BLW - week 1

We've ended our first week of BLW. Overall, I can declare myself content. Bryce was interested in the food and although he didn't eat everything, he, at least, played, sucked, chewed on some stuff.
So, this week, I introduced him to :

VEGETABLES : carrot, broccoli, sweet,red potato, summer squash;

FRUITS : nectarines, peach, banana, apple,

and MUM-MUM

The fruit and vegetables were either steamed, baked or just raw.

FAVORITES: sweet potato, summer squash, peach, banana (THE MOST), apple and of course the MUM-MUM

NOT SO FAVORITE : carrot and broccoli

PS: Wednesday was the grand-parents day. He spent most of the afternoon with his grand parents and had his lunch/diner with them. Grand ma' gave him half of a pureed banana and some apple sauce. She told me he ate everything like a champ. :)


I've just bought new stuff for him to start our 2nd week of BLW, until then you can enjoy our little montage from the 1st week.

Pears- comme si, comme ca

So, we tried the pears, this week. Not so much fun. He didn't seem to enjoy them as much as he enjoyed the apples or the bananas. So, I stopped. Why continue?? He has so much time to discover them later and eat them like crazy.

What I notice more and more each day -due yo the fact that he sits by the table with us, while we're eating - is that he loves grabbing and kinda of working for his food. Therefore, I ordered some mum-mum ( Thanks, MQQM) and see what he will do.

Anyway, we will be away from home for a few days-his first kinda of trip-3 hours away from LA- so we will put solids on hold.

But we are approaching six months and I'm preparing to slowly introducing him to the world of finger foods!!!

Banana's on the menu

This week was Banana week!!!!

The recipe: 1/2 of a ripe banana and 1 tablespoon of formula, I smashed the banana and mixed everything in a bowl.

Conclusions:

- he liked it very much;

- no allergies or any other weird side effects;

- a daily, very good poop, a little bit harder, darker and smellier ( actually I could see bits of bananas in it), but no constipation, diarrhea or vomiting;

This week I also teased him into BLW a little bit. Meaning that I went out to a lebanese restaurant and they gave some unsalted pita and as Bryce was reaching for it, I gave him some. He was a happy camper to just chew on it. So, I'm confident that in the very near future we will do some more of that.

I notice in delight that he has a very good hand-mouth coordination ( e.g: he grabs the spoon and puts it right into his mouth with an amazing precision) and that he develops very good skills in grabbing all kinda of stuff ( sometimes food is on his way :))

Next week we will try some pear. Hope it will be another hit. We will let you know.

Apple's on our checklist

So, we finished our 6 days trial with apples;

Conclusions:

- overall, he really liked lit;

- he opened his mouth, dipped his hands in the stuff I've made;

- no allergies or some other weird reactions;

- good poop ( I could see bits of apples in it, the color became darker);

We will take a 2-3 days break and next week we will try something new. This time: bananas!!!

I'm still reading and trying to gather as much information as I can about the BLW method. I've also joined the BLW yahoo forum where I can have a glimpse into other's people experience with this method.

I still believe this concept is really interesting and developing some of the baby's skills, the only thing that I'm a little bit scared of and concerned about is his ability of swallowing little pieces of food, my ability of being cool when I will see him gagging ( that most of the time looks like choking) with his face turning red and his eyes being in tears, my ability of just knowing how to react on the spot if something would have happened etc.

So, discussing these issues with my husband too, we came to the conclusion that a mixed approach at this stage would be more appropriate for our family, meaning that we will combine the classic method with the BLW; so like for example, when I will make the pureed carrots I will also try to offer him a boiled finger carrot son long and so forth...I know it is not true BLW anymore but who cares....What cares is that our family feels comfortable, safe and happy...

The thing that I know for sure is that I will not force food into his mouth.

So, we will meet next time with some banana experience until then enjoy some "apples" pictures...:)))

PS: One more thing that I would like to add about spoon feeding. Sometimes I get intrigued and irritated by some of the statements that I read in different books. This time it happens to be the one that says that spoon fed babies are more likely to choke that BLW babies because with the spoon fed babies you pushed the pureed food back in his mouth.

Well, let me tell you my experience with Bryce. Bryce DOES NOT slurp the food from the spoon, Bryce DID NOT choke on the pureed food ;what Bryce DID DO was to start to chew on what went into his mouth. Just like that, as natural as it can gets!!!!

PLEASE, let's not make moms feel bad about their decisions!!!!

A little break

Today was the sixth day since I've started giving my baby some rice cereal.

Conclusion:

-overall not very enthusiastic;

-he didn't hate it but didn't love it either;

-he liked to play with it more than anything.

There were a couple of days when he ate 3-4 spoons but otherwise just 1 or 2 max.

We will take a short brake, I'm thinking around 1 week; next week he will be 5 months old so we're getting closer to the BIG MOMENT. But, who knows maybe the BIG MOMENT is already here.

Anyway, my next try will be with some bananas (like a pureed) , some baked apples and some sweet potatoes. Not all at once but one at a time. I'm very curious how his reaction will be but we will keep you posted.

The play with solids

So, we're slowly approaching 5 months of age. One more month and we will be kinda of ready to start on solids.

Thanks to a great mom, I got introduced to the concept of BLW or Baby led weaning. In her blog, she is writing notes about how this method works as well as her experience with her baby.

The book is called " Baby-led weaning" and is written by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett. As the authors agreed themselves, this is not a new concept at all, moms used it involuntarily or not during the years. This method makes so much sense and gives the baby the chance of choosing and playing and discovering and having fun and all with a great result: LEARNING TO EAT!!!

The first thing I did was purchasing a high chair; Bryce was already joining us at the table, but he was either in the bouncer or in our lap. He LOVES being around us and watching us doing stuff but wait: WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO IGNORE HIM!!! He needs to be a part of what we're doing!!! :))) Geez, so much personality, already!!!!

So, since we got the chair, I tried to see if he was interesting in some other edible shapes. So, I peeled a banana and offered it to him. He grabbed it and after that it was a crazy chase of the banana in the tray, on his face, on his lap, on his clothes etc....

In the book, they kinda of advise you not to: stare, laugh, appraise....Believe me it is very hard...

I look forward to more food adventures...Good bye clean kitchen....And, oh, BTW, we do have a doggie ( MQQM, you know what I mean -:))) - my alive mop. LOL!!!!

More stories to come...until then.....HAPPY NEW YEAR AND AN AWESOME 2010!!!!