Asher eats

Do you guys like Instagram as much as I do? I seriously love it! It's so fun for me to scroll back through the photos I've posted over the last year or so... My kids changing before my eyes, memories of mundane days gone by... 

Anyway, I use #ashereats on my Instagram account to document some of the things we are feeding our boy these days. It's so cute to see him eating his dinner with the family like a cool, big guy. 

BLW (baby led weaning) has been so great this time around! The gagging doesn't startle me very much because I'm confident that he will work out whatever food he can't swallow. I can't believe how nice it is to eat dinner with my hands free. 

Who am I kidding? I have a toddler-- my hands aren't really free! BUT by giving Asher bits and pieces of whatever we are eating, there's no spooning mush into his mouth. I can eat dinner with my own two hands and help Charlotte and (sometimes) chat with Joel, all while Asher happily gnaws on his own food. 

Asher currently has 1.5 teeth, so he isn't ripping things apart fully, but we find bits in his diaper so I feel confident he is getting some good nutrients. We don't have any allergies in our family so I haven't felt the need to wait in between trying foods. 

Here are some things he's been eating lately (sorry, Dad, I know you think these posts are boring with a capital B!).

Steamed broccoli, steamed green beans, steamed baby carrots, steamed zucchini (he was not interested at all!), cucumber slices, peas, raw spinach (gagged and didn't like it), Apple, mandarin slice, pear slice, avocado, roasted asparagus, roasted potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, Cheerios, rotini with meat sauce, rotini with pesto, cheddar cheese stick, bbq chicken, roasted chicken, turkey burger strip, hamburger strip, pork carnitas, jasmine rice, and baked French fries. 

When I serve him meat, I give it in a chunk about the size of my thumb. That way he can grab hold and suck the juices out; sometimes he gnaws off a piece, too. He LOVES chicken, pork, and beef. He's way more into meat than I remember Charlotte being. She was all about the fruit; Asher doesn't seem to be quite as enthused as she was. Anyway, it's fun to notice differences between the two :) 

[One thing I want to point out is that Asher is always sitting fully upright when we give him solid food. I think this is specifically important in regards to ensuring that a baby's gag reflex is activated... Sometimes high chairs recline, but that's not safe when babies are eating solids this way.]

Baby Led Weaning: Melanie's experience

Today's post is written by my good friend Melanie. She's sharing her experience introducing solids with baby led weaning (BLW). Since Asher is almost four months old (!!!), BLW is on my mind again and we plan to start him on food this way, once he turns six months. I hope you enjoy reading about how much Melanie and her family have loved BLW!
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Hi, Melanie! How did you get started with baby led weaning? 

To be honest, I kind of dreaded the idea of doing baby purees. I really didn't want to buy them from the store because of cost, but I cringed at the thought of having to make them. I didn't feel like I had the energy or patience to do it (the clean up of blenders and food processors is not fun, let's be honest). In retrospect I 'd only really seen babies fed in the movies and I also think the idea of it left me unimpressed: messy, fighting to get food in your baby's mouth and tedious. I'm sorry if I offend anyone who loves feeding their baby purees! I'm sure there are fun parts to it, too.

Anyways, I had barely time to consider the food issue once our daughter was born, but low and behold a good friend with a baby girl six months older was trying out this approach called baby led weaning (anyone know the revolutionary Kelly Alberts?). Hearing about her positive experiences really piqued my interest. As much as I love to have someone explain their experiences (and certainly I appreciated having someone to refer to and use as a sounding board), I also like to process decisions with as much information as possible. So I also searched out the resources in the library to guide me and actually ended up purchasing one key resource explaining the idea to go through thoroughly myself. The Baby Led Weaning Cookbook was really easy to read very practical and having a copy on hand was reassuring: I could refer to it throughout the stages and build my understanding of how to foster a fun eating experience and confident eating skills! (The book guides you through first signs that your baby is ready to begin BLW and then suggests appropriate food for the physical skill levels your baby it at. For example, if baby is just working on grasping food, cut food into long strips or offer food with handles. It also addresses concerns such as allergens, salt-intake, choking hazards. The BLW mantra also takes the emphasis off calorie intake, suggesting that 'food before one is just for fun,' as mother's milk or formula provide enough nutrients to sustain the baby.)

Tell us about your daughter, Gabriella... how old is she, what does she love to eat, etc. 

Our daughter is nearly 19 months old. She is an adventurous girl, easy-going and loves looking after her dolls, going on walks, singing and music, being spun or tossed in the air and loves watching people. Gabriella also loves reading, looking at pictures of herself and she loves dogs. She has about 40 words under her belt, now runs to hugs us, gives kisses, has a recent interested in keys and locks and loves play food.

Gabriella loves fruit of course, inhaling blueberries, oranges, grapes to name a few. Beans are our go-to protein, especially chick-peas and black beans. She loves pasta, nuts, cous-cous, rice, peas, avocado, yogurt, oatmeal, green smoothies, and eggs. She'll eat most of my spiced dishes, but I have to be careful that they aren't too hot! She's confident with a fork and getting better with a spoon. We have practiced using a butter knife to cut a banana together as well. She uses a small plastic cup (open on top) for water and usually use a sippy cup for milk.

