Hi loves! It’s been a little while since I’ve done a update on Molly and how she’s doing (I can’t believe she’s a 5 month old baby!) so I thought today would be a good day to do that. Well really it’s an update on mommy and Molly because let’s face it, however Molly is feeling that’s pretty much how I’m feeling – and vice versa.
1. PINK SWEATER | 2. EARRINGS | 3. MOLLY’S ONESIE | 4. PINK BOW
First Food!
Let’s start with her latest milestone. She’s eating food! Well not really whole food but rice cereal. So many of you told me to start her on rice cereal because it would help her sleep longer and I definitely think it’s helping. We started giving her food on her 5 month birthday which was on December 6. Our original plan was to wait until Christmas Day and let her try her first food then; however, things don’t always go as planned. On her 5 month birthday it was two days after we returned home from a trip to the East Coast and she was extra fussy. We tried to make her less fussy by doing all the usual things we do to make her happy like singing to her, distracting her with toys, and trying to make her laugh. But nothing was working. So we decided to deviate from our plan and give her food on her 5 month birthday instead of waiting till Christmas.
Since this was a spur of the moment decision we didn’t really have anything planned. So the only baby friendly food we had in the house was bananas. So bananas it was! We mushed up a little bit of banana real well and geared up to give Molly her first bite of food. How id it go? Well, it was not successful to say the least. She hated it! She spit it everywhere and things got VERY messy. Thank goodness for her adorable bibs. I honestly didn’t mind the mess. It was cute. But I was a bit bummed that she didn’t like to bananas honestly. I had this vision in my mind of Molly having her first bite of food and loving every second of it. I don’t know, maybe it’s dumb to be disappointed about but I was really hoping she would love food at first bite. Ha! I mean her mama REALLY loves food and like mother like daughter right? I even thought her first food might be pasta (mushed up) just because I’m obsessed with it – almost to an unhealthy point. Ha! I’m weird, I know this.
1. PINK SWEATER | 2. EARRINGS | 3. MOLLY’S ONESIE | 4. PINK BOW
We didn’t give up though. We decided to try again the next day, but this time with avocado! I thought who doesn’t like avocado? Any daughter mine has to love guacamole. But after we mushed up avocado, put a little bit on her spoon, and “airplaned” it into Molly’s little mouth we had the same reaction. She absolutely hated it!
I realized the that these strong tasting foods might be a little bit too much for little Molly to stomach. So that’s when we decided we should start with rice cereal. The funny thing is that we already had some baby oatmeal cereal in the house because Kevin puts in his smoothies. I’m not even kidding. But I read that it’s better to start with the rice cereal before moving onto oatmeal cereal. So even though we had some oatmeal cereal in the house, Kevin went out to the store to buy some rice cereal to start her on. With tons of anticipation and a little bit of anxiety, we gave Molly her first bite of rice cereal (mixed with breast milk). And it was a success! She absolutely loved it! We’ve only been giving her rice cereal for about 10 days now and I think it’s helping her sleep better! We started mixing it with prunes now too and she gobbles it all up! Feeding her at night is now my absolutely favorite thing to do!
But now that she’s eating real food, her diaper changes are, ummmmm, challenging to say the least. I don’t want to embarrass her, but man, it’s STIIIIIIINKY!!!!! Ha!
So many of you ask about Molly’s bow’s. Click HERE to get the one she’s wearing.
What else is new? Well, Molly went on her first trip to the East Coast to visit her Grammy and meet her cousins for the first time. She also traveled to Indiana to see her Grammy and Grandpa there. Read all about our travel experiences HERE (hopefully it will be helpful to read if you’re gearing up to travel with a baby for the Holidays!). I’m actually writing a follow up to that blog post that I am posting tomorrow since we learned SO much more about traveling with an infant after the second leg of our trip. Tune back in tomorrow for that!
Now that Molly is 5 months old she is rolling over both from her tummy to back and from her back to tummy. It’s funny because when we do tummy time now she knows exactly how to roll out of it and will do it right away. Which basically means tummy time is nonexistent at this point. I want to help teach her how to crawl but I can’t keep her on her tummy for more than five seconds before she rolls over to her back. Any tips on how to encourage her to stay on her tummy to work on crawling? Tell me in the comments below!
And what should be feed her next? Help us decide! We just got THIS to help us make all her meals moving forward 🙂 It came highly recommended from a friend.
Well that’s it for now. I have much more to share but I am a busy mom these days and don’t have a ton of time to write! So I’ll do another update later next week!
xoxo
Luv, Ali
P.S. Sorry for any typos! I am sure there are many. I wrote this using talk-to-text on my phone. The only way I have time to write anything these days! And I don’t have time to proof read at the moment because Molly needs to eat right now!
You could maybe put a toy she loves out in front of her when she’s on her belly to grab her attention? My daughter is 8.5 months (born April 6) and she just randomly started going up on all 4s around 6 months and would rock back and forth and that lasted for about 1.5 months then she started crawling backwards then just one week ago (8 months and 6 days) she just figured out how to go forward. Now she’s forever on the move. However she went through many phases of just wanted to roll onto her back but placing a toy/tv remote/cellphone/bottle/sippy cup something enticing for her did get her to eventually get going and it may lead Molly to want to even army crawl to start to get what you have in front of her.
Thanks for reaching out with advice! We try that! She will just flip over to her back then reach for the toy. It makes us laugh when she’s does it! But I wish she would stay on that cute little tummy! 😉
Molly is so cute!! How old was she when she started rolling over? My little one is 4 months and hasn’t quite gotten it….
