From what I was able to read before hand, and what Little C's doctor said after he was born I knew we would not be introducing solids before 6 months old. I was able to stick to this goal and solids were not introduced until a week shy of 7 months, due to hubby's urging (he has come a long way, but didn't fully understand that babies don't really need anything except breastmilk for the first year of their lives).
As it turned out, our son really wasn't interested in solids. We started with a jar of banana baby food (I know, not crunchy!). Little C took a few bites, like three, and was done. I mixed it up and offered him some peas (also jar food cuz I didn't know any better then), those didn't go over at ALL! I tried feeding him bites of the jar bananas at least once a day for about four days and finally told hubby that Little C just wasn't interested in foods yet.
Around 8 months hubby urged me to try foods again... so out came a jar of bananas. This round went a little better with Little C eating about half a jar after being nursed before hand (I always nursed first because I knew breastmilk was more important than solids at this age). So, for most days Little C ate about half a jar of baby food.
Between 8 and 9 months we also introduced the jar blend blueberries and apples. That quickly became Little C's favorite food. We tried peas again and they were a no go, just like before. Carrots were one of the next foods we tried. I waited a full week before introducing any new foods as I have an allergy to carrots and wanted to make sure Little C's eczema didn't flare up with the introduction of this new food. Sweet Potatoes were introduced during this time as well. The very next day my poor Little C had a rash on his butt where the sweet potato poop had been when I got him up in the morning, and he had splotches of eczema all over his chest, back and arms. That food, though it was well liked by Little C, was not given again for almost a month. (He was also teething at the time so I wanted to try them after the eczema had cleared to make sure that it was the food and not something else that had caused the outbreak.
Around 10 months I introduced sweet potatoes again. This time they seemed not to bother him. About a week later, after eating them several times through the week, I realized his eczema was coming back again. We stopped sweet potatoes completely and will try again when he is older.
One jar blend that we tried was banana, apple, strawberry. Since we had already introduced apples and bananas without an issue I figured a triple blend would be okay since I would easily know if the strawberries were a trigger food. And they were. Horrible red rash on his bum and eczema flared up right away. Strawberries are another food we have avoided all together.
At some point between 9 and 10 months I learned about making your own baby puree's. I had heard about Baby Led Weaning from moms in a crunchy Facebook group I follow, but after further reading, and discussing it with hubby we decided that was not for us at this time (hubby was especially worried about Little C choking on foods).
I started buying, and mashing bananas myself to feed Little C. He loved it! (I had given him a few bites of mashed banana when he was around 8 months, but hadn't thought to feed him those instead of the jar foods). He eats almost a whole banana for breakfast most days of the week now. As he has started getting his top teeth in and learning to chew (he has had his bottom teeth since around 6 months) I haven't been mashing the banana quite so much so he can learn to mash the 'chunks' himself. He is doing beautifully with it!
Remember my Apples post? I made all that apple sauce to feed to Little C for some breakfasts so he didn't always eat bananas. As it turns out he isn't a fan of the chunkier texture of the homemade applesauce. I think I may need to run some through a food processor to make it more smooth. I think he just might eat it like that.
I have 'made' several other mashed, homemade foods for Little C and he has enjoyed most of them. At Thanksgiving I blended some potatoes with breastmilk and some grassfed butter... he was not a fan of their texture either (he was about 11 months then).
Our most recent food introduction was Plum Organics, Plum Baby & Tots Super Greens (Spinach & Apple) Organic Super Puffs. Little C loves them so much I have to keep them hidden in a cabinet or he won't eat his other foods! I like this particular flavor because of the spinach in it since that adds iron to his diet which I've read is important for this age.
With the new top teeth almost in I am looking forward to introducing other real foods to Little C. I imagine it won't be long before he is enjoying all the wonderful things I like to cook and bake! :)
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