Before William was even born I knew I wanted to exclusively breastfeed William until he was at least 6 months old. I cried while breastfeeding William to sleep the night before his half birthday… It was the last time he would ever just have milk to nourish him before bed and it broke me a little. My baby boy was growing up and I just didn’t (and still don’t know) where the time has gone.
To celebrate Williams first 6 months of life we wanted to introduce him to avocado! We introduced William to avocado first because it is creamy, delicious and full of nutrients! Avocado is loaded with fat (good, whole fat that) and rich in calories. Avocado is a great source of fibre so it aids in the digestion of the food. A lot of babies get constipated when solids are introduced so this is a great supporting food to start out with!
I mashed it up instead of pureeing it. I also let him feed it to himself. I believe if he desires to eat food he should be able to do it himself. I didn’t want to force anything into his mouth that he didn’t want to eat. This was his first experience eating food that isn’t just milk and I wanted him to experience it the way he wanted to! I fully expected him to play with the avocado and having it in his hair and all over his body! It amazed me how well he did with getting food into his mouth. I thought he must be so ready to eat solids since he handled it so well and enjoyed every second of it, avocado up the nose and all!
Super proud of my baby boy, and so is his daddy (as you can tell by his beaming smile!)
When William had his first bowel movement after his avocado smash it was just about the exact same as it went in. I felt like his digestive track wasn’t ready for solid foods so we have put a stop to introducing solid foods. I don’t want to stop breastfeeding William at all, that wasn’t the point of introducing solids. William was really showing signs of wanting to eat food, ex: he was grabbing food off of my plate, out of my hands and grabbing at the food when it was going into my mouth. He would watch me prepare food so intensely, like he couldn’t miss a beat. I didn’t give him food to play with because I knew it would immediately go straight into his mouth to eat and I didn’t want him to eat any solids until he was 6 months old. I just felt that deep down he wasn’t ready for anything other than muscle milk until his half birthday.
I read some information on iron deficiency in children and that William may have a decreased risk of iron-deficiency anemia if he is exclusively breastfed for 7 months! I plan on breastfeeding him as long as I can, and primarily breastfeeding him for a few more months.
“Food before 1 is just for fun.”
Since William had avocado (1 month ago) he doesn’t freak out at the sight of food like he use to… We will try avocado again in a few weeks and see how he enjoys it and how his bowel movements are. I think the next food after avocado is going to be spotty b-a-n-a-n-a-s and I am so excited for him!
oh those baby feels 