In your experience, what are the most significant reasons to introduce solids using baby led weaning?

There are so many reasons we have loved doing BLW with our daughter. Here are a few:

- baby's engaging with not only tastes of food, but exposed early on to textures, smells and the experience of eating.

- baby is sharing in mealtimes with us. This has been such an easy transition into the routine of mealtimes and instills the importance of eating meals together as a family

- there is little rush to eat. The emphasis is on experiencing and enjoying food. It's helped both my husband and I to also slow down and engage over the shared meal experience

- cooking foods for baby to share in has really encouraged and propelled me in my own exploration of healthy eating. It's become a lot more vegetable based and it's helped me become much more aware of processed foods and other dangerous additives that not only do I want to avoid exposing my daughter to, but now myself (dyes, added sugars, excess salt). It also inspires me to keep offering a variety of foods.  I've also been more adventurous in trying new foods for the sake of introducing them to our daughter! That's fun! Okra anyone?

- Independence! I think this method is so empowering to baby! Baby has so many opportunities to develop a range of skills including hand-eye coordination, grasping, and handling food confidently in her mouth. Baby also gets to explore food at her own pace, which makes it so much more fun for her!

- We've actually been able to do some baby sign language with our daughter it seems like the dinner table is one of the easiest places to consistently introduce some basic signs. I think the BLW process has allowed flexibility in learning these signs and as baby is already learning independence in eating, learning to communicate during this process seems to compliment this process. Signs we focused on early on included: more, water, all done, eat, milk, and hot

-I imagine that baby-led weaning is probably how most of the world feeds their kids and certainly it is how it was done in the past. I appreciate this, especially as it offers a simplicity to how we feed our kids and really is one of the first steps in instilling independence. The shared experience of food and groundwork layed for a healthy attitude and approach to food for our kids' lives can't be underestimated; I truly believe BLW is an avenue which makes this possible.

What are some of the challenges of baby led weaning? Specifically, please address your experience with gagging, choking, etc. 

The first few months of BLW were probably the most tentative for us as parents in the feeding process. The BLW method makes this differentiation between gagging and choking: gagging means baby is working the food in her mouth (learning how to move it around and eventually how to swallow), so there will be noise. Choking means that there is no sound at all and thus the throat is blocked. It's also important to note that babies have a gag reflex in their mouths which is further forward, so they would gag on food further in their  mouths than adults. As frightening as it is to hearing gagging, it is a good sign. The method encourages you to hold off if you hear those sounds and watch to see baby work out the food. This is an important step in the learning process of managing food in your mouth. It was certainly something to get used to. Our daughter had a little motor sound that accompanied eating in the first months as well.  Yet in the whole experience so far we have never seen her choke. We gave her back a few thumps, but that was more than likely due to our over-protectiveness. She's been a champ with food and has come a long way. We're very confident in how she handles food. I also wanted to note that compared to purees this process reverses the order of feeding skills: rather than learning how to swallow first as purees focus on, baby is learning how to move food around and then swallow.

Another hurdle, which can be a big tester, is the messiness factor. BLW is messy (don't say I didn't warn you). We are currently in a rented apartment completely covered in carpet. It was a huge risk to take on BLW, praying that we'd leave behind no stains (we need our damage deposit back!). Our best efforts in keeping the floor clean was purchasing a mess mat. It's a round plastic mat we bought specifically for babies from Toy R Us. It's honestly been so easy to clean up and covers a good amount of space! We also bought full sleeved plastic bibs. These have been a huge help in keeping our daughter's clothes clean (especially in the intitial months), and again, have been really easy to clean up. Lastly, we bought a really simple booster seat which is completely plastic (no cloth), so it's very easy to wipe down. The other bonus is that it's small and can easily compact for us to take it places. We did use a bumbo chair and tray in the first month but without ridges on the tray it was very difficult to keep food on the tray and get the necessary 'scoop' of food. The nice part about the bumbo is that our daughter sat in the middle of the table right in the action when we first started. That was fun!

Tell us about some reactions you got from others... Was your husband on board? How about your parents? Friends?

My husband was interested certainly and supportive when I told him about BLW, but his initial reaction was, 'can't we still feed her some purees?' I think he realyl liked the idea of sitting down with our daughter and spoon feeding her. Although purees were an option, I knew I wanted to give the BLW approach our best effort and purees seemed to defeat the ultimate goal and perhaps would even interfere. My husband now loves BLW and loves how much fun it is to eat with our daughter, both for her and for us! Other family members were also supportive, although it still takes time to get used to eating with a noisy and very messy baby. My mom said she wishes she had thought of doing it when we were younger. I have a twin brother, so I'm sure it would have saved her a lot of time! I have also had a few friends interested in BLW, but I think it's easier to explain sometimes when they see BLW in action. I hope this write up gives a better picture of our experience with it.

All that to be said, we still have a typical toddler and some meals she's not interested in what's be served, can be picky, and still makes a mess sometimes. Food in hair? Ick! She has food preferences and we still work hard to ensure she has a well-balanced meal. Developing good eating habits take effort, patience and persistence!  