She started right around 4 months. But every baby is different! Molly took forever to lift her head up during tummy time!
As she gets a tiny bit older and more motivated to get things, you can place an item farther away from her so that even if she rolls ok her back she has to move farther to get to it. She may be one of those clever kiddos who realizes she can continue to roll to get it, but you can help “model” crawling for her. With my older daughter I’d put things she really wanted but couldn’t have (like the remote) far enough away from her and then prop her on all fours heading towards it. Then I’d move her arms and legs as though she was crawling so she could feel that movement. Eventually she’d get herself on all fours independently. Next she would rock on her hands and knees and last began to crawl. Now watch… this won’t at all work for my second kiddo, right? 😉
Yes , you can start mashing up vegetables too and fruit and mix with her cereal. Usually your pediatrician gives you a guide of what to feed and all that at what month. Also, put toys in front of her where she needs to grab at them that should help her stay on her tummy a little longer it’s an exciting fun time. Enjoy every moment .
Several doctors told us that it’s best to start with vegetables before introducing fruits (when you start doing foods beyond rice cereal and oatmeal cereal!) Typically all babies LOVE the sweet fruits so it’s better to do vegetables first so they don’t know what they’re missing yet 🙂 My 2 year old loves his veggies still, so it must work! HA 😉
That makes total sense! Maybe we will try a veggie next! What veggie did you start with?
We did the gerber sweet potatoes as our first food with our daughter (after the boring rice cereal trial) and she loved it! She’s 10 months now and loves all the gerber foods except green beans and peas lol!
We did this too.. the veggie first thing! My little guy is now 14 months and LOVES all foods. Not one thing that’s he’s picky on.. he even tried salt and vinegar chips the other day and loved them! Ha.
Ali, he also hated real bananas at first, but loved all the organic bananas! Keep trying. Bananas are now one of his favorite foods. Enjoy this stage.. it’s so fun experimenting!!!! I absolutely loved picking all the baby food varieties out so I could introduce him to them all. I loved all the different organic brands and combinations of foods. Be sure to wait a couple days when introducing new foods.. just incase she’d be allergic to any.. although, I’m sure you already knew that!! 😉 Ps. I just just got the BP Pink Fuzzy sweater in the mail today. I’ve order 3 sizes trying to find one that fits just right!!! <3 Merry Christmas to you, Molly and kevin!!
We started with veggies, too! We tried peas first and then sweet potatoes. My daughter spit them out and hated them the first day! The second day I warmed them for about five seconds and she loved them! Apparently room temp veggies were no bueno! 🙂
We started with peas first and my almost 4 year old still loves them! I, on the other hand, can’t stand them!! LOL
I think we started with green beans! then peas…my doc also told us to do one food for 3-ish days before switching to make sure and monitor how they react in case of a possible allergy. I think we only waited 1-2 days on each though 🙂 it’s just so exciting trying different foods!!
We felt the same way last year when feeding our little boy for the first time – loved it! But he hated avocado too. Turns out sweet potato was the ticket! Oven baked, add butter. Yum! Try that next! Merry Christmas to you! (Too bad your pink sweater is no longer available. love it!)
Man that sold out fast! I like sweet potato too – so hopefully Molly does 😉
It’s up to you, it’s your baby of course, but I read not to add butter, salt, etc to any foods for babies until they’re over 1. Good luck with your next food! 🙂
My little guy is a week older than Molly. We started rice cereal a week ago. We did that for three days, then sweet potato and then avocado. We’ve been mixing all of that with breast milk to make it more liquidy and so far hes liked all of it. Especially the avocado. If you didn’t mix the first two foods with breast milk that might have been her dislike maybe. It makes it easier for them to swallow I think and maybe just more familiar. But I am no expert. Our next food were going to try is pureed pears. It’s so fun though! Though I will agree the smelly diapers… not so fun!
The diapers are the worst!!! Ha!
Wait until you try squash! Gag!
Don’t be bummed about the food. They never really like anything at first. My son also hated bananas and now he eats them all the time at the age of 3. It takes them a while to really get the hang of solid foods
Yeah that makes sense. I won’t get bummed!
I was told to do veggies first also so that they get used to food not being sweet or they will reject it later. We did green beans first and then peas.
I never heard that. I’m glad you guys told me about the veggies first thing! I will get some green beans tomorrow!
Hi Ali.
We had the ‘food talk’ today at our pediatrician.
He also said after you got the hang on the cereal start with veggies otherwise baby will want to have sweet things all the time.
You can give her:
Butternut
Peas
Avo
Carrots
Brocolli Tops
For Fruits you can try
Pear
Prunes
Avo
You should also try to introduce her to water.
And no yoghurt till 9/10 months.
(Hope this help)
And dont feel bad its normal at first to refuse any food.
We started with veggies first too after rice cereal. Our ped told us that this is best
Because they get a
Tastes for veggies first since they aren’t as sweet as fruit and If you start with fruit
They may not like veggies 😉 Molly is so cute!!! You and Kevin doing a great job! Thanks for sharing her life and milestones w us!
We started our little nugget on butternut squash and he loves it!! He also loves sweet potatoes and green beans! We had the same reactions with avocado and banana, he gags like it is the most disgusting thing haha! Enjoy the sleep ? ?
Good to know! Maybe it’s just those two foods!
I actually never gave my daughter rice cereal and went straight to oat because I heard something in the rice can be bad. Sorry I don’t remember what, but it probably isn’t a big deal anyway. Those solid food diapers sure do get gross quick though!
