[blparent] feeding solids

[Melissa Ann Riccobono]

I don't remember how old your son is, but is he old enough to do at least
some of the feeding on his own? Our son, Austin, got used to us feeding him
and didn't mind being fed at all. Our daughter, Oriana, on the other hand,
decided when she was perhaps ten months or so that she didn't want ANYONE to
feed her, and she wanted to feed herself. This meant a lot of cereal she
could pick up with her hands, soft foods like cheese and bananas, and,
eventually, fruit in little fruit cups, or chopped up into small pieces.
Also eggs when she was a year old. Austin loved waffles, and he got six
teeth fairly early, so he was able to eat waffles broken up into small
pieces when he was about ten months old. but Oriana is not a huge bread
eater, so waffles were not a favorite of hers. Oh, crackers were a staple of
both their diets for a while, along with Gerber puffs which come in all
flavors.
Of course, sometimes we wanted Oriana to have something she couldn't easily
feed herself. When that was the case, we found it much easier to feed Oriana
if we gave her her own spoon to hold. Was this messy??? Absolutely. But, she
was able to explore her food with her spoon, and try to get at least some
bites into her mouth on her own. We were then able to more easily "sneak"
bites into her mouth while she was playing with the spoon.
She loved that. Lastly, having your baby touch the food is, although a messy
pain, actually a great thing for him. It is letting him explore different
textures and letting him use his hands to do all sorts of new and exciting
things. I know, not great for cleanliness, but fantastic, and appropriate,
for his development. So, at least sometimes, try not to worry so much about
the mess and try to focus on the fun of feeding. All of this talk about
feeding has made me wonder what type of solid eater Elizabeth will be. She
is only four months, so right now she's not eating solids... But they are
right around the corner.
Good luck,
Melissa
-----Original Message-----
From: blparent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bernadetta
Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2012 12:00 PM
To: blparent at nfbnet.org
Subject: [blparent] feeding solids

Hi everyone,
My son has been eating solids for quite some time now. Still, though it's
being accomplished, it's always been a great frustration for all three of
us: Gabriel, his dad and myself. When we first began with solids we put
Gabriel in his boppit chair and attempted to feed him that way. Well, that
didn't work out very well since his hands were free to roam any and
everywhere, especially into his bowl of food. 
After we gave up on the boppit chair I devised a way to feed him while he
sits on my lap. That's been working reasonably well because I can control
his hands and I'm able to accurately gauge where his head is so that I can
feed him without missing his mouth. He starts off being very patient and
cooperative and things are well for about the first two minutes. Then he
becomes irritated and squirmy and I suspect it's because I'm not feeding him
at his preferred pace.
Sometimes when others babysit him they're in charge of feeding him,
naturally, and they have no problems--Probably because they're sighted and
can make the transition from bowl to mouth much faster and more smoothly.
I know we've all dealt with feeding solids to a baby, so I'd love to hear
any tips you all might have. What unique strategies have you figured out
that worked for you and your baby. I'm still working on refining my
strategies as i said, and any new tips and experiences will be greatly
apreciated.
Thanks very much in advance, guys.

Bernadetta

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