May's first solid food

No, not a chair. May ate oatmeal yesterday. Her first solid food.

Christopher and I did a lot of research on the whole "first foods" issues -- there's conflicting evidence, but the latest trend seems to be towards meat for a first food. But when we asked our fabulous pediatrician, Dr. Berkowitz-Shelton, he said, simply, "You know, we don't really know. Whatever is best and easiest for you."

With that in mind, we picked oatmeal on the assumption that May probably knows what oats taste like already. (I have a fondness for oatmeal and Cheerios and oatmeal cookies and the like.) Also... How to put this? The resulting gastrointestinal processes would be less emphatically noticeable if we fed her cereal rather than meat.

So we went into Central Sq., avoided the raving Brazilian soccer fans, picked up some organic baby oatmeal at the Central Sq. Harvest Coop, and mixed up a batch with iron-fortified formula. (Didn't want to pull out the breast pump.)



Since May is actually very handy with a spoon and always shoves it straight in her mouth, we let her "feed" herself -- putting some oatmeal on the spoon and then handing it to her. As you can see, she entered into the experiencing with a lot of enthusiasm. If not a lot of accuracy.

We'll continue on oatmeal for a while and then move to other things like applesauce, pears, bananas, carrots, and asparagus!