First food

Well, really, it's second food. I gave her a lick of my sucker for her birthday on March 5.



But on Sunday, we gave her the first official solids. I chose oatmeal for its (very slightly) enhanced taste and because I've heard rice cereal can be constipating, which I'd like to avoid. I also mixed it with formula, because at this point, I'm not getting enough pumped milk both to provide her evening bottle and to mix with cereal. I'm lucky to get enough for the bottle.

She HATED it. Really, I can't blame her. That formula smelled absolutely awful, so I can't imagine it tasted very good either. After a few bites, she got to the point where every time I brought the spoon up by her face, she would grimace and hold her mouth tightly closed. We ended up just putting her bib in the bath with her, since it was pretty slimed from having every single morsel of oatmeal smeared all over it. Strike one.

Before

During

After

Last night was much better. I decided that, worst case scenario, I can mix formula with her bottles. Or in a few more days, I can just add applesauce to the cereal instead of milk, right? So, I mixed it with real milk instead of formula. She took to it MUCH better, even smiling and laughing during the process, and ate the entire 1.5 teaspoons (I thought they were joking saying just to give them a teaspoon or two, but really, it was all we could handle. Less than half a grownup's bite.) Baby oatmeal today, cheesecake lollipops tomorrow. The journey has begun.

Much better, baby still smiling at the end

And just in case you missed it, at the far right, an empty bowl.