How to feed a baby....

I don't function well on Monday :(

To stop myself from squeezing my eyeballs out of its sockets, I decided to do a bit of research on baby feeding. I'm planning to feed Ryan solid food soon (Maybe after his 5 months checkup or later depending on the doctor's feedback). So I reckoned a lot of "research" must be conducted to ensure smooth first feeding experience :)

How do you know that the baby is ready for solid food? (source babycenter.com)

- Head control. Your baby needs to be able to keep his head in a steady, upright position CHECK
- Losing the "extrusion reflex." To keep solid food in his mouth and then swallow it, your baby needs to stop using his tongue to push food out of his mouth. Hmm how can you tell?
- Sitting well when supported. Even if he's not quite ready for a highchair, your baby needs to be able to sit upright to swallow well. CHECK
- Chewing motions. Your baby's mouth and tongue develop in sync with his digestive system. To start solids, he should be able to move food to the back of his mouth and swallow. As he learns to swallow efficiently, you may notice less drooling — though if your baby's teething, you might still see a lot of drool. Errkk?
- Significant weight gain. Most babies are ready to eat solids when they've doubled their birth weight (or weigh about 15 pounds) and are at least 4 months old. CHECK
- Growing appetite. He seems hungry — even with eight to ten feedings of breast milk or formula a day. CHECK
- Curiosity about what you're eating. Your baby may begin eyeing your bowl of rice or reaching for a forkful of fettuccine as it travels from your plate to your mouth. Ryan is always curious over everything I do lah.

What do you need to feed your baby?

1. A cook book.

I so want these Annabel Karmel books, but it's not available in MPH. Would need to wait till June for delivery. Will probably order it online if they don't have the book in Borders, Popular or Times. Why do I want the book? They have great recipes for babies and toddlers, which is not confined to normal and bland baby food recipes (suggestion includes using spices, curries etc) in baby food so that they won't become picky eaters later on. They even have recipes for baby pasta *yummy* (The recipes are in her website but I don't want to print/photostat, I want the book ;p)

2. A food processor

I have my eyes on this Philips Avent Baby Food Processor, which come with containers to freeze the food. It is even on 20% sale in Parkson.

3. Supplementary Food choices?

I think once I get the go ahead from Doctor Sofia, I will probably be feeding Ryan with the Farley Rusk Biscuits + milk and a week later graduate to rice cereal with milk. After that I'm planning to prepare Ryan's food and freeze some on the days that I'm too busy to cook.I know you can get the food in the jars but my mum is kind of against some of the imported baby food (esp those in a jar) because of the "halal" issues. Malas nak argue because she may have a point :p heheh and some of the food may contain preservatives so Lan and I decided to keep those to the minimum (I won't say I'll NEVER use it because I may end up eating my own word hehe)

4.Feeding Set

I will just get one of the cute ones from JJ or Parkson. I like the idea of Thomas the Train or Sesame Street. Please don't suggest Barney because I really hate that stupid purple dinosaur (sorry Kakak ;p) I just find him annoying so I rather not "start" Ryan on any Barney craze. May end up punching someone if I have to listen to him all the time (haha)

Wondering wondering....

Vulli The Giraffe Teether.

This supposedly "french" giraffe garnered a lot of great reviews, I saw the likes of Harlow (anak Nicole Richie) and Violet Affleck (Anak Ben Affleck and Jennifer Gardner) playing with it, but it's blardy expensive so I'm not sure if it is worth it. Hmmm pelik kan? Looks like a doggie chew toy :)

I want to go home to cheeky cheeks... miss him so much today....