Carrot Poo

It has arrived! Finally...a sign that Boo is actually ingesting some of this food. He had a carrot poo...smelled exactly like carrot with little bits thrown in. Very lovely to look at. And yes, his crazy mom was inspecting it very closely.

Sweet Potato and Canteloupe

Today's food was sweet potato and canteloupe. We went out to eat with Grandma and my brother and sister-in-law. My meal was conveniently served with a triangle of canteloupe as was everyone else's. So Boo had two wedges of canteloupe and LOVED it. He does not get that from me. I hate canteloupe. He also got to have sweet potato. He really enjoyed shoveling it into his mouth with his adult-size restaurant spoon. It was pretty comical.

I'm still waiting on some evidence of food ingestion in Boo's diapers. Once I see some evidence that he's swallowing I'll start offering him food at lunch also. So I'm hopeful for a telling poo soon.

Chicken, Smashed Potatoes, and Steamed Carrot

Well, it was chicken breast really and it wasn't great. I baked it but it came out a bit tough. I still gave Boo a chip-shaped piece of it as I thought gnawing on it might feel great on his gums. If I can find some roast chicken at the store that isn't overflowing with butter I may try that next time. The chicken I made was too tough for Boo to actually eat. To go with the chicken Boo enjoyed smashed potatoes leftover from yesterday's dinner. He did a great job with his spoon once again. I'm not sure how he felt about the steamed carrot. I peeled it, cut it into quarters, and steamed it. Because it was so soft he was able to gum off pieces of it which made me a bit nervous. Plus he was really going to town trying to shove in as many pieces as he could at one time. At one point he got this really alarmed look on his face and he started shaking his arms. He made this high-pitched trying to breathe sound. So I promptly picked him up, tipped him over, and beat him on the back. That was all he needed. This seemed different to me than the gagging that he does when he pushes something too far back. He doesn't usually look quite so alarmed. However, he's a trooper. Once the food was out he went right back to eating. Business as usual I suppose.

Well, there you have it. I plan on disclosing the good, bad, and ugly as we journey through the world of baby-led weaning. And we had a bit of bad/ugly with our carrot tonight. But Boo certainly doesn't seem traumatized.

I was thinking about something today. I was an infant teacher at a Montessori school for awhile and we started babies on table foods maybe around 8-9 months. I don't remember exactly, it's been awhile. But the babies always gagged on something or other. It's all part of learning how to properly manipulate the food inside the mouth. Boo will get it just like they did.

Seeing Green

Green was the theme for dinner. Not intentionally, but oh what a sight. *sigh* I'm still wishing I could get the camera to work so that I could show off the pics. Oh well. I gave up and used my film camera for tonight's entree, so I can post pics later when the film is developed.

Anyways, tonight was broccoli. I attempted to make the broccoli trees as recommended for BLW. However, I think I steamed my broccoli a bit soft, so the handles broke off almost immediately upon being picked up. Oh well, Boo didn't seem to mind. He attempted to shovel it all in there anyways. He's such a great sport with this whole eating thing. He really seems to love it. In addition to the broccoli he had smashed avacado on a rice cake. That rice cake was so mushy and slimy when he was done with it. It was a beautiful sight to behold. I bet the rice cake felt great on his teething little gums. By the way, did I mention that he has the beginnings of a tooth? I can feel it and see it just a tiny bit. Yay - go Boo go!

I'm still waiting for evidence of food in his diapers. Still none as of yet, but I obsessively check each diaper. Although, I am a bit sad. We cloth diaper, so going from breastmilk poo to more solid poo is going to force me to work just a bit more when changing diapers. Oh well - it's worth it. He looks so cute in cloth. Plus, more money to buy fresh food that he can try.

Hummus - Face

I have been trying in vain to get the digital camera to load to the computer and it won't do it. We think I may have accidentally deleted the software to make it work. Oops. I wanted to show off Boo's little hummus-face so badly.

We had quite the time this meal. Boo had hummus and mashed potato and green beans. He ate with a spoon for the first time and wouldn't you know that my little genius held his spoon and moved the end with the food right into his mouth! I was so proud. Granted, he didn't do that everytime, but he did it quite a few times. I helped him load the spoon a couple of times. But he attempted to do this for himself too. What a smartie! Anyways, he made some funny faces at the hummus but he kept eating it. So I take that to mean that he liked it. He's still working on those green beans. He definitely hasn't figured out how to make much progress with them as far as chewing and swallowing. For now he's content to suck on them and spit them back out. However, he didn't gag on the green beans as much. He actually gagged more on the softer foods, the smashed potatoes and the hummus. He is very new to this eating thing though and I think he's really enjoying it. He gets very excited everytime I put food in front of him.

I made the hummus at home.

Tahini
Chickpeas
Garlic
Olive Oil
Lemon Juice

I couldn't find salt-free chickpeas and I was too lazy to buy the garbanzo beans that I would have to soak, so I picked the cans with the least amount of sodium.

Once again, if I figure this camera out I'll load picks. If not, oh well. I'm hoping that I do though. His hummus potato face was so cute. I am longing for a highchair though. *sigh*

Potatoes and Green Beans

Well, it was potatoes and green beans tonight. I got pics with the digital camera, but we can't get them to load onto the computer. *Sigh* I LOVE technology. Boo was pretty thrilled with his meal, although, I'm longing more and more for a high chair. Cleaning food off the carpet every night is no fun. I also plan to make a mat for under the high chair when funds become available. I'm going to buy some vinyl and sew up the edges.

