Today, little J (who is a few days shy of his 5-month-birthday) had a few bites of rice cereal mixed with breast milk. His face was just precious. He very happily opened his mouth when the spoon came near it, but the first bite was quite obviously not what he expected. There was some blowback. The next few bites went a little better, and he became a little chow-hound. It got to the point where I apparently was not fast enough with the spooning, so he tried to help expedite by grabbing the spoon. This served only to dump its contents into my lap. He quickly got angry. We opted to "boob him up" for the rest of this feeding.
He has been physiologically ready for solids for about a month now, but since he was gaining weight at a very decent pace (95th percentile) I felt it unnecessary to introduce rice cereal. In addition, J may (or may not) be our last baby, so there is a very unique desire to keep him a baby for longer. Since he sat unsupported at 20 weeks (we have to put him there, but he can stay up pretty well), it was time. Unfortunately, he cannot quite sit in a high chair or anything so solids will definitely wait until at least the recommended six months.