Anything else you'd like to add? Some cute pictures of Gabriella covered in delicious meals that she is feeding herself, perhaps?! ;)

Lastly, just to note, we didn't begin BLW with all three meals. We chose to start with dinner as both my husband and I would both be there. This was especially helpful for peace of mind: our thinking was that we'd have two sets of hands if we needed to quickly extract our daughter from her chair and help her if we thought she was choking. We could also talk through the shared experience this way and tag team the clean up. Today, it's still easier to have one person wipe hands while the other grabs the tray! After a month and a half or so, I felt confident enough to add another meal. Breakfast ended up being my easiest meal to prepare for our daughter, as we often eat from a rotating selection including blueberry pancakes, oatmeal (with raisins, seeds and a variety of other good stuff), on rare occasions cheerios & milk, and one of our other favorites, a cooked quinoa cereal. Yogurt 'yo', is mixed in with the hot cereals to quickly cool it down. My least creative meal was added to our schedule at around 9 months. Lunch is also often a rotating schedule including left-overs on occasion, pasta & tomato veggie sauce including chick peas, eggs in many forms, wraps with avocado & refried beans, green smoothies, raw veggies & hummus, and grilled cheese sandwiches & soup. Dinners vary quite a bit, but right now we're eating a lot of vegetarian meals including lentil patties, bean soups and stews. I really like one-pot meals, but try to do some sides a few times a week with fish or another meat. When we do eat meat, we're careful to use good quality organic beef, chicken and pork. We usually have one snack a day and it's in the afternoon. It can include things like apple & peanut butter, applesauce, rice cakes, cheese, dried fruit & dry cereal, fruit of any kind, nuts and yogurt & berries.

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Thanks so much, Melanie! It's so fun to read about someone else's experience and I'm beyond thrilled that BLW worked so well for your family! (Readers: you can find more about how Charlotte learned to eat using BLW here)

Six months of baby led weaning

You wouldn't believe how snobby I can be about my daughter's great eating habits.

Actually, if you are around me regularly at all, I'm sure you can easily believe how snobby I am about my daughter's great eating habits.

It is one of my major mommy hang ups: feeling prideful that BLW has worked and so confident that Charlotte eats a balanced diet because we introduced solids this way. I admit my pride. Though I obviously haven't yet confessed and repented...

Anyway. After six months of baby led weaning, I can confidently say that it was one of our best parenting decisions. Charlotte sits pleasantly (for the most part!!) with her family at the dinner table. She tries new foods. She eats vegetables. She eats fruit. She usually eats meat. She definitely loves carbs :)  She always interacts and sometimes waits patiently while the rest of us enjoy our meal. She is drinking less milk over time and seems to be a very healthy little girl. 

Though Charlotte is a normal child and has her preferences and opinions which are irritating and confusing, I have zero regrets about introducing food this way. It was incredibly easy to help her learn to eat solid foods and required very little prep work on my part. She has no problems with spices or difference textures. She does throw food on the ground and she often tries to toss her water glass over the edge of her tray, but I don't think that has anything to do with how we introduced food. :)

I probably won't be doing many more posts about baby led weaning (much to my fathers's relief! Hi, Dad!) :) Solids are a regular, routine part of our life these days and there isn't much more to say about Charlotte's eating habits. 

If you have questions about the subject, please don't hesitate to ask me. BLW is one of my favorite topics of conversation. That is, if you don't mind me forcing my opinions down your throat, errrr, I mean, gently guiding you away from the dark side of making your own mushy baby food, I mean.... 

What Charlotte eats, 6

We have an eater on our hands, folks! Charlotte has been trying all sorts of new foods and continues to eat some of the old classics. A few months ago she wasn't into Greek yogurt OR my beloved baked oatmeal, but recently I tried mixing them together and THAT combination is an absolute winner! She eats it for breakfast most mornings. As long as she has at least 30 minutes after nursing before I offer breakfast, she will eat a good solid meal.

She eats so many things that I can't even keep track. This month we really noticed a decrease in the amount of milk she needs. She only nurses five times a day and often for just a short time because she's getting more solids and doesn't need quite as many liquid calories. Pretty exciting times!

Lately Charlotte has had:
Sunday- turkey, mashed potatoes, leftover pizza crust, cucumbers, banana, clementine slices, leftover guacamole

Monday- raw baby carrot dipped in hummus (she loves this combo!! She gnaws on the carrot for along time and shovels the hummus into her mouth like it's going out of style!); mashed potatoes, baked oatmeal with Greek yogurt, beef with taco seasoning

Tuesday- chicken sausage bits (loved 'em!), broccoli, couscous, leftover turkey, leftover mashed potatoes, clementine

Wednesday- taco chicken (shredded), cheddar cheese, black beans, pear slices (wasn't really interested in these) 

Thursday- potato gnocci with homemade pesto, green beans, banana

Friday- pear (for a snack- this time she loved it), pizza, organic unsweetened apple sauce, clementine

Saturday- clementine, avocado, turkey pot pie with homemade biscuits, oatmeal with Greek yogurt, one french fry

Charlotte has also started doing some funny, slightly rebellious, things while sitting in her chair. Even though she can use her glass perfectly, sometimes she spills the water on purpose or throws the glass into the floor to watch our reaction. She sneakily drops things on the floor when she is done eating and sometimes intentionally puts food into the seat next to her. We don't think it's lack of interest that causes her to do this, just curiosity and maybe a bit of desire for attention. 