Although the tummy time is great for building muscles, etc you definitely don’t need to “teach” her to crawl. She will when she is ready and when she does start crawling, your life will get even crazier. Does Molly sit up on her own yet? If not, you could encourage her with a boppy or some other pillow with toys in front of her.
My favorite time period with both of my kids was when they could sit up and play which made them feel very independent and happy, but before they could crawl. Unfortunately that time period only lasted about two weeks lol.
Enjoy your time now because she will change before you know it and you will have something new to enjoy. This will probably be your last not very stressful Christmas time until Molly (and any future kiddos) are older so enjoy beautiful decorations now!
What are the negatives of starting your baby out on rice cereal? My baby boy is 4 months and his pediatrician recommends he stay on only breast milk till 6 months. I have the supply and he’s such a big boy, but I feel like I’m depriving him of being totally full for no reason. Am I crazy? He’s usually never fussy but is not a very good sleeper. The longest he goes is 4 hours at night, and naps are a struggle too! Just curious what the actual negatives can be of giving him rice cereal??
I’ve read that it’s just empty calories. It doesn’t give them any actual benefit.
That is the same thing we were told as well. Rice cereal only puts weight on babies and is empty calories and no nutritional benefit to them sadly. 🙁
We were also told the same, both about rice cereal (empty calories) and breastmilk/formula ONLY until 6 months. There are some exceptions of course, all babies are different. If your pediatrician recommends starting solids, go for it!
I looked it up and this is what I found. I am in no way a professional and sometimes new things come out and you just have to decide what is best for you and your baby. Apparently the rice cereal can have arsenic in it. That is why some recommend just using other grain cereals. Rice cereal is not needed if you want to avoid it.
http://www.babycenter.com/404_is-it-safe-to-feed-my-baby-rice-cereal_10384011.bc
My pediatrician doesn’t like rice cereal either and says that it’s empty calories and gives them no nutritional value and can also inflame their digestive track
My ped said no rice cereal. Just oatmeal anytime between 4-6 mo. Said there are new studies about something in the rice cereal that’s bad for babies…?
Yeah what I just looked up says it is arsenic.
wow! I didn’t know! I am going to do some research now. And probably switch right to the oatmeal. But we only use organic. So hopefully that’s ok.
Arsenic is in all rice, organic or not. Usually just trace amounts but it’s good to stay away from a high rice diet. I also skipped rice cereal as my dietician friends said it was empty calories, highly processed and cereals in general can encourage a bland palate. We did oatmeal with my 1st but skipped it with my 2nd and just waited until he could eat real oatmeal. We start with sweet potatoes & carrots then move on to some fruits like pears and apples. My kids really weren’t that interested in purred foods until about 8-9 months and I was ok with that because breastmilk is all they really need the first year anyway. I’d rather fill their bellies with breastmilk than risk them filling up too much on solids and not nursing enough.
My pediatrician told us the same thing about rice cereal. She said it’s okay but not all these time, but oatmeal is better for their bellies anyway. My little guy is six months and we do oatmeal every night before bed and he loves real sweet potatoes. That’s what he got for Thanksgiving! Maybe that’s what Molly can try on Christmas! Straight out of the oven, cooled with nothing on it. Also, when introducing new foods, wait three to four days between each food so if she has a reaction, you know which food it is from.
If you also give him a bottle try putting a tiny bit of pablum or cereal in his bedtime bottle. I did that with my oldest son and he was sleeping 12 hours at a month old.
Oh Momma. You’re not depriving your baby! Your pediatrician is right about waiting until 6 months for food. That’s what WHO and the AAP recommend. Also there are several things that indicate when a baby is ready for solids, which could happen at 6 months old or later. Things like sitting up without support, losing the tongue thrust reflex, and being able to grab things between thumb and forefinger. A 4 hour stretch at 4 months old is good and normal, depsite what others may say. Babies naturally wake at night for many reasons, including hunger. And at 4 months is a sleep regression. And please NEVER put anything in a baby’s bottle besides breastmilk or formula (unless under strict supervision from your child’s pediatrician for a specific medical reason). Honestly our culture puts such importance on getting babies to sleep alone and for long stretches when that just isn’t the norm for most babies. You sound like you’re doing a great job Mama!
Thank you for this!!! I was thinking the exact same things!! 4-5 hour stretches is sleeping through the night for a baby.
My baby was the same way. He’s big and loves to nurse. He does/did it for comfort so don’t feel like you’re depriving your baby of hes happy- he probably just wakes up bc he wants mom.
My ped also said rice/baby cereal is empty calories and lacks flavor or any real purpose so we skipped all cereal.
Ali- I wanted my babe to like avocado too so I mashed up crackers and rolled small pieces of avocado in it (when he was a couple months older then your little one). He loved it and it was a great food to teach him how to eat using his fingers! Now he loves avocado plain.
I’ve read that rice cereal contains small amounts of arsenic. So we skipped it.
We started our little boy on foods at 4 months (with the pediatricians ok) due to him waking to eat every2 hours to eat. He is a big boy too! He loves eating and is sleeping so much better
I have a son that was born July 15 so he’s a couple of days younger than Molly. I had been questioning whether or not to start food yet, but we decided to do BLW. Have you decided what you want to try next? I see that you have decided to go the puréed food route. Best of luck!! ❤
Hi Ali! Hooray for Molly eating solids! It’s generally best to start with rice cereal mixed with breastmilk for a while as baby is not used to eating from a spoon, let alone something from a bowl bc she’s used to mommy’s boobie! Lol but next thing(s) you should introduce her to are vegetables and then later on the sweet stuff. Bc if you went backwards and did the bananas first and let’s say she loved it, then of course green peas won’t really seem all that delicious to her. You wanna start bland (rice cereal, veggies) and then work your way to the sweet and savory stuff over time (fruits, fruit combos). Hope this helps!
