The little guy is already over 5 months, and that means we are starting to bring solid foods in more regularly with him.  What a trip!

As with everything when you have a baby, first you need to get the gear – which means buying bibs and spoons.  For bibs, there are a billion choices, and we opted for the kind that is easy to clean (just rinse under the water), and that has a pocket in the front (easy for cleanup and as a drip catcher).  I found a great place at the Wan Chai market that I can get them for 15 HKD (2 USD, 18 SEK).  For spoons, there are also a plethora of options – big, small, long, short, and so on.  We already have these wonderful plastic spoons from Sweden that are unlike anything I have seen in the USA, but what I noticed when feeding the little guy is he still does not have control of his “chomp” – in other words he really bites down hard.  So, when we were at this fantastic store in Mong Kok where everything is 12 HKD (1,75 USD, 15 SEK), and we found these baby spoons made of silicone, I jumped on it and bought a few.

Now that we have the gear, it’s time to buy the food.  We brought with us porridge from Sweden, so we have been giving him this for the last 6 weeks on-and-off.  The problem is that he has been having a hard time with digesting the porridge (constipated amongst other things – which is no surprise, it is loaded with cow milk and other ingredients his little stomach probably does not know what to do with).  Add to the equation that we also bottle feed formula when breast milk is not enough, and you have a situation where the little guy has a hard time pooping.  So, he needs a little fiber, right?

When you buy baby food, there are so many choices, it is enough to make your head spin.  Carrots, Sweet Potato, Peas, Mixed Vegetable, and on and on.  And if you are in Hong Kong, you can also get pasta with red sauce, “cookie crumble”, and other things that I question the necessity to give to a child between 4-6 months.  We opted for the organic carrots and organic sweet potatoes, and also went for the organic peas.

We realized that the best thing about having a bottle warmer like we have is that it makes it really easy to heat up the jar of food, and it does it quickly without over-heating the jar.  We noticed that he expects his bottles to be warm, and once we noticed that this is the same for solid food, we could see what he thought of it, and know if he liked or disliked something based purely on the flavor, not the temperature.

So, did he like solid foods?

Definitely!  The little guy is pumped to sit there with the bib on, and whines a little if I take too long to give him a spoonful.  He is a fan of the carrots and sweet potatoes, and they also give him the fiber he needs with the porridge and formula, so that’s awesome.  What about the peas?  Nope, he hates ’em!  I’ve tried to give them to him when he is happily eating carrots, and he instantly goes from smiling to “what is this?!”  Yesterday, he actually just shut his mouth and that was the end of the feeding session.  No crying, no fighting it.  Just shut the mouth.  (smart kid, right? 😉 )

Now we are working out how we will balance doing more and more solid food, and how to balance that with formula, porridge, and breast milk.    The plan for the moment is to stay as long as we can primarily on breast milk, and supplement with formula during the day.  Then, in the evening, we will get into the porridge and baby food, to help him have the fullness to sustain him through the night.  This method worked last week, but this week has not been so successful, as he has been uncomfortable in the evenings.  We will find the right balance – one step at a time, right?