Cooper's first taste of fruit was last week when he got applesauce at breakfast every day. Every time he gets any solid food he puts up with about 5 minutes of effort to get him to open his mouth and every mouthful was greeted with serious disdain and fake gagging - no joke. At about that 5 minute mark he starts screaming. This was the reaction/experience with rice cereal, applesauce, peas, and sweet potato.
Well, bananas are apparently far more tolerable. Yesterday we gave him bananas (slightly warmed) and there was no horrific facial expression and no fake gagging response. AND - no screaming at the 5 minute mark. Don't get me wrong though - he was not acting excited and cooperative about it but as I find myself saying many times a day - baby steps.
Even without the nasty looks, gagging and screaming, Cooper won't open his mouth to receive food via a spoon. I've tried waving toys in front of him, singing and being silly, etc. Nope. He is SMART - the spoon comes in for a landing and he tightens those lips and turns his head as if to say "NO WAY".
So, I have resorted to tricking him. I hope this won't scar him for life or cause me great problems down the road. I have to have a bottle on the highchair tray and I have to pick it up and put it to his lips and he opens his mouth for the bottle and I sneak in a spoonful of bananas. I do this 3-4 times and then I put the bottle in his mouth and let him drink for a bit. Then I repeat the trickery. One time he gave me the look that says "you're a tricky mean lady" but I figure if I have to do that to get him to taste and eat something that he will actually like then maybe he'll realize it'd be much better if he would just open his mouth and welcome the food.
4 comments:
Isn't it funny the things we do to our children to get the results we want? It's a good thing they don't know any better and continue to love us just the same.
Coopie - I love bananas too! I have them with my oatmeal in the morning. I liked applesauce that way to! I tell ya, though, you are missing out with the squash!
sometimes they like to pick up food and put it in their mouths themselves. You could try it with banana, maybe. :) They say if you offer well rounded choices they will choose what they need, Never worry. :)
My child appears to be an "inhaler" of solid food. I've been making a gruel of sorts to try and get her to have more formula. It has applesauce, rice cereal and formula in it.
At this age, it is really about learning to eat, so it can take a while for the babies to get used to the whole shebang.
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