Recently Ingrid has started to show a lot of interest in food and meals. During my meals, she sits and stares with great fascination as I eat and drink. I gave her a spoon of her own to play with while sitting at the table, so that she could take part in the meal. She chewed the spoon with great enthusiasm, and quickly figured out which way it fit best in the mouth. But after a while it was clear that an empty wasn’t entirely satisfying: she started trying to reach for my juice glass and my sandwiches.

We guessed that this might mean that she was ready for some real food, so today we tried to give her solids again (after having abandoned the first attempt). And what a difference it was! This time she devoured everything we gave her and demanded more. We started with some pureed carrot, same as last time. When that had been gobbled up and she was making very disappointed noises, we tried apple as well, and it vanished with similar speed. It got to the point where we didn’t dare give her more and switched to milk, even though she would happily have continued.

I was reminded of the way a friend of mine described her son’s first meal of solids: “he swallowed it as if he had been starving for 6 months”. That is exactly the way Ingrid behaved today! After having seen this, it was very clear that our first attempt really was too early. I suspect that stories about how hard it can be to get babies to accept solids are caused by the same mistake: starting before the baby is ready.

Coming soon: cauliflower, sweet potato, broccoli, and rice. (If we sneak in the broccoli early enough, she won’t know that children aren’t supposed to like broccoli, so perhaps she might even enjoy it.)