She is definitely getting a bit more particular about what she chooses to eat. Lately she has LOVED: oatmeal with Greek yogurt, black beans, clementines, cheese, banana, avocado, hummus, peanut butter, and bread. She hasn't really liked: chicken, turkey, asparagus, or mashed potatoes.

And though she gets better and better at getting food INTO her mouth, she still hasn't mastered the art of NOT rubbing her messy hands through her clean hair. Check out the photos below :)

Spices in BLW

The other day I heard of a friend who had been making purees for her baby and was wearing herself out with all the prep work. She said she was hesitant to try baby led weaning because she uses a lot of garlic in cooking and didn't want to just share her dinner with baby.

I did my best not to respond with sarcasm or annoyance, but it was kind of a struggle.

I couldn't understand where she got the idea that she shouldn't feed her baby real food simply because it contained garlic... Maybe pediatricians are pushing bland, mushy, texture-less, flavor-less foods because of all the allergies they see. Or maybe people just genuinely believe that babies LIKE bland, texture-less foods. Or, I don't know what. It's bizarre to me. 

Garlic doesn't hurt babies. There's nothing unhealthy about garlic. In fact, garlic has all sorts of immunity boosting properties! My baby loves things flavored with garlic, and I really don't think she's all that unique or even a super-human eater (okay, I kind of do think that...). 

According to the baby led weaning cookbook, as soon as babies are ready to start solids (any time after six months of age, for healthy babies who were born full-term!), they are ready to have spices included in their food. We have followed that guidance ever since we started BLW with Charlotte. 

Here are some things I use: 

1. Cumin and chili powder: I include both of these delicious spices when I make tortilla soup. Charlotte LOVES tortilla soup, which we give her without the broth so she can pick up all the pieces. (P.S. Try this recipe! It is my favorite soup of all time!)

2. Curry powder: the BLW cookbook has a wonderful recipe for butternut squash soup and it includes about a teaspoon of curry powder. The curry brings out a delicious taste in the squash and Charlotte will devour this soup like her like depends on it.

3. Garlic powder, paprika, and ground pepper: yesterday I baked a whole chicken in the crock pot and seasoned it with ground pepper, garlic, paprika and a tiny bit of salt*. The chicken was moist and delicious. After I sliced the chicken and gave Charlotte a couple of pieces on her tray, I put a tiny bit more salt on my own chicken. She didn't miss the salt in her serving, though; she ate the entire portion and made noises requesting more. ;) I'm giving credit to the garlic, paprika, and pepper.

4. Cinnamon: I love sprinkling cinnamon on roasted sweet potatoes. This is actually one of the side dishes I cook most frequently and Charlotte is a big fan. Cinnamon brings out the flavor of sweet potatoes really well! 

*As I mentioned previously, salt isn't good for young babies (because their bodies can't process it the way adults' bodies can). I very rarely add salt to my cooking and I have started to avoid foods that already have salt added. 

However, babies don't necessarily want bland foods any more than adults do.  Spices add great flavor to foods! They make the eating experience much more enjoyable and help babies to grow accustomed to trying new things, textures, and flavors. Don't be afraid to try BLW and please please please don't be afraid of using a little bit of spice! 

What Charlotte eats, 5

Sunday- chicken sausage (she is really doing well with these since we started cutting them into small chunks instead of "finger shaped" sticks), edamame (1st time!), Israeli couscous salad
Monday- Greek yogurt, grapes (1st time! loved 'em!), chicken, white sweet potatoes, cauliflower
Tuesday- roasted butternut squash with curry powder, grapes, Monday's leftovers
Wednesday- mashed butternut squash (tolerated a few bites), Greek yogurt, mandarin bits (loved them!), chicken pieces
Thursday- baked mini shells with spinach and ricotta, mashed potatoes, cucumbers, grapes, celery with almond butter (SO messy! See photos below!)
Friday- grapes, baked sweet potato (wasn't very interested), cucumber slices, cut spaghetti with turkey quinoa meatballs

For an afternoon snack, Charlotte usually eats raisins. They're small enough that I don't feel the need to watch her like a hawk while she eats them, so I often make dinner while she sits on the kitchen floor with her raisins. Her pincer grasp is REALLY good now- we're so proud!

We have noticed a bit of sass at the dinner table lately. Even though we try to wait until the last second to put Charlotte into her chair, she is very impatient (and vocal!) when she doesn't get to eat right away. We always pray together before we eat, and often try to hold her hand. She does NOT like to hold our hands, though she is often quiet while we pray. The sass also appears when she's done eating and starts to play. She will fling food and drop her glass, then look down at it on the ground and start to whine.

Charlotte is really starting to communicate with us in regards to eating. She makes loud noises to get our attention when she wants something else to eat and hums loudly and stares at her water glass when she gets thirsty. It's frustrating to figure out what she wants; we hope she'll start using some of her signs soon! We've been trying to teach her: more, please, thank you, food, water, and all done.

