Omnom nom nom!

I know that in the post “let’s get crunchy!” I very briefly mentioned Baby Led Weaning (BLW). And since then I have gotten a few questions about what this is and how it works. So here I am to answer the questions via blog post!

Theo on his first birthday trying his first taste of cake:)

Max loving him some brussels sprout:)

BLW is exactly what its name says it is. Letting your baby decide when they will wean themselves from breast to solid food. It also is omitting puree foods and instead allowing baby to feed themselves with their hands. Simple enough right? Around six months your baby is beginning to take that leap from exclusive breast milk to wanting some solids. This can be a confusing step for parents sometimes, so we tend to over think, over prepare and over worry about it. But really your baby is following your lead and what you are leading them to is food to mouth movements, chewing, and swallowing.

BLW is a process of feeding that allows a child to decide when they are ready to eat, what they want to eat, and when they are full. Kiddos use their innate instinct to pick things up and put them in their mouth. They then learn to chew before swallowing as a result of the mouth investigation instinct, instead of swallowing immediately with a puree or milk. Think of your little one picking up their favorite toy. What do they do? It goes straight to the mouth to be “investigated” which is basically tasting, and gumming on. So put food in place of the toy and you have a chewing then swallowing baby.

Beginning with foods that are baby-grasp friendly like cooked carrot sticks, zucchini, sweet potatoes, celery, and some fruits like bananas, mangos, peaches, nectarines, tomatoes and really ripe pears. These all can easily be grasped in a long thin form, and then gummed on to investigate. Don’t worry if immediately you little one doesn’t want to actually eat anything and they would prefer to lick or gum on it instead. The whole point of BLW is that they get to set the pace.

After you little one is on the roll with chewing and swallowing, you can begin to see what foods they prefer over others. Once they begin to have the “pincher grasp” down too (8-10 months) you can cut different things up into tiny little pieces to be picked up by baby and eaten. This would be the time to start with meats, beans, eggs, and other veggies or fruits that are less “gummable” there in the beginning.

Follow your baby’s lead; if they are continuously turning down a certain food they may not like the taste right now. But don’t be discouraged, set it aside for a few weeks or months and then try again. So ready for some BLW go to tips?!

• ·      Always make sure what you are feeding your little one is an appropriate food groups! Avoid rices, cereals, and grains since little ones have scarce to little amounts of the enzymes available in their gut needed to digest these.
• ·      If you or your partner have a food allergy it is best to keep that particular food away from baby until they are old enough to tell you how they feel.
• ·      Always double check temperature, center of cooked foods especially!
• ·      Eat meals with your baby in your lap. This way they begin to see the food they can try and start to explore off of your plate. (I did this with both my boys and ended up moving them to the high chair when they figured out they could use their hands. I usually ended up with an epic battle for my food, or the windshield wiper hands on my plate. Both resulting with more food on the floor than in either of our tummies. So once they let me know they wanted some too they got their own food).
• ·      There is a difference between “gagging” and “choking”. Gagging is the natural reaction to move food from the back of the tongue to the front of the mouth. Choking is when a food particle is obstructing the airway. Until baby gets the feel for moving things around in their mouth it is possible they will gag a few times. That is why it is super important to always be beside your baby when they are eating and to have appropriately sized food for them. Avoid anything too big when the pincher grasp is mastered.
• ·      Remember “Food before one is just for fun” so let your little ones have fun exploring and tasting new things! Don’t worry on the amounts they eat, or try to force food upon them. It will associate bad feelings with food and can take many years to reverse. Bad JOOJOO!
• ·      Want more about BLW? Check out these sites!
• http://www.babyledweaning.com/
• http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedselintroductie/blw/engels.html
• http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/babyledweaning.htm#.UFvnEY6WPao

I am going to stress that it is very important that you wait as long as possible to give your baby solids. The digestive track of an infant is very immature and one of the last things to develop fully. Hence why an infant receives it caloric intake from Mama who takes food in for the baby and turns it into a manageable food source for their tummies along with other little miracles.

