food before one is just for fun

So this past Wednesday we did it! We offered Jack his first solid at about 5.5 months. I planned to wait until he was 6 months but he was showing readiness signs as outlined by the Baby Led Weaning (BLW) philosophy.

OK, side track. Everyone knows I am really into nutrition and healthful/conscious food choices so it should come as no surprise that I (over?) research Jack's eating. As he started approaching 4 months I began reading about the lack of nutrients and benefits of rice cereal. It is thought that most babies start out with rice cereal because it is low allergen risk, however, if parents wait until a baby is fully ready for solids, allergic reactions are cut back greatly. Rice cereal is at best really filling carbohydrates. The issue with that is that a baby will get full then with carbs and then still want to nurse frequently to make up for lack of fat, vitamins, minerals, etc. It isn't a really balanced product.

So, we skipped rice cereal at 4 months. I ordered the Baby Led Weaning cookbook off from Amazon and took a long leisurely bath one night with a glass of wine and read up. I really liked the ideas outlined. It said to not start solids until showing signs of readiness (sitting up unassisted, loss of tongue thrust reflex, chewing while parents chew, etc) because at this point their gut is closed at less risk of allergies or issues. Remarkably, reaching out for food is not a readiness sign as babies literally reach out and put everything in their mouth at this age (very true for Jack). Cutting a tooth is a "bonus" readiness sign but not necessary (if he's anything like his mama, which he is, he won't get teeth for a while!).

Oh, and real quickly, weaning in this sense is just going from all breastmilk to some breastmilk and some food, I am not quitting breastfeeding. It is a British term.

OK, back on track! BLW also says that babies should feed themselves in manageable portions of whole foods so that they regulate their hunger. This really spoke to me. Instead of me sitting there force feeding organic purées I spent time cooking (because if I did purées, that's how I would be doing it), I can put manageable portions of fruits and veggies (and eventually grains and proteins) on his tray and let him self feed and be adventurous. I love this no pressure approach. I don't need to be worried about how much he is getting in since he is still nursing and can let him learn and eat as his development, tastes and hunger dictate. Plus, bonus points for laziness. As a working mom I love the idea of not having extra dishes/silverware to wash, making his special food, having to cart around special food for him, etc. The cookbook recipes are all enough for two adults and one baby so we will all get to eat the same meal at the same time. And they are awesome recipes with flavor, texture and variety. I'm so excited to watch him try different ethnic flavors and a variety of fruits, veggies, grains, etc. Salt and sugar are really taken out so it will help Trevor and I to eat even healthier. I also love the eating out convenience. When we go out he can just have some things off our plates and eat with us instead of having to spoon feed him food and then we eat something different afterwards.

So since Jack was showing readiness signs, the other night when we were having veggie burgers and I had some avocado on mine (the first food I wanted to introduce to him), I put some on his plate in small chunks, some mushed with a fork and some in a big chunk and he had a blast. I'm positive nothing made it in his mouth but he painted his highchair a lovely shade of green and helped fatten Sofía up (who is so happy to have another person to take food from). Maybe next week we'll try again but we are just taking this day by day and not concerning ourselves with how much he gets in since food before one is just for fun. He still has the perfect blend of fat, water, vitamins and nutrients in breastmilk.

Lastly, how are we going to raise Jack eating wise? The short answer is mostly plant based, some vegan. I feel pretty strongly that while he is younger, to not feed him meat or diary because of the research I have done. I cook plant baased vegan at home, eat plant based and some vegan outside of home and plan to follow that with Jack. Once he is old enough to make his own informed choices and if he wants meat, he can choose to eat it without judgement. I don't think anyone in my friends and family circle would make fun of either of us or go against my wishes. They know how important this is to me. Some people have asked if its fair to put my beliefs on him. I don't see how this is any different than raising a child with a certain religious or cultural viewpoint. Parents share their viewpoints with their children on everything, that is what parenting is really, no? I also think it will be awesome that he can look up to his Aunt Annie who has been a vegetarian all her life. Just last night we had an awesome discussion about animal cruelty together. She is such my mini-me! I think education here is key.