Here's how I served the potatoes. They were roasted in a little bit of olive oil and seasoned with garlic and onion powder. I sliced them up steak fry style. He definitely enjoyed them. I'm not sure he ate any of it, but definitely gummed them beyond recognition. I guess I'll just keep watching his diapers for signs of ingested food. The green beans were steamed and plain, nothing added in other words. The green beans just got sucked on and spit out. He did gag once or twice on the green bean. But, having reassured myself on the gagging thing, I patiently watched as the big bad green bean made it's way back to the front of the mouth. At no time did Boo show any signs of choking or distress. He just went right on eating.

Well. if I get the camera figured out I'll add some nice pics of this meal. Otherwise this is it until the next meal.

A Couple of Links and Future Plans

I wanted to post a link to an article that a came across in another BLW blog.

Baby Food Myths

Anyways, I thought that was an interesting read.

Also, here's a link to a site that I had posted previously. However, the link I posted went directly to Gill Rapley's interview. This link has more information.

The Weaning Room

Well, that's all for now. I'm going to try to play with the digital camera. Maybe I can get it working before dinnertime tonight.

Today's Food

Well, we didn't do much feeding today. We went out for lunch with Boo's grandma. Boo tried a green bean. However, I gave up after one green bean. Why? Because I didn't want to hear it all through lunch. Grandma is definitely not on board with BLW and kept saying every two seconds while he was sucking on his green bean, "He's going to choke." I finally snapped and told her "if my child chokes and dies it will be my fault then, won't it." A nice remark to say to someone who's buying your lunch. *sigh* He did gag on the green bean which of course reaffirmed in Grandma's mind that I'm about to kill her grandchild. It did make me nervous a bit being new to this and all. After getting home I looked up my BLW information and re-read the parts about gagging so that I can have a better ready response next time and also to reassure myself as I'm new to this.


"Gagging, as opposed to choking, is actually a safety response to food travelling too far back into the mouth so when we see our babies gagging they are actually handling the problem and it's best just to keep calm (or at least look calm) and wait until it passes. I give her a wee drink of water immediately afterwards which she seems to like."

- Quoted from Baby-Led Weaning Blog

Not that my ready-made response will make things any different next time. Of course it's not the way she did things or the way most people do them, so of course she's bound to think I'm nuts. Oh well.

I did find a nice guideline for what to introduce when. Here's the link:

Food Introduction Schedule

I am looking for ways to incorporate more iron into his diet, so I'm on a mission to pick some iron-rich foods in the near future. I've chosen not to utilize the iron supplements that most doctors tend to push, because I think they're probably unnecessary for many babies. Here's some information that that I utilized in making that decision:

Kellymom Iron Information

Well, I'm going to sign off and head to bed now.

Out of bed to get some water and I'm editing to add that babies gag when being spoon fed all the time - especially when they're first starting and nobody tries to tell a mom to stop feeding her child that way because "they'll choke." Anyways, just had to get that last word in.

Disclaimer

Here's my disclaimer. I am not in any way pretending that I am an expert in baby-led weaning (feeding). I am not claiming that I am following this feeding protocol exactly the way that it is meant to be followed. I am simply a new parent doing my best to understand and follow this approach to feeding. My goal with this blog is to chart our experiences, the good, bad, and the ugly. I'm hoping that I can raise awareness of baby-led feeding as a viable alternative to the traditional approach to feeding and point any interested parents in the right direction.

Beginning our baby led feeding journey

I've decided to start a new blog dedicated only to baby led feeding. Actually, the technical term is baby-led weaning. However, I've noticed that some people get confused and think that it means weaning from breastfeeding, so I've decided to use the word feeding in place of weaning. Nothing could be further from the truth. Babies who are breastfed need to continue with that during baby-led feeding as they're still getting the majority of nutrition from breast milk. Baby-led feeding is not so much about the nutritional value of solids in the beginning...it's more about experiencing foods as baby is ready. I'm not the expert here, so see the links below if you want to read more. It seems that most resources on this style of feeding are in the UK and I'd really like to see more moms in the United States see this as a viable feeding option. So that's my reason for starting a new blog.

Some of you know that we've chosen to go the way of baby led feeding with Boo. We're really enjoying it so far and Boo seems to respond well. He gets so excited when he gets food put in front of him. It's so far away from mainstream and I'm sure it would raise all kinds of eyebrows with a lot of people, but oh well, Boo's not their child now is he? Anyways, here's some links in case you're wondering what the heck baby led feeding is.

Tribal Baby
Baby Led Weaning Blog
Baby Led Weaning Guidelines
An Interview With Gill Rapley (Developer of Baby-led Weaning)

So far Boo has had dairy-free pancakes, avacados, bananas, french fries, broccoli, and pork. Today I think we'll try some black beans. Last night was his first meat and he loved it. I would've taken pics if I had film. He just sat there and sucked the crap out of his pork. It was so cute. I bet it felt great on his gums too. I'm wanting to incorporate more iron-rich foods, hence the beans. I don't want to have to give him supplemental iron drops. I'd rather him get his iron naturally. So I see leafy greens in his future also. At this point he's not swallowing much at all. He didn't swallow any of the pork. I think he did swallow a bit of his broccoli, but not much. Mostly he just plays in it and throws it around. I can't wait to get a highchair. Right now I end up wearing whatever it is we've decided to feed him. Oh well - I guess that's part of the fun.

I'm going to attempt to figure out our cheap digital camera. I don't normally use it as I prefer my Canon SLR. However, in the interest of logging our feeding experiences, I would like to get the pics up immediately with the posts. So I will work on figuring that out. I'm looking forward to starting this journey and hope that many searching for more information find their way here.