Meal Time Battles

Claire has always been a good eater, chowing down on pretty much anything we put in front of her from 6 months on. Until last month. Suddenly she was picky. Suddenly her favorite meals were not her favorites anymore. Yes yes I know, toddlers, they can be like this. Yet something told me she wanted the food, something was just wrong. She wasn't sleeping well, waking up hungry at night and I was bleary eye from twilight feedings. Then TA DA! It clicked. Claire isn't a picky eater, at all. Claire just doesn't like MEALS. She likes snacks. So we took some of her favorite meals and broke them down into simple parts, serving her a bento box style dinner, essentially the same meal but just separated into its components. Suddenly she ate! EVERYTHING! And she slept, through the night again! So if you are going through an odd and sudden picky phase with your toddler why not give this a try, heck we moms will try anything right?! And honestly...making bento style meals is fun! This was Claire's dinner last night, and she ate every single bite

Rather then giving her a pitta sandwich with hummus and lettuce, edamame/avocado guacamole, and apple slices for dessert.....I served her pitta strips, romaine lettuce hearts for dipping in the hummus, steamed edamame, avocado chunks with some lime juice on it and of course her apple slices! YUMO!

"You Let Your Baby Put What In Her Mouth?!"

Adventures in Modified Baby Led Weaning

Pinch! Pinch! Pinch! So Claire's pinch reflex is getting pretty damn good. In fact it is so good that her new favorite game now is to pull herself off my breast, give my nipple the hairy eyeball, and pinch it between her index finger and thumb. OUCH! I bare the battle scars to prove it. So given that her pinch reflex clearly works I thought it was time to try her out with some finger foods, and I went one step further....modified baby led weaning (BLW).

What the f*** is BLW you may ask? Well let me tell you! BLW is when you let your child feed themselves, completely. As in here yah go kiddo, PLUNK! Food goes on the tray and you just hope and pray that some gets in their mouth. No purees here folks! Get the camera ready because it makes for some GREAT photos. Yet I am also a very A-type mommy, I am just not OK guessing with quantities of what goes in my babies system. That and well, to be honest, I am selfish. The kid just plain sleeps better with a nice full tummy! Hell, I know I do. That and I don't enjoy watching Claire's gag reflex kick in. Some BLW advocates will tell you it is part of the process yadda yadda yadda. But it just freaks the shit out of me.

Enter MODIFIED BLW

I always start every meal with a few spoonfuls of pureed food that I have made myself. After a couple successful bites I let Claire take the spoon, her aim is really quite impressive! Once I know some solids have gotten into her the fun starts. I give her large chunks of soft food that she can experiment with...and more often then not she gets it to her mouth! I was surprised!

Claire is also going through what appears to be a very strong independent phase, where she wants to do everything her self. This helps me make sure she is getting the nutrition she needs. It is also useful for when a baby is teething, they can be reluctant to eat so why not put the power in their hands for a bit and let them go at their own pace?

So far we have experimented with:

avocado
bannana
yams
rice puffs
salmon

For the record salmon is a great one to try as it naturally flakes off into tiny soft bite sized pieces in their mouth! Perfect!

What do you think about BLW? Would you try it in either form? Do you let your kids play with their food?