The big things going on in AB's life these days are:
1) working towards crawling,
2) working towards sitting up on her own and
3) developing her fine motor skills so she can begin to self-feed.
We started AB on solids at 4 months. I know lots of folks wait until 6 months but there is the suggestion among the medical community to start at 4 months. My husband and I followed AB's cues when making that decision. We noticed around the 3.5 month mark that AB watched us more closely when we were eating. She perked up and took notice if she smelled food cooking and practically drooled when we were eating out and a waitress brought our food out.
If AB had been breast-fed and had more variety in her diet, I may have waited. Breast milk taste is affected by the foods the mom eats. Formula, however, doesn't come with that perk. I know AB didn't know that there was more to life than just the taste of Enfamil, but Beau (my husband) and I did.
We started her out with things like avocado, squash, etc. We took care to introduce only one food at a time and to space them out. The only thing (which is weird to me) that we have had any issue with is brown rice flour...weird right? She gets a slight redness on her cheeks when we feed her this. So we have stopped. I also have not introduced any wheat products. I just have read and heard (no scientific studies, just speculation) that this could lead to a gluten intolerance or allergy later in life. There are plenty of other ways for AB to get whole grains so I figured I would skip that for now.
I used to work as a Parent Educator helping families to stay involved in the lives of their children and teach them about development so that they can be kindergarten ready. One of the ages I always had a tough time with was the 6 month mark. Kids are right on the cusp of doing so many things at this age, but they just aren't quite there yet. Tummy time is still great and very helpful but what about trying to exercise those muscles that help your child to sit-up and use their fingers? What kind of toys/games are there for those things?
One of the things I learned in my former role was to use what you have around the house to engage your child. So I encouraged parents to do things like sit their child up and use pillows as cushion in case of falling when trying to engage their child and teach them to sit up. The other thing we suggested was using different materials to engage their children. Kids learn so much through what they can feel at this age. Different textures are amazing to children. That is why you see so many blankets and toys with a variety of textured surfaces.
1) working towards crawling,
2) working towards sitting up on her own and
3) developing her fine motor skills so she can begin to self-feed.
We started AB on solids at 4 months. I know lots of folks wait until 6 months but there is the suggestion among the medical community to start at 4 months. My husband and I followed AB's cues when making that decision. We noticed around the 3.5 month mark that AB watched us more closely when we were eating. She perked up and took notice if she smelled food cooking and practically drooled when we were eating out and a waitress brought our food out.
If AB had been breast-fed and had more variety in her diet, I may have waited. Breast milk taste is affected by the foods the mom eats. Formula, however, doesn't come with that perk. I know AB didn't know that there was more to life than just the taste of Enfamil, but Beau (my husband) and I did.
We started her out with things like avocado, squash, etc. We took care to introduce only one food at a time and to space them out. The only thing (which is weird to me) that we have had any issue with is brown rice flour...weird right? She gets a slight redness on her cheeks when we feed her this. So we have stopped. I also have not introduced any wheat products. I just have read and heard (no scientific studies, just speculation) that this could lead to a gluten intolerance or allergy later in life. There are plenty of other ways for AB to get whole grains so I figured I would skip that for now.
I used to work as a Parent Educator helping families to stay involved in the lives of their children and teach them about development so that they can be kindergarten ready. One of the ages I always had a tough time with was the 6 month mark. Kids are right on the cusp of doing so many things at this age, but they just aren't quite there yet. Tummy time is still great and very helpful but what about trying to exercise those muscles that help your child to sit-up and use their fingers? What kind of toys/games are there for those things?
One of the things I learned in my former role was to use what you have around the house to engage your child. So I encouraged parents to do things like sit their child up and use pillows as cushion in case of falling when trying to engage their child and teach them to sit up. The other thing we suggested was using different materials to engage their children. Kids learn so much through what they can feel at this age. Different textures are amazing to children. That is why you see so many blankets and toys with a variety of textured surfaces.
To practice what I used to preach with Annabelle as it relates to fine motor skills I took a look around the house and picked up some ribbon scraps (leftover from some costumes I am making for our church Sunday School). After eating breakfast, I kept AB in her Bumbo chair and (sorta) wiped the tray down and covered it with ribbon scraps. AB wasn't sure what to think at first but after a few minutes and some encouragement she started to move them around and even pick them up! This type of activity requires parental supervision of course. You have to make sure your kiddo doesn't swallow a ribbon. I also made sure that they were not too small but not too long (too small-she could swallow to easily, too long she could wrap them around a body part and cut off circulation). Also, any time your kid is in a Bumbo chair you need to keep them on a low surface so they don't fall out.
(Told you I didn't wipe the tray too well)
All these parental warnings aside though, this was a really fun activity for AB. Next up, I'm going to sort through my fabric scraps and get a variety for AB to play with in her Bumbo. The thing I like about this activity is that it gets AB practicing both sitting up and using her fine motor skills. Right now I am spoon-feeding her mushy solids but soon she will need to learn how to pick up foods and feed herself and with this and other fine motor activities she'll be ready to go when it is time.
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