So my girl is a day younger than molly. She loves food! Doc said to start with oatmeal, then start with orange vegetables. Go to the baby food aisle, and get beech nut. No added anything. Just the vegetable. My daughter is showing signs that she’ll be crawling soon. I used to lay her on her bobbby on her belly so she couldn’t roll over easily. I just put toys out so she had to reach out. I’ll also sit her on her knees and play with her. She’s also enjoyed tummy time while I lay flat and she lays on me. Would love to hear if you ever sleep trained molly. My girl is the worst sleeper. She’ll cry and cry if I leave her alone, and she cannot put herself to sleep under any circumstance. Boob only. ?
We went with carrots, squash and sweet potato cause they are more of the sweet vegetables. More similar to Breastmilk being sweet. We also had a little trouble with avocado so we put a little purée mango in with it and now she loves it!
The next thing your cutie pie will eat is fruit but not until 6 months old (as far as I remember, my sons are 16 and a half, well on Christmas day and my youngest will be 13 in February).
I don’t really have any advice on crawling, she will do it when she’s ready (if she crawls at all, some babies don’t).
One trick I did with my oldest son was I would put rice cereal in his bedtime bottle and he slept 12 hours at a month old. They do sleep better because it fills their little tummies but for some reason it DIDN’T work out with my youngest.
I hope I was a little helpful to you and please keep posting pics of Molly, she is beautiful and I Love seeing her grow.
Good luck Ali xo
She’ll learn to crawl whether or not she does tummy time. My kids started rolling over around 3 months, didn’t want to stay on their tummies much and they still learned to crawl. Tummy time is more important for the first couple months so they can strengthen neck muscles and learn to hold their head up well. Molly seems to have mastered this. She’ll get their eventually and you really can’t “teach” crawling, it just happens when their bodies and brains are ready. So just let her roll however she wants and I promise she’ll get there when she is ready.
We love Nurturme powdered Quinoa with Apple or Quinoa with Raisin and Sweet Potato. My daughter is now 9 months old, and still eats the stuff for one of her meals! You can also mix breastmilk with it, which is what we did!
Molly is such a beautiful baby & you are such a great mommy! Thanks for sharing with us. My grandbaby hated the food and someone recommended sweet potato or butternut squash baby food. She said babies love the taste so try it in cereal or any other baby food. It worked! She loves it & will eat anything if it has a little taste of that in it. Good luck ?
My little guy did the same thing! When she is ready she will start trying to crawl. I also make my own baby food. I started with green vegetables first like peas and green beans then went to orange foods because they tend to be a little sweeter than the green ones. Sometimes I had to mix cereal in the green beans or mix with peas due to their texture to get my kid to eat them. Good luck!
Love that photo Ali! she’s getting so big and exploring the world.
I remember getting exciting as you were when Sara got her first “human” food. We started with vegetables like carrots, pies and pumpkin. I tought that she would eventualy like all kinds of fruits because their sweet anyways. Those veggies taste a bit sweet and are mild flavours. She loved it and still loves it now that she’s 18 months. She loves all the food we make, so much fun that at least someone enjoys my cooking?
Enjoy the holidays with your precious girl, so special to celebrate as a family?
Wow…my 3 grown sons and 7 grands all had rice cereal and oatmeal mixed with baby food fruit. All are very healthy still. All also loved sweet potatoes, squash, green beans. None really liked any of the meats so we went to table food totally by then.
There’s a process to adding in foods! Please read up on it! Veggies first, you may def have to add some 1/2 &1/2 water/pear juice as many get constipated when adding rice cereal to their diets. You are not supposed to add new foods sooner than 3 days in case of allergy.
Hi, No worries about the crawling! I have three (age 1-5) and they all did it on their own time, one went straight to walking and they are all walking perfectly fine. Each baby learns it at their own time! No need to teach or make them have tummy time. She is an active one though with the rolling-and so cute! Also carrots&peas have been my fav starter food. Mix with breastmilk:) I am not a big fan of rice cereal but then one of mine loved anything but only mixed with it, so he got it. 🙂 Each one is so unique and you are doing great!!
It is a pretty cool job. I helped out in the education department at events and taught these online classes *kinda like skype sessions with another class*. Ah, did you guys have a cow with the glass or whatever installed in it too? We had one on our campus, but it kinda makes sense at our college, since it's a big agaltuicurrl college. I live in Michigan where we have like a million deer; they are about as bad as raccoons.
It’s always a pleasure to hear from someone with expertise.
