Mmm food!

A lot of the time people ask me about Baby Led Weaning. Some people think it's some new-fangled way to transition your baby to eating solid food. Really, it's just coming back to the natural way. To me it just makes sense. Teach a baby to chew before you teach her to swallow. Since we started introducing solid food at 6 months Olivia has shown how much she really loves food. Here are some of her firsts.

 Cantaloupe

 Chicken

 Pizza

 Graham cracker

 

Cuties Oranges

 Pot Roast

Green Beans

Food!

Since Olivia was about 4 1/2 months old she has been trying to snatch food off our plates or out of our hands. Since she turned 6 months old yesterday we decided to give her a taste of solid food. Just like with Avery we started with avocado, but unlike her big sister she actually seemed to enjoy it. She mostly just smashed it around, but she seemed to like the taste and had a lot of fun playing around with it.

Bananas

Avery's new word is

bananas.

It sounds more like "ma-nana" but she gets it. She will only actually say it when I have a banana or she is eating a banana. They are her favorite fruit.

Tomato Tomato

Recently we have discovered a secret weapon to get Avery to eat things she otherwise seemed disinterested it. Put a tomato - or any tomato derivative - on it and she will devour it. her two favorite tomato-based flavors right now? Tomato sauce and ketchup. She can even dip things in the ketchup all by herself. My big girl.

Labor Day BBQ

Tonight we had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Nunley's house for the holiday. We had all kinds of foods and Avery found a few new favorites! She loved her deviled egg, watermelon and strawberries. She also devoured her tri tip and pork tenderloin. I think her highness has somewhat recovered from her pickiness. I have noticed, however, that she will only really eat new foods if she thinks it's her idea. I can't hand her new foods, but if I set it on her tray or plate and ignore it she will likely pick it up and eat it. If I can get her to taste it, she pretty much likes anything. We are lucky in that way. 

   

Before & After

I have always said that Avery is such a good eater. For the most part Avery eats regular food -- same as we do. I have gotten some flack about her eating abilities and been told she shouldn't have been eating whole foods from the start.

Well, I always knew my girl was a champ, and now here I am to prove it. Last night for dinner we had chicken, broccoli and potatoes.

BEFORE

AFTER

The one thing she didn't eat very much of was her potatoes. Not sure where she gets that from though because mama loves her some carbs!

Avery's first ebleskiver

In Justin's family there is a recipe for Ebleskiver. It's very basic, but requires lots of dishes so we don't make them that often. Last night I made them for dinner and Avery got to experience her very first ebleskive.

I am including the recipe, too!

Ingredients:
2 c - all purpose flour
2 tsp - sugar
1 tsp - baking soda
1/2 tsp - salt
3 eggs separated
2/3 c - milk
1 c - sour cream
2 tbsp - melted butter set aside for greasing pan

Directions


In a large mixing bowl

• mix flour, sugar, making soda and salt.
• set aside

In a medium mixing bowl

• whisk egg yolk, milk and sour cream
• set aside

In a small mixing bowl

• beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Mix:

• create a divot in the dry ingredients in the large bowl
• pour the wet ingredients from the medium bowl into the divot in the large bowl
• mix carefully until all ingredients are combined
• fold in egg whites

Cook:

• heat pan over medium heat
• grease ebleskiver pan with melted butter
• fill each cup halfway with batter

Finish:

• when bubbling (like with pancakes) flip
• when brown on both sides they are done.

Eat:

• Enjoy with jam (Justin's prefers raspberry preserves with seeds) or syrup (I like boysenberry syrup) Avery likes both!

Food Diaries

I'm pleased to introduce the next Iron Chef: Avery Mae.

I have heard people question our decision to introduce solids by way of Baby-led Weaning. Admittedly I was nervous to start because it was a relatively new idea to me, but logically it just made sense. I'm glad we've stuck to it because -- so far -- it's served us well.

Here are some of A's recent conquests.

 Scarfing down chicken ravioli

 Loving chicken, green beans and broccoli

 Devouring what was turkey on wheat.

 Trying out "purple potatoes" for the first time

 Rice: a little tricky; a lot yummy.

Rigatoni and pesto with parmesan

The conclusion: She loves anything and everything she can put in her mouth herself. Case and point: she is not a fan of applesauce. It's quite difficult to pick up. Don't think so? Check out this video.

Chicka Chicka What?! What?!

A has been such an amazing eater and now that she is a little more experienced of an eater I felt more comfortable giving her chicken. Last night J and I were having grilled chicken and mozzarella ravioli for dinner. We decided to give her one and see how she did.

