Major Milestone

On Friday, April 25th, we gave Ava her first taste of 'solid' food. Up until this point, Ava has been exclusively nursed and has only been fed breast milk (except for the time when she was accidentaly given Emmie's formula when we were in Texas last December--Whit and I used the same bottles and GG was super kind to give Ava a bottle so I could sleep and she used Emmie's bottle instead of Ava's). Ava's pediatrician told us that we could wait until Ava was 6 months to introduce her to solids since she has been (and still is) 'thriving' perfectly well with breast milk. We were going to wait until May 1st (Ava's half birthday) to give her solids, but we gave in to temptation over the weekend and gave Ava her first tastes of food. So, on Friday night, we gave Ava some organic rice cereal mixed with breast milk. As you can see in the first picture, it was incredibly runny (we mixed it according to the package directions for the 'initial feeding'--1 Tbsp. rice cereal to 3-4 Tbsp milk). But, being first time parents, we didn't alter the recipe. Well, Ava HATED it.

Ava was so excited to be eating like a big girl. She let us put her new bib on her while she sat nicely in her Bumbo seat and was so fascinated by the bib's texture and design. After our pep talk about being fed with a spoon, she opened her mouth nice and wide for her first bite. Moments after the rice 'milk' entered her mouth, she pursed her lips and gave a quick shiver. For the next few bites, she screamed and didn't want to have anything to do with the rice mixture. So, instead of making her sit in misery, we took off her bib, let her out of her Bumbo, and threw the rice cereal away.

This is the only picture Matt let me take. He didn't seem to think it was necessary to take pictures of Ava screaming, so he refused to help me feed her (that way I had to feed her and couldn't take pictures). I wanted to take pictures of Ava regardless of her screaming, as this was a huge milestone for Ava Bear, but the Scrooge won. Now that I see this picture, I wish I had more.Here's Ava's new bib with rice cereal on it after her first solid food experience...not too much damage done.

Since the rice cereal didn't go over so well on Friday, we decided to try out the oatmeal on Sunday, April 27th (we gave Ava a night of rest in between feedings). As you can see, she liked the oatmeal much better than the rice. We are so proud of Ava, as she is an incredible eater (in terms of swallowing and taking a spoon). We were shocked at how well she ate, especially since it was only her second time to be fed sitting up and with the food coming from something other than my chest. It probably helped that we didn't follow the package directions this time, as we only added a little bit of milk instead of 4 Tbsp. The consistency was thicker than milk but much thinner than a paste (it would stay on the spoon and not go running off!).

Here's Ava during her first oatmeal eating/feeding experience...

Here's Ava in action. Sorry for the bad camera skills. I was trying to film her one hand and feed her with the other at the same time. Sorry for the TV noise in the background, Matt was watching 60 Minutes. (For some reason, the first and last videos aren't loading correctly. Just click the 'play' button--the screen will be pink and act like it's loading--and the video will come on).




Since Ava's first oatmeal experience went over so well, we decided to try it yet again on Monday night. This time, Matt got to do the honors and he was so excited. He did a great job feeding Ava and she did a brilliant job taking the spoon and eating.

Daddy feeding Ava Holt oatmeal for the first time on Monday, April 28th...