“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop
whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.”
- Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright in Pavarotti, My Own Story

Ibu told me that I had my first food when I was only 4 months young; Mak Tok bancuh tepung gandum dengan air, kacau atas api perlahan sampai likat, and fed me tepung gandum! Seawal 4 bulan! Haha. According to MIL, my first brother in law was given his first taste of solid food at tender age of 2 months! His baby sitter fed him pisang salai. My second brother in law started around 4 months old, because he refused to drink any type of infant milk; breast milk tak nak, susu tepung dari yang murah hinggalah yang paling mahal, semua tak nak. So how did he survive? Susu pekat! So with him, MIL had to start early on foods lah sebab tak cukup nutrition lah minum susu pekat. And he’s an accountant in London now, mind you.

Maybe I should start feeding Hadi with susu pekat. Kidding.

Orang dulu-dulu were more relaxed when it comes to these kind of things. Hidup bijak sihat sejahtera saja my husband’s brothers makan pisang salai and minum susu pekat. Haha. Mothers these days tend to be lebih berhati-hati sebab we’re exposed to sangat banyak information and guidelines and what not. And the latest guidelines by WHO is to feed baby with only breast milk for baby’s first 6 months. No foods, no air masak. Mummy's milk only.

Lagi banyak baca memang akan lagi pening; macam-macam opinion and sometimes conflicting. But most agree that don’t start too early, but don’t start too late either. So how do you know that your baby is ready for solid foods? Well, you’re his mother, you’ll know your baby. And yes, as his mother, I think Hadi dah menunjukkan semua tell-tale signs that he’s ready for solids.

(1) Start at around six months: Hadi is 5 months 1 week. Close enough.

(2) Your baby should at least have doubled his birth weight: His birth weight is 3.65 kg and last time we checked, at 4 months, Hadi was 8.5 kg. Should be more by now.

(3) Start when the baby seems to be interested: He is! How does one know? One way to tell is, dia suka tengok makanan, mulut terkumat-kamit tengok kita makan, he tries to grab your foods or plate or spoons. Hadi does all that and more. Haha.

Hadi makan semua benda sekarang. Ini teether kegemaran dia.
(4) Your baby can hold his head steadily and sit well on your lap. He doesn't have to be able to sit by himself, though: Checked!

(5) He seems hungry: Hadi wakes up more frequently at night than he usually did nowadays. Mula-mula I thought it was just a phase; for comfort feeding sebab he was not feeling well, and later I thought because he is teething. Tapi bila dia bangun, dia minum bersungguh-sungguh, macam sangat lapar, kasihan betul.

Lalu, pada hari Sabtu yang lalu, pada tarikh 16.10.2010, bersaksikan Mama, Papa, Nenda dan Wan, Hadi makan buat kali pertama! Sikit saja sebenarnya. I got some Cerelac samples from the Baby Expo I went to the other day so I mixed satu sudu rice cereal with breast milk sampai cair. Just to let him have a taste of real food. Yeay! I’m planning to feed him again this coming Sabtu.


SO, DID HADI LIKE IT?

NEED I SAY MORE?! KAH KAH KAH!