Solid Foods

We followed the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines to wait to start Sadie on solid foods until she was 6 months old.
When we did, I wanted to make all of her food.  Between talking to her doctor, researching online and talking to friends, I ended up buying her cereals and making the rest of food.
Her doctor suggested starting with the cereals, veggies next, then fruits, not trying a new food within 5 days of another new food to ensure no food allergies, and adding one meal every two weeks.
We started her off with about a tablespoon of rice cereal (Gerber baby cereal) mixed with breastmilk at dinner time.  It was interesting to watch her at first because she really had to figure out how to take in the food.  She figured it out fairly quickly.  The next food we added was oatmeal cereal.
When we got to veggies/fruits, I used the Baby Chef that we received as a shower gift.  The left side steams the food and the right side purees it. (Can you tell from the monitor that this picture is from one night when she was asleep?)

 After pureeing her food, I put it in these wonderful freezer cube trays that a friend passed along to me (that have silicone on the very bottom to make it easier to get the food out).  I freeze the cubes and then pop them out and place them in ziplocks to thaw when I need them.

I can't remember the exact order of the foods that I introduced, but I think that I may have started with peas and then carrots.  I've followed the food suggestions from Wholesome Homemade Baby Foods to know what to introduce.  

  Sadie now eats carrots, peas, green beans, butternut squash, pumpkin, chicken, apples, pears.   As far as finger foods, she'll eat avocados and bananas.  We buy baby yogurt and Gerber puffs also.

Sadie is a great eater and she'll now (at almost 9 months)eat about 4 veggie cubes with cereal and milk mixed in as well as two cubes of fruit/some finger food for lunch and dinner.  For breakfast, she'll usually eat 2 cubes of fruit with oatmeal mixed in or yogurt and part of a banana.  She always tells us when she's finished by closing her lips or starting to fuss.  She's also started showing  a preference towards the sweeter parts of her meal.