She carried a watermelon!

Mae turned 6 months today – the long awaited date to Begin Solid Food. Hurrah! With some nerves due to all the naysayers with their choking scaremongering, we decide watermelon is The One – watery by name, watery by nature. We reason that should it be inhaled and become lodged in the wrong tube, it will dissolve before any damage is done. It’s seedless. It’s ripe. We’re ready. Mae is seated in her high chair, propped up by one bath towel and four rolled tea towels and strapped in ready for the rollercoaster ride that is food. We carefully select a cut of the watermelon that is shaped like a hot chip.

We put it on her tray for her to pick up but she doesn’t seem to get what we’re all doing here, even though Chris and I are armed with a piece each and are taking bites, chewing enthusiastically to show her the way. Eventually I put it in her hand, and to our delight, she wields it towards her mouth. It goes in and she sucks, her eyes popping out of her head at the new flavour. We try not to celebrate too much (the books says food should be a relaxed affair). Pink juice flows down her chins (Mae is on the 90th percentile for weight) and into her lap where her towelling bib collects it. Success!

Until the piece breaks in two, leaving one bit slipping out of her grip and the other sticking out of her mouth. We steel ourselves, poised to grab it out of her mouth should it slide down the wrong way. We know any sensible person could see that this just isn’t possible, so enormous is the bit, but we imagine the headlines now “Irresponsible Parents Feed Baby Giant Watermelon in Choking Tragedy!”. But of course it just kind of slides out the front along with the juice. She goes to pick up the fallen bit, it’s too slippery, I put it in her hand again, she puts it in her mouth and sucks. And so it goes for about 5 mins, until Mae starts her tired whinge and so we call it a day.

BLW, Day One, we decide is a success because she actually put some food in her mouth. Nothing has been swallowed except maybe some juice but even so, it seems like a good start.

Learnings:

• Mae likes watermelon
• Leave some skin on next time so she can hold the bottom
• This is going to be a long, slow process – when will she actually be eating proper food?
• Watermelon dyes clothes bright orange – who knew?