Introducing Solids

When Carson turned 4 months old the pediatrician told us he was plenty healthy to try rice cereal if we would like. We were a little nervous since he could barely sit up, but we decided to try it out. 

Mistake #1: Mom didn't make it runny enough

     I read a LOT of blogs, forums, websites, and have plenty of experienced moms giving me advice, but I guess I missed this one. Everyone told me to make it runny, but no one was standing over my shoulder telling me exactly HOW runny. Carson hated it. He gagged with every tiny nibble. 

Mistake #2: Don't use a new formula with a breastfed baby the first time you feed them cereal. 

     Okay, I really wasn't thinking here. Carson has had formula a couple times but this was a new one. I didn't have any fresh breast milk and didn't want to thaw a frozen bag, so we tried a new "gentle" formula. 

Mistake #3: Never try a new food on a week night. 

     We weren't prepared for what was about to happen. If we knew loosing a night of sleep and having to go to work the next day would be a possibility, we would have tried cereal on a Friday. 

After a few little spoonfuls of rice cereal, we stopped torturing our little guy. He clearly hated it by the look on his face and his sweet little whimpers. We thought, "Not bad for a first try, we will try again tomorrow!" Thats what the books say to do, right? About an hour after trying the new solid, I gave Carson a nightcap and laid him in his crib and said goodnight. He was sleeping like a baby. A couple hours after that, Billy and I also laid down to go to bed. Queue the baby; Carson woke up as soon as our eyes started to shut. This wasn't a shocker since this always happens. You finally lay down or start to get something done and the baby wakes up. Like routine, Billy walked to his room to calm him back down to bed. He returned shortly to let me know that Carson had spit up...a lot! Again, no shocker to me since he fell asleep nursing and I wasn't able to wake him up to burp. He must have just been too full. We fell back asleep. A short time later he woke up again, this time screaming. Now this wasn't like him at all. Our happy baby boy only screams like this when he is very hungry. I thought, well it's been a while since his full meal, I will try to nurse him again. He wouldn't have it! The screaming continued and now he started gagging. We would tell he was trying to get something up. After a frantic call to the nurse on call (yup, us new parents called the pediatrician), patting his back, and rubbing the back of his tongue a little, he finally got it out! And all over daddy. 

Carson seemed much better, mom felt terrible, and dad was a nervous wreck. Billy rocked him back to bed, mom laid down, and everything seemed fine. Until Billy came running back in the room again, "I laid him down and he threw up again!" Now mom felt absolutely terrible, and dad is still a nervous wreck. Carson spent the night sleeping in his swing that he is quickly outgrowing, and mom didn't get any sleep.

It's been 3 weeks since we have tried rice cereal. The nurse said it could have been his little tummy just not being ready for solids, or the formula. Remember mistake #2? Never introduce 2 new foods to a baby at the same time, then you won't be able to know what it was that bothered them. We read this over and over again and still messed it up. Great. Wish us luck on our next attempt! We plan to try again this week and this time with breast milk. Carson has grown so much in the past 3 weeks, we now think he is ready. :)