Hi Google,My accounts look to be all fixed now!Even so….what's the likelihood of this happening again? I've championed Google Analytics at our agency, meaning that when it's down, our WHOLE analytics capability is down. We lost it for a week and it's been tough….. however I understand that these things can happen, and I haven't lost faith overall :)H
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Hi Ali! My son was born just before Molly. It’s so fun seeing pics of your cute daughter. When he started rolling over he would roll tummy to back every single time he was put down. Eventually he started staying on his tummy more and now he’s crawling! ? I actually wasn’t ready for this to happen so soon! My daughter didn’t start really crawling until around 7 months old. As long as you keep giving her opportunities to be on the floor, she’ll get there in her own time. There’s a vast array of what is normal for those developmental milestones to happen. If you haven’t heard of the Wonder Weeks, I highly recommend the app. Sweet Molly is probably in a developmental leap right now, which means more fussiness. Keep trying the avocado and banana. It can take 10 tries or more for babies to like a food. My daughter liked avocado mixed with pear. Good thing you’re doing prunes with the cereal as it is highly constipating! I’m skipping cereal with my son and starting him with avocado next month on his six month birthday…two weeks away…eeek! I rushed so many things with my first because I was so excited for each stage. With my 2nd, I’m definitely more laid back. You’re doing a great job! Thanks for sharing with us!
Please try, butternut squash, sweet potato, carrots ( organic). The rice cereal is not that good for babies. Also try melon, applesauce, and
bananas with mango. My grand daughter is 6 months and she loves
all the different flavors.
Hi Ali! With my first (who is now 5) I encouraged her to crawl, we worked on it and she was crawling at 6 months old. My world was forever harder! With my second, I knew how tough things got with a mobile baby so I was not eager for him to crawl. Sure enough he was crawling on his own, on his terms, when he was ready at 10 months old. They will all do it. Enjoy where she’s at now, it goes by way too fast. I still can’t believe I have a kindergartner! Thanks for the always fun posts!
I pureed the avocado with a bit of water and my Littles loved it as their first food. Also try the banana again in the cereal. The rice will help tone down the taste, then gradually you add more food and less rice. ?
Hi Ali! I’m right there with you with Molly’s first food! I actually had a similar experience with my little guy… i gave him bananas as his first food and he ended up throwing them up everywhere! We were up till 2am that night because he got so sick. 🙁 anyway, he does love so many other foods which makes me feel so much better (plus there are so many more to choose from ;))
Hey lady,
My son is 9 months old so I just went through this stage and remember it well! Yes, starting solids is so exciting but I think they spit everything out in the beginning because it’s so new and so different! My little guy did that same thing! I just kept trying the same things over and over again and it didn’t take him long to figure out, ” oh I want to eat this!”
As far as the lack of tummy time because she knows how to roll over now- that was our problem too! But rest assured, she will crawl when she’s ready, regardless! My son hated tummy time and rolled over instantly once he knew how to and he started crawling at 7 1/2 months.
Take care and happy holidays!
-Natalie
Hi Ali,
As far as crawling goes tummy time isn’t really important anymore once she can roll over. First she’ll learn to sit independently and then to move in and out of sitting (all fours to sitting and vice versa) and then they’ll generally start to crawl if they’re going to. Some babies skip crawling all together. To encourage her spend lots of time on the floor together and as little time in “devices” as possible (car seats, bouncers, swings, etc.). You can help prop her in sitting between your legs or with a boppy around her for padding. She’s adorable!
Hi Ali! Molly is getting so big! She’s gorgeous just like her momma! Don’t be discouraged by her not liking food. We started with avocados which he loved but now doesn’t really doesn’t care for them too much. Bananas he reacted the same as Molly ? But now loves them! If you have extra breastmilk mix that into her foods. Applesauce is super easy to make (boil apples until soft and I blended up with breastmilk to make it a thinner consistency and added cinnamon) sweet potatoes are easy too! (Put 3-4 in a slow cooker and cook on low for like 4-6 hrs until they are nice and soft. Once cooled I blended also with breastmilk and would add cinnamon) then you can freeze in little ice cube trays. The Baby Foodie book gave me some super awesome recipes. They teach you to mix in spices to adjust their palate to yours. The OXO green top baby containers worked well to store the food too! Have fun!
I LOVED baby feeding time. Like you it was so darn exciting! I made all my own food. It just made me feel better! Loved purreeing stuff and freezing it in ice cube trays, popping them out and put them in freezer bags, and then when babies were ready to be fed I had about one ounce of food ready to go! Always always always I mixed food with my breast milk(a taste they are used to). You are doing a wonderful job! Avocados, bananas, sweet potatoes were some of my go to(but you could get super creative!) thanks for sharing your sweet baby girl with all of us. She is a doll!
Not sure if this has been mentioned already but we put a few teaspoons of rice cereal in the baby bottle (depends on how many ounces of milk) to help our daughter with her reflux issues and it also helped her sleep longer!
My baby is 9.5 months old and she is Just Starting to crawl. I totally understand the desire to have her crawl especially since it’s an important milestone for us parents and our babies. I’m a first time mom and as I look back on things and see my baby progressing my advice is to help and encourage Molly by playing with her, putting toys in front of her, and flipping her back on her stomach. I also strongly feel we need to just have faith in things and let Her progress at her pace. We can do everything in the book, but Miss Molly will crawl when she is developmentally ready. If she wants to be on her back then let her do that. Things will change fast and that wont be for long.
In regards to food I was so disappointed when my baby started eating solids and didn’t like things I thought she would like such as bananas. She still doesn’t like them. Some babies take to food fast and some take a lot more time. Just keep offering. I’ve read repeatedly that a baby may need to be exposed to a food many times (sometimes 7 to 10 times maybe more or less) before they like it or are receptive to it.
I was going to do rice cereal and still have it sitting on the shelf in the kitchen but have decided not to give it. I read about rice cereal having arsenic in it and I just didn’t feel good about giving it to her, but if it’s working for you then great.
Thanks for the update. Love hearing updates on Molly and hearing how your doing things to maybe help me with my baby.
