The "moving onto Solids" experience

Hey everyone,
my girls turned 6 months yesterday and they are doing very well!!!

I took the giant step last week Sunday to start with solids. I would lie if i say it was easy - but we are getting there. I try to make it a fun time as far as possible, but i might need some advise from all you clever twin mommies.

K quickly got the "hang of it" and started opening the mouth and tasting the food and swallow. So she currently eats very well and she is a pleasure feeding. But D on the other has been a struggle - she did not take kindly to the "spoon -thing" with the porridge on it... and after a couple of tries and nice mess - i decided to try again the next day.
Today has been Day 5, and i am still struggling with her, she does not want to open her mouth and pushes everything out with her tongue, and after a couple of minutes struggling and trying to distract her thoughts, dancing like a crazy chicken in front of her just to cheer her up, she bursts out in a screaming sobbing teary tantrum cryiing spell.

So today i decided i dont want her to have any negative connectations to her feediing chair or the spoon or to feeding itself, so i tried the finger method - where i use my finger as a spoon and put my finger into her mouth - this worked quite well, the moment she feels something in her mouth she starts to suck.. and basically suck the porridge from my finger.
I also read about another solution which i tried.... i took one of her old number 2# teats and cut the hole nice and big. Poured the porridge into a small bottle and fed her the food through the bottle. This worked perfectly.

So i decided to do the bottle thing for a few days ( i will even feed her the veggies through the bottle now) and then after 2 or 3 days i will try the spoon again.

Did any of you experienced a struggle as well, and how did you deal with it?

PS: Dischem has got an awesome special on Pampers nappies for R169 for the Jumbo packs (3#, 4#. 4+#) and have you seen the latest baby section at Dischem - it is awesome and much cheaper than the baby shops, and i honestly think they have much nicer stuff now - so take the time and go and have a look.

Hey Page, sounds like she is not completely ready to move to spoon feeding, maybe go back onto formula, give it week and then try again? xx

HI

She may not like the poridge I mixed it with fruit and both boys love it. Also she may just not be ready yet like Lilly said. K took about two weeks longer than C to get comfortable with the spoon and eating so I just gave him two bites and the rest in a bottle.

Hi Page
I had the same with mine, O took to eating nicely immediately but R was a mess! AT the beginning we were "recycling" the food 3 tiems (put it in, she pushed it out on her tongue, then put it in again ect ect!). Anywya it took probably a month for her to get the hang of it, now she doesn't push it out anymore, but still eats slower than O. O also likes food more than her sister.

I feed them at the same time, next to each other, one spoon this side, then one that side. Gets VERY hectic when they are hungry!

I am assuming you are cooking for them, just a word to the wise... With miss D I made a bad mistake, I gave her a lot of prepared baby food (Purity, Olli) as I was working very long hours at the time, then had a hell of a time getting her to eat normal food. The twins et 90% home-cooked food and 10% jar food, and they eat much better than miss D did.

Good luck!

Page I also have one that likes eating alot and nicely even cries for more but the other one she is still not a good eater and very fussy. We didn't had the spoon problem but the recycling we did.

I put fruit olli in their cereal and mixed it with the veggies in the beginning to get them to eat it. Now I can leave it out and they eat it (5 weeks after we started) but then I struggle with constipation, so put some fruit inside the food and see what she wants. If I offer the food and she don't want it (veggies) and try only the fruit and she still don't eat then I don't force her and leave it there.

I am also putting them next to eat other, in the car seats, or on the floor and feed together, each have a spoon and bowl but it get tricky if they are really hungry and moan because you take too long.

I find Grace eats slower than Michael and also does the "spitting out" of the food - especially the rice cereal. Neither particularly liked the rice cereal so at 6 mths I switched to Cerelac porridge with banana and they love it! I think it does take time for them to get used to a particular texture and flavour. I also feed mine in their car seats on the coffee table while I sit on the couch. I know you are suppsed to use separate bowls and spoons but as long as they are both well I do from the same spoon and bowl.

Hi, me again - just wanted to give feedback on the "moving onto solids" saga and also have another question... or 2 or 3

Well, D is getting the hang of it with the eating - but yet still a challenge feeding her. At least it doesn't feel anymore as if the experience is negative .... (in the beginning i was so scared that she might start putting a negative experience to feeding since it turns out into such a drama and unhappiness for me and her)
K eats like a dream, and at least D eats now: it just takes longer and more effort doing the face pulling/dadadada/ open your month/ here comes the train/bbrrrrrrrrr/shhhhhhh whatever and well YES - i get her to eat eventually!!

They each have a little feeding chair which i put on top of the kitchen counter to feed them. ... And i feed them together.
But like i said K eats much easier and faster, and D - well you need to have time . But when it comes to the milk they are exactly the opposite!!!javascript:emoticonp('')

My girls will turn 7 months at the end of the week - and i have a new question.
Currently i feed them :
Breakfast - porridge(Olli) and fruit (and milk)
Lunch - vegetables and fruit (2 veggies and a fruit) and milk
Dinner - vegetables (2 veggies) and milk

First of all - i was wondering if its wrong to give 2 vegetables at the same feeding (well they seem to enjoy it so far..)
They are also struggling a lot with constipation, sometimes their dirty nappy is rock hard or a lot of small rocks - so they really struggle to "get it out..." sorry for the TMI...

last question i have: how much do you feed your babies....
My girls are growing VERY well and are "perfectly normal " weights with Nica weighing a whopping 8,7 now and Kiana 8 kilo's.
So they are quite top of the scale for girls and twins at this stage...
So now i am wondering if i am not feeding them too much.

How do you know if you are giving your kids too much .
Currently they dont get "hungry" and cranky anymore once they are due for a next feeding (i remember when they were younger , whenever you get closer to the timeslot for a milk feeding the kids started to get difficult and hungry for their milk)
So this indicates obviously that they are getting enough, but how do i know if it might be too much... Are they not picking up too much weight for their age now....
I keep on hearing people comment that their girls of 2 years old is only weighing 9 kilos now..... so it makes me worry.... like we always do...



Thanks ladies for such awesome advise and friendship here - you ladies ROCK!!!

Wow Page they are doing soo well! Mine are almost 10 months, and around 8.2kgs each!

Re their size, the ott way (ie my way!) is to plot their weight against their height on a percentile chart, that tells you easily if their weight is OK for their length. But that is probably a little OCD. I feed mine till they don't want to eat anymore, mine aren't big eaters or drinkers, so I try to get in as much as I can but they do tell me in no uncertain terms when they had enough!

BTW the pead told me 600ml/day after 6 months, and you also have to introduce meat (chicke, mince) into their diet after 6 months.

Re the veggies, my nanny often makes them stew, just throw everything together and they love it!