Please note the serious, concentrated faces this girl makes. Eating is hard work. :)

What Charlotte eats, 4

Charlotte is really getting the hang of drinking water from her little glass. She still spills sometimes, but I think that's usually because she's done eating and wants to play with Joel. When she drinks from her glass at lunch, she's much more focused on has a better handle on holding it carefully. 

I've been looking at water bottles on Amazon lately because my friend Melissa pointed out that it's not really feasible to carry shot glasses everywhere we go, so Charlotte will eventually need something to drink from when she's no longer nursing. I finally decided on a small version of the Nalgene bottles Joel and I use. Charlotte's is pink; I also ordered a splash guard, in hopes that having it slow the flow/splash of water will make it easier for her to drink water without spilling. We shall see :) 

People have asked me if Charlotte likes some foods more than others, and I'm finding that a tricky question to answer. We haven't found anything she totally refuses to eat but she definitely inhales a food one day, then shows little interest in the same food a few days later. Specifically, I have noticed this happening with egg: she sort of played with scrambled egg one morning for breakfast, but then ate the leftovers for dinner that evening. I think it probably depends on how hungry she is. I also noticed that she likes food in one form, but not necessarily in another. For example, she will DEVOUR butternut squash soup, but when I roasted chunks of butternut squash with a bit of curry powder, she wasn't really interested.

I am really really really hoping that introducing solids this way will curb the picky-toddler tendencies that are sure to come. However, I think food preferences are a normal part of growing and learning, so we will do our best to roll with them in the future.

Here are some things Charlotte's been eating lately:
Sunday- mandarin slices, pizza crust, guacamole, black bean paste, roasted sweet potatoes, cucumber slices

Monday- almond butter on toast, celery sticks dipped in hummus (she only ate the hummus), steamed broccoli

Tuesday- chicken sausage (cut into tiny pieces), cauliflower, string cheese

Wednesday- whole wheat rotini, peas, spinach, eggplant parmesan

Thursday- black beans, guacamole, banana, 2 raspberries, chicken pieces, sweet potatoes, peas

Friday- shredded cheddar, black beans, peas, taco chicken (shredded), French toast (without butter or syrup), fried egg with mozzarella cheese

Cooking and food prep// BLW style

Phew.

Prepping meals for a family of three feels much harder than it did for just two of us!! Partially, a newly crawling baby is to blame, because it's hard to cook while she is underfoot (but I totally love it!). In addition, the more research I do about feeding a baby, the more compelled I am to make things from scratch that are healthy, nutrient-rich, and low in sodium and sugar.

I had NO idea how much salt is in pre-packaged foods! We were eating jarred spaghetti sauce two or three times a week. It's cheap and easy and fast. But holy smokes, there is a lot of salt in there! Fortunately, my baby led weaning cookbook has a great recipe for salt free pasta sauce. Unfortunately, it's quite a bit more time consuming and labor-intensive than just opening a jar and pouring it out. Overall, though, the taste of homemade, salt-less sauce is delicious and it's really not that much work so I'm going to make big batches and keep them in freezer. 

Another thing I've been trying to make from scratch, in order to health-ify our diet, is chicken stock. I use chicken stock (or broth, whatever) for a LOT of recipes... Chicken tacos, chicken soup, tortilla soup, etc. etc. etc. Anyway, chicken broth isn't cheap and it tends to have a lot of sodium. Here's the recipe I used for the first time last week. 

I've also been cutting the sugar in things like my beloved baked oatmeal and other baked goods (biscuits, bread, etc.). We still eat our fair share of cookies and leftover Halloween candy, but we try to do it after Charlotte goes to bed so she doesn't see her parents' bad examples :)

Our diet was pretty healthy overall, but since Charlotte started eating solid foods I have been way more conscious of the amounts of fruits and vegetables that we provide. So far she hasn't been picky so we can pump her full of lots of green veggies, fresh fruit, and seasonal produce. Why can't apples and avocados be in season year round? 

A lot of meal prep is done during Charlotte's afternoon nap. I can slice veggies, or prep pasta sauce, make a salad, or roast potatoes. It's also really helpful that Joel often gets home in time to play with Charlotte while I finish any other dinner prep. 

I've noticed myself feeling sort of stumped for breakfast and healthy snack ideas.
What do your kids like to eat for breakfast? What nutritious things do they snack on?

P.S. Isn't my little kitchen helper the absolute cutest?! 

What Charlotte eats, 3

One tricky thing I'm not sure how to navigate... Charlotte doesn't know how to use silverware and really doesn't like to try. Since we're not usually feeding her, she's not used to the feeling of a spoon or fork in her mouth and seems to recoil at the taste of silverware (especially metal!).  At what point should kids learn to use forks and spoons themselves? Is just watching us use silverware enough of a model?

Anyway, Charlotte has tried some fun foods lately:

Monday- Greek yogurt, apple slices, steamed baby carrots, eggs, lemon poppy seed pancakes

Tuesday- pieces of ham, provolone, banana, lettuce (which she didn't eat! ha!)

