Let's eat eat eat. Apples and bananaaaaaaas. I wanna eat eat eat apples and bananaaaaaaas.

Every mother is excited to feed their baby solids. Based on my pedia, babies can already eat solids around 4 to 6mos old. I was advised that as early as 4 1/2 mo that she can start eating solids or we can start by 'lugaw' then alternate with fruits or veggies.

Honestly, I was shocked to hear that from our pedia. Me as an excited mother, I wanted to feed her solids right away as advised by our pedia. My sister and I has the same pedia and told her that we were already advised to give Lil B solids at her age (4.5 mos). Still we didn't follow what our pedia advised as she is not a breastfeeding advocate pedia. Good thing that I joined the Facebook, Breastfeeding Pinays. There are so many things that you'll need to learn being a first time mom and joining this group is very informative. There are also experts in this groups that helps answers pedia related inquiries. I know that most of us didn't have the means to go to the doctor for a check up and some moms may also have a hard time going to the clinic or hospital due to location and this group really could help.

Sometimes, before I go to sleep the overthinker me browse through topics listed in the group. Breastfeeding could really be challenging to an enougher mom like me, and once your milk supply decreases this can cause more stress as I didn't want to result to formula milk.

Btw, there's nothing wrong with formula feeding but bf-ing is my personal choice specially this pandemic time. Plus I am a full time mom so it's convenient for me to just latch Lil B and pump if I have time.

I've read a post from this page some resons why eating solids are still advised from 6months of age. I can't find the post now but they tagged a few experts who are also members or admins of the page.

Now, let me share my Lil B's first food. It was also very timely that Dad was home for her 6month celebration. I gave him the liberty to feed her first food.

Initially, I was thinking of feeding her Avocado as her first food but it's not Avocado season so it wasn't available on the market. Instead, I prepared mashed potato. Supposedly, I plan to use the blender to puree the potato but I thought I might not be able to scoop it all out of the blender and I resulted to mashing it instead. I added breastmilk of course.

We were so excited to give her first food, when she got her first bite, Lil B was actually confused maybe because of the texture and the taste. She tend to spit it all out. We also used the spoon I bought for her. I thought it was just her first time and we'll try again of course. The next day, she still did the same thing. She wasn't eating it all. I am not even sure if she's eating at least some. She cried and I also got frustrated and I almost force her to eat at least some but I suddenly realized to stop.

After 3 days of feeding her mashed potato, I thought she didn't like it but again, eating is new to her. On her 4th to 7th day I prepared mashed sweet potato. 2 more days, she still did the same thing to the potato. I even got more frustrated on how can I get to feed her. I tried to do research on reasons and other ways she will accept the food. I watched a doctor/pedia vlog on Youtube for some tips on how to feed the baby for the first time. At the end of the video, she stated that feeding the baby could be quite a challenge. Trying 2 or 5 times is not enough, but you have to try every time, every day, 100x if you must. That made me realize, it was correct. It is also applicable in other things when you become a parent.

Okay, on Lil B's 5th or 6th day of eating, I decided to try a different approach. I used a food nibbler instead of using a spoon to feed her. I thought, she doesn't know how to swallow solid food yet, all she can do is sip.

Damn, it worked! She sipped the juice out of the nibbler and was able to eat. Yey! Success for mommy of course! I was very happy that I was able to her feed real food other than my milk.

I also thought what I did wrong the first time. Perhaps I didn't mash the food as the baby would like? Or she just didn't like the food? Was the food I prepared soiled already? Is it still edible? Those are the questions, I asked myself why she didn't eat the food the first time. But finding out other ways to feed her that worked made those questions go away. Life really is a trial an error situation most of the time.

Now, I prepared a mango puree and decided to use the blender so it can be more liquidy and easier for Lil B to eat. This time I tried to feed her using a spoon and SHALAAAA! She eat it too! I just need to let her sip all the mango on the spoon before removing the spoon from her mouth but still she was able to sip it all. She loved the mango!

Closing

I thought feeding your baby solids would be easy, I was all wrong. I know it was just the beginning of struggles that a mother usually encounters when feeding a baby. I know that when she grows older, she will tend to be so picky too. I'll be prepared for that.

One struggle encountered and more to come.

I just wanted to share my struggles as a first time mom. I know there are also other first time moms here, so if you got to pass by my article I hope this can also be an encouragement and suggestion that you may also do once you are already on this stage. Just a reminder, every person or baby is different. One might work for you or your child but not to others. It's still a trial and error and you have to know what works for you and your baby.

At least this worked for me. :)

Please share your experiences and suggestions! I want to try and know more from you too!

Lead image from Unsplash, pictures posted are mine