Baby-led Weaning

Dear N: 5 Months Old

July 8, 2015 by Danielle

Wow. 5 whole months have gone by. As I write this I am watching you giggle in your grandma’s arms as Molly pretends to eat your feet. You have the biggest smile on your face as you grab for your sisters hair and pull in delight as she continues to pretend to bite you and give you raspberries. And as I’ve said before, your entrance into this world and into our family has been seamless.

The amount of personality you have already is amazing. Just like your siblings, you’re a pretty awesome baby. Grandma Ann says you’re such a good baby, better than your siblings. You are so interested in what’s going on and what people are doing around you. Even when we’re around the animals you love to watch what they do. So curious!

We’ve known you’re a strong baby. And by 4.5 months you were sitting by yourself unassisted. No, you can’t get to a sitting position on your own but you have amazing core strength that keeps you balanced. And with this new skill you’re able to have control over your hands when you play which opens new doors at playtime.

With this ability to sit up, we’ve also started to let you sit in the cart at the grocery store after you mastered sitting in a high chair at restaurants at 4 months. And… with your interest in food, and the fact that you’ve swiped a few things from your siblings, we’ve started offering you food when we eat.

So far you’ve had strawberries, green beans, mangos, carrots, avocado, sweet potatoes, bananas, cucumbers, bread, and graham crackers. Since we’re doing BLW you get big pieces of food that you can hold onto and enjoy on your own. You’re a pro. And it seems like you don’t have a preference for any one thing. You’re totally taking after your siblings.

Playtime is getting more and more fun as you continually become more interested in what’s around you. We’ve busted out a few toys for you, mainly some wooden blocks, a hape shape sorter, and some hand-me-down toys from your cousin and one of your brother’s friends. But sometimes you get frustrated because you can’t move yourself forward yet. You’re getting good at backwards though!

This month you’ve done a LOT! You’ve been to Sea World, Knott’s Berry Farm, and the San Diego County Fair. Lots of animals, rides, people, and fun to keep you curious and busy watching everything and taking it in. Your personality draws strangers to you and many kids and adults like to stop when they see you to say hi or talk to you. You’ve made many a friend.

With all that you’ve accomplished this month, I know that the next will be full of firsts as well and I’m so excited to see you grow and develop. You’re an amazing girl who I love with all of my heart. You’re a joy. Pure joy. I love you.

Unofficial 5 Month Stats:

18lbs (with clothes/diaper on)

5 Month Comparison

Filed Under: Baby, Life, Uncategorized Tagged With: 5 Months Old, baby, baby #3, baby toys, Baby-led Weaning, BLW, Dear Norah, Milestones, Months

Percentages… on the opposite end

March 15, 2012 by Danielle

With my son I never worried about weight and percentages when we went to the doctor for well baby check ups. He was always above the 50th percentile and usually was above the 75th percentile until he reached 2 years old. He was a fat, chubby, happy little baby and I loved it. I received comments quite frequently about how “healthy” he was. It made me feel like a good mama.

My son never had any food issues.

He also took a bottle quite well from the beginning and ate purees without a problem. Nowadays his eating is sporadic, as is any toddler’s, and I’m lucky to get in a full meal with him but he’s healthy and he snacks.

Then my daughter came. And since the beginning she’s been making me worry.

First came her refusal of the bottle. That lead to me quitting my job to nurse her full time… er… care for her and feed her. Then came her refusal of purees. She would only take one or two bites and then push the food away until I gave it to her in small pieces or chunks. That wasn’t much help since she didn’t get her first tooth until she was over 11 months old. Feeding was a very big chore.

But we kept at it and I thought she was getting enough food. Especially since she wasn’t yet one and she was still nursing.

However at each well-baby visit she seemed to be dropping in percentiles. And not by a little. She went from 50th to 40th. Then she hovered around 25th for a while before dropping down the 10th at her 9 month appointment. By her 1 year appointment she was down to the 3rd percentile however her height and head circumference seemed to be staying on their own curve so the doctor wasn’t worried.

But at her last check up, at 15 months, she fell off the chart for weight and is now below 0 percentile. And I’m kinda scared.

We have a weight check in 5 weeks.

I’m going to be doing everything I can to see if I can get her back up into the positive. The doctor reassured me that this is just a caloric thing. It has nothing to do with lack of nutrition. So I’m increasing the calories in this house.

I just purchased full fat milk… cream top milk to be exact. And I have full fat cream cheese, peanut butter, avocados, heavy cream, etc. She loves the green monster smoothies I make for myself so I’m going to start making her full fat versions to hope the extra calories do their thing.

And then we’ll go in for the weight check. And hope for the best!

Molly’s 15 Month Stats

18 pounds – below 0 percentile

30 inches – 45th percentile

47 centimeters – 75th percentile

Do you have any great pound-packing recipes for me to try with her? I’d love the suggestions!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Baby #2, Baby-led Weaning, low weight gain, stats, weight issues

Baby-Led Weaning {Ditching the Purees}

July 2, 2011 by Danielle

Miss M has been interested in our food since she was about 4 1/2 months old. I knew she was ready for solids when she started lurching for our spoons and plates and trying to snag what we were eating. So I started her on purees and she seemed to be into it. But she never seemed to be interested after taking about a tablespoon of food. She was much more into gnawing on the spoon. So I started researching and asking around and found the answer I was looking for. Baby-led weaning.

I put away the purees I made and wiped off the food processor. M’s first real experience with baby-led weaning was with a food she was used to… apples. I just sauteed them up so they were soft and diced them up. I don’t think I made the pieces big enough so I stopped after a few tastes. Here are a few pictures from her experience 🙂

She did really well picking up the pieces with her fingers so I gave her a few puffs to practice with. Then I started thinking of what I was going to serve for dinner. And I figured carrots would be good to practice with as well. I made sure to keep them in stick form so she could grab onto them and gnaw little pieces off. They were a hit! She loved it and the mess she left proved that she had a great time as well.

Since that first day we’ve offered her a little of whatever we’re having at each meal. Sometimes she just plays with the food and other times she eats a bit. She’s really good at chewing with her gums! Definitely surprised me with how well her gums work to chew.

And she’s doing great with her sippy too. She still uses it mostly as a teether but she does get water out of it every once in a while. Friday night we had pizza so I made her a deconstructed pizza plate of sorts. She got to taste olives, a bit of mozzarella, some steamed broccoli and pizza crust. She looked like she thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the family meal. I wasn’t too sure about the cheese since she seems a bit young to have it but we’ve had no problems so far.

I really think this is not going to be easier for us in general but it’s less stressful, in my opinion. I never worried about how much E was eating when he was on purees but I did start to worry when he started eating table food since I didn’t think he was getting enough. Now I know it’s all just practice at this point. Her main nutrition still comes from my breastmilk and she’s getting really good at playing with her food 🙂

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Baby #2, Baby Food, Baby-led Weaning, Crunchy, Health