After a lot of pondering and research, I decided to give her chicken as her fourth new food.

From research I’ve found that chicken (and other meat) are one of the best foods to give a 6 month old as it contains a lot of iron and other nutrients, essential for them (especially breastfeeding babies, as they may lack the require amount of iron)

I didn’t want to serve it plain at first, so I decided to add rice and just a little bit of garlic.
I’ve also learned that adding spices and herbs are okay even at this stage. (Remember salt and sugar are not okay for babies below 1)

My daughter didn’t seem to hate it, she ate a couple of spoons and didn’t want to continue. I tasted it myself (before offering her) and it was better than I expected, with a faint garlic taste hitting the spot.

Why should we serve our babies bland food if we are not going to eat it ourselves? Make sure to always taste the food before offering.

This has been the best puree so far!She loved every bit of it. Almost emptied the entire bowl (just a small bit of it was left).

Unlike before (when I made apples) I decided I won’t steam, and instead blended them with the steamed sweet potatos straight away (skin peeled). I think it tastes better that way. Steaming apples gives a.. (I don’t know how to describe it but) a weird flavour, maybe that’s why she didn’t like it before? And the consistency was a factor too. I think.

Since she has a new found love for water, we waited until she ate half way to offer it (because she might reject the food and just want water instead).

We’re now offering sips of water outside of meal times as well (make sure not to over do it, especially if your baby loves water and wants more of it.. keep it within a limit and offer them breastmilk/formula)

She’s starting to get the hang of food!

I don’t think my daughter is a fan of thick purees or mashes yet so I decided to make this one a bit thinner. And she liked the consistency. I tried to go by the advice I was given, but in the end you’re the one who knows your baby best, right? If you feel your baby needs an extremely runny puree, or mashed, or the baby-led-weaning approach, then go for it! Listen to your gut, but do consult their doctor as well.

Sweet potato is a great source of fibre and packed with vitamin A, vitamin C (and several other vitamins and minerals)! I decided this would be the first vegetable for her based on the reviews I’ve seen from other moms. Apparently a lot of babies really love this (and now mine included).

Her first vegetable! But we only added a little bit. She seemed to like it better than the plain rice (obviously, who wouldn’t? No one likes bland rice).

I decided to puree using the rice water instead of breastmilk today. I didn’t want her to get used to having breastmilk in all of her food. She ate about two spoons and wasn’t in the mood to continue. But water is becoming a hit!

Tip:
Don’t give too much water during meal times (just a few sips throughout), It could make them full and refuse to eat. Also.. don’t give too much of water outside of meal times either, because they might be full and refuse breastmilk/formula (which contains all the nutrients they need for now).

This went better than the apples! She seemed to like it.
Still a little bit of crying involved though, and we found out that it was (mostly) because of the chair. She didn’t like being strapped to a chair with a huge tray infront of her so we tried things a bit differently later on and it went better than expected. Not to mention all the new things happening all of a sudden would be pretty overwhelming for her.

We also discovered that she loves drinking water, especially from a small glass cup. We haven’t offered in a sippy cup just yet.

I initially wanted to start with brown rice, but listened to what the doctor recommended. Maybe following a mother’s intuition is better sometimes.

She is starting to get used to eating now. And hopefully she’ll get used to her highchair too!

As per a doctors advise, we started off with red apples (recipe below).
Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to like it at all. There was a lot of crying involved.
Maybe we could’ve been better prepared though.. She was a bit sleepy (and hungry cause she wouldn’t breastfeed well before) so that had a lot of affect on how she reacted.
I’ve read that it is best to start solid food after a good nap. But it took longer than we anticipated to get everything ready (it was just an apple, i know.. but still.. first time, right?). Not only that though, since we were all surrounding her (for pictures and video since it was the first time), that distracted her and also made her fussier. So I advise to make the first day a quiet meal time, with less distractions (i.e. paparazzi).

The second day she gagged with the first spoonful, which made her furious and ruined her entire mood. But we kept offering a little bit, she tasted and cried some more but drank water (from the spoon).
Third day was a bit better. She still didn’t like it all that much, but tasted more of it and was calm for a while. Maybe she just doesn’t like the texture of apple just yet. Or maybe the problem is I didn’t make a smooth puree and instead opted for a mash? (doctor recommended). Either way we’ll try apples again later!

Oh and the first apple we tried didn’t really taste too well, so we bought two different versions to try and they seemed a bit better

TIP:
Remember the 3 day rule!
Offer a food for atleast 3 days before introducing a new one (to determine allergies).