Six months is around the time your little one will be showing you that they indeed are ready! But some babies are not ready until as late as 10 months. These are some signs your little one might be ready:

• ·      Sitting up unassisted
• ·      Extreme interest in the food you are eating (think of the face you would make if the holy ghost appeared in your food!)
• ·      Hand to mouth coordination with “pincher grasp”
• ·      Crawling into a sitting position from tummy time.
• ·      Reaching out to your plate of food
• 
  

Feeding little tummies with delicious things is one of my favorite parts of the day! I hope to have a few recipes up soon! Until then crunch on fellow mamas!

Dan<3

Let's get crunchy!

Recently friends and family had asked me why and how I came to choose the parenting style I use. Most of our friends and family were doubtful of our choices when Theo was born. They had expected us to rear a demon, so just questioning how I use it is a HUGE step in the right direction. In a previous blog I mentioned that I tend to dance in the green pastures of “crunchy granola mama land”. By this I mean that I practice Attachment Parenting also know as Peaceful/Gentle/Hippie/Granola/Crunchy/Natural Parenting. In this blog I’m going to roll through the major ins and outs of what this is to us, how we use it, and a few more details.

I will not go so far as to say I am an expert on this parenting style but what I do with my children work in our home and are loosely based on Attachment Parenting. Not all of this is what all AP families do. AP parenting is about meeting your baby's needs.

First off in Attachment Parenting (AP) many families begin their parenting choices when they are pregnant. By this I mean that they choose to see a midwife instead of an OB-GYN, they chose to omit ultrasounds and invasive procedures, and choose to birth their baby naturally without any drugs. These families go with trusting the mother’s body to do what it was made to do, grow healthy babies. 

I am so happy to say that both of our boys were born naturally with the help of a midwife. What was best about a midwife was that they knew me and what I wanted in each pregnancy and birth. They saw me each time at the appointment and cooed with me at the lubdub noises of the baby's heart. Both my midwives cared about me and my baby.

Theo was born at home into David’s waiting hands in a warm tub of water. Max was born in the hospital (due to a rare blood condition making our pregnancy a high risk one) to my waiting hands that scooped him up to my chest. Both boys didn’t leave my arms until they had been calmed and told they were loved a million times. (Skin to skin contact immediately after birth, it is a precious gift that only you can give your baby.) Once they did leave it was only for the shortest of time to find out their measurements, and then were quickly returned to me and rarely left again in the following weeks. These weeks that passed too quickly were the most tender moments I have ever shared with them and I will never forget their lovely newborn noises.

Another HUGE practice in AP is breast is best. Breast is best. Breast is best. Breast is best. Did I mention that breast is best? In my family’s case I take this to an "extreme". We use baby led weaning and yes that means that I nurse into toddlerhood (gasp!). I don’t particularly like pumping, bottles, dummies, or frankly anyone else feeding my baby. So with this comes nursing in public. I couldn't give a hoot if someone doesn't want to see my baby eat; I’m going to feed him. Max likes to wear his cover as a turban rather than a cover, so I really do try to sit in a discreet area because I don’t want to show my boobs to anyone but if it happens then whoever got a peep usually gets an apologetic smile and I go back to nursing.

Max and I nursing in public. Notice the turban like cover. 

I love that my baby solely depends on my body to nourish his body. I really love sitting down and nursing a cooing little one that looks at you like you are the sun, moon, stars and earth all wrapped into one. With that being said I wouldn't say that it is a simple task, or that there is no sacrifice in it. Most days when I sit down to nurse, Max is so squiggly wiggly that we end up both being sprayed in the face with milk, at least twice. Sometimes if Theo is close enough he’ll get a face full too. Yeah, a distracted active baby (in other words a healthy happy baby) isn’t the easiest to nurse.

But some women cannot even get the chance to nurse their children because of lack of support. It is my belief that many women are faced with the worst difficulties of nursing (low supply, thrush, mastitis, engorgement, and more) and are unable to fight through because of the ill informed society we live in. Simple information and support from loved ones and people trusted can work miracles. Having faced each of the listed problems above I understand the extreme struggle it can be to just feed your baby. My advise to any nursing mother would be to trust your intuition, not your grandmothers saying that your milk is too thin/that baby needs a bottle/you’ll spoil him if you let fall asleep nursing. Do some research, find a lactation consultant, talk to other nursing mothers, and mostly follow your babies cues.

