Rice, schmice

Ever since Jacob was born, I’ve been looking forward to the moment when he would try “real” food for the first time with trepidation and sadness. In my mind, it signaled the moment that he was no longer totally dependent on me for life. (It also signaled this to my boobs.) Instead of needing me, he would be beholden to the rice farmers of the world and whoever it is that makes those nifty little silicone spoons they sell at Walmart.

But J has been reaching and grabbing for our plates during mealtime for the past month, so despite my reservations, we decided to give Jacob his first taste of real food last week.

It started out okay, as you can see:

But, things went downhill quickly:

Now, I’m not usually the type to try something before I’m thoroughly informed. (Seriously, I won’t even buy dish soap without reading at least a dozen reviews.) But, for some reason, I listened to The Establishment for his first feeding and bought rice cereal. Mistake #1.

We followed the instructions, mixing breast milk with the cereal, before offering it to him by spoon. Mistake #2. He squealed (not in a good way) and sputtered and turned all shades of red. When he reached crimson, we decided the color clashed with his eyes and decided to try something else. We added more breast milk and threw it all in a bottle. (Mistake #3. I recommend pouring it instead.) Then came more squealing and gagging and sputtering. Finally, after about an hour, he choked it all down.

Now, I know that rice cereal has been used for years, and it hasn’t caused anyone to sprout extra legs or horns or any other strange appendages. However, there is concern among the granola types that it is essentially the equivalent of table sugar and, as such, it sets kids up to prefer processed foods later in life. And, of course, we all know that, despite what our taste buds tell us, this is bad.

So, long story short, we’ve decided to say “so long” to rice cereal and stick with natural foods at least for J’s first year or two, at least.

Sorry rice growers of the world.

(If you want to see how Jacob feels about the sweet potato farmers and banana harvesters, check back in on Wednesday for the verdict … and more photos.)