Rice Cereal

So, remember when I said I needed to brace myself for the fact that I might need to start SJ on rice cereal before I would like to? Well, I was right. Our doctor suggested at four months that we start some rice cereal. I thought about it and decided, "no thank you"... at least for now. SJ is growing great, which makes me want to continue to nurse until there is a more substantial need. Plus, there is just this stigma that good nursing moms don't start solids until the latest possible date. I've got to get these things out of my head!
Well, last week SJ finished her one month round of Prevacid and we were still hearing lots of wheezing/gurgling sounds from her as well as other signs of reflux. We are not sure if her naps are also influenced by the reflux but she is still irregular about taking good naps. So I called to ask the doctor what to do and he asked the dreaded questions, "have you started the rice cereal"... ummm, well, nooo. So, he told us he really wanted us to try it just to see if it would help keep the reflux down. So, dragging my feet... we tried it this weekend. I needed Drew for moral support. I made it per the directions and it was really soupy. She didn't even eat a teaspoons' worth. We also had to switch from the bumbo to the bouncy seat b/c she isn't great at sitting up and focusing on eating.
I will admit, I was relieved she didn't love the stuff and continues to spit it out as fast as I can drip it in. I'm trying to give her about half a tablespoon in the morning and in the late afternoon but we have yet to finish that much even. I also got the doctor to refill the prescription with the agreement that it might take a while (cough cough... another month..) for her to really take the cereal... or anything enough to actually help with the reflux. So I'm giving her half a dose of meds and a few sips of cereal and hoping to wait until closer to six months to actually dive into this "solids" stuff full force.
I'm also thinking that when we do start solids we will skip pureed foods for the most part... I've give them to her some (maybe once a day) but then we're going to just let her start with squishy solids and see how that goes. Or so, that's my plan for now. It's from a book called baby-led weaning that I read about and just ordered from Amazon.
It's amazing how much I was looking forward to solid foods when I was dealing the the nursing strike and other complications and now that it's here I am dragging my feet. It is hard to see my baby hitting such a huge milestone already! I didn't think it would be as emotional a decision as it has been! I'm still looking forward to seeing her grow and develop and enjoy new foods but I am happy to wait another month or so b/c I will never have these exclusively nursing days back.
So, here's a video of SJ and her first cereal experience and then a picture that completely explains why I am reluctant to give up any nursing time with my baby. Enjoy!
*** Sorry, I've been trying to upload this video for HOURS and it still isn't processed... I need some one to teach me a better way to upload videos on here. Enjoy the picture instead!