Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Mmmm mmmm goood

Baby food. Ick. The most annoying feeding stage. I wish we could jump from nursing/bottle-feeding straight to finger foods. This middle stage of ground-up gook is just gross.

We started giving Nadav some "solids" - though I use the term loosely (pun intended) - in the hopes that maybe he will sleep for more than 2 hours at a stretch during the night. I know he can sleep for longer, because he has proven it in the past. However, lately he enjoys not only a midnight snack, but a 9:30, 1:30 and 4:00 snack as well. Which makes me just the weensiest bit zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..........

Sorry [wiping off drool] - what was I saying?

Right. Eating. So now we're trying the old pack-it-in-during-the-day strategy, and hoping that this leads to more sleeping at night. I mean, Nadav can make up those lost sleep hours during the day, whilst I cannot because I am involved in important tasks like....blogging.

But feeding is so messy. I mean, the finger food stage is messy as well, which is why we are looking to patent our cleansing technique: Fill a Pyrex measuring cup with soapy water and bathe the child at the table. Because wipes and towels are just completely ineffectual against a cholent-soaked baby.

Once again, I digress. So here we are, trying to get him to eat some stuff. Our wonderful babysitter made him a delicious pureed chicken soup. He also likes chummus, believe it or not. And, you know, baby food apples and stuff. He hates the cereal, but then, wouldn't you? Still, though, he sits in his high chair, and what does he do? The child works frantically to shove the straps into his mouth. Then he tries to munch on his toes. Both of these are preferable activities to eating actual food. In fact, if he could get his toes and the strap in his mouth at the same time...wow, that would be, like, his version of New York Super Fudge Chunk.

For dessert, he's partial to baby wipes. Whenever he's on the changing table, he makes a beeline for the package of wipes and tries to shove as many in his mouth at one time.

I think we should invent edible high chair straps. Imagine all the nutrients he would get if his vigorous sucking and chewing actually yielded results! Then, we wouldn't have to fight with him to eat food. We'd just stick him in the high chair and let him do what comes naturally. Of course, this begs the question - why does eating your high chair straps come naturally?

Kids are weird.

7 comments:

mother in israel said...

"I wish we could jump from nursing/bottle-feeding straight to finger foods."
Um, sweetie, you can. I did. Well, I give them mashed banana for a few days. They need to be six or seven months when you start.
And solids don't help them sleep through the night (as you learned). I wrote a series of articles about this--here is part 2.
Starting Solids: When and Why

Gila Rose said...

Okay, will have to give this a try! I love the thick oatmeal idea. Thanks!

Shira said...

I totally skip the puree stage, too! I didn't start Yaakov or Aharon on solids until over 8 months and just went straight to real food! So much easier, and they can self feed! Plus, they are both super adventurous eaters and not in the least bit picky! Sadly, the food thing never seems to help with the sleep through the night thing, as I am still waiting for that....

Gila Rose said...

You're both right - it does not seem to make a difference sleepwise, so I think I'll just wait until he can eat "real" food. He does like chummus and cholent though, so at least we know he's Jewish....

Laurie said...

I was just remembering your pyrex cup cleaning system as I was wiping the peas off of Josh today. Chumus and chulent - a true Israeli!

Arica said...

When our Nadav started eating "solids" we discussed spreading the food on the high chair straps so he would eat it.

Esther said...

If he's chewing on everything sounds like teeth - give him a rusk to chew on. It's probably why he likes humous - more substance.

I never pureed. I tried to partially weened my first at 5 months before a vacation but she hated cereal.
After the long journey we were both hungry and tired so I mashed up the vegetables from our pot roast. She loved it and rarely deigned to touch baby food again.

My second treated baby food as an insult and refused to eat it altogether. He was helping himself to our Shabbat roast as soon as he could sit up in a chair.