All Systems Go!

Abbie has been eating all sorts of things lately. The list of foods she has now tried includes.. corn on the cob, peaches, cucumber, roasted potatoes, roasted asparagus, bread roll, vegan butter (on bread), banana, and pasta tossed in pesto. We've pretty much stopped doing the Oatmeal cereal and decided to just go for it! She's a tiny girl, but man is she keen to eat. So adorable. She has also learned to sit up completely on her own as of last week so we are all systems go with BLW. Here are some pictures of our recent food adventures.

Peaches

Nothing quite like a fresh peach on a hot summer day..

Tonight, Abigail enjoyed her very first peach. I cut it into long thin chunks so she could hold onto it more easily. When first starting to eat solids, babies can only eat what sticks out of the top or bottom of their fists. They don't yet have the coordination to open their fist and eat out of it. That is why it's important to cut things into long strips, like the shape of fries. You will notice that if it's not long enough, baby will just get frustrated.

One huge difference between giving purees and BLW is that BLW encourages a child to learn to chew and keep food in their mouth and then swallow. When giving purees it's mostly just about getting them to swallow it. Babies who have been breastfed will naturally find it a little easier to get the hang of chewing simply because their jaws are using to having to work harder to get milk than bottle fed babes.

What a simple joy, to enjoy a lovely fresh peach as God intended it! Abigail will now know that a peach looks, feels and tastes like a peach and not just the same as every other fruit. I know it may sound like I'm a little intense about not giving purees...and I sort of am. I really think that in the same way we would rather enjoy fresh fruit, vegetables, grains and lean meats in their truest form than all pureed up, our babes are no different. If we can teach them from an early age that food is to be enjoyed in all colours, textures, shapes, sizes and tastes, then they are more likely to be good eaters who enjoy variety. Variety is the spice of life people! :)

Here is my little peach eating a peach..

To Cereal or not to Cereal

When we started Baby Led Weaning with Lucy, we didn't know a single other family who had done it with their children. We were excited to have stumbled upon such a great resource for our family, but also nervous that we would do it wrong and Lucy would end up starving and unable to express that to us. Enter baby cereal. We decided that along with letting her explore food at her own pace we would give her a bit of baby cereal each day (usually at breakfast time or supper time) until we felt she was getting the hang of the whole eating thing. Now, for some Baby Led Weaners that may be a faux pas but we were fine doing it this way because it allowed us to relax and not worry so much about how much she was or wasn't eating on her own.

There is no right or wrong way to introduce solids in my mind. Do what works for you and your baby. It may be a little of column A, a little of column B and that's okay. There will, of course, always be Doctors and books that have their recommendations but at the end of the day, this is your child and you know them best.

Here, for your viewing pleasure is little Abigail eating some oatmeal cereal for the 3rd or 4th time. If you are wondering why I give her oatmeal vs. rice cereal it is because I feel that oatmeal cereal has more nutritional value than rice cereal..it also tastes way better in my opinion. Here is our little cutie..