mmmm...cereal!

We started Griffin on cereal last week!  We spoke to his pediatrician at his last appointment about starting solids.  I had a little trepidation about starting solids, especially since he was doing so well.  Why fix something if it's not broken?  His doctor gave us great advice, he said there was no "right or wrong" way to start solids, and that we could start them anytime between 4-6 months. He also said to look for cues from Griffin.  For example, is Griffin interested in the food we eat?  Does he smack his lips or chew on his hands when we are eating?  Also, if Griffin was sleeping good and night and then started to wake up hungry, or needing to eat more frequently during the day, we might want to start him on cereal.   He told us when we are ready, to start on cereal and then move on to vegetables and meat.  I wasn't sure I wanted to go that route quiet yet because I wanted Griffin to get all the nutrition he needed from breast milk, because once you start solids the immune boosting antibodies in breast milk are less efficient.  Also, with going back to work my supply had dropped so I wanted to make sure he wouldn't get full on solids and then not want to nurse, only making my supply issues worse.  So why did we start him on cereal?  Our little baby that was sleeping pretty good started waking up every 2 hours again to eat!  After 3 nights of that we decided it was time!  We started him on rice cereal once a day until we made sure it wasn't making him constipated.  Now he eats it 2-3 times a day.  We also started rotating in oatmeal, as it can be less constipating.  Here are some pictures of his first time eating like a big boy!

First spoonful of rice cereal!

He wanted to eat the spoon!

Not so sure about it!

Trying to not get it all over his face!

Trying it again the next day!

Love this!

Oatmeal!

Love this one!

It's been about a week since we started the cereal, Griffin has figured it out for the most part. Still learning how to push food from the front to the back, so about half the time he spits it out. Its fun to feed him and he seems to be enjoying it too. The last three nights or so he has only been up once or twice at most, so hopefully its helping. If not, whatever...I'm done trying to figure his sleeping issues out :)