I was so looking forward to starting real food, but when the time came, I found I was more stressed than anything ! Always worrying about what to feed him and making sure he got enough of the good nutrient packed foods. I found the amount of info about first foods so overwhelming!
I finally bought “Real Baby Food” by Jenna Helwig – and I LOVE IT!!!
I highly recommend it 🙂 She breaks down baby food by age, first by 1 ingredient purees and then with more complex recipes for when they’re a bit older.
I just made my little guy homemade animal crackers, applesauce, and freezer muffins for snacks and have been stockpiling tiny freezer meals for him for mealtimes.
https://www.amazon.com/Real-Baby-Food-All-Natural-Recipes/dp/0544464958/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482198779&sr=8-1&keywords=jenna+helwig
Don’t give up on the banana and avocado. I LOVE avocado so naturally I wanted it to be my daughters first food. She hated it! I have some hilarious pictures of her lol. I tried it again after a few weeks and she loved it! I think it has a lot to do with just getting the hang of eating from a spoon and the new texture in their mouths. Hopefully little Molly feels the same way if you try again 🙂
Oh goodness, so much advice. Listen to your gut & common sense & all will be fine. She will learn it all in due time & the little nuisances will not matter in the long run. Enjoy those sweet baby years because they fly. I used to hate when people told me that but it’s true. Merry Christmas
Google wholesome baby food. Great tips! I used it with my three!
Also, don’t stress about tummy time. It’s to strengthen their necks and here is clearly strong. She will learn to crawl when she is ready.
Google wholesome baby food. Great tips! I used it with my three!
Also, don’t stress about tummy time. It’s to strengthen their necks and hers is clearly strong. She will learn to crawl when she is ready.
My little girl is 7 months today! We started with oatmeal, then tried sweet potatoes, bananas, avocados, now apples. I read to wait 4-5 days between new foods to make sure there are no allergies. We found that mixing the fruit with oatmeal and breastmilk worked well and our daughter prefers it to just fruits. Maybe you could try that mixing the cereal with fruits. Also love this website for learning about food–I printed the chart and stuck it in my fridge.
http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com
I know every baby is different — but wanted to share this: http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com
It was a really helpful resource for me, for both my first AND second babies 🙂
Ali, I am 66 yrs. old with two grown sons, one 32 and one almost 28. I have been running for 44 yrs., and certainly do not consider myself old! You are my all-time favorite Bachelorette, with Jillian, Catherine and Desiree following close behind! I love reading your blogs and delight in the hundreds of tips re parenting so many share with you! What a wonderful source of info., and the “best” suggestions stand out because they are shared over and over again! What an exciting time to raise children with so many incredible health, apparati, clothing, toys and parenting suggestions available! Molly is adorable and you and Kevin appear to be a terrific, happy, well-suited couple! I love how into doing just the thing you are as a mommy! Lucky Molly! Merry Christmas to you, Kevin, Molly and sweet Owen!❤️?❤️
My little man just turned 6 months today so he’s only a few weeks older than Molly making it fun to follow along with your journey! We started Louie with the rice cereal at 4.5 months and he was super pumped on it. At 5 months we tried avocado and he seemed to like it the first night then the next night had ZERO interest. This guac loving mom was a little bummed haha. We went back to cereal for a week then tried sweet potatoes and those were his absolute favorite! As stated above, we had friends recommended starting him with veggies so they don’t just want the sweetness of fruit! It’s also recommended to try a food for a few days and not one right after the other to watch for allergies 🙂 all our guy’s faves tend to be orange so far haha. He did not like peas one bit but loves sweet potatoes, squash, and carrots. I think we’ll start fruit soon since he’s doing so well. Currently he gets food with his dinner time bottle. I just make sure I start about 15 minutes before bottle time so he’s not too fussy and impatient with eating. Just follow her lead, you’re doing great!
I am going to go to the store today to get green beans to try those! It’s so fun giving her new foods to try!!!! Congrats on your little boy! So glad you read my blogs and we can help each other through all these milestones!
I am a great Grams but had to laugh, I raised 6 kids. We started with rice cereal at one month, then oatmeal. We gave fruit first applesauce, bananas, peaches, etc then veggies..I know some things have changed but all 6 were healthy, and slept thru the night the minute I added cereal to last feeding of day. Oh, when you add beets they poop and pee red, looks like blood..don’t panic just the beets.
Thank you for the warning!!!! I would have FREAKED!
My baby boy is just a bit older then molly. He will be 6 months on the 24th. We are still waiting for him to crawl. He likes his belly and will automatically roll into his belly when we put him on the floor. But he doesn’t stay long because he likes to be up. In the walker or holding someones hands while standing. He does try to.scoot for toys when they are far away. Molly will get there when she is ready. Enjoy her before she takes off…we have a 18, 16, 13, 11 year old and a 6.month old…time flies.
Hey Ali – believe it or not our pediatrician suggested SALMON of all things for our little one at the same age as Molly. She isn’t a huge fan of cereals – but said that breastfed babies start to need more iron at this age so that’s what research is starting to lean towards. We shredded some up for our little one and she loved it. She’s a huge texture girl and if she can chew it a bit she loves it way more than it being puréed! Also totally agree with you about the diapers – yuck. Good luck with your new food adventures!
Mine hated bananas too! And still does. She’s 8 months and I’ve tried 3 times.
She actually loves her greens. We recently did mango and she was in love.
Totally agree about the diapers! Have fun with food Molly girl!
