A Natural Introduction to Food: Baby Led Weaning

So I have been meaning to write this post for so long but the last year has just been crazy busy and I procrastinated. Better late than never though, right?

Sophia eating some casserole with the family (8 mo)

If you aren't familiar, Baby Led Weaning (BLW) is a way of introducing food to your child from the start of weaning (aka adding complimentary foods, not taking away the breast/formula) by allowing them to self feed and explore their food.

Unlike traditional weaning where baby is spoon fed purées, with BLW you offer baby a variety of foods in manageable shapes/sizes (think your finger size) for baby to feed themselves. BLW starts from 6 months on and takes advantage of your baby's natural desire to explore food and learn from it. To begin with baby won't eat a lot (more than what you think though) and it mostly looks like they are playing with food (but they are actually learning from it). They quickly advance their skills and, depending on the child, will begin to eat more efficiently within a few months. For us it was around the second month of BLW (8 month old).

You might be concerned that baby is not ingesting enough solid food. However, since breast milk or formula should be baby's PRIMARY nutrition for their first year this is not a valid concern. In fact, studies show that BLW babies learn to eat solid foods faster than spoon fed babies.

Sophia eating her favorite breakfast - eggs and sausage (16 mo)

BLW is messy to begin with but I would say Sophia became a pro around 14 months. Now, at almost 20 months old, she hardly ever makes a mess regardless of the kind of food she is eating. This is in stark contrast to my friend's son (also 20 months old), who was spoon fed, and creates a mountain of mess after every meal.

It's not to say spoon feeding is bad, but just that it is unnecessary. Purées were first recommended before doctors understood that breast milk and formula should be the primary nutrition for the first year and falsely believed babies needed supplementation from solids at 4 months old (before a baby has the drive or skill set to eat solid food - thus the need to purée the food).

Overall, our experience with BLW has been awesome! The most exciting part was watching her skills develop. I remember when she first developed the pincer grip when picking up a piece of cereal. I was so proud!

Sophia at the family table for Thanksgiving dinner 2012 (18 mo)

If you want to read more about BLW and try it, I highly recommend 'Baby-Led Weaning' by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett. It fully explains the skills that develop and also safeguards against choking. Also, it's important to understand gagging and how it is normal and healthy (and very different from choking). They describe how you should respond when your child gags in order to encourage and not scare them. They also talk about the many other benefits of BLW such as: developing healthy eating habits, trusting baby's instincts for nutrition, family meals, no mealtime battles, easier meal prep, and baby learning and developing from food.

Hope you enjoy BLW as much as we have!

Being an AP Mommy

Only recently did I read a book about attachment parenting. I read the Sears' 'The Attachment Parenting Book'. And as I read it I realized I've been an attachment parent since birth! It really did come naturally to me, the way the Sears describe it in the book.

In their book, the Sears describe AP as a means of opening your mind and heart to the individual needs of your child and letting your knowledge of your child be your guide to making decisions that are best for you and your child. They list several tools to help you and your child attach from birth. They call them the Baby B's: Birth Bonding, Breastfeeding, Baby Wearing, Bed Sharing, Belief in Baby's Cry, Balance and Boundaries, Beware of Baby Trainers.

Toddler Nursing (14 months old)

The biggest lesson I took away from this book was that I am the expert for my child. AP doesn't mean you need to do all the Baby B's all the time. You know what works best for you and your child. As an AP Mommy I trust my instincts and let those guide me as opposed to bending to what others tell me is best for my child. One case in point would be breastfeeding. Sophia and I have been breastfeeding for nearly 20 months now. Around 18 months she started having a sleep regression that caused her to wake 5+ times a night (like a newborn). I was at my wits end. I wanted to end night nursing because I needed sleep and people were convincing me that was the problem. It was difficult in my sleep deprived state not to believe them. My own mother (a bf advocate) was telling me to wean Sophia cold turkey to solve the problem. I contemplated what she was advising. However, it felt completely unnatural to me and was not how I saw our nursing relationship ending (especially when I was hoping to nurse until 24 months). I struggled through hoping against hope that it was a phase she would quickly out grow. I would say it took a few weeks of terrible sleep before I started to feel like we were getting back to normal. I am so pleased I stuck through the phase and listened to my instincts.

You can be an attachment parent and not use all of the tools. You can be an attachment parent and use CIO, bottle feed, say no, etc. AP is about knowing your child and making the best decisions for them based on that knowledge. It's about following your instincts. It's about creating a harmony between you and your child as you raise them. I believe balance and boundaries are the key as they grow older.

AP can be for any parent.... Single parents, working parents, married parents, stay at home parents... Whatever your situation, it is a very flexible parenting style.

Natural Birth Reading List

People often ask me what reading they can do to prep for a natural birth. I can't tell you what joy that question brings me. Not just because the suggestions I have are awesome (which they are) but because whoever is asking me this question has already shown the most important first step in prepping for a natural delivery... Research! Women who do their research on birth are far more likely to accomplish their goal. There are many reasons for this: avoiding unnecessary intervention, getting into a natural birth mindset, but most of all commitment to a natural birth (it really does take a strong will more than anything else).

So I had to post my reading list in the order I recommend you read them (in case you don't have time to read them all):

- 'Ina May's Guide to Childbirth' by Ina May Gaskin (Actually all of her books are AMAZING and worth the reading time!)

- 'Active Birth' by Janet Balaskas
- 'The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth' Henci Goer

- 'Your Best Birth' by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein

- 'Birthing From Within' by Pam England and Rob Horowitz

I read many more but these were the ones I found to be the most useful and true to my experience. I hope they will help whoever else may stumble upon this page!!

