starting to feed baby bananas!

The forecast is calling for 8 - 12" of snow in the Philadelphia and surrounding areas today, if you can believe that!

So me, hubby, baby, 2 puppies and kitty are holed up in the house for a long weekend. We got a supply of 1st foods from Gerber and are joining the world of bananas this weekend. My son absolutely LOVES his rice cereal, and I'm sure he'll love all the new flavors that fruits and vegetables will open up to him. We're using Gerber 1st foods, so I logged onto the Gerber site, just to see if there was anything new to learn, and I have to say, I was very impressed!

They have their products and information sorted into stages - pregnancy, birth, supported sitter, sitter, crawler, etc. Which I think is great, because some of my son's skills are advanced for his age, some are behind. So when books/sites/etc break things down by age only, I have a very hard time deciding which area to follow. His most advanced skill, his slowest skill? This site made it much easier to know where to go!

In each category, there's tons of information - parenting advice, nutritrition and feeding, special offers (we all love coupons, right?) and more. You can log in and enter your child(ren)'s age and the site will direct you to appropriate information. There are articles on the kinds of questions that I didn't know I would have once we started solids. How do we know if he's done? What's a good balance of nursing and solids? What should he absolutely not have? How do I know when he's ready for the next level of food?

I do have to say our pediatrician is absolutely wonderful at answering these questions as well, but sometimes there are so many questions and answers that I forget some of the answers. Or sometimes my questions aren't fully formed around a time that coincides with a doctor's appointment. Sometimes its just nice to get some extra validation. And I have to say a majority of the answers found on Gerber match the information given to me by my pediatrician. Which also gives me more confidence in their information.

There is also the option to create menus based on whether your child is breastfeeding or using formula. The site, and my pediatrician strongly recommend adding new foods at least 5 days apart, so that if your child has food allergies or sensitivities you will be sure which food is causing the problem. But once your child is eating a variety of solid foods, the site allows you to enter your menu to determine how nutritionally balanced your child's menu is.

I have to say I was impressed by the information available on the Gerber site and I plan to revisit the site often in the coming months.

So here we are, all stuck inside for the snow storm, hubby and baby are napping on the couch and I'm watching the snow fall, wondering just how much we're going to get! Enjoy the winter weekend, and I hope you and all yours are warm and snuggled in....