I had determined to make all of Claire's baby food from scratch. So Jared and I got some fresh vegetables from the grocery store and I looked up some basic recipes. I also have this really great rice cooker that comes with a steaming basket insert. I can steam all of Claire's veggies and then use my food processor to make purees.
Jared and I decided to start Claire off with some peas. Claire was getting really good at eating the rice cereal, so I hoped veggies would be no problem. I spent a good 45 minutes preparing fresh, homemade peas for that baby. I was so excited about letting her try them. Jared and I sat down with her at the table and gave Claire her first spoonful. She stuck out her tongue and made the most horrendous face. She acted like we were torturing her. I think we did eventually get her to swallow about three spoonfuls. However, soon after she started gagging and I am pretty sure at least two and a half of those spoonfuls came right back up. She hated the peas.
I was a little miffed, but still determined...she would like the next food better.
Three nights later we tried some green beans. She ate about two baby-spoonfuls. She didn't throw the green beans up, but she still made all of these horrible faces. She acted like we were asking her to eat feces or something. No green beans.
Three nights later and we tried some broccoli. Same thing. I was starting to wonder if it was worth all the effort to make the food if she wasn't going to eat it. I decided to try something yellow next. I got a nice squash and prepared it for her. She did a little better with the squash, but still didn't seem to like it.
We went through peas, green beans, broccoli, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, avocado, apples, and finally tried some banana. Claire really like the banana - she ate half of a banana in one sitting (which led to the The Big Poop) and probably would have eaten more if we had let her . I really wanted to get Claire eating veggies and a variety of fruits. She couldn't eat bananas for every meal for the rest of her life. I tried mixing some of her veggies with rice or oat cereal. Which helped some, but I could still not get her to eat even half of a serving of most things. After about three or four weeks of eating and trying new things we finally got into a rhythm.
I think I was feeding Claire some apples. The first bite was pretty typical Claire. She made a horrible face and acted like she wasn't going to have anything to do with me or the food I had made. Then she leaned forward and opened her mouth. I gave her another bite. She ate it. She leaned forward again and started reaching for the bowl. I gave her another bite. Pretty soon the whole bowl was empty. She had eaten two tablespoons full of apples.
At lunch that day I tried some sweet potato. She ate a whole serving of sweet potato. So at dinner I went back and tried peas. She gobbled up an entire serving of peas. I couldn't believe it. She still makes a funny face on the first bite of some foods, but she usually eats a whole serving of just about anything we try with her now.
Claire is now eating three solid food meals a day and still taking about 25 oz of breast milk. She has become a super eater. I can't believe that just a few months ago she was gagging up pretty much everything we tried to get her to eat. I never thought she would turn in to such a good eater. It just goes to show you that persistence pays off.
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