Introducing Solids to my Infant at 5 Months

Introducing Solids to my Infant at 5 Months

Ezra is eating food!!! Hip hip horraaaayyyyy!

I am jumping up and down over this mamas. Feeding Ez has been one of the best activities we have done together yet. Call me crazy but I feel more connected/synced giving him avocado and bananas with cashew butter than I do nursing him now. Probably because seeing him love all of the foods I love, warms my heart. Plus getting to make him his food is so special and when I see him enjoying it, it makes me so happy.

But how did we go about giving our 5 month old solids?

Many of my fellow mama readers have been asking for a run down on what feeding Ezra has been like. How we introduced food, how often he eats, what foods he has been eating and so on.

I pulled together a handful of questions from you guys and I am walking you through the latest and the greatest with feeding my bubba. Ezra is now a little over 6 months old, so everyday he is changing and growing but I hope you guys find this post helpful! I will continue to update you guys every few months with a new blog post too. I have a feeling I’ll be sharing a ton of recipes with you guys too for the bubs.

I am of course by no means an expert with giving my infant food so please check with your doctor/professional before doing anything or listening to my newbie advice. And please keep all comments/questions/feedback positive from this post. Every mama and papa are different in how they raise their kids and we should respect all parent’s wishes!

The Q+A on all things baby food:

