Cereal Attempt No.8

Almost every other mom I talk to says their son/daughter loved eating new food - including rice cereal, the standard first food for babies. However, Dash has still not taken too kindly to the idea of being fed by a spoon! I was beginning to lose hope until I received some input from my old pediatrician. She said that by the 12th attempt, babies are good with it. 

I think we're on attempt No. 8 (I dunno really, I made that up!), and we're making slow progress. At first, Dash would grimace when the new food/spoon hit his mouth. Then, he'd hold his tongue very still (with the food on it), almost as if he was thinking, "maybe if I don't move this weird stuff will go away." Finally, the bite would conclude with a complete spit-out, making all that sticky cereal run down his face. 

I read in a book that, when introducing new foods, you should let the baby play with the food. They suggested pouring some on a highchair tray and letting the baby play with it. Although the book did not warn about the clean-up associated with this learning technique, I think it was still a huge success! Dash loved playing with it...and then later, offered a few smiles between bites (and by "bites" I mean small tastes while most of the spoon's contents drip out of his mouth onto his bib). We'll keep trying though!!

Oh, and Max had a pretty good time - he ate cereal on the very first try!