I thought it was time to update you guys on how Baby Led Weaning worked out for our family. If your curious why we skipped purees and started with real food from the start, read the original post here.
Firstly, the weaning part. I've always breastfed S, we were lucky enough not to need forumla at any point. I'm kind of an on demand parent, but more that I try to figure out what she wants and then make a schedule around it. So at six months when we started solids she was at about six good feedings a day (I think...the memory is slipping). They steadily tapered off over the next six months as her solid intake increased, until she was down to two, one first thing in the morning and one in the afternoon. She's stayed with that schedule for four or five months and this week seems to be dropping the afternoon feeding. She takes a couple sucks, gets distracted by something shiny and wanders off. I always said that I wanted to nurse for at least a year but no more than two. S seems to be weaning herself off in that timeline so...good deal?
As for the solids, it's worked out awesome! She sometimes got some yogurt or applesauce on a spoon, but that was it. I waited until she was a year to start on wheat and uncultured dairy, and avoided things you really need molars for until she was big enough. She's always liked a good mix of things, although like most of us she loves carbs and sugar (she hardly gets any sugar, but I'm guilty on the carbs).
It's not that she's a perfect eater. She won't even try some foods (lettuce, sandwich meat, potstickers), but we just keep offering her everything in small amounts and she's pretty adventurous. Her very favourite foods are berries (and cherries as you see by the photos), bread, and peanut butter.
We have always made some changes to what she eats, it's not exactly the same as us. She gets an egg for breakfast every morning (in fact, she usually eats more than I do for breakfast) and we cook her carrot sticks and apple slices. She gets applesauce instead of syrup on waffles and plain yogurt instead of vanilla (at some point she'll notice, but for now I figure the less sugar the better). I really don't mind, it's not like I cook her whole extra meals. It's still a lot easier than making baby food!
Um, so yeah, baby led weaning for the win? Any questions?
3 comments:
Hi there -
Thanks for explaining about baby lead weaning ... I have a few questions, mostly to do with breast feeding and bottles/sippy cups and stuff.
Cassie is just nine months old, and she really enjoys solids, but also still really enjoys her mama's milk. I have pumped all along, and we have a freezer full of breast milk ... in the event I need to go back to work in August, before she's on cow's milk.
However, she does not take a bottle (she did from 4 - 5.5 months and not since then). I have tried multiple types of bottles and now sippy cups. She does not suck from the sippy cup at all.
Was this the case for your little one? Do you give your daughter water or cow's milk (or breast milk) at meals? I try to give Cassie water at meal times, and she finally takes a bit from a cup (just a normal cup, and she is really wet after the experience), and I also just bought yet another kind of sippy cup that has a straw. She does get a bit of water when I squeeze the bottle of the cup ...
Also, I want to give Cassie yogurt at breakfast time ... I know to get the high milk fat kind, and plain (no sugar or anything added) ... but is it important to give her the greek yogurt that has a high protein content?
Also, how did you know how much to breast feed your baby? I have a hard time knowing if Cassie is getting enough. She is wetting her diapers, growing and having plenty of BMs every day ... she is also sleeping lots ... so I am sure she's getting enough. It just seems that if I breast feed lots, she's not interested in solids. When do I make the switch to focus on solids and less on milk? How do I know she's not going to get dehydrated? Right now, I am giving her breast milk about 4 times a day (and solids 3 times) -- usually spaced 2 hours apart or so.
I guess that's it. Thanks so much!! Sorry to ramble!!
Nicky (and baby Cassandra)
Ah the cup thing was super tricky for us, I was going to add this to my post but totally forgot. S could not figure out sippy cups for the life of her and always sputtered with a normal cup. She took a bottle but I wasn't wild about using it for mealtimes, it was more just for milk. The only cup that works for us is those rubbemaid cups with the straws (http://www.rubbermaid.com/Category/Pages/ProductDetail.aspx?Prod_ID=RP091206). I really wanted her to just use a normal glass, but it didn't work for us.
S gets water at meals, and then she got cows milk sometimes starting at about a year. Very occasionally she gets watered down, homemade apple juice.
S eats plain organic yogurt, greek is lovely but both are good for them. I'm more interested in the good bacteria than the protein but if she likes greek than all the better! S is picky about the brand and only likes Olympic, I think it's less sour.
I just kept nursing as much as she wanted. She told me when she wasn't interested, and if she wasn't interested in a feeding for a week or so straight I would drop it. I know that it's so stressful, wondering if they are eating enough, but they know when they are hungry and when they are full and it's important to let them develop that recognition. Nursing is more important than solids when they are under a year, so if she wants to nurse lots, just let her. She will make the transition in her own time. Try and find a cup that she likes and offer lots of water throughout the day (especially this time of year!).
Hannah, I never really asked, I don't think. How did you deal with biting when S. started to teeth? I am not sure about breastfeeding once Ignacio gets teeth because he already chomps me quite painfully sometimes.
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