1. When did you start giving Ezra food?
   1. 5 months the dot! We didn’t plan for this, it just kind of happened that way. Ezra had “failure to thrive” around 4 months (talk about a scary name for something) and he wasn’t growing as quickly the doctor hoped. He also had a bit of reflux and would spit up and after seeing a GI after his diagnosis, she mentioned how food can help with this – which it did. I didn’t come up with a plan on introducing solids. In fact I decided to introduce solids 5 minutes before even giving it to him when I was mashing some avocado up for myself. I have found it more helpful not to plan much in general as a mama. This allows every situation to be much less stressful for us.
2. What foods has he tried so far?
   1. Ezra’s first food was avocado and he absolutely loved it! Since then he has tried: sweet potato, butternut squash, carrot, peas, japenese sweet potato, oatmeal, coconut milk (in oatmeal), flaxseeds (in oatmeal), peanut butter, spinach, broccoli, cashew butter, banana, blueberries, chicken (pureed in a pouch), almond butter, eggs, mango and probably a few others I am forgetting. Oh and he used our pizza crust as a teething toy (it was adorable!!!). I’m not following a set program/guideline for which foods when. I started with foods easier to digest at first though then went from there.
3. What foods has Ezra not liked so far?
   1. He is so easy with food so far. The only thing he hasn’t enjoyed much are carrots. I tried prepping them a few different ways and with spices but he hasn’t gotten into it at all. He will eat them but he isn’t as excited as other foods. I don’t blame him though, I’m not a huge carrot fan! He also wasn’t into eggs but I have a feeling it was the taste since I made them scrambled and it was so blah. Going to try again with banana-egg pancakes soon!
4. Did Ezra get baby oatmeal or rice cereal?
   1. Nope! I just gave him oatmeal. No baby oatmeal or anything.
5. How often does Ezra eat food versus nurse?
   1. For the first couple weeks, we only gave him avocado 1-2x per day. Usually in the morning then at night. Then when he hit 6 months he started to nurse/have breastmilk 5x a day then food 4x a day. Ez is on the smaller side being 4-weeks premature and has a bit of catching up to do size wise. He also loves food and it is so cute to see how excited he gets every time he eats. I usually nurse him then give him food after to help maintain my supply. I don’t recommend doing the reverse as that’ll make the bubba come to your boob less hungry. I have noticed though that he only nurses now for 3-5 minutes on each side (used to do 20 minutes each!). His suck/latch is so strong now so my supply hasn’t dropped (knock on wood!). His breastmilk consumption has stayed the same. Just added food with it.
   2. Typical schedule in our home: 6:30am nurse + sometimes food, 9:30am nurse + food, 12:30pm nurse + food, 3:30pm nurse + food, 6:30pm bottle of breastmilk+ food (this varies a bit but that is the usual flow).
   3. I like to give him something different at each feeding now. Some of his usuals are: banana with nut butter, oatmeal with flaxseed, avocado, sweet potato and peas.
6. How much does Ezra eat in a sitting?
   1. This kid would eat a double bacon cheeseburger with a large fry and a milkshake if we would let him. Usually it is 1/3 of an avocado in a sitting or so. I don’t measure much else, just a few spoonfuls of whatever it may be like mashed potato, oatmeal pudding etc. He does eat a large banana mashed and with that I add a spoonful of nut butter (to help balance the sugar!). He cries for more but I place his pacifier in and if in 5-10 minutes he’s still crying/acting hungry, we give more but usually he is satiated.
7. Do you count macros for Ezra?
   1. No!! I have the same views on counting calories/macros for Ez as I do for myself. Not a fan of it and think it can lead to more harm then good. My bubba is growing and at a great pace and that is all I focus on.
8. Did Ez have any issues with food texture?
   1. NO! We got so lucky with that. In fact, he really doesn’t love pureed food as much besides a couple pouches we tried. These are the go-to (code RACHL for 15% off). He prefers chunky guacamole, chunky peanut butter and when I gave him a carrot basically in liquid form, he hated it. I’m sure his pickiness will come over time but for now I am enjoying the easy feedings.
9. How many foods did you introduce at once?
   1. I started off with only avocado for about a week or two. There was no reasoning for that besides that we were traveling to Charleston around this time and it was the easiest thing to give him from a restaurant. I didn’t want to risk allergies or anything while traveling. Then we came home, I started introducing new things like sweet potatoes, peas, etc.
10. How did you introduce nuts/common allergens to Ezra?
    1. So my brother has peanut/tree nut allergy so I actually gave Ezra a few tiny spoonfuls of peanut butter in the parking lot of his doctor’s office before the 6 month visit. That way if something happened, we had easy access to his doctor. For the rest of top allergens, I wasn’t too concerned. All we have left is dairy as of now, which I hope to try this week!
11. What plates and spoons do you use?
    1. I LOVE these. They are dishwasher friendly and so easy to use! Highly recommend them.
12. Which highchair do you use?
    1. OBSESSED with this one! Very aesthetically pleasing too if you’re annoying like me 😉 It also is reasonably priced compared to most I looked at.
13. Do you make the baby food for Ez?
    1. Pretty much. I think this will end soon especially when he can use pouches but for now I’m enjoying making him his food and getting to see what exactly goes in it, etc. It is a lot of work so like I said, I’m sure I will be cheating a bit and getting some ready-to-eat things soon. I love this food processor to make the purees.
14. How do you make Ezra’s food?
    1. Going to start sharing recipes soon!!! So far it has been very straight forward things like baked sweet potato then just peeling the skin and mashing with a fork or making oatmeal. I also bought these which help me batch cook then freeze some stuff!
15. How do you defrost/reheat the food?
    1. Ez eats most of his food at room temperature. If I do warm it up I use the microwave (not hate on my microwave!). It is easy, quick and I personally am all about convenience. I just don’t microwave anything in plastic. Usually a glass bowl. Ezra would also eat oatmeal cold out of the fridge – he is easy!
16. Are you doing baby led weaning?
    1. Nope! We do whatever we feel is right. That usually means solids and such but I don’t follow any rules. Maybe the next baby but I’m following my own plan with feeding him. To be honest, it overwhelmed me having to following a guide/rules. I’d rather go with my gut and feed him how I think is best for him. I’m not a label/rule follow myself with food and I hope to implement that for Ezra’s eating as well.

Let me know if you guys have any other questions! I am so excited to share this with you guys.

xx, Rach