After being out of the water for a while on her tray the noodle part of the ravioli was sort of tough for her to chew, so I opened it up and took out all the filling. Once she was able to get to it she went to town. She absolutely loved the chicken and cheese and devoured four large raviolis-worth of filling.

Teeth!

I was finally able to get a picture of Avery's first two teeth. They popped last weekend and she is wasting no time making god use of them!

(You may need to click the photo to make it bigger to see the teeth)

My little foodie

Avery has become quite the foodie. Of all the foods she has tried she really only dislikes one: sweet potatoes. Recently she has tried a few new things including pancakes, broccoli and peach YoBaby yogurt. She has loved all of them, especially the yogurt.

Baby-led Weaning, Nunley-style.

Sometimes people are shocked when I tell them she does not "eat" purees. They ask how she can handle whole foods being so little and having no teeth. They ask why we risk her choking by giving her the same foods we eat. 

Well, here's the deal. This is how she eats the foods we give her. 

1. She picks up the food

2. She puts said food in her mouth

3. She gnaws on it until is is small enough to swallow or until she grows bored of it. 

I have done quite a bit of research and we decided that among all the information out there this was the best way to feed our baby. There are a few compelling points that really sealed the deal for me. (Keep in mind these are my personal opinions and are in no way meant to be objective.)

• In purees, baby learns to swallow before she learns to chew. I would be afraid when she encounters a chunk or something not as smooth as the puree she would try to swallow it without chewing it. By teaching her to chew first we are substantially reducing that risk. Plus, you should never leave your child unattended while eating anything, so if she struggles with something we are there to help.
• In jarred purees there are all kinds of preservatives. No matter how "natural" they claim to be, in order for them to be jarred and sold in mass they have to be preserved.
• Some people argue that I could make my own food, but who has time? I work full time and I want to spend some quality time with A before she goes to bed, so why would I want to take extra time away from that to make special food? 
• With spoon feeding, who knows when to stop? Not to say that we don't or won't give her food on a spoon, but they are foods that are normally eaten with a spoon. i.e. cereal, yogurt, etc. The great thing about BLWing is that she is in control and when she is not hungry any more she stops eating. She doesn't have to eat until the jar or bowl is empty.
• It's much more cost effective. By giving her what we are eating we don't have to buy special foods just for her. We may still buy her baby-oriented "snacks", but we try to limit the amount of snack-type foods she eats to help limit her dependence on snacks as a regular eating habit. 
• It's family time. It is my hope that by being included in meals it will help solidify her bond with us and make her feel a part of something special.

This is just meant to be an explanation of how we came to the conclusion to feed A this way and how we do it. It is not at all meant to be a put-down to anyone who chooses otherwise.

Adventures in Baby-led Weaning

As you know we have been practicing Baby-led Weaning. We been focusing on mostly single foods like steamed carrots, sweet potatoes, squash etc. Nothing with combined flavors or textures and certainly nothing spicy.

Until today.

Today I was at lunch with my friend Christina and her daughter Lailah at a local Mexican food restaurant. I had Avery on my lap with my plate pushed away from me so she couldn't get it, but when I reached forward she took the opportunity to snag the Mexican rice off my plate and promptly shoved it into her mouth.

I was concerned how she would take it because she had never experienced anything like it flavor-wise, but to my surprise she loved it. She kept eating and eating -- making one huge mess for the waiter, which I tipped well for, of course. Before we left I put what was left of the rice into a container for her to enjoy tomorrow.

Now I guess I have two choices:

1. Learn how to make Mexican rice
2. Buy the Mexican rice from the restaurant once a week and ration it out.

Either way I can't deprive her of her new favorite food!

The great raspberry experiment

On Sunday we had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Nunley's house for dinner. We had lasagna and Avery had raspberries. It was so funny to see Grandma and Grandpa watch A try them for the first time. She was unsure about them at first, but she got used to the tartness and actually enjoyed them.

As usual she needed a bath afterward and I was not about to put her in the car like that, so we gave her a bath in the sink. She thought she was the cat's meow being able to sit up by herself. It was a hilarious. See for yourself:

Nom nom nom

Since we've started solids we have tried quite a few new foods. She hasn't been "eating" too much; mostly she just puts it in her mouth which is fine because all we are trying to do is expose her to new tastes and textures.

So far she has really enjoyed herself. As can be seen in these hilarious photos. Enjoy! (I know she has been!)

Waiting for breakfast with Uncle Jake & Uncle Thommy

Her new favorite: blackberries!

Yogurt melts

Banana in the Bumbo seat

Trying to catch the slippery banana

Using a spoon

Sweet potatoes