Best quote I ever had for childbirth and breastfeeding came from my birth/bf educator. She said to me "Don't say you will TRY to have a natural childbirth or you will TRY to breastfeed. Say you WILL have a natural childbirth and you WILL breastfeed." She was completely accurate. It is all mind over matter. Say it, think it, believe it, and you WILL DO IT!!! 

Oh, and during childbirth it is important to surround yourself with people (doula, midwife, husband, mother, friend, ob, etc) who believe in you. If you have read my previous post about my childbirth experience you know my own mother was that support for me. It is so important because you will doubt yourself during birth (even if you don't mean it) so you need someone who will look you in the eyes and remind you of how strong you are and tell you that you are doing great. 

Love to all you looking for a natural childbirth! You are STRONG!!!! 

Rear Facing Your Precious Cargo

So I've been wanting to write this for awhile. Many new parents (myself included) are never taught car seat safety before their little one's arrival (and even after). In the early months of Sophia's life I did not know about car seat safety or the proper way to install a car seat or even to buckle her in safely. See the photos at the end of this post for examples of what NOT to do! I learned that I was doing it wrong through comments on Instagram on other mom's car seat photos. If it wasn't for these wonderful mother's teaching each other, I never would have learned what to do and what not to do. Praise God, we never had an accident in those early months when I was improperly using the car seat. Thanks to learning about car seat safety, I did further research and found out about the massive benefits of extended rear facing (and the risks of forward facing too early). Many people do not know or understand why rear facing is so important. I hope this post will help clear up some of the confusion while also giving some tips to avoid the major pitfalls of installing a car seat and buckling in your precious cargo.

My own mother did not understand the reasons for extended rear facing beyond a year and 20 lbs. No matter how many statistics I told her about how much safer it is to rear face (RF reduces injury by 96%; FF has a 40% risk of severe injuries). It wasn't until I found this video on YouTube that she finally changed her tune and is now pro RF beyond the minimum of 1 year and 20 lbs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8gU9zzCGA8

This video was made by the grandfather of a child who was forward facing in an accident (at 18 months and 33 lbs). You can see now what an advocate he is of RF when he learned all the information he shares in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sssIsceKd6U

This video shows visually how the strain is put on the neck and spinal cord when children are FF in a frontal collision (96% of crashes are frontal and side impact).

The quote below from an article on cpsafety.com does a good job of explaining why it is safer to RF than FF for a small child:

"When a child is in a forward-facing seat, there is tremendous stress put on the child's neck, which must hold the large head back. The mass of the head of a small child is about 25% of the body mass whereas the mass of the adult head is only 6%!  A small child's neck sustains massive amounts of force in a crash.  The body is held back by the straps while the head is thrown forward - stressing, stretching or even breaking the spinal cord.  The child's head is at greater risk in a forward-facing seat as well.  In a crash, the head is thrown outside the confines of the seat and can make dangerous contact with other occupants, vehicle structures, and even intruding objects, like trees or other vehicles.

Rear-facing seats do a phenomenal job of protecting children because there is little or no force applied to the head, neck and spine.  When a child is in a rear-facing seat, the head, neck and spine are all kept fully aligned and the child is allowed to "ride down" the crash while the back of the child restraint absorbs the bulk of the crash force. The head is contained within the restraint, and the child is much less likely to come into contact with anything that might cause head injury."

Here are some more tips for safe riding:

• Be sure to read your car seat manual and your car manual to learn proper installation of your car seat.

• 

  Safe Riding Sophie!

  When buckling in your child make sure the chest clip is at arm pit level. Also check to make sure there is not too much seat belt slack (you shouldn't be able to pinch it together). And make sure the safety belts lie flat and are not twisted.
• The harness straps should be at or below your child's shoulders for RF. For FF they should be at or above their shoulders.
• Do not put bulky clothes on your child (i.e. snow suits and thick coats). Instead put a blanket over them once they are buckled in their seat for warmth. Reason being in the event of a crash the coats/snowsuits would get compressed and the child will not be as protected and could even slip out of the car seat belts completely.
• When properly installed your car seat should not move more than an inch in any direction.
• The middle of the back seat is the safest place for your
  child. If you have two children put the youngest in the middle and the older one on the passenger side of the back seat.
• If you are using an infant carrier seat make sure the handle is in the down position (most but not all car seat's have this rule - check your car seat manual).

I hope these video's and tips help other parent's. Ride safe everyone!!

This was probably my worst car seat offending moment.

There was a time I did not know car seat safety.

Update on EC

Well...Sophia is almost 9 months old! Sorry I have not posted in so long.... I've been working like a crazy woman!

I just wanted to update everyone on our experience with EC since so many mommies have been asking me about it. So far I have no complaints! We are still doing it part time and Sophia is doing so well with it. She actually holds in her poop until I get a chance to put her on her potty. Now that we have started solids (another post to follow on that experience) her poop is more solid too. And she only poops once every other day.

I am still following her cues to give her opoportunities to go on the potty. She definitely whines now to be put on the potty when she has to poo. She absolutely refuses to poo in her diaper. I also put her on the potty after she eats, has a diaper change, and when she wakes up since it is convenient and she usually has to pee around these times.

Pretty much every time I put her on the potty she goes. In traditional potty training some parents feel the need to praise the child for going to the bathroom or give treats. With EC it is recommended that you do not praise or treat for going on the potty. I think this has worked very well for us as Sophia understands that going to the potty is just something that everyone does and doesn't expect any reward other than the internal relief she feels after going on the potty.

If you are thinking of trying EC go for it! My guess is you won't be disappointed. If you are wondering which potty to get... I think you can tell from my photos we are big fans of the Baby Bjorn Potty! But get whichever one you like best. It is good to keep it simple though and try to avoid those potties with a lot of music and gadgets as they are counterproductive to the purpose of EC. Let me know if you have any questions you would like me to address in my future posts. Happy EC'ing!!