First "adult food"

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conas tá tú?

February 1, 2010 -- Migo's first taste of what I call the adult food. It was the day after my daddy's birthday bash and mom, who prepared almost every meal in my dad's birthday celeb, was still in the mood for cooking. I made my way to the kitchen to check what could satisfy my already grumbling tummy. She handed me a newly-cooked menudo. Thick menudo sauce, tender bite-sized pork, sweet carrots and chewy potato, oh yum yum!! Paired with uber malata rice... and steaming hot coffee..oh gosh,that was perfect!!

Just when I was about to finish my last two spoonful, I saw my little man in his just-borrowed walker (thanks by the way to his tita Aileen and tito Edwin) staring at me, with that look. That look telling me that he too wanted a bit of a share of what I was having. I shooed away the thought of giving him a tiny serving, but that look!! That look got me. His eyes were begging for it, and his mouth was doing some chewing motions. His mouth was watering! He melted my heart in an instant. Sans the meat, I found myself mashing my last two servings. I gave it all to my little man and he enjoyed it up to the last grain.



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Seven month old

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Good morning!!


I already lost count of Migo's developments. Some was not even captured by cam for it happened so fast. I just found myself giving him solid food one Sunday morning and it was already finished when I remembered why I charged the camera battery. Damn!!

This month I discovered that he loves hugging his bolster pillow whil sleeping. He always had deep, peaceful sleep everytime he hugs it. And he loves lying on his right. That is one of the sleeping traits he got from me.

Migo also love the all-fours position. He would happily rock himself front and back when he is in this position.

Upper left tooth peeped already. One time he was laughing so hard that he opened his mouth real wide, there I saw the new member of the teeth family. And he was showing the same signs again: drooling, rubbing anything to soothe his gums, etc. And to add to that, he now learned how to bite. Ouch!!!



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Solid food rules

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Guten Tag!

In my own experience, introducing solids to my little man came easy. I just gave him a soup one day, followed by (mashed) macaroni and he liked it already. Our first experience with solids was really easy. I did not have any hard time introducing it to him maybe becaus he was really ready for it. However, despite the fuss-free solids session, I still strictly follow these rules.

-Give solids on the sixth month.
Why? Infants' intestinal tract is not yet mature until they reach their sixth month and giving them solids early on might be to hard on their part. It does not apply to all babies, though. Some mature early on, some mature a little later. But still, I just wanted to make sure about it so I had to patiently wait for the sixth month.

-Do not get excited on the food.
Giving solids can be really exciting, especially based on my experience where Migo would just get everything I gave him. But, hep hep!! We are avoiding over feeding here. Since the experience is new to the infant, he might not give signs that he is full already because he is enjoying the moment. And mommy might get overly excited too, forgeting that she's feeding an infant with a very tiny tummy.

-Experiment on one type of food first before introducing a new one.
I cooked lugaw for him and the lugaw was served for a week. It was intentional because I wanted him to be familiar with the food and also in case he's not hiyang and had diarrhea, I knew what the culprit was. It will be hard to track the cause of food allergy if all was given at the same time.

-The right eating position
Infants should be in a correct sitting position so to make him swallow the food correctly. Babies can be placed on a high chair or be sitted on your lap when feeding.

-The gear
I make sure that my little one is wearing a large bib when he's eating. A larger size of a bib can accomodate all the mess and prevent it from going to any part of his shirt. I also have a wet face towel on hand so I could wipe his mouth, or his face for that matter, to keep it clean and dungis-free.

-The utensils
I bought a simple infant bowl and not the fancy, colorful ones. I knew my baby would
be distracted with colorful things and I did not want him to be distracted while eating, so a plain looking bowl would be okay. The spoon I bought is kinda small so I can put it easy in his tiny mouth. In due time when he can already open his mouth wide and can accomodate a larger portion, I will buy then a bigger spoon. By the way, I chose a rubberized spoon over a plastic one so not to hurt the gums of my baby.

-No toys, no play
As much as possible, I do not want him playing while eating. As early as now, I want him to develop the habit of not playing or doing other things while eating. Even if this is one of our bonding times, I make sure he knows that eating time is only for eating time. Talkies are limited also. We have all the time to play when he's done with his food anyways.

-The water
I make sure that I let him drink water after each session so to help rinse out whatever is left inside his mouth. This also prevents singaw and cavities (for bigger babies with already lotsa teeth).




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The first solid food experience

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Bon Gourno!!


I excitedly waited for the sixth month to arrive for it is the month I supposed to give my little one solid food. November 1,2009 to be exact was his first taste of solids. We were actually in Holy Cross Memorial Park obviously for the All Saints Day and it was almost like a fiesta with the amount of food served. I eyed a chicken macaroni soup, one of my favorites, and scooped a generous amount for myself. I found Migo, who was just beside me, watching and as if salivating for what I was having. I just then found myself giving him some of the soup and he was so liking it. My titas encouraged me to give him some of the macaroni, but I was having second thoughts for he might not yet be ready for that kind of solid (solid for me then was just cerelac and mashed vegies). One of my titas grabbed my spoon, smashed the macaroni into a smooth texture, put a bit of a soup to just make it kinda slimy, and put it in Migo's mouth. Migo finished everything and he was asking
for more!!

Right there, I learned my son was really ready for some solid food.

Monday, the day after, I cooked lugaw for my little one. I figured I should give him food with less to almost no taste at all so he would not be too picky with his food. I prepared lugaw with no amount of salt or sugar in it, I just made sure that it was really soft and tender for him. I had no solid food stuff on hand that time for I was not yet able to buy his bowl and spoon so we just content ourselves with an adult plastic bowl and a teaspoon. Migo had no problems with that. He finished one serving till I saw signs that he was full.

Giving solid food came so handy for us. Migo was ready for it that introducing solids to him was like giving him something familiar already. He knew how to open his mouth, get the food from the spoon, swallow, and push out some if he was already full. And with the tasteless lugaw? No problem with that too. It was a fuss-free first time experience for me and my baby.
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