Rolling Over and Eating Solids

Yay! BC has been rolling for a while now but very sporadically and mostly I think it has just been an accident! Hehe, he has such a huge head (we like to think it's all those brains!) that I think he just topples himself over with the weight of his head! But yesterday, I got him up from his nap and popped him down onto his back while I was making his lunch and when I came back he was on his tummy! I had to think twice and be sure that I actually did put him down on his back! Then later on he rolled from his tummy to his back three times in a row. Yay, maybe we are on our way to mastering this skill.

As for solids, BC has eczema so we had to consult a paediatric allergy specialist and therefore had the luxury of asking the expert his opinion on starting solids and what foods to introduce and when. There is so much information out there on this topic and lots of contradicting advice about foods and allergies. My experience through university (majoring in immunology among other things) led me to believe that contrary to the current advice in Australia, holding off solids and delaying the introduction of certain foods, could actually LEAD to an allergy, rather than actually preventing it. We discussed this with the specialist who luckily for us is an expert in this area! For any Aussies out there, recently on the news there was an article about the early introduction of egg actually preventing an allergy rather than causing it. Well our specialist was one of the authors of this research.

After discussions with him and BC being tested for allergies to egg, peanuts and dust mites, he was diagnosed with eczema. I had eczema as a child and also suffer from asthma, hayfever and allergic rhinitis so it isn't looking good for BC but we have our fingers crossed anyway. We discussed the introduction of solid foods, the ideas of early introduction (around 4-5 months), delayed introduction (6-7 months) and the pros and cons of introducing or not introducing allergenic foods and in the end, with his expert advice, we decided that we would start solids at 4 1/2 months and that I would introduce foods in a logical and timely order, but that we wouldn't hold off on specific foods like eggs and peanuts as currently recommended.

Now of course I am just presenting here what we are doing and am in no way giving advice to others (you should definitely consult your Doctor)! Just sharing the things we are learning on our journey. So far BC is eating a variety of pureed foods such as apple, pear, mango, banana, blueberries, sweet potato, peas, corn, potato, carrot, pumpkin, zucchini, green beans, spinach, broccoli and more (of course most of this is in combination, BC nearly died when I tried to feed him straight pureed zucchini!). I mostly all my own food at home by steaming and pureeing the fruit and vegies and freezing in small quantities but we also use Rafferty's Garden products when we are out and about and BC is loving them! I love it too as they contain no added water, no sugar, no salt, no colours, no flavours, no preservatives, no genetically modified ingredients or anything else you can think of. They are literally pureed vegies and fruit AND NOTHING ELSE! What more can you ask for!