solid foods

Olivia: 7 months

Stats:

16.8 lbs

26.5 inches

Size: “9 Months”

Nicknames: Sneekle Freetzie, Little Bug, Liv, Liver Dude

 

Loves:

Freezie Treats (Frozen Teething toys of any variety)

Sophie

Raffy the Giraffe

Playing on the floor

Playing in the laundry basket

Listening to dad play piano/ guitar

Flipping upside down

Playing with the baby in the mirror

Mom’s new glasses

Listening to tunes in the car

Play dates with Charley

Riding in the Moby Wrap with Mom, Snugli with Dad

Bath time with Dad (especially fond of the red octopus squirty toy, orange starfish + eating bubbles)

Favorite Books: “Where’s Spot?“,  “Rainforest Discoveries” AKA Ooey Gooey Rainforest and “Animals”

Favorite Bedtime Songs: “Are You a Dreamer?” Denison Witmer , “Bitte Ein Kuss” Jonah Matranga

Cucumber

 

Cranks:

Being in the car seat for extended periods of time

Sleeping in her own bed at night

Eating Baby Food

Having her nose suctioned – boogies wiped

Milestones

CRAWLING!!! As of 9-14-12 🙂 At exactly 7 months!

(Video + Coaching compliments of Auntie B)

Licking Lips

Motorboat noise

First time at MOPS

Exclusively cloth diapering 

Successfully napped in the pack + play @ Michelle + Charley’s house!

Consistently taking 2 good (1-2hrs) crib naps a day

TRIED solid foods for the first time (Rice/Oat Cereal, Sweet Potatoes, Avocado, and Carrots)

Sitting up alone (but can’t be trusted to not “tump” (tip + dump) over)

Maneuvering from seated to crawling position and vice versa

Making Dinosaur Noises in her crib when she wakes up (on the rare occasion that she ACTUALLY wakes up there)

Learned how to kick mobile in crib until it comes on

First Cold (YUCK!)

It’s getting increasingly difficult to snap an in focus of this lil mover…

Daily Routine

5:00AM-7:00AM Cuddle (Read: Kick) mom in bed until she wakes up

7:00-7:30AM Nurse then play in bed while mom checks email, pays bills, blogs, internets…

7:30-8:30AM play on the floor while mom attempts to work out

8:30-9:30AM Hang in the Exersaucer or Moby while Mom gets something to eat for breakfast, makes a plan for the day

10:00AM Nurse then morning nap

11:30AM Wakes up from morning nap

12:00PM Attempt to eat lunch

1:00PM Nurse

(Run Errands with Mom, Play dates + fun stuff, chores + cleaning, etc.)

4:00PM Nurse

5:00PM Play on the floor in the kitchen with “The Durch” while Mom cooks dinner

(6:00PM Sometimes Nurse)

6:00PM Hangout with a Freezie treat (sometimes a Veggie Pop) in highchair while Mom and Dad eat dinner.

7:00PM Read Books with Mom

7:15PM Bath time with Dad

7:30PM Lotion + Baby Massage, PJs, Vit D, brush gums, etc.

7:45PM Nurse, cuddle with bunny blanket, songs + prayers

8:00PM Asleep

3:00 – 4:00AM Usually wakes up to eat, then ends up in bed with Mom + Dad  after multiple failed attempts to go back to sleep in her crib.

On any given day… our living room looks like this:

Mom Life: Baby Led Weaning

I first came across the concept of Baby Led Weaning when I was about 17 weeks pregnant… initially REALLY loved the idea of integrating normal healthy adult foods (modified in texture/spice content) around 6 months instead of using purees. I pulled the following blurb on Baby Led Weaning from Wiki:

Baby Led Weaning

“Baby-led weaning (often also referred to as BLW) is a method of adding complementary foods to a baby’s diet of breast milk. Baby-led weaning allows babies to control their solid food consumption by “self-feeding” from the very beginning of their experiences with food. The term weaning should not be taken to imply giving up breast milk, but simply the introduction of foods other than breastmilk.

Infants are offered a range of foods to provide a balanced diet from around 6 months. They often begin by picking up and licking the food, before progressing to eating. Babies typically begin self feeding around 6 months, although some will reach for food as early as 5 months and some will wait until 7 or 8. The intention of this process is that it is tailored to suit each particular baby and their personal development. The 6 month guideline provided by the World Health Organization is based on research indicating the internal digestive system matures over the period 4–6 months. It seems reasonable to posit that the gut matures in tandem with the baby’s external faculties to self feed.” 

We first attempted oat + rice cereal about 2.5 weeks ago, progressed to pureed veggies when Olivia seemed uninterested in the taste/texture, still uninterested… even irritated when we try and get a spoonful anywhere near her mouth, we decided to call our pediatrician for advice. She suggested giving solids a rest and making another attempt after a a few days/week. I think I’ve mentioned that my initial instinct told me that Olivia wasn’t ready even 2 weeks ago but I caved to the pressure to adhere to the 4-6 month standard and we gave it ago. After hearing that our pediatrician had no real concerns about waiting until 9 months or even a year I’m feeling more comfortable and confident in our delayed start. 

