Showing posts with label Baby Led Weaning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baby Led Weaning. Show all posts
Friday, September 11, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Ella Roo, 8 Months Old
Time is just whipping on by and my little stinker is already 8 months old now. She is such a sweet baby, so smiley and good natured. She wakes up happy, puts up with her brothers' noise and doesn't mind going with the flow.
She is knee-deep in seperation anxiety, but is okay if she can see mama. It's hard not to laugh when she bursts into tears just because I walk away to go get a drink. I try to keep her happy and cart her along with me where ever I go.
She is just loving feeding her self! I can't express how well Baby Led Weaning has worked for us. I am so glad I am not fighting to get a spoonful of runny, sloppy baby food in her mouth. I'm not worrying if she didn't eat x amount of said sloppy food. I'm glad that I don't have to stress out because we don't have a certain baby food on hand for her. She eats what we eat, as long as it is healthy for her. No nuts/milk/eggs/honey yet, not til after 1 year old or later on most of those. She's tried a little yogurt, but she wrinkled her nose at it. I have a cute video of her eating asparagus to post when I can get it loaded on my computer.
Eleanor is quite the acrobatic breastfeeder. And going through the distracted nurser stage. Mama is not allowed to talk when Ella Roo is nursing or she will pop off and give me the stink eye. She is easily distracted by her brothers or any other interesting noises in the room. Luckily she has been going easy on the biting while nursing, she quickly learned that mommy doesn't like that! She still has just two teeth, but those little toothers can hurt.
She is getting very mobile. She can army crawl, twist, turn and scoot to where she wants to go. She has started figuring out hands-knees crawling and I think will be speed crawling within the next month. She is trying to pull herself up to things, but then takes an abrupt fall over when she wants down. So she has officially given herself several noggin bruises.
I took her to get photos done to mail out in Easter cards. Unfotunately I was running about a week behind so they won't get out before Easter. Ella wore a knit bonnet and sweater set that was made for my aunt when she was a baby (some 60+ years ago.) Ella was a wonderful little model and had many cute photos for me to choose from. So, I will end this post with a few favorites from her session.
She is knee-deep in seperation anxiety, but is okay if she can see mama. It's hard not to laugh when she bursts into tears just because I walk away to go get a drink. I try to keep her happy and cart her along with me where ever I go.
She is just loving feeding her self! I can't express how well Baby Led Weaning has worked for us. I am so glad I am not fighting to get a spoonful of runny, sloppy baby food in her mouth. I'm not worrying if she didn't eat x amount of said sloppy food. I'm glad that I don't have to stress out because we don't have a certain baby food on hand for her. She eats what we eat, as long as it is healthy for her. No nuts/milk/eggs/honey yet, not til after 1 year old or later on most of those. She's tried a little yogurt, but she wrinkled her nose at it. I have a cute video of her eating asparagus to post when I can get it loaded on my computer.
Eleanor is quite the acrobatic breastfeeder. And going through the distracted nurser stage. Mama is not allowed to talk when Ella Roo is nursing or she will pop off and give me the stink eye. She is easily distracted by her brothers or any other interesting noises in the room. Luckily she has been going easy on the biting while nursing, she quickly learned that mommy doesn't like that! She still has just two teeth, but those little toothers can hurt.
She is getting very mobile. She can army crawl, twist, turn and scoot to where she wants to go. She has started figuring out hands-knees crawling and I think will be speed crawling within the next month. She is trying to pull herself up to things, but then takes an abrupt fall over when she wants down. So she has officially given herself several noggin bruises.
I took her to get photos done to mail out in Easter cards. Unfotunately I was running about a week behind so they won't get out before Easter. Ella wore a knit bonnet and sweater set that was made for my aunt when she was a baby (some 60+ years ago.) Ella was a wonderful little model and had many cute photos for me to choose from. So, I will end this post with a few favorites from her session.
Monday, February 23, 2009
BLW: More Fun with Food
So we have been giving Ella more foods to try, usually one new food a week once a day or once every other day. So far she's had: bananas, avocados, broccoli, apple, and carrots. I finally got my copy of Baby-led Weaning by Rapley and have read about half of it. She does address special needs babies in one section I've read so far.
I'll let you know if it comes up again in the book.
For Ella's veggies, I have been putting a few easy-to-handle sized pieces of fresh veggie in a dish with a bit of water, cover it & microwave for 4 mins. This is enough to steam them soft but not mushy. I do not season or butter them, let it cool a bit then give them to her on her highchair.
"Hey, there's something new here."
"Mommy always says I have carrots growing in my ear. Is that where this goes?"
"No, it looks like Mommy is putting them in her mouth."
"Hmm, it's a bit odd."
"Hey, I kinda like it!"
And because you never get too old to have fun with food, I tried a tip I read on Me? A Mom? to get Aidan to eat his bread crusts.
What a hit! He just loved it and gobbled it up then asked for another! hee hee! Thanks, Cara!
Babies who have delayed development, muscle weakness or physical deformities of the mouth, hands, arms or back (such as Down's syndrome, cerebral palsy or spina bifida) may do better with spoon-feeding, or with a combination of spoon-feeding and finger foods. However, finger foods shouldn't be ruled out for these babies since they can sometimes be an ideal way to help them develop precisely those skills that they find difficult. Some babies with digestive disorders may need special foods that can't be made into suitable shapes for self-feeding but again, this shouldn't prevent them from having their other foods this way.
In general, all babies of six months or more should be encouraged to explore food with their hands and have a go at feeding themselves as soon as they appear interested. However, if your baby was born prematurely or has particular medical or physical problems, you should seek advice from your baby's pediatrician, dietitian and/or speech and language therapist before deciding whether to use BLW as the only method for introducing your baby to solid foods.