Wednesday-kiwi strips for breakfast, one slice of quesadilla + the fixings* for dinner

Thursday- black beans, provolone, broccoli, guacamole

Friday- cucumber, vanilla yogurt, Annie's Mac and cheese, tomato, broccoli

Saturday- cheddar cheese, stewed tomatoes, black beans,avocado, green pepper chunks, chicken (all the fixings from tortilla soup, which we ate in a bowl with broth and spoon, but Charlotte ate in chunks on her tray)

*Basically, I was being selfish with my quesadilla... I didn't want to share, so I just put dabs of all the fixings on Charlotte's tray and she went to town: shredded chicken, black beans, 2 small pieces of scallion, tomato slices, and guacamole. She is her momma's daughter-- loves her some guac!

And here she is using her little glass. SO cute!

Friday favs

In the course of Charlotte's two hour afternoon nap, I've made two separate batches of cookies for our church's 40th anniversary celebration on Sunday. I've also checked Facebook multiple times, read a bunch of blog posts, and sampled more than my fair share of aforementioned cookies. Ahem.

I figured I should pass along some of the awesome reads I've found lately. So, without further ado:

1. This blogger's baby is just a bit older than Charlotte and she's doing a great job documenting their journey with baby led weaning.

2. What a beautiful, breath-taking account on bravery, parenthood, and faith. Wow! This site often knocks it out of the park, but this post in particular... wonderful.

3. One of the cookie recipes I used. Delicious!

4. Tucking away these tips for taking kids to the grocery store. Right now my only tip is to switch Charlotte from the cart seat to the ring sling if she gets antsy partway through. Well, that, or just leave her at home asleep with Joel while I go shopping alone :)

And now for some Friday favs that aren't blog posts. Just photos of my beautiful babe.

5. The photo below (Things to note: the death grip on her play gym, the surprised/slightly nervous expression, the stretched neck of a onesie she JUST started wearing, the high-waisted-diaper-bootylicious jeans...)

6. This photo: ever so curious!

Hope y'all have a gorgeous fall weekend <3 

what Charlotte eats, 2

Something has been awry with Charlotte's digestive system lately and she had diaper rash for almost a week. Poor thing! Interestingly, she's still very enthusiastic about eating solids, so we've been having fun at meal times.

One funny thing: in the nursery last week, the teacher asked if she could give Charlotte Cheerios. I said that she had never eaten Cheerios, but agreed to let her try. Charlotte grabbed them in her fist (like she does all other food) and struggled to get them out of her first and into her mouth. The teacher said she needed to work on her fine motor skills and I immediately got defensive. I came home and defrosted some frozen peas & carrots and gave them to Charlotte for lunch. As she ate, I settled down and remembered that she's still young to have developed her pincer grasp. She isn't behind or lacking in any important skills; it just takes time to learn how to grab tiny things. Charlotte was the youngest in the nursery that day; all the other babies were at least a month older. I'm going to keep giving her tiny things to try, but I'm not going to get defensive about her fine motor skills again ;)

Charlotte has been eating...

Sunday- mashed potatoes, cucumber, one strip of steak (just licked off the seasoning, haha)
Monday- butternut squash soup, biscuit
Tuesday- roasted sweet potatoes (loved them!), asparagus, small pieces of chicken
Wednesday- homemade chili (LOVED it!), spinach, peas&carrots, avocado, corn muffin
Thursday- quinoa chicken broccoli casserole
Friday- cucumbers, mandarins, leftover quinoa
Saturday-cheese pizza, cucumbers, cheddar cheese chunks

Here are a few recipes we've enjoyed lately.
All are BLW-friendly and all were quite popular with our little foodie: 
1. Quinoa chicken broccoli casserole (crock pot!)
2. Pulled pork sandwiches (also in the crock pot!)
3. Greek yogurt biscuits
4. Crockpot Quinoa turkey meatballs (unfortunately, I cooked these on HIGH instead of LOW, so they were very dry. Charlotte didn't seem to mind...)
5. Dinner tonight: crock pot chicken parmesan (Anyone else sensing a crockpot theme here? No? Just me?)

what Charlotte eats, 1

We usually give Charlotte solids at least an hour after nursing. We don't want her to be starving, but if she's full she won't really eat much so it can be a tricky balance. At dinner time she's usually pretty hungry and she ALWAYS nurses well even if she's just had a "meal" of solids with us.

A couple of weeks ago was Charlotte's first experience with peanut butter. After reading a little about allergies and consulting our pediatrician, we decided to give Charlotte a tiny bit of peanut butter in isolation (which we haven't done with any other food except eggs). For dinner that night, we only offered foods we already knew she wasn't allergic to, so we could identify any reaction as a result of the peanut butter. Fortunately, Charlotte loved peanut butter and didn't react negatively at all. I will offer it again in a small amount sometime in the near future.

And now, a rough list of some things Charlotte has been eating lately, for my own record-keeping, and in case anyone else is interested (doubtful).