Anyway, that's Jack's eating as of now! I want to attach some videos of his first food (not eating-haha!) experience but mobile blogger won't let me!

Randomness

I've been wanting to update this blog more often and make it more of a family blog but as I'm sure it's easy to imagine, doing so with a newborn (wait infant, he's no longer a nb) is somewhat difficult. I have these grand plans of making posts with links and pictures but I rarely get a chance to get to a desktop these days. Anyway! Here's some things I wanted to document:

I love baths! Prior to Jack I never, ever took baths. We lived in this house for 3 years before I ever took a bath. He kind of inspired me to take them when I saw how much he enjoys them. I usually take one on Sunday afternoon. I love using LUSH bath bombs with them-an addiction started by my sister and continued by my sweet husband. The company only sells vegan homemade products and is anti-animal cruelty. Ever since having Jack, I have been increasingly more hippy (if you can believe it) and I like the idea of pampering myself while supporting an ethical company.

On that same note, I am really glad I had Jack at the point in my life I did. Any younger and I wasn't really educated about things I am today. I truly enjoy making informed choices on the things I buy for him and what I buy for him. I try to do the most natural possible because I see so many positives to it. For example, we use coconut oil for his diaper rash cream, bumgenius and pooters cloth diapers, earth mama angel baby shampoo and lotion (vegan and makes him smell like a creamsicle!), rock n green unscented detergent, and an amber teething necklace for teething pain. Younger me would have thought these things were silly and I certainly wouldn't have tried breastfeeding.

In addition, we've been really conscious about what he really needs. With an outlook on simplicity and minimalism, it's seems so silly to us to spend frivolously on Jack when really his needs and wants are so few. We've been conscious to buy clothes that can mix and match, well made imaginative toys (wooden, creative toys like Haba and Melissa and Doug). It's definitely more important to Trevor and I to provide him with more experiences than things. For that reason, he might not have every latest and greatest toy but he will do mommy and me swim lessons, have a parent home with him during the day, take family vacations together and do things that create lifelong memories. Every family is different but this works for ours. I hope to teach Jack on the importance of respecting resources (money, earth, time) and how to lead a purposeful, fun and meaningful life.

To prove how random this post is, tomorrow I am taking Jack to our first La Leche League International (breastfeeding group) meeting. I'm pretty excited! I don't know what really to expect but it will be nice to get together with (hopefully) like minded mamas. It's interesting now that I am a mom, I feel really confident in myself like I never have before. I used to be concerned what people thought of my crunchy tendencies, liberal thoughts and views but now I really don't care if someone disagrees or offers me contradicting advice I don't care for. For the first time in my life I am able to just smile and nod and move along without a care because I know we are the only advocates for our child and I'm so fortunate to have a partner that agrees with our parenting style. I'm sure it would be so difficult otherwise.

Thanks to our refund check Trevor and I want to take a small vacation this summer just the three of us but we can't decide where. It's hard because all of the awesome ones we think of we want to wait until we have both kids and they are old enough to remember them. Decisions decisions!

As the ever type A planner I am, I've been looking towards Jack's future schooling and our housing needs. We absolutely do not want Jack going to Waterford Schools and while Bloomfield Hills is an option since I work there, we want to live in the district he goes to school in for community and social reasons. Lets face it, Bloomfield is way out of our price range. So, we've had our realtor send us updates of houses for sale now that we are past the three year time frame of the Obama housing credit. There have been a few nice houses but as we are seeing, it is hard to find a nice house in a nice neighborhood for the price were paying now. Location really is number one in real estate. I would like to live in a community that has things going on: Rochester, Royal Oak, Troy, Clarkston. Trevor like more suburbia of: West Bloomfield, White Lake, Walled Lake, Holly. All of those places have great schools so were just watching the market now and waiting until the time is right for us. I definitely want to move before baby #2 and do it during the summer when I am off so we will see how that works!

I feel like now Trevor and I are really in a groove with our new life and routine and things are going well. I'm so lucky to have such a caring and compassionate husband. He really looks out for us and loves us. We might not have much but we have exactly what we need!