I mean who really likes bananas? he he 😉
There is a great Facebook group called ‘Feeding the Littles’ with the best advice on starting solids. I’m not sure if anyone has mentioned but something I (and lots of my mama friends) are doing is Baby Led Weaning. Basically you skip over all the empty calories of processed cereals and go straight to iron rich foods like avocado, sweet potato and banana. And instead of mashing the food you give small pieces of soft foods and allow your baby to self feed. Babies learn to explore food and textures and are able to regular how much food goes in to prevent choking. It sounds hippy dippy but there is some pretty solid research to back up the Benicia. I did it with my daughter and at 20 months she’s the best eater – healthy, adventurous and lots! I did not find food helped her sleep longer stretches, I think that’s mostly due to developmental changes, it changes each week when they’re so little. Baby led weaning is recommended only for babies 6 months and older since that’s when the latest research suggests beginning solids. Good luck with your beautiful baby!
We started a little early with Molly, but we think she was ready. Our ped said to start once she seemed interested in food. And when we eat she watched us like hawk! HA! My little baby bird 😉 I am going to try the baby led weaning once she turns 6 months. right after the New Year
Love reading your updates Ali! They keep me entertained during late night feedings haha. You’re the only Bachelorette that I still follow ?. Like pretty much everyone else said sweet potatoes is a great first food! I like to peel them and boil until they are very soft. You can add breasmilk and then purée. I personally don’t like to pump so I just mix them with a little bit of the water that the potatoes were cooked in. My baby girl also loves zucchini! I peel them first also because I think I remember reading the skin is harder for babies to digest. I boil them and then purée. Peas is another good one! And for having food ready while on the go I love the little organic pouches they have in the baby food section. They are great to keep in the diaper bag and I just squirt them right into her mouth haha. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!! ?
I feel special that you follow me!!!! Thank you! I mean it 🙂
Hi Ali! Molly is getting so big and is so beautiful! She will get her groove with the food, don’t worry. Right now it is probably more of a texture thing. Remember, she has only had liquid for five months…she has no idea with to do with the actual food right now so spitting it out is a reflex. My ped used to tell me to try the same food for 3 days in a row before deciding she didn’t like it. Then come back to it in a few weeks and try again. She also recommended doing food by colors first? best to stick to the same food for a week so you know if she is allergic or not. You are a great Mommie and just remember to always trust your gut! Merry Christmas to all of you!
You are so right about giving her a few days to see if she actually likes it. I won’t give up on avocado! Ha!
Yay how exciting she’s eating! Did you know that banana is actually a great first food for babies because it tastes most like breastmilk? I would keep trying with it, sometimes it takes them a few tries to actually like the new tastes. My daughter is 7 1/2 months and we’ve done baby lead weaning from the start. Basically the baby starts on real food, no purées or “baby food”. We just give her small pieces of whatever were eating – sweet potato, quinoa, lentils, salmon- and just put it on her high chair tray and she feeds herself! There are so many benefits, like the baby learning new tastes and textures which in turn helps them be less picky and healthier eaters in the long-run. Plus, instead of the parent spoon feeding them, they feed themselves and they learn when they’re full, instead of the parents just assuming when they’re full. My daughter has loved everything so far, even kale smoothies! Plus it makes mealtime so much easier since we don’t have to prepare something different for her. I would definitely look into it! There are books and websites all about it. Best of luck!
Molly is adorable! I have four kids and I did not teach any of them to crawl. I promise, she will teach herself when she is ready! For our first son, we did everything the doctor told us about food. By the second, third and fourth we fed them anything (held off on strawberries and chocolate) for awhile. They started on real food fairly early — broken in tiny pieces. Keep trying the bananas – most babies like them! Good Luck – you are doing awesome!
If she enjoys rice cereal she might enjoy green veggies. My daughter hated rice cereal, but she loved green veggies. Also be sure not to give too much orange veggies once you start that because it’ll turn her skin orange, more so the tip of her nose. “Carotenemia is a medical term for a condition that causes the skin to turn orange-ish due to increased blood carotene levels. In the vast majority of cases seen, it is associated with large consumption of carotene in the diet; as in too many carrots or sweet potatoes.”
I love reading your updates! They are very real and show the good times and the hard ones all the same! So many times do us as moms try to make our lives look “perfect” but even though we would do it all again, it’s not as perfect as we make it seem! I have a little boy named Asher and he is almost 4 months on the 22nd and we learned quickly that it’s not always “breast is best” it’s “fed is best”. I think there are so many expectations on us as moms to do this and do that if you “love your baby” but that couldn’t be further from the truth! I had my heart set on breast feeding! As a nurse I knew all the great benefits from breast milk and so that was plan A. Well after many feedings gone sour, we decided to supplement. And it was the best thing we could have done. No it’s not what I wanted, but I was overlooking the fact that at least I had a healthy boy who loved to eat! Now he is the sweetest little boy and my heart is happy knowing just that. Sometimes us moms put too much pressure on ourselves and others and it ruins our happiness and ability to enjoy each and every moment with our little ones. Good work Ali! Your a great mom and keep loving sweet Molly. I wrote a blog on our experience, you should check it out ( when you have time! ;))
My little guy is just a few weeks older than Molly and he loves sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, pears, applesauce, bananas, and prunes. I’ve tried green veggies like green beans and peas with little success but it has helped to alternate the foods she isn’t a fan of with the foods she loves. So a bite of yucky veggies and then a bite of yummy fruit! He could eat sweet potatoes all day though. Feeding time has been a great bonding experience for he and I, and I’m already trying to establish family meal times at the table complete with saying grace before we eat. 🙂 Molly is adorable!