Monday- chicken sausage with skin removed (not a big hit- made her gag multiple times), grilled potato wedge, green beans
Tuesday- butternut squash soup (with cumin and garam masala)-- HUGE hit!, biscuits
Wednesday- cucumber, 1/2 french fry, meatballs with sauce
Thursday- more meatballs, green beans, mandarin slices
Friday- fried egg w/ mozzarella cheese,
Saturday- (out to dinner) black beans, radish, grilled onion slice

Sunday- pizza slice, cucumber, tomato, chicken and rice soup
Monday- orange wedges, French fries (2), taco meat with homemade seasoning, black beans, spinach, avocado 

Tuesday- apple slice with peanut butter, leftover pizza slice, spinach, cucumber slice
Wednesday- roasted sweet potato, chunks of chicken (didn't eat- too small to hold), broccoli; hamburger chunks, corn on the cob, apple slice
Thursday- baked oatmeal, apple chunk, plain Greek yogurt, cucumber slice; roasted chicken slices, mashed potatoes

Also delicious-- the entire mandarin you find laying on the couch. Peel and all...

So far the only items receiving less than enthusiastic reviews from the youngest member of the Alberts family are baked oatmeal (makes me sad because I love it!) and plain Greek yogurt (though when I offered it again the next week, she ate it without any resistance...).

solids are messy!

Let's talk about the mess of BLW.

Basically, there's a lot of mess. Like, a whole lot of mess. 

I told Joel yesterday that I wonder how much time we're saving by doing BLW... because even though I'm not spending hours blending up baby food, I'm doing a lot of wiping and scrubbing and picking food out of a million crevices... He pointed out that purees are messy, too. Good point, husband. Very good point.

Anyway, after about a month of solids we have a pretty good system and some helpful gear that makes this process great. Here's our routine:

• Charlotte usually eats solids for dinner, so while Joel is playing with her, I'm prepping the meal. Since she eats whatever we're eating, I often take a couple pieces out of the hot dish and let them cool on her tray. We got this chair which has an easily removable (and dishwasher safe!) tray that pops right on/off. It's the right height for Charlotte to sit at the table with us (we just move the seat away from the table enough that she can't grab onto the table cloth :) ) and is very easy to clean. She can also entertain herself by carefully examining the straps when she is done eating, so that's a nice bonus. I am a HUGE fan of this chair and highly recommend it!
• I get her tray ready with 2-3 different foods, Joel buckles her into the chair, we pray together, then we pop the tray on and let her begin. She drops a lot of food, so we put an old twin sized sheet under her chair before she sits down. Depending on the meal, we sometimes take off her clothes. If it's not terribly messy, we just put on a big bib that will cover most of her body. Her hands, lower arms, and face get COVERED with food. When dinner is close to being over, I grab a burp cloth (not so often used for spit up anymore!) and put some soap on it, then get it wet. One of us removes the tray while the other wrangles the baby and gets her as clean as possible with the wet, soapy cloth. Sometimes a bath has to happen right after dinner, but usually the wet cloth is enough. 
• We pick up the chunks of food that fell onto the sheet, throw them away with whatever was left on her tray, then shake out the sheet. It goes back in a cupboard until dinner the next day. So far we have only washed the sheet a couple of times... definitely not after every meal. Aint nobody got time for that.

I'm trying to make sure Charlotte eats a wide variety of foods each week, and that her diet is balanced with all kinds of delicious (mostly healthy!) stuff. Here's a sample of what she has eaten lately:

Sunday - waffles, raspberry, blueberry (smashed)

Monday- mashed potatoes

Tuesday- broccoli, sweet potatoes 

Thursday- corn on the cob, two blueberries, mashed potatoes
Friday- asparagus, lasagna

Monday-  cheese stick, mango slices, broccoli
Tuesday- strawberries, chicken sausage (skin removed), green pepper
Wednesday- colby jack cheese stick, sandwich crusts
Thursday- pesto rotini, strawberries, spinach, shredded carrots
Friday- Rotini with no-salt-added sauce and ground beef, asparagus
Saturday- pear, green pepper, roasted sweet potatoes, tiny tastes of Rita's water ice/soft serve:)

More adventures in solids!

In the last two weeks, Charlotte has tried:

Chicken sausage with the skin removed, more green beans, clementine slices, avocado with skin attached, hot dog  (cut into finger shapes, with the skin removed), pizza crust, more broccoli, shredded chicken, small strips of soft grilled chicken, banana (cut into finger shapes, with the peel on one side), tiny pieces of shredded cheddar cheese, cantaloupe (didn't work well; it was so soft that she kept getting pieces that were too big and gagging them out- repeatedly), baby spinach, lettuce, shredded carrots, and pineapple (too tart!). 

Broccoli, shredded chicken, and banana seem to be the things she actually ate the most. Broccoli is sooooo messy but she can hold it really well and seems to get a lot in her mouth and swallowed, so that's great. She has been very proud and excited to be a part of meal time lately. One tricky thing is that dinner is right before she goes to bed so sometimes she is very tired and gets worn out from working so hard to get food. However, most nights she is pleasant and really seems to enjoy eating dinner with her family. She has excellent concentration and we are all impressed with her coordination and fine motor skills. (Though not so impressed with the evening shadows that make her face look black & blue in the second photo below!)

In regards to baby-led weaning (BLW), these are the questions I get most often when I explain how we have introduced solids: 

1. Aren't you afraid she will choke?

2. Aren't you supposed to wait a few days after each food, in case of allergies? 

These are both legitimate questions and I want to address them, but I think the short answer is that we don't live in fear. All of parenting, all of life, is about making choices and walking in truth. Charlotte could certainly choke on a piece of food (now, or when she is 2 years old, or when she is 21 years old!). Charlotte might get an allergic reaction to something we feed her, which could require serious medical attention. Both of those realities dwell in my mind. And while it is wise to be cautious, we don't live in fear. She could also get in a car crash or bump her head on our furniture or get terrible diaper rash or get kidnapped or any other horrible thing I might imagine. 

