It never ceases to amaze me how in the moment, some things seem to take an eternity (like getting Zoë to eat), but now that I look back, she has come so far in just a couple of months! The above picture was taken right around 6 months, with Zoë's first and only go at baby brown rice cereal. The nurse said it would help her stomach deal with a bad case of diarrhea, but Zoë would have none of it. It did make a nice gotee though...
Other than that and a couple tries with baby purees to deal with her strong gag reflex, we have gone the way of "baby-led solids/baby-led weaning", a method developed by Gill Rapley that gives the baby control over what and how much they will eat. So, from the get go, Zoë learned to feed herself! We found the easiest foods to begin with were long slices of soft fruits or vegetables that she could hold in her fist and then bite off at the end. Or like this big chunk of frozen bagel (for those poor little toofers :)
I'll admit, it was frustrating for me to sit back and let her do her thing (which meant several meals of smearing the food around the tray without eating one bit of it :s), but suddenly around 7 1/2 months, she started grabbing chunks, sticking them in her mouth, and EVEN chewing and swallowing the food. (Zoë wasn't a big fan of swallowing at first :) Around 8 months, she started picking up smaller chunks in her palm and shoving her palm into her mouth - which does get the food in there, but also gets quite a bit up her nose. Gross. We're hoping she'll figure out the pincher grip soon!
Our little messy foodie - sweet potato all over. Zoë is skilled at getting food up her nose, in her ears, and smeared throughout her eyebrows and hair.
Watch Zoë in action! Our recent adventures in foodland have taken us into the world of spices (yum! cinnamon and parsley are current faves) and meat. Homemade (salt-free) chicken noodle soup coming right up!
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