Someone was ready

At Avery's 4 month appointment (one month ago), the doctor and Lactation Consultant talked to me about starting Avery on rice cereal, and then 'solid foods' such as mashed up fruits and vegetables. Babies typically start between 4-6 months, and Avery just turned 5 months old on Monday. There are a few things to look for when thinking about starting a baby on solid foods. Here are a few...

* Hand-eye coordination...check
* Lots of drool (which has the enzyme to break down solid foods)...check
* Interested in what we're eating...check
* Somewhat sitting up without help...check

The last few days I could tell that even after a regular feeding (of breast milk) she was not totally satisfied, so I decided to start rice cereal on Monday...and that little girl was so ready! Of course in the beginning it's a little awkward, and she didn't know exactly what to do with the spoon, and pasty new texture, but she quickly learned to like it!

It's a small step towards Avery growing up, and growing out of the infant stage! The last few days I've been giving her one rice cereal feeding a day, which seems to fill in the gap of her hunger. Soon we'll start doing two feedings a day, and then eventually work it up to four cereal feedings a day. After that comes fruits and vegetables...oh my!