Hazel's First Cereal

We have taken the leap!

The past week and a half, Hazel has been draining me dry and begging for more. She's said goodbye to all of her 3-6 month clothing, and is now exclusively in 6-12 month duds. I guess it's time to grow again. I feel so bad when she's rooting & rooting & rooting for more, and there's just not a drop to be found.

She can sit unassisted, has been noticing food, can drink water out of a big-girl cup (but won't take a bottle, go figure), and seems generally hungry -- so I figured it was time to introduce some cereal. She's about 5 1/2 months, so we're right on the AAP's schedule.

I've been putting it off because (sorry to get graphic) her bowels have started really spacing out. She'll go about 5 or 6 days between number two's, which makes me cringe, but I guess it's fairly normal. Currently, she's on day 9 and we're still waiting for what promises to be a monstrous explosion. It's really really uncommon for a breastfed baby to get constipated (so they say), so I just keep working her legs, massaging her tummy, and letting her eat as much as she wants. Everyone has advice on the subject, and I welcome all of it. It didn't seem right at first to think about adding in something thicker than she's used to when she's potentially plugged up, but it seems that most of the material online & from my doc's office is telling me not to worry. So I'm done worrying. Bring out the spoon!

I made about 5 tsp of rice cereal with breastmilk. SHE LOVED IT!!!!! It all went well-- like she had been eating for months! I put some on the spoon and showed it to her; she opened wide and closed down on the cereal. Easy-peasy. Not all of it went down the hatch, she sometimes would just move it around in her mouth or ooze it out, but all in all I would call it a very successful first meal. Hooray!