Christophe journey in discovering solid foods

One of the questions for my La Leche League Leader application was how and when was Christophe introduced to solid foods - below is the questions and answers...

For the healthy, full-term baby breast milk is the only food necessary until baby shows signs of needing solids, about the middle of the first year after birth.
When and how did you introduce solids and a cup?

We decided as couple to introduce solids to Christophe right around 6 months (I think it was slightly pass that.) his “first” food was sweet potatoes that I prepared myself. I placed “food” in brackets because he did not any and still refuses to eat sweet potatoes. We were determined to make all his food and follow the guidelines that we would introduce one food at a time; however after 2 months of him not eating anything I turn to my mom friends and asked what they were doing and took the advice that seemed to suit me and went with it. So when Christophe was about 7 1/2 months old we decided since there are no major allergies in our family out with rules...

We started giving him little bit of everything we were eating; generally speaking we eat pretty healthy so we figured it was ok. By this time Christophe had already mastered saying no by shaking his head (thanks to my dad - I do not say this with any enthusiasm my father thinks its funny I hate it as we had worked so hard to that point to never use the word no around Christophe) so each time we approached his face with food he would shake it and say no; however sometimes he could be convinced to put food in his mouth himself. So out with the muchy food... We would give him large chunks of soft fruits and veggies (he had not yet mastered the pincer grasp) and small bits of food so he could practice his pincer grasp. We quickly realizes we had a very picky eater on our hands. Christophe (still to this day) will not eat anything that is too soft, too slimy, liquidy, leafy, sticky (that is not to drink), orange, purple, yellow, as a matter a fact any colour that is not red, beige (bread colour), brown, white or green (he likes green that is so weird). - Thank God for my milk I think he might have of malnutrition by now if he still did not nurse 8 to 14 times a day. Oh I forgot he still wont eat anything that he can’t feed himself, I am so happy he is learning to master the fork and spoon these days.

A cup? hum I think we started at the same time as solids - however i really can’t remember. We started by offering water with his meals only, this seemed to encourage him to eat more - some days. (Actually we tried cup feeding him milk when he was less then a month old but he never took to it so we stuck with tub feeding.) Introducing a cup and other liquids was a long process it seemed... he was very interested in liquids to drink but had a hard time with a cup, could not master the sippy cup (I think we tried 2 or 3 different ones) then one day when he was about 14 months or so we were at a restaurant and he was interested in my straw so I let him try it; he mastered it in 3 seconds flat. That day we bought him a sippy cup that had a straw in it and a pack of straws and since then he will try almost anything that comes with a straw. We have to watch ourselves in restaurants because he will steel our drink that are not always “approved for Christophe consumption” and try them. One of my favorite things to make for him is smoothy with all real fruit (no juices) and a bit of soy or cows milk whatever we have on had; this is actually the only way I can get him to eat fruit that is not dried.

What signs of readiness did you look for?

Unlike a lot of parents start because they are told to we made sure of the following:
He could sit unsupported
He could hold his head up
Seems interested in what we are eating
He is at least 6 months old
He seemed to have lost his tongue-thrusting reflex
He increased his nursing sessions

Christophe had not mastered his pincer grasp yet and did not do so until he was around 9 months sometimes I wonder if we had waited till then if we would have a less picky eater.

If you have used bottles, please describe when and how?

Like I mentioned in the past we tube fed for about a month at the beginning - here we used a bottle to hold the milk or formula depending on the feeding. I will go in greater details when I talk about starting breast feeding.

I also tried a bottle once with him that night I mentioned that he would not take to the breast and kept on crying. But like I said he though it was a toy.

We have 4 practically unused premium glass baby bottles (2 in the packages) that I hope will never have to be used by me again.

My thoughs on weaning

Many of you know that I am in the process of being accredited as a La Leche League Leader. This process makes you look at who you are as a mother by writing down many of your beliefs and experiences. I though I would share a section of my portion called "About Me" - We are asked to answer various questions and one of them is on weaning...

