Clueless....

It has come to my realization that I have no idea what I'm doing. It wasn't that someone told me I'm clueless, it just was an epiphany I had. This new found knowing came about when I started the wee one on "solid" foods. I have read several books, articles, blogs, etc on feeding babies and the more I read, the more I have no idea what I'm doing!  E is 6 months and honestly, I haven't a clue if I'm doing everything "right". Yeah yeah, there probably isn't a right way or a wrong way, but there are SO many ways! The Ped said to start introducing solids to her between 4-6 months. My research indicated that for an exclusively breastfed baby, introducing solid foods should happen between 6-8 months. The last thing I want is for her to wean herself or me lose my supply because she's getting too much solids. So, we started with a little rice cereal. What who wants to eat that? It looks like slop they feed to POWs. After a day of having that flung across the kitchen, we waited a little bit longer.

The next week, I got an avocado and pureed it with a little breast milk and some rice cereal in it. Day 1 and 2 of that was a repeat of the flying food incident as before. Day 3 was when it clicked! She ate the whole bowl like a champ, like she'd always been eating off a spoon. But of course it wasn't that easy. E didn't take an afternoon nap. Which was TORTURE. She is such a regular nap taker it had me pulling my hair out. We operate on 2 hour intervals. She's up for two hours, then asleep (usually) for 2 hours. Those 2 hour nap times are when I get to shower, eat, work, etc. So not having that afternoon nap meant we both were frustrated.

So back to do more research I went. Lovely, knowledgeable mothers on the internet told me that I should feed her about an hour after I nurse, because until she's bigger, breast milk should still be her number 1 nourishment. Another book I consulted said that I should feed her this "solid" meal around lunchtime. But, what about her nap! Feeding her at that point would basically mean keeping her awake, which wouldn't go over well! This same book said I should try feeding her first "at the breast" then feed her the solids, then feed her back on the boob. Which I tried. Not gonna lie. It wasn't fun. She did ok, but for mommy waiting to feed on the second side really isn't pleasant! Oh and the regular sleeper took only about an hour nap :(

So...it was at this point, I discovered I put on a good show, but I got no idea what I'm doing! The more I read, the more I get swamped with information that could or could not be the answer. I swear I've done more research on being a mom, than I did in law school. But, with all that being said, the one good thing I have to report is my kid is still growing and alive! I can't be screwing up too much if thats the case right?  Clueless or not, I'm doing it my way. And I've got a happy, chubby baby that thinks its all good regardless :)