks is fun, until he realizes he cant take it off). I went to see, and to my suprise, he was face down. LOL! Poor baby. So my little Luca is officially a rolling baby (well he rolls one way, still working on rolling back over). Guess I have to be really careful now. Cant leave him alone on the sofa anymore. Not convenient, but thats ok.

Update on the eating situation. Luca is a little glutton. He gets sooooo excited when he sees his bowl of cereal and sits forward with his mouth open. The cutest thing is, every bite he has, follows with a `MMMMM`. Adorable!!! I guess he`s really loving his cereal now. Big change in 2 weeks. He has graduated from one tablespoon for breakfast, to 2 tablespoons for breakfast and 2 for supper. He still opens his mouth when he`s done. I think tomorrow I`ll add another tablespoon for breakfast. I cant believe how well he`s taken to his cereal. This week sometime, I`m going to make my own baby food. First on the menu, Peas. I already bought some mini peas. Cant wait to see his face. I think that it might take a while to get used to food food (not cereal). We`ll see, maybe he`ll love it. Who knows.

It`s already been two nights this week that Luca does his nights. Last night being the second time. I put him to bed at 9:30pm and he only woke up at 6:00am. To my suprise he ate and fell asleep again until 8:30am. It was awesome. I really welcomed the sleep. It felt so good not to have to sit up in bed 1-3 times during the night to feed. Awesome. I might be that he was awake from noon until 9:30pm with only a 30 minute nap. He was exhausted. Well, we`ll see if this continues, it`s really great. I wonder if the food is helping to keep him satisfied longer?? Or was it just because he hadnt napped all day??

Ni -xox-

Victory is Mine!!

This morning, Luca had a very successful feeding. The first bite that went in, he actually opened his mouth for, he made a yucky face as usual. After that though, he opened his mouth for almost every bite and actually chewed the food and didnt spit it all out....oh and no yucky faces anymore. I`m so happy. I guess he`s getting used to the texture in his mouth. I`m hoping that soon he`ll actually look excited when he sees his food. As excited as when he sees his milk. That will come in time. Baby steps. Today was a big step in the right direction. By this weekend, he will be tasting the last of the starter cereals. I already bought it. Then maybe next week we`ll start the adventure of veggies! Can`t wait to see his reaction. Oh and yesterday I bought him the cutest feeding bowl. It`s an owl of course. I couldn`t resist. They actually had the plate AND the insulated lunch bag. The only thing is, each piece was a little pricey so I opted out on the plate and lunchbag. I figured that he would use the bowl the most for now. But if anyone feels like buying Luca a gift, the plate and lunchbag are sold at Indigo in the kids section! heheh, just kidding!!

Ni -xox

Day 10- Oatmeal Cereal



Heinz Baby Cereal

Since Luca has made it very clear that he doesnt like Rice Cereal, I decided not to torture him anymore and switch to Oatmeal Cereal yesterday. The experience isnt MUCH better. He still makes faces but seems not to HATE it. After a few bites, he kinda gives in. This morning he ate half a bowlful. Which I think is pretty good. Of course a lot of it ended up on his bib, cheeks, lips, nose, forehead and sleeves! LOL! All good. I`m not going to stress over it. Eventually he`s gonna have to like SOMETHING right? Well, we`ll see what happens. I found a very nice menu planner for the first 30 days of baby eating. They test each cereal for 3 days. I obviously have passed three days with the rice, but its ok, I`m just going to use the planner as a guideline. Next venture in a couple of days will be Barley Cereal, and then we start veggies. First on the menu, Peas! (Yuck...i hate peas!).
Ni -xox-

5th day and loving it?......not really!

Today is the fifth day that Luca has rice cereal for breakfast. And as you can see by this picture, he`s not loving it. After a few bites though, it gets better. But those first spoonfuls....Yucky! I`m being persistent though. It seems like everyday there is a little improvement. Technically I can switch him cereals now. The trial period is 3-5 days to see if there is an allergic reaction. Looks like we`re good with rice. I will keep giving him the rice for maybe another week. The reason being is that I have a whole box of the stuff. It would be a waste (even though most of the bowlful goes down the drain, as he only eats a few bites). Next venture...Oat cereal.