My daughter is 14 months old and an excellent eater. We did baby led weaning and loved it. Basically you skip puréed foods and go right into real foods but cannot start until 6 months or when baby shows specifics signs of readiness. It’s so much easier, gives them a chance to learn textures and how to manipulate food in their mouths. There is a lot of info out there but the book by Gill Rapley is a great source.
hi ali and Molly! I’m a pediatric physical therapist and my suggestion is just keep putting her on her tummy and frequent floor time. put toys/motivation around and make her do the work! she’ll figure it out! also, is you’re interested in other methods of infant feeding, research baby led weaning. I’ve fed both my children this way and it’s great: no specific baby food, they will both eat anything and have amazing palettes! seriously, my 3 year olds favorite foods are broccoli and prosciutto. good luck!
Hey Ali!
I started my daughter on purred butternut squash only at lunch time for a few days, then steam puréed carrots for a few days after that. Then I tried a couple spoonfuls of sweet potato. You’re only really giving tastes to begin with such as that of an ice cube or two! I then added some apple so apple and carrot purée for example, avocado mixed wth banana (sweetens it slightly) which my daughter loved. Then once she gets used to it a bit more try savoury then a few spoonfuls of fruit afterwards. A great one is plum, apple and dried apricot with a little apple juice then puréed. Also make sure you’re not giving her a full feed beforehand or she’ll be too full up. I would do three days for a food type then try something new but make a huge batch and freeze in little tubs. I definitely wouldn’t overwhelm her with too mulch to start with. Also, you can add a little bit of breast milk to the purée to make the taste familiar to her too.
Have you tried a mirror during tummy time? Babies love seeing “the other baby” looking back at them.
I wish God had given me at least one girl. We have a family of all boys and I had all boy cousins too pretty much. Then I went and gave birth to 3 more boys, my brother added his 3 boys and my middle brother had 1. My half-brother finally got the girl but I don’t get to see her much. I will never get to dress up a cute baby girl and that still saddens me to this day. All I can pray for now is grand daughters God willing!
Hi Ali,
First, your baby is one of the most adorable I’ve seen. I love seeing your sweet relationship with her. Of course I’m gonna throw in some unsolicited advice, now that I’m a mom to 3 under 3. (twins that are 7 months and a 2 yr old). When I first started my older kid on food, we also started with veggies like another commenter. Since we were also advised that if you do fruit, they won’t like the veggies. Of course he ended up loving sweet potatoes and carrots so he developed a nice orangy tone because that’s mostly what he would eat. And fruit he loved-except apples. Those always made him gag and puke it up and funny enough my girl twin also gags with apples. Must be a texture thing. My word of warning though- my pediatrician strongly advised against rice cereal since it’s empty white carbs and not great to give to babies. So some multigrain cereal or oatmeal would be much better. That’s what I started my twins on and they love it. Even better when I mix in some fruit- any kind- prunes, bananas etc. My boy is a little piggy and will eat any and everything. My girl is more discerning and makes faces to the food she dislikes. So I would try that oatmeal for Molly if Kevin will share it. haha. The texture is the same so I doubt she would even notice the difference and be SO much better for her. Of course, I’m not on my soap box- my 2 yr old survives on carbs, yogurt and cheese (mac/ cheese and nuggets are his fave) so I am far from perfect. But introducing the healthy stuff early, only helps as they grow. Keep up the good work Mama- you seem like such a sweet, attentive mommy. She’s a lucky girl.
I’m sure this is repeated advice but I’m too lazy to read all the comments. 🙂 This is what I learned from my pediatrician and the starting solids class I took (my daughter turned 6 months on December 30th).
– skip rice cereal or all cereal if you want but the arsenic in rice shouldn’t be a staple in baby’s diet
– no reason to give veggies before fruit. The idea that giving them the sweetness of fruit will make them not want veggies is a myth. Breast milk is incredibly sweet and that’s what they’re living on!
– give high allergen foods early. Peanut butter and everything. Just not honey or milk until 1 year. Other dairy is ok
– look into baby led weaning if you haven’t already. It’s genius.
And remember that breast milk (or formula) is their primary source of nutrition until 1 year. The whole “food before 1 is just for fun” bit.
My daughter gets prunes mixed with oatmeal for breakfast (she’s not a regular pooper!) and for two weeks only actually ate a couple bites but mostly played with it. Something clicked this morning and she ate a whole bowl.
Babies are weird. 🙂
Kuuuuubuś Jesteś niesamowity Dotarł mój własny, osobisty Garbaty Aniołek &##CS0;2O2IK&88221; Tak bardzo chciał do mnie dolecieć, że odpadły mu skrzydełka hihi ale udzieliłam mu pierwszej pomocy i już spokojnie może latać Skrzydełka doklejone Już zajmuje najważniejsze miejsce w moim pokoju, postawiłam go na takim starym zegarze ( Krzysiek dostał od swojej cioci ). Ile razy spojrzę na godzinę to spojrzę też na mojego uśmiechniętego COSIKA Jest cudny! Dziękuję Skarbie Ciocia pomyśli o Tobie w Bieszczadach i też wybierze coś ciekawego
Hi Ali!
Could you do a new post on a food update with Molly please? I see your Insta pics all the time and I am just amazed at all she eats! My guy is 7 months and I just can’t even believe how much will change in the next 3 months! I’d love to know your strategies and what you offer to Molly and how often 🙂
Thanks!