Lilly is Eating Solids & I’m Freaking Out

By 965koit on August 19, 2019

Lilly is now 9-months old.

At her last doctor’s appointment, her pediatrician said that she should start eating more solid foods.

I asked what kind of foods she should be eating, and she told me that I should give her small bite-sized pieces of veggies, fruits, and protein. They need to be small enough for her to mash in her mouth and something she can’t choke on.

So over the weekend, I went out and bought bananas, avocados, sweet potato crips, whole-grain oats cereal, yogurt melts, and some pureed protein packs.

What I didn’t realize when I was shopping was how many mini heart attacks I would have while Lilly tries to eat.

I cut up the bananas into small pieces and placed them in front of Lilly. She stared at them for a second before digging in. The problem is they were too slippery, so I put them in her mouth for her.

Then I watched in horror as she started to gag.

My heart was beating so hard I thought I was about to pass out, but Lilly ended up mashing the banana on the roof of her mouth and swallowing it. Of course, she had to show me first.

So I gave her a piece of avocado.

This time the gaging sounded like choking. Lilly coughed the piece up along with the little bit of banana she just ate.

At that point, I just took everything away from her and gave her the puree.

The whole rest of the day I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Was I pushing her too fast? Maybe she’s not ready. I went online, and all the sites I went to said I was giving her the right food for her age group. I made sure I was cutting them up into smaller pieces as the articles said, so what was I doing wrong?

The next day I gave her some of the yogurt melts and sweet potato crips. She seemed to do much better with those because they dissolve quickly on her tongue. I also gave her some mashed up blueberries which might have been too tart for her.

I’m seriously white-knuckling it with every piece of food that goes into her mouth. I know that she needs to learn this crucial lesson, but I want to rip her from her high-chair, swaddle her, and force her to drink from a bottle for the rest of her life.