I'll let you know if it comes up again in the book.
For Ella's veggies, I have been putting a few easy-to-handle sized pieces of fresh veggie in a dish with a bit of water, cover it & microwave for 4 mins. This is enough to steam them soft but not mushy. I do not season or butter them, let it cool a bit then give them to her on her highchair.
"Hey, there's something new here."
"Mommy always says I have carrots growing in my ear. Is that where this goes?"
"No, it looks like Mommy is putting them in her mouth."
"Hmm, it's a bit odd."
"Hey, I kinda like it!"
And because you never get too old to have fun with food, I tried a tip I read on Me? A Mom? to get Aidan to eat his bread crusts.
What a hit! He just loved it and gobbled it up then asked for another! hee hee! Thanks, Cara!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Baby Led Weaning has Begun!
Ella will be 6 months old tomorrow (!! where did the time go?!) and I plan on BLWing with her.
Aidan did BLW before I knew anything about BLW. LOL He just didn't want runny baby food, absolutely refused to have anything to do with it or momma mashed foods. When he was 9-ish months old he started sampling table foods and gradually transitioned himself. His table food eating never impaired his breastfeeding, but rather supplemented it at first and provided an opportunity for him to explore foods. He has a very healthy appetite and love of fruits and veggies. I am very happy with how his transition worked out.
Sean was receiving home-based therapy when he reached the age of starting solids. His speech/occupational therapist insisted that we start with rice cereal and other commercially prepared baby foods as she said it was "important" to make sure he had a regulated texture to learn from. It was against my every belief, but I felt at the time that I didn't know enough about Ds to know if she was right or not. I trusted her advice and followed the AAP feeding schedule. I like to call it the Gerber Schedule :P When I look back at it now, I see that Sean did not show the signs of being developmentally ready for solids: he was not sitting independently, could not pick up and put objects in his own mouth purposely, and was not showing a particular interest in our food. This path completely backfired on us. He became texture adverse and psychologically dependant on those evil little jars. We have spent the past 3 years trying to unlearn this behavior and make the transition to table foods. We feel very lucky that he has had the whole nutrients from breastmilk to fill in the gaps in his diet since he doesn't eat a balanced variety. It has been an emotional and difficult road for him and our family to feed him.
I began reading about the Rapley book before Ella was born and realized that it was a philosophy that I agreed with. I am so glad to have the research available to support me!
As part of Sean's feeding therapy, I am going to include him in my BLW time with Ella. I am hoping that the two of them can BLW together and that we can all enjoy the experience.
Ella is sitting independently, has 2 teeth, picks up objects and brings them to her mouth and shows a lot of interest in our food. Yesterday I decided to kick off our adventure and offered both kids a banana. I gave Ella 3 baby palm size pieces to play with and gave Sean the remaining banana in the skin, peeled open. He wanted to hold it and eat it like Aidan.
Sean took several tiny bites of his banana, chewed and swallowed them. Ella played with her pieces and brought them to her mouth a couple of times, licking and sucking on them before dropping them. They both enjoyed playing with their snack!
At this time, I plan on giving them a food to try once a day, every other day for a week before trying a new food. Sean does feeding therapy at school every day but at home we have not pushed the issue, but let him try things if he initiates the desire to do so. We feel like he is starting to make some wonderful progress and want to keep gently encouraging him at home on a regular basis.
Aidan did BLW before I knew anything about BLW. LOL He just didn't want runny baby food, absolutely refused to have anything to do with it or momma mashed foods. When he was 9-ish months old he started sampling table foods and gradually transitioned himself. His table food eating never impaired his breastfeeding, but rather supplemented it at first and provided an opportunity for him to explore foods. He has a very healthy appetite and love of fruits and veggies. I am very happy with how his transition worked out.
Sean was receiving home-based therapy when he reached the age of starting solids. His speech/occupational therapist insisted that we start with rice cereal and other commercially prepared baby foods as she said it was "important" to make sure he had a regulated texture to learn from. It was against my every belief, but I felt at the time that I didn't know enough about Ds to know if she was right or not. I trusted her advice and followed the AAP feeding schedule. I like to call it the Gerber Schedule :P When I look back at it now, I see that Sean did not show the signs of being developmentally ready for solids: he was not sitting independently, could not pick up and put objects in his own mouth purposely, and was not showing a particular interest in our food. This path completely backfired on us. He became texture adverse and psychologically dependant on those evil little jars. We have spent the past 3 years trying to unlearn this behavior and make the transition to table foods. We feel very lucky that he has had the whole nutrients from breastmilk to fill in the gaps in his diet since he doesn't eat a balanced variety. It has been an emotional and difficult road for him and our family to feed him.
I began reading about the Rapley book before Ella was born and realized that it was a philosophy that I agreed with. I am so glad to have the research available to support me!
As part of Sean's feeding therapy, I am going to include him in my BLW time with Ella. I am hoping that the two of them can BLW together and that we can all enjoy the experience.
Ella is sitting independently, has 2 teeth, picks up objects and brings them to her mouth and shows a lot of interest in our food. Yesterday I decided to kick off our adventure and offered both kids a banana. I gave Ella 3 baby palm size pieces to play with and gave Sean the remaining banana in the skin, peeled open. He wanted to hold it and eat it like Aidan.
Sean took several tiny bites of his banana, chewed and swallowed them. Ella played with her pieces and brought them to her mouth a couple of times, licking and sucking on them before dropping them. They both enjoyed playing with their snack!
At this time, I plan on giving them a food to try once a day, every other day for a week before trying a new food. Sean does feeding therapy at school every day but at home we have not pushed the issue, but let him try things if he initiates the desire to do so. We feel like he is starting to make some wonderful progress and want to keep gently encouraging him at home on a regular basis.
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