Giving Thanks for Baby-Led Weaning
I'm pretty lucky right now. Doug is being a champion on the soccer field tonight and Oliver has been fed and is sleeping. So what does that mean on this December Friday night? I'm sitting in my shorts and mildly spit up tank top, eating stale Tostito chips and watching "Prancer," a movie filmed in a Michigan town not far from where I grew up. Ahhh...heaven!
You know what else is heaven? Making Thanksgiving dinner for your parents on your son's first big holiday. Like my lead-in? Slightly forced, but true nonetheless.
Grandpa and Grandma Cook visited the Brooklyn Turk contingent over Thanksgiving. They watched Oliver on Tuesday and Wednesday, while Doug and I worked, and then we went to see Ground Zero Wednesday afternoon. It was a poignant place, but it took so long to get through security that we all about lost the true meaning of the hallowed ground. Thursday we woke up early - well, early for the retired schoolteacher at the house - and made our way up to the Thanksgiving Day Parade.
I think Mom and Dad were impressed, but probably won't mind never going again. They can cross it off their bucket list!
Oliver turned 6 months old on November 22nd. What mixed emotions! On one side I am so incredibly grateful that I have a healthy little boy who is such a blessing and joy every single day! On the other hand, 6 months meant intro to solids that night. Exactly what I had been dreading a little bit.
Nothing has terrified me more - even when they pushed me into the delivery room, I didn't feel as apprehensive. Part of the anxiety is that we're doing something a bit different than the traditional spoon-feeding. We're doing baby-led weaning which operates on the points that if the baby has control over what he is putting into his mouth, dinnertime may be more enjoyable and may not lead to overeating. Spoon feeding, according to the book, which is "Baby-Led Weaning" by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murket, is too much work, isn't natural and doesn't teach him soon enough about textures and differing flavors. Baby-led weaning is basically giving your baby what you're eating - in easier formats for the baby to hold and gnaw - and trusting that he'll know what to do with it. Trusting that he'll pick it up and put it in his mouth (no problems here), that he'll be interested and want to join in and that he won't choke himself. BLW is starting them on solids so that they eat "real' adult food faster. They learn to use their mouths much quicker and it's more exciting and flavorful for them. I keep reading and hearing that it's the easiest way to get the baby on solids, but it's just such a change from what people normally do - or at least what people talk about doing. We'll still be breastfeeding as usual and I've started him on Tri-Vi-Sol so that I can guarantee that he's getting some additional vitamins. The first couple of weeks to months he won't know how to swallow the bits that he gnaws or chomps off. That's a difference between spoon-feeding and BLW. The spoon he can slurp things off and immediately it shoots to the back of his throat, so he swallows. But with BLW, he has to figure out how to move the food to the back of his throat. I know that this is a major benefit because he learns these skills immediately rather than going through the runny to lumpy foods route, but the lack of possible weight gain has me nervous. Another worry is that the pediatrician and his caregivers haven't heard of BLW. So I have to explain it to them. My pediatrican is really pushing spoon-feeding. I don't want to have to fight an uphill battle and I constantly wonder if maybe we should just start with the whole spooning thing just to be like everyone else and not have the headaches. Then I think about having to blend all these foods together, pump even more breastmilk to add to the food, the boredom of it all...ergh. Who has the time? My third worry is that we - Doug and I - have to really start paying attention to our meals. Burger King isn't going to cut it anymore. No more fries and burgers unless we're willing to add some to Oliver's plate, and I really want him to start his life super super healthily. This means that we're going to have to make meals every weekend in order to have them throughout the week - making sure that Oliver is getting a good variety of different foods. Oh, and I should add in foods that we generally don't eat so that he gets a taste for different foods. And that doesn't mean Chinese take-out!
That said, we started Oliver on solids the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. He ate some roasted red potatoes and green beans. It seemed to go well, although he screwed up his face when putting the food in his mouth. It is going to take a little getting used to putting something in his mouth that loses its consistency. :) He hammed it up for the cameras...and there were lots of cameras! Grandpa Cook even took a fabulous video.
Wednesday we went out to eat in the city and we weren't feeling confident enough to feed him at the table, so Grandma fed her a little off her plate - I think it was just a little slice of strawberry from my cheesecake.
Oliver didn't think it was too spectacular.
Thursday morning he ate some banana and that was it (for solids) until dinner - where he ate some brussel sprouts, mashed potato and a little turkey.
Now, it's important to note that when I say "ate," it doesn't necessarily mean that he swallowed food he put in his mouth. Actually, 9.9 times out of 10, he didn't.
It wasn't until midway through dinner that we noticed he had a little bit of a rash on his cheeks. We continued eating and then after dinner while giving Ollie his bath, I noticed that he was itching his eyes. We gave him some Benedryl and put him to bed. He slept straight through and then in the morning his rash had spread to the rest of his body. He woke up and immediately began scratching. He was miserable!
We figured it was something he ate. I can't tell you how helpless I felt. Here I was, swearing up and down about the benefits of BLW, probably showing off, and my poor son was reaping the consequences. We weren't feeding him baby food, we weren't waiting the traditional time period between introducing new foods...why wasn't what was good enough for everyone else good enough for me? And I knew, even though they were being quiet, that my parents were holding their tongues from saying "I told you so." Maybe not, maybe it never crossed their minds, but I felt like it. Doug kept reminding me that I read the book and blogs for a reason, that people do this all the time, but I was losing it. I tell you - I started reading up on spoon feeding. It doesn't take much for me to lose my confidence, and I did.
Not that there's anything wrong with spoon feeding, really. I promise. I just don't want to do that with Oliver.
