10 month Update

I realize I haven't posted here in a while! Brandon is 10 months old now, so he's been enjoying his "real" food for 4 months. He is doing really well and has tried so many different foods. He tends to eat the most for breakfast because he isn't tired. For a while there, we were only giving him food at dinner time so I've been making a point of sitting down with him at breakfast too. Yesterday we went to White Spot for breakfast, and we couldn't believe the amount of pancake he devoured off of Mike's plate! He is still a carb lover and will often toss the fruit and veggies aside! Some of the reading I've done suggests that once babies have learned all there is to learn for the time about a particular food, they will refuse it for a while until they're interested again. We definitely gave Brandon lots of fruits and veggies in the beginning, so it makes sense. Its also thought that babies know what they need in terms of nutrients, and will eat foods that provide the most of those nutrients. When it comes to carbohydrates we really try to only give him complex carbs so a lot of whole wheat bread, pasta, crackers, etc. Since he's such a lightweight, maybe he knows to eat carbs in order to beef up a bit! For the last month or so, we've been giving Brandon "loaded spoons" of food so he can practice feeding himself with a spoon. For a while, we would just put his spoon and fork in front of him with meals and once we saw that he was regularly getting the right end into his mouth, we started putting food on and letting him go to town. People are amazed at what he can already do. I guess the next step will be getting the food onto the fork or spoon himself. Its all so much fun to watch him learn and enjoy food. Here's a video of him from this morning enjoying his Minigo yogurt!

Say No to Sippy Cups

Since we have been feeding Brandon only "adult foods", we have also helped him practice drinking out of glasses and water bottles as well. If ever we have one in our hands, he reaches for it and wants to drink! In my travels I heard about something called a Doidy cup. They are only available in the UK but supposedly they help teach a baby how to drink from a regular cup. The rim of the cup is on an angle and the theory is that it makes it easier for baby to see what's inside (and how much there is). Its two-handled like your traditional sippy cup. I found a bunch on Ebay so I ordered one to try out. I will report back.

First Spaghetti Experience

So last night we decided it was going to be a spaghetti night, and we realized we hadn't yet had one since Brandon started on solids. Of course being the excited Mom I am, I couldn't wait to give him a bowl of it, with my camera read to snap some pictures. My rookie mistake was not stripping him of his clothes beforehand; one outfit has now been sacrificed due to my inability to get out the meat sauce stains (after 3 washes)!
Anyway, it was fun to watch him just have a ball with it, so here are the photos!

Eating Out

One of the things we have enjoyed doing a few times so far is taking Brandon out to eat. There are definitely times when we'd like to get out of the house and go for breakfast or dinner and not have to worry about getting a sitter for an hour or two. Not to mention, we want to bring our children up learning that mealtimes are family time, so why not include him? Eating out and BLW go great together because you don't have to worry about bringing special food for your baby, having the server heat anything up, etc. All you really need to ask for is a highchair, and that's it! So far we've already taken Brandon to family-friendly places like Red Robin, IHOP, brunch at the Hilton, and breakfast on the ferry just yesterday. We give him food off our plates or make him up his own plate if we're at a buffet. I've noticed that he isn't dropping nearly as much food on the ground anymore, so there's next to no mess aside from whatever ends up on his clothes!
We hope that taking Brandon to eat out this early on will help him to learn that there are other places to eat besides home, and sometimes the food tastes different than it does at home. Eventually he will learn that sometimes he has to wait for the food to arrive, along with appropriate behaviour in a public setting. Just a few more things that BLW is great for! We want to be able to take our kids anywhere, and that includes eating out!

One Month In

So we're one month into BLW with Brandon now, and he's doing great! He definitely doesn't eat a lot, but he will give pretty much anything a try when given the opportunity. If its easy to hold and relatively healthy, we give it to him to try. He still really seems to enjoy his carbs and has had a blast with corn cakes (like the crispy rice cakes) with peanut butter, and he really went to town on a pizza crust the other day. We make sure to give him veggies and fruit too, and so far he seems to really like strawberries. Luckily, there aren't really any allergies in the immediate family so we're not holding off on any of the common allergens. One of the only things you're really supposed to stay away from until at least one year old is honey, because of the risk of botulism. I guess it can survive the cooking and preserving process.
I've read on the BLW Facebook group that babies seems to really start taking off at around 7 months (meaning they actually start to swallow a lot more), so I'm watching for that. Even with no teeth yet, he can really manage to gnaw off chunks of whatever he's eating so he's certainly learning to manage the food that makes it into his mouth. He can even sip water from a regular glass if Mike or I help him to hold and tip the glass. Its all really fun to watch, and we think he's doing great!

The Evidence is in the Diaper

I remember reading in the BLW book that the best way to tell if your baby is starting to swallow solid foods is to take a look in the diaper. If they're swallowing, you'll start to see telltale little bits of food in there, often recognizable!

A few times already, Mike has announced that there have been little bits of solid poop in there, but I have yet to discover anything. Just this morning however, I was startled to find a whole pea in there. Completely undigested! I quickly remembered that a few days ago we did in fact, give him a whole snap pea pod to gnaw on.

So its official, Brandon is actually starting to eat! I will spare you any photographic accompaniment to this post!