After nursing babies is co-sleeping and bed sharing. This is the act of having a family bed where parents and babies all sleep together. Some cases the family all share one bed, in others cribs or bassinets are attached to the bed and sleep directly next to the parents bed, and in others children sleep in separate beds in the same room. Yes, we bed share in our home. No, I am not going to roll onto my baby in my sleep. Breast feeding mothers have heightened sense of awareness of their babies, especially in newborn days and infancy. (Wooooohoooo mom magic is real!) 

Originally when I first brought Max into our bed it was just Theo and I because David was on deployment. I slept in-between the boys so Theo wouldn’t round house kick Max in his sleep. All was well. Then David came home, and we were a tad smushed in our queen-sized bed. Theo woke up after less than a week of this sleeping arrangement and told me I wanna sleep in my bed Mama, its too smushy in here. And just like that it became just Max in our bed. And every now and then Theo crawls in too and we all snuggle up. I love bed sharing its the best. I don’t have to wake up, and get out of bed, every time Max wakes up needing to nurse.  I simply roll over plug the boob in and fall back to sleep. Awesome. I know.

Another common AP practice is baby wearing. Its one of the new aspects of parenting to me, so please forgive me for not being able to give you every detail. Baby wearing is when instead of using a travel system like a stroller or the cart in a store you carry your child on your body. Some families like to wrap their babies in Moby Wraps or Sleepy Wraps (best for newborns only IMO), some like to buckle them in soft structured carriers like Ergo or Boba, while others sling them with woven wraps or Mei Ties. Some do a little of it all! There are many different baby carriers out there and each different family has different preferences.

I have found that the best part of babywearing is the ability to still do activities and have a happy baby. Baby won't let you set them down for nap? Strap them on to your back/front! How awesome is that? In fact, I write this post as Max snoozes in my ERGO Performance Carrier.

I know it looks like Max is broken here but as soon as I wrap him up he usually passes out. Hence the limp neck form!

BEWARE! Since baby wearing has become more and more popular, more and more retailers are selling less than adequate carriers . "Crotch Danglers". A proper carrier should hold your baby snuggly to your chest, back or hip and shouldn't  face your baby outwards. Your baby should not look like they are rocking the newest bikini when they are in the carrier, they should have their weight rested on their bottom with their legs slightly bent in a hugging position.

http://store.ergobaby.com/
http://www.didymos.de/en/?gclid=CN_k48bxs7UCFYqk4Aodf3QALg
http://www.mobywrap.com/
http://www.bobafamily.com/

The last large practice in our home that I find many other AP parents doing as well is natural medicine. Instead of seeing a doctor every time a cold rears its ugly head (which isn't often), I usually pull out the mega doses of Vitamin C, Echinacea, and water. When Theo became a walking bruise, with each lump, bump and scrape I wrapped his owie in arnica or calendula ointment and ice. We do not vaccinate until our children have a completely developed immune system and even then we will omit many vaccinations. We very sparingly use any other the counter medicines, and Theo has only been on antibiotics twice in his life.

I was raised in a home that practiced homeopathic medicine, and I have spent all of my life living it in granola land. It is a lifestyle that takes practice, patience, knowledge and the right resources, but all that you put in comes back hundred times in good health. And let's face it, what is better than good health?


The stuff above is just the tip of the iceberg! Other common AP practices that we use:

• Anti-Infant Cosmetic Modification. Sounds like a no brainer right? Leaving your baby to chose for themselves if they will modify their body. It means leaving babies bodies alone. No circumcision, no ear-piercing, no modifications. My take on it here.
• Elimination communication. No diapers, not potty training but just reading your baby's body signals to go potty!
• Cloth Diapers that disposable diaper you just tossed will be around to meet your great grandchildren. Gross, look into cloth diapering.
• Child led weaning/ baby led solids: skip the cereal, the airplane spoon, and nurse into  toddlerhood. No its not unnatural. In fact our society is the only one that thinks it is.
• Anti-Cry-it-out method. Its one of the most cruel and unusual methods we use on out babies. We are still parents after the sun sets. 

All of these practices work wonderfully in our home but this may not be the case for anyone else. Now if you'll please excuse me I have to go crunch on more of my granola ways!

Dan