Considering our recent failed attempts to feed Olivia solid foods – we’ve decided to take a few weeks off from purees + cereals in favor of a modified BLW method. Allowing her to gnaw on small pieces of food in her high chair while we’re eating breakfast/lunch/dinner. Still adhering to the 3-5 day rule and avoiding all highly allergenic foods.

My only concern with BLW was the likelyhood of Olivia having difficulty swallowing or even choking while feeding herself. Although I’ll still watch her like a hawk while she’s eating  exploring, everything I’ve read says that BLW’d babies actually choke LESS than babies who are fed purees with a spoon. I really love the idea of letting Olivia control how much she eats – at what pace, etc. 

Resources

Momtastic’s Wholesome Baby Food

Rapley Weaning

Featured Image Here

 

Mom Life: Starting Solids

Olivia is just a week shy of 7 months old – and should be well on her way to enjoying solid foods. I say should lightly because I don’t REALLY agree that babies should master certain milestones by certain ages. That being said, most parents begin to feed their babies solids around 4-6 months. Since we were in California when the clock struck 6-months… we delayed just a bit past the target window. Almost 2 weeks ago, at 29 weeks, we finally decided to take the plunge…

Many month ago, I picked up a copy of Tyler Florence’s “Start Fresh” and started planning. All along, I’ve known that I wanted to make Olivia’s food. Mostly, I’m concerned with the amount of preservatives and additives in even the organic varieties available on the shelves. Obviously, we also considered the cost-factor as well – knowing that it would be significantly cheaper to DIY. I love Tyler’s one-family, one-meal mentality… Kids should eat the same meal that the family eats for dinner. Mom WILL NOT make multiple meals to please multiple family members’ tastes. Very much aligned with the “You don’t have to like it, but you have to try it”  rule. His book includes recipes slightly altering “the family meal” for babies, toddlers and younger kiddos.

Buy Here

Totally in-line with our pediatrician, Tyler suggests starting with cereal (rice or oat) for the first few weeks then moving to veggies for the first month or so before introducing sweeter (more desirable) fruits. He suggests creating combos (adhering to the 3-day rule) after baby has mastered several foods, at around 9 months. His cookbook includes wonderful combos and stage II/III meals for older baby/toddler.

My daughter, who puts EVERYTHING in her mouth, and I do mean EVERYTHING, doesn’t want ANYTHING to do with food. Two weeks of our most desperate attempts to get Olivia to swallow even ONE bite… and she’s STILL completely uninterested.

We started with 3 days of Rice Cereal, then 3 days of Oat Cereal, followed by 3 days of sweet potatoes, 3 days of avocado and now we’re making our way through 3 days of carrots. I’m out of ideas…. Ready to call the pediatrician on Monday if things don’t turn around. OR give it a break and wait a few more weeks. I mean… what’s the harm? She doesn’t seem hungry, or cranky… and there’s lots of earthy-crunchy material suggesting that it’s perfectly healthy for babies to exclusively breast feed until 9-12 months.

Oat Cereal

Sweet Potato

Avocado

Believe it or not – we did start with a plastic bib… when she seemed more interested in eating it… it came off and I decided that Rice Cereal wouldn’t stain and I could easily just toss her outfit in the laundry… then came sweet potatoes… knowing that those might stain, we tried a cloth bib… after a week+ we’ve resolved to eating in the nude. Still followed by a hose-down in the sink…

Note: Ignore the fact that I still need to DIY a high chair cover… notice that even it got caught in the crossfire and ended up in the laundry before Avocado day.

COOKING GEAR: We decided against the uber fancy BEABA or Baby Brezza mainly because of the cost. When we put in perspective the span of time that we would be making pureed foods – it just seemed silly to invest. We even decided to forgo the BabyBullet  in favor of using the high end blender/food processor we own. With limited freezer space (we’re storing close to 500 ounces of frozen breast milk) I’m still unsure of the most compact way to store prepared food. We have some of the Oxo Tot 2oz and 4oz containers that I like (and will probably buy more of as I have 20% off coupons to BBB/BBB).

Interested in trying these Tovolo Silicone Ice Cube Trays too.

Recently I’ve done some more searching online and found some other great resources that are worth sharing…

Momtastic’s Wholesome Baby Food – A friend referred me to this site – Awesome nutritional information, suggestions on what foods to start with, recipes, etc.

Tyler Florence’s Sprout Organic Baby Food – Tyler Florence’s line of organic baby food + more recipes.

Mash Your Heart Out Baby Food – great recipe and combination ideas

 Featured Image Here