Week 19

July 15-21

At the beginning of this week we decided it was time to start Jack on rice cereal. Pediatrician's recommend 4-6 months as a general guideline, but the decision should really be based on your baby's physical milestones. Some things to consider: if your baby has good head/neck control on his own, can he sit up (supported) for a substantial period of time, can he lift his head up and move it around when on his tummy, etc. Jack has pretty much always had good neck support and since we started tummy time at a very early age he is comfortable using these muscles.

Of course breastmilk is still his main calorie source so I feed him before sitting him in his chair to eat cereal. Ed was especially excited about this developmental milestone because now he can be more involved in feeding Jack. Here are some pictures of Jack's first food from a spoon. I have a very cute video but last night I tried to upload it a million times and it wouldn't work. I will go ahead and post the blog with the pictures and keep working on video.

The plan is to feed Jack cereal once a day for a week, then move to twice a day for a week, and then move on to stage 1 baby foods. I am still considering making my own baby food. I am going to get some more information on how to do it and make my decision from there. We have decided that we will start him on vegetables first, and then move on to fruits. There are two different schools of thought about the subject. Some people say start with fruits because they are sweet and babies are more receptive to them. Others think that if you start with fruits they will be used to the sweet taste and won't be as receptive to vegetables. There is really no right or wrong way to do it. Every baby is different. I will update more when we get to that point.