Allergies are real and some can be very serious. However, my understanding is that there are a few highly allergenic foods (peanuts, dairy, etc.) which require us to be cautious, but most foods aren't going to be a problem. Who is allergic to red pepper? Or avocado? Also- we have no food allergies on either side of our family, so it is unlikely Charlotte will have any. So far she doesn't, so yay! 

In regards to the choking issue, the key thing to remember is the difference between gagging and choking. Babies have very sensitive gag reflexes, which are triggered easily, and cause them to push forward any food they aren't ready to swallow. Gagging happens even with puréed foods when babies first start learning how to eat more than breast milk or formula. This week Charlotte was gnawing on a wedge of clementine. She got about half of it in her mouth and was sort of moving it around for a while... After a minute she made this terrible face, gagged, and slowly spit the piece out onto her lap. Then she picked up a new slice and began gnawing on that. While it startled me a little, I recognize that she was doing exactly what her body is designed to do. She was in control, she was working it out, and she was learning to eat. So I gave her a big smile and said, "Nice job!" :) 

There are a few safety precautions when implementing baby led weaning. I highly recommend reading this book/cookbook, or at least looking around online for more information, but basically we do two things carefully: We don't leave Charlotte unattended with food (I actually watch her like a hawk the entire time!) and we don't put any food in her mouth (because this completely works against her natural gag reflex and makes her far more likely to actually choke).

BLW is a safe, easy, and wonderful way for babies to learn to eat. We are having so much fun with it!

adventures in solids

It has been so much fun to start Charlotte on solid food! I have been keeping notes on which food she tries and how things are going so far. This is my first update about our adventures in solids, following the ideas of "baby led weaning."

First of all, let me explain what "baby led weaning" is and why we have chosen to go this route.

Baby led weaning (BLW) is an approach to introducing solid foods based on the fact that infants can get most of their essential nutrients from formula or breast milk for the first year of life. Introducing solids before one year is "just for fun" and shouldn't be a battle to get babies to eat. This book is amazing and has been an invaluable resource as we start this process. There are also lots of good resources online (I loved this post!)

Here's why we've decided to go the BLW way:

• autonomy- Our hope is for Charlotte to learn to feed herself and to gauge when she is hungry or full. We never want to force food into her mouth or pressure to eat if she isn't hungry. We also want to support her in developing coordination and self-care.
• health- As does every parent, we want to encourage Charlotte to eat fruits, veggies, protein, etc. We hope that by encouraging BLW, we'll set Charlotte up for healthy eating habits in the future. She is eating all kinds of fruits and vegetables in their natural form and so far doesn't seem to dislike anything she's tried.
• time-saving- We really want to eat together as a family and have community around our table. BLW allows Charlotte to feed herself so we aren't spending lots of extra time preparing "baby" food and/or spoon feeding her. 
• fun- Babies learn through play. They experiment by putting things in their mouths. We are encouraging both by allowing Charlotte to try things and see how they feel and taste.

For my own memory and because I think it's fun & interesting, here's a list of what Charlotte has "eaten" so far... 

July 19: first food-- red pepper!
July 24: breakfast- egg (too soft to hold well; some in mouth; mashing on table); lunch- banana (sliced in finger-shaped strips, with peel on outside)- loved licking, could hold easily, made funny face and spit out pieces she got into mouth, swallowed some

July 29-31: corn on the cob, steamed green beans, steamed broccoli, dill pickle, raw red onion, watermelon rinds, crust of toasted rye bread, blueberries, strawberries, small bits of pulled pork, steamed carrots with cinnamon (spit out both kinds of berries- strawberry was very slippery and hard to hold; loved broccoli, corn, and green beans)

August 2-3: pasta salad, lettuce, tomato, a few bites of ice cream
August 4-5:  pizza crust, homemade smoothie (frozen spinach, frozen berries, vanilla Greek yogurt, 1% milk)

Future posts on this subject will cover safety, gear, dealing with the mess, and more new things Charlotte learns to eat. What else do you want to know?!

First food: red peppers!!

Even though I was adamant about waiting until Charlotte turned 6 months old to start solids, desperate times sometimes call for desperate measures. And dinner time can be a desperate time. Charlotte is almost always fussy, I'm starving, Joel's patient. Things can be chaotic & rushed.

We have been keeping thin slices of watermelon rind in the fridge because we know she likes them, but one night I didn't have any ready. Charlotte was antsy and Joel was still trying to finish his food. I asked if he was okay with giving her some food, he agreed, and we grabbed some slices of red pepper we had in the vegetable drawer. 

Charlotte was thrilled! She gnawed and nibbled on the pepper sticks happily while we finished our dinner. She was sitting on my lap and grabbing the pepper with both hands. At one point she got a small bit in the back of her mouth, looked surprised, coughed, swallowed, and kept going. We were so proud! That's exactly what we want her to learn!