His rash was getting worse, so Saturday morning we took him to the pediatrician. The pediatrician (not our usual one), got a little high-horsey about how I should be feeding him and telling me to introduce one food per week. Argh.
And then it dawned on us: the rash? Ezcema. The reason? I've been imbibing in way, way, way too much dairy! Back story: When he was 3 months old, Oliver started getting a rash - just like this. It was because I had been eating a whole lot of ice cream and cheese and soda. I since calmed it down and O and I got into a food routine. The holidays came (with their Philly Cream Cheese in everything yummy) and I was totally taking a holiday from healthy, responsible eating!
We put the brakes on Oliver's solids orientation and I curbed my milk intake. Wouldn't you know, a couple of days later that rash was gone. Finito. Kaput. Glory be.
End result: while those Thanksgiving mashed potatoes made with milk and sour cream probably didn't help the situation, the rash wasn't caused by the way in which we were feeding him! It wasn't BLW after all! The whole experience did, however, cause us to pause and think about how we were going to introduce new foods. As much as we don't want to pass all of our allergies onto Oliver - studies have shown that the earlier you introduce a new food the less likely the child will be to develop that allergy - we need to be a little more careful with what we're putting on his plate and when. We decided to introduce a new food every couple of days.
As of tonight, Oliver has eaten sweet potato (like), banana (doesn't like), beets (kind of hates - that's my boy), green beans (loves), green pepper (LOVES), wheat toast (may have gotten an allergic reaction to that), hummus (SUPER!), carrots (could take or leave 'em) and pasta (those bowties are FUN to grab). Even though I sit down with a wet paper towel, the whole wiping of hands and face so that he doesn't get food in his eyelashes is still new to me. But he's having fun, we're making sure to keep it calm and positive AND the other morning there were definite solids in his diaper. I took a picture, I was so enthralled and proud! And then I sent it to my Mom and sister. Okay, low point. Allow it once, please! At least I'm not posting it on here, right?
If you still aren't sure about this whole BLW thing, do something for me. Youtube "baby-led weaning." You'll find clips after clips of parents doing the same thing I'm doing...and babies eating (and swallowing) the most amazing things! Edible things. Not like...I don't know, tires or glass. It's pretty impressive, honestly. I'm going to get a few of the cutest videos on my phone so that I can keep up my confidence. Especially pre- and post- doctor visits.
And my friends, at 11:01pm on a Friday night, that's all she wrote. Until next time lovies.
You know what else is heaven? Making Thanksgiving dinner for your parents on your son's first big holiday. Like my lead-in? Slightly forced, but true nonetheless.
Grandpa and Grandma Cook visited the Brooklyn Turk contingent over Thanksgiving. They watched Oliver on Tuesday and Wednesday, while Doug and I worked, and then we went to see Ground Zero Wednesday afternoon. It was a poignant place, but it took so long to get through security that we all about lost the true meaning of the hallowed ground. Thursday we woke up early - well, early for the retired schoolteacher at the house - and made our way up to the Thanksgiving Day Parade.
I think Mom and Dad were impressed, but probably won't mind never going again. They can cross it off their bucket list!
Oliver turned 6 months old on November 22nd. What mixed emotions! On one side I am so incredibly grateful that I have a healthy little boy who is such a blessing and joy every single day! On the other hand, 6 months meant intro to solids that night. Exactly what I had been dreading a little bit.
Nothing has terrified me more - even when they pushed me into the delivery room, I didn't feel as apprehensive. Part of the anxiety is that we're doing something a bit different than the traditional spoon-feeding. We're doing baby-led weaning which operates on the points that if the baby has control over what he is putting into his mouth, dinnertime may be more enjoyable and may not lead to overeating. Spoon feeding, according to the book, which is "Baby-Led Weaning" by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murket, is too much work, isn't natural and doesn't teach him soon enough about textures and differing flavors. Baby-led weaning is basically giving your baby what you're eating - in easier formats for the baby to hold and gnaw - and trusting that he'll know what to do with it. Trusting that he'll pick it up and put it in his mouth (no problems here), that he'll be interested and want to join in and that he won't choke himself. BLW is starting them on solids so that they eat "real' adult food faster. They learn to use their mouths much quicker and it's more exciting and flavorful for them. I keep reading and hearing that it's the easiest way to get the baby on solids, but it's just such a change from what people normally do - or at least what people talk about doing. We'll still be breastfeeding as usual and I've started him on Tri-Vi-Sol so that I can guarantee that he's getting some additional vitamins. The first couple of weeks to months he won't know how to swallow the bits that he gnaws or chomps off. That's a difference between spoon-feeding and BLW. The spoon he can slurp things off and immediately it shoots to the back of his throat, so he swallows. But with BLW, he has to figure out how to move the food to the back of his throat. I know that this is a major benefit because he learns these skills immediately rather than going through the runny to lumpy foods route, but the lack of possible weight gain has me nervous. Another worry is that the pediatrician and his caregivers haven't heard of BLW. So I have to explain it to them. My pediatrican is really pushing spoon-feeding. I don't want to have to fight an uphill battle and I constantly wonder if maybe we should just start with the whole spooning thing just to be like everyone else and not have the headaches. Then I think about having to blend all these foods together, pump even more breastmilk to add to the food, the boredom of it all...ergh. Who has the time? My third worry is that we - Doug and I - have to really start paying attention to our meals. Burger King isn't going to cut it anymore. No more fries and burgers unless we're willing to add some to Oliver's plate, and I really want him to start his life super super healthily. This means that we're going to have to make meals every weekend in order to have them throughout the week - making sure that Oliver is getting a good variety of different foods. Oh, and I should add in foods that we generally don't eat so that he gets a taste for different foods. And that doesn't mean Chinese take-out!
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