Ok I am probably doing this out of order, but just now realized I didn't include this info! I had my first child, Samuel, last November. He was a breastfed baby from the start. I breastfed exclusively for 4.5 months then went back to work and could not pump enough so he started getting some formula. Probably around 6 months I got less and less milk and finally at 8 months I threw in the towel. He wouldn't nurse from me anymore anyways, I guess he got used to the fast flow of the bottle nipple and got fed up with mine. It was heartbreaking, I pumped every 2 hours religiously, even woke up in the middle of the night to pump and/or nurse him. I tried mother's milk tea, fenugreek, blessed thistle, eating oatmeal, drank lots of water......still no real improvement. I had a lot of difficulty in the beginning with a cracked nipple and then got mastitis twice, wondering if all of this affected how I was building up my milk supply. Oh well, you live, you learn and I hope to make it to 12 months next time around. So, now he gets the best formula on the market (in my opinion) and I am trying to make the best decisions with his solid foods that I can. Probably my favorite hobby other than eating, is cooking food from scratch. Do I cook every meal from scratch? No, but I really do enjoy cooking.

When he was 5 months old I tried some rice cereal, he did not really eat it. We sort of played with a few solid foods like the cereal, peas, and sweet potatoes but he did not want it at all. Then about 6 months he totally switched one day and started eating anything and everything you put in front of him. I wanted to wait until 6 months to start solids but you know you get a lot of pressure from family and friends, so I caved at 5 months and tried the food. But Sam made the decision for himself that he wasn't ready. But now he eats everything! So, that is pretty much the background :)