Jack is 5 Months Old!

I can't believe I have a five month old! This month it seems like he is just passing milestones left and right. Jack is also super aware and curious of his surroundings. It seems as though overnight he discovered Sofía. I was worried about her playing rough around him but he loves it! The more she growls at her toys, whips around or licks his face, the harder he laughs. Because of this new heightened awareness, he has become a very distracted nurser. We will be nursing and he pops off every 5-10 seconds to see what that light/noise/person was for.

Speaking of nursing, the Jack Newman's nipple cream that was recommended to me by an old high school friend, has worked so well. I'm able to nurse him without the shield the minimal pain after the initial latch. I am so thankful for her recommendation. However, my supply did tank big time as I was only pumping 1.5-2oz and he was drinking 4-5. I stopped the fenugreek pills and begs drinking 2-3 glasses of Earth Mama Angel Baby's Milkmaid Tea and my supply has rebounded for now. Unfortunately the tea tastes horribly so I have to drink it quickly with lots of agave and lemon. I can't wait to drink my Yogi Tea Breathe Deep again (not recommended for pregnant or nursing mamas).

So Jack hasn't only discovered Sofía but some other things as well. He has found out putting his hands in mom and dad's mouth is hilarious. He also rolled back to belly for the first time on 1/17 and because of that we had to stop swaddling him. We also put the swing and rock n play away because he is starting to sit up supported and is getting too long. He's taking naps in a sleep sack in the pack n play in our room but does best at night in our bed. Nighttime naps are usually in mom's new wrap, my Girasol I got from Guatemala. I absolutely love it.

Jack also loves looking at mirror baby (which is what he did on 2/9 when he got his mullet trimmed for the first time!), bouncing in his jumperoo and when we sing patty cake or "hey sexy baby, ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo baby gangnam style" to him. He also can anticipate and has some cause and effect developing. Therefore, if I say "I'm going to get you" he starts laughing so hard because he knows I'm about to tickle him and he is very ticklish.

Jack is starting to understand who Mom and Dad are more. He doesn't like when one of us is out of his sight and will whine/cry if we go into the next room without him. He is also starting to reach for us if someone is holding him and he wants the other person/one of us. That's one of my favorite parts of the day; I come home, Trev is holding Jack by the door and when I walk in he smiles big and reaches for me!

He is also starting to be able to grab objects with both hands and bring them to his mouth (like his paci) which shows us he will be ready for solids here in a few weeks. We hope to try baby led weaning and offer whole foods in manageable forms and skip purées. I've got avocado and banana slated to be his first foods the first week or two of March.

Jack is currently in 6 month clothes. He has grown out of 3-6 and is in 6-9 and 9 month footed sleepers. I anticipate him being in 9 month clothes within the next week or so even though he's a peanut at 10th and 15th percentile. The bigger pjs also are due to his nighttime diaper. He was leaking out of the double stuffed 4.0 one size bumgenius because he is such a heavy night time wetter so I bought some Pooter's hemp fitteds with a rumparooz one size cover and made fleece liners. They're working really well but are huge diapers. Speaking if discoveries and diapers, Jack has discovered he has a penis and is obsessed with it if his diaper is off...such a typical boy.

My little boy is getting so big. I can't believe next month he is half way to a year. He is flying by all of his milestones and even though he still is hardly sleeping at night, he's the happiest baby ever. At 3/4am he likes to get up and play-ugh. It's rough on us but he honestly RARELY cries. He just wants to be awake and play, laugh and smile. It makes the many and early wake ups much more manageable. I know that this is just a short phase were in and one day I will miss it so I'm just waiting it out until he's ready. Last night was actually his best night yet. Slept in bed with me from 8:15-3:30, quick sode laying nurse, back to sleep, quick side laying nurse at 5:15 and then slept woth Trevor until 7! That is sleeping in by Jack's standards-he is an early riser like his mom! It'll happen when he's ready, just like how he hit all of this month's milestones once he was ready. :)