Ideally the breastfeeding relationship will continue until the baby outgrows the need.
What are your thoughts about when and how weaning proceeds?
A child starts weening when solids is introduced; therefore Christophe started weening at 6 months and 10 months later is still in the process. My feelings about weening are in constant flux however my core beliefs don’t change change. When I first became pregnant I though I would nurse for one year then stop; however at the time I did not understand the benefits of nursing a toddler and also hoe its not just cut and dry nurse one day then you don’t. Once I started understanding those points I quickly decided that our baby would wean himself - this decision was probably made when I was about 6 months pregnant.
Weaning to me starts when solids are introduced the first time and then stops when your baby no longer wants or needs to nurse. Sometime weaning can happen if a mothers milk is gone but I think typically it should be when the baby decides - or better said child at this point - decides that they no longer require their mothers milk. I hope this can and will be the case for Christophe.

If it’s part of your experience, describe your baby’s weaning.
Weaning these days i san emotional subject because I can see my little baby growing up and sometimes now choosing water over breastmilk. Christophe started solids at 6 months and with his first spoon in his mouth I am sure I shed a tear. I remember telling my husband that this is the first step to no breastmilk and crying; I think this was so emotional for me because we had a though time for the first month of nursing. After 3 months or so of solids Geoff reminded me of what I told him about Christophe and starting solids and we laughed because my son does not want to eat anything and did not want to anything other then breastmilk and a select few foods until he was about 13 months old.
Today at 16 months Christophe eats a small variety of foods; therefore I think it crucial that he continues to nurse however we no longer offer him breastmilk unless he asks - however he asks about 12 times a day so I am not worried. We try to encourage him to eat and drink a large variety of items so that his diet can go beyond 10 foods for the day he decides that he is ready to wean.
Some days I think he might wean sooner then latter because he will drink at the breast for 5 minutes then want his sippy cup with water; but other days he can stay at the breast for hours on end. I feel these changes are not necessarily because he is weaning but because he is changing the reasons to nurse. He is nursing more for emotional needs and less for food - I guess this is also a step a child led weaned baby goes through.
I hope that Christophe will nurse long enough to remember nursing.

Long Week - tired little guy

Monday: trip to the mall (see monday's post)

Tuesday: Morning trip to the market to pick up some veggies. Afternoon trip to the library to pick up some books. Evening attended our first La Leche meeting.

Wednesday: Morning yoga class. Evening mama and papa get there hair cut.

Thursday: Afternoon mama has an appointment with her naturopath. Evening annual midwives pot luck picnic.

Friday: Sleep, Eat and play in bed...

Breast-feeding Help

I have been meaning to blog about this topic for a few days now.

As some of you may know I had a though tim with breast-feeding during the first month, all is well now and we hope to keep that way. I know my problems were very minor compared to some other moms out there; however one thing I have learned and will share with any mom to be is you can not ever be over prepared for breast-feeding.

For me I was a bit nervous about the delivery and overwhelmed with the idea that Christophe's nursery was not completed so I had completly forgoten about breast-feeding and in reality I when to a breast-feeding workshop and said this looks easy it's going to be a piece of cake. Was I ever wrong.

Looking back at the last month or so I wish I would have done the following thing differently and I urge any new mom to consider taking this advice.

1. Read a good book on breast-feeding. Not a chapter in a book a completed book dedicated to breast-feeding; such as The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding: Seventh Revised Edition (La Leche League International Book) or Dr. Jack Newman's Visual Guide to Breastfeeding.
2. Consulting a lactation consultant as soon as baby is born. Most hospital will send a lactation consultant to your room if you request this. I had no clue about this.
3. Watch Dr. Jack Newman's DVD.
4. Watch Dr. Jack Newman's DVD. I can not stress this enough; I wish I would have watched this DVD before baby was born it is amazing.

And here is a list of the items I did to help increase my milk flow:
1. Pump, Pump, Pump. Not using one of those dinky little things you can buy at Babies'r'us but with a hospital grad pump that you rent. If you can afford the pump it's not a hospital grade pump. These are usually over 3000$ to buy that is why people rent them.
2. If there is a lactation clinic close to your home go over and over again. Make sure you have a concise list of questions to ask them so you do not feel overwhelmed.
3. Take fenugreek and blessed thistle.
4. Read and watch everything you can get your hands on about breast-feeding.
5. Last but I think this may be one of the most important ones - talk to someone that has been through a rough patch also there encouragement will make you feel loads better. (thank you; you know who you are)