Ni -xox-

First Spoon

Today Luca turns 5 months old. How time flies by. He`s almost half a year.....I cant believe it. I decided that he was ready to start eating food. I read that babies show signs of being ready when they stare at your plate, or watch you eat or grab for your food. Lately, everytime we`re eating at the table and we put Luca in his highchair, he just sits there very quietly and concentrated and stares at our mouths. He even opens his mouth everytime we open ours. Its super cute. So today was the big day. We started with rice cereal, because thats whats recommended for the first feeding, as its very rare for a baby to be allergic to rice. The first feeding is only supposed to be a tablespoon.

So we sat him in his highchair and got the cereal ready (and of course the camera), and gave him his first bite....and guess what? He hates it! LOL! He totally gagged on it. Poor baby. I felt bad. I guess its a normal reaction when babies are used to just drinking milk. Having something with a little more consistency could be weird. I gave him a couple of spoonfuls and by the end he was still making a grossed out face, but at least he wasnt gagging. I will keep trying every morning. I mean, he HAS to get used to food at some point. Cant live on mamma`s milk forever. Although i`m sure if it was up to him he would! hehe.

That was our little experience today. New steps as he gets older. It`s fun and scary at the same time. But like anything, a little time and he`ll be an expert.

Well, I hear him stirring awake from his nap. Gotta go feed him.

Ni -xox-

Feeding Dilemmas and Accomplishments

Until now I`ve been exclusively breastfeeding. With the occassional bottle of pumped breastmilk. It was no easy feat to get Luca to drink from a bottle. I had bought a whole bunch of glass bottles for the obvious reasons. Glass is better. However, he totally hated those bottles and gagged. I felt so bad. So then I tried the Nuk bottles, as I got one free in the mail for signing up to Nestle . At first he took the bottle. The very next day I tried again and he wanted nothing to do with it. So again I went to the store and bought a different bottle. Tommy Tippee brand from Babies`r`us. Finally I found a bottle that he was ok with. Or so I thought. He drank from the bottle several times and then I guess it was my fault for waiting a long period of time before trying again and once again, he hated it. Ugh! Not that I was bottle feeding him often. It was just in case I needed to leave him somewhere for longer than one feeding.

The other weekend, we had a wedding to go to and Luca was going to have his first night away from us. I left him with my parents. I was really nervous that he wouldnt take a bottle and my mom would have a hard time and we could end up coming home. So I left a collection of bottles with my mom, every bottle I had, a dropper, and a sippy cup. Off we went to the wedding and I was so panicked. At around 9pm, my cell rang and it was my mom. I was sure that she was going to say that I needed to come home because the baby was freaking out and he wont eat. However, to my suprise, he was fine and ate. Apperantly at first my mom had tried a bunch of different things and he wouldnt eat, so she waited and hour and tried the Nuk bottle and he guzzled the whole thing. Fewf! Success and relief. He was such a good boy that night. He drank all his bottles no problem.

I didnt want to make the same mistake that I had made with the other bottles, so now I give him one bottle every other day. He`s an expert now and actually gets excited when he sees the bottle. Cutie!

Now that we had the bottle thing down, I wanted to try formula. I had received a free tin of Nestle goodstart formula in the mail. So I kept trying and putting a few drops on Luca`s lips and he would make such a grossed out face. My baby seems to be picky! Hehe! So my mom bought the already prepared Similac formula. I was sceptical, but decided to try it. I filled the bottle to the top, and guess what....no faces, no fuss, he drank every last drop of the 5oz. I was shocked. One, that he liked it, and two that he ate 5 oz! Good job. So now I feel happy that I have all alternatives in case I cannot breastfeed. I didnt want to be stuck in case of an emergency or god forbid for some reason my body stops producing milk.

I wonder if people think of these things. If you dont intriduce your baby to a bottle at some point, he might not like it. Until it happened to me, I never in a million years thought that a baby would be fussy with a bottle and different nipples, etc. I figured, babies will drink from a bottle...it`s what they do. Boy was I wrong. Who knows, maybe its just my baby who`s picky. All good....at least I persisted and ended with success.

Food will be coming soon. In a month or two! That should be interesting!

Ni