Pancakes

One of the things I've enjoyed most about using the baby-led solids method to introduce solids to my baby is having laid back family meals together. That doesn't mean that Buttercup always eats everything that Hubby and I eat, but for the most part I prepare one meal and everyone eats it.

One recent Saturday morning Hubby and I were in the mood for pancakes, and that is one mood that should be indulged occasionally! Buttercup had already had her breakfast of raisins (and mom milk, of course). Since we were already strapping Buttercup in her highchair to eat with us, we thought she might as well enjoy a Saturday morning treat, too.

I make my pancakes from scratch; a habit I began while living in a country without pancake mix. It's a lot more economical, and you can tailor it to any dietary needs your family might have (substituting different flours, dairy, sugars etc). I might also add that making pancakes from scratch is so quick and easy I don't know why I would ever buy the boxed mix!

I'm sure it goes without saying that Buttercup loved her pancakes. I didn't give her much - maybe half a small pancake torn into smaller pieces, sans butter or syrup. While my standard practice is to give my baby healthy foods that will make her brain grow big and strong, I think it's important to have a healthy relationship with 'naughty' foods, as well. Besides, everyone deserves a treat now and again, especially when you're as sweet as Buttercup!

PROS: babies love them, literally no mess

CONS: not an 'everyday' food.

Meatloaf

With as much as Buttercup loves fruits and veggies, I'm always a bit surprised at how much meat she will eat in one sitting. She is a big fan of meatloaf. My meatloaf is made out of ground lean turkey meat, with onions, celery, oatmeal and egg. There is a sauce that I put on top, but I left that off of Buttercup's portion, since it contains honey. I might as well take this opportunity to mention that you should never give your under 1-year-old honey. It can potentially have spores in it that produce neurotoxins in little bodies with immature guts. This makes for very sick babies. Public service announcement over.

So, I sliced the "safe" end off for Buttercup and she ate it. A lot of it. Quite happily.

PROS: good lean protein

CONS: don't give baby the yummy honey/ketchup/mustard sauce.

Kale

Just because we aren't spoon-feeding our babies doesn't mean we can't still offer them soup, right? Chunky soups make a great meal option for the self-feeding baby. Just leave out the liquid and give them the soft chunks. In this case we had zuppa toscana on the menu (think 'Olive Garden,' but vegetarian-ified). I drained the liquid and dumped some kale, potatoes, and vegetarian "sausage" onto Buttercup's tray.

I knew she wouldn't have a problem with the potatoes and sausage. It was interesting to watch her eat the kale, though. I never noticed before how stringy kale is! I even got some stuck in the not-quite-up/not-quite-down area of my esophagus. For Buttercup there was a lot of this going on: pick up, chew, spit out, repeat. I was amazed at how persistent she was. She just kept trying to eat those darn leaves. Eventually she succeeded; I just didn't think she would be that motivated to eat something that was putting up such a fight. I guess Buttercup's inner dietician was telling her she needed some vitamin A (hello, 354% RDA!).

PROS: power-packed nutrition

CONS: hard to chew and swallow

What's YOUR eating routine?

Hey, BLSers!

So, let's start a dialogue! Tell me what your feeding routine is like. Let's put our heads together, help one another out, and have a friendly chat about our baby-led solids experiences. Here is Buttercup's routine:

• 7:00am - nurse
• 8:00am - a small pile of Cheerios
• 9:00am - nurse
• 11:30am - solid meal (leftovers from dinner or veggies or fruit)
• 1:00pm - nurse
• 4:00pm - nurse
• 5:30pm - solid meal (whatever we're having for dinner)
• 6:30 - nurse
• 10:00pm - "dream feed" nurse

Leave your comments below. And...GO! GO! GO!

Lentils

Lentils are a great solid food for babies! Not only are they easy to eat, but they're chock full of nutrition. Lentils have the most iron of any vegetable, and they are full of other vitamins, minerals and fiber. They're a great substitute for red meat, for those like myself who are withholding red meat from their babes.

I'm sure Buttercup didn't know how good for her these little gems were when she was eating, though it might explain the little 'happy dance' she was doing while eating this meal. I have a recipe for slow cooker lentils that has lots of other veggies and savory goodness. It's one of our family's favorites, and Buttercup concurred.

We noticed a few new developments during this meal. Firstly, Buttercup now only picks up as much in her hand as she can comfortably chew. This means much less spitting food back on the tray. Also, she is getting much better at moving food around with her tongue and chewing it up. She even chews with her mouth closed. Watch out, Miss Manners!

All in all, this will be a great staple to add to Buttercup's diet.

PROS: great nutritional value

CONS: none

How-To Video (pincer grasp)

When starting baby-led solids it is recommended to offer your baby "french fry-shaped" foods. That's because anything smaller than that: a) is nearly impossible for a baby to successfully pick up and put in their mouths, b) could pose a choking hazard. Once your baby has developed a pincer grasp, however, a whole new world opens up to them. When babies fingers can pincer small items it's a sign that their mouths have also matured to the point where smaller foods become safe. You obviously want to still avoid hard, round items (candy, nuts, hot dogs, whole grapes, etc).

Here is Buttercup demonstrating the pincer grasp:

Eggplant

Buttercup's global food education continues, this time with french food. On 'le menu du jour': ratatouille. I'd neither eaten nor made ratatouille before, so this was a first for our whole family. Food adventures indeed!

Eggplant was the only ingredient in the dish that was new to Buttercup. It was cut into one-inch squares (with skins on) and cooked down. The consistency of the eggplant was quite nice: a bit meaty, but still easy to squish between a pair of little gums.

It was interesting to see Buttercup maneuver the skins, first using them as handles, then spitting them out when the fruit was gone. Parents may worry about babies choking on skins, but Buttercup never has problems with them - she just spits them out!

Buttercup ate 3 squares of eggplant, along with the other veggies in this meal.

PROS: what's not to like about ratatouille?

CONS: none

Lessons Learned

Throwing food from the high chair is a common parental complaint. It is something all babies do, it's just that baby-led solids babies start a little earlier. Here are some things we have done to cut down on the delightful dropsy game:

• Only offer a little bit of food at a time. We usually offer a small heap at the beginning of the meal, then only offer one or two things at a time after that's gone.
• Watch for "done" cues. Some of Buttercup's are: peering over the side of the high chair, spitting food out of her mouth, banging her hands on the tray, squishing handfuls of food, and picking up food and dropping it overboard. Watch your baby's cues in the same way you do when you're breastfeeding.
• Don't leave your baby in the highchair too long. I heard one mom on a parenting forum complaining that her baby threw a lot of food on the floor. It turns out she was leaving her baby in the highchair for over an hour! Babies have tiny little attention spans. Buttercup's meals usually last 15 minutes at this stage. Either she's going to eat in 15 minutes or she's not. Leaving her there longer is only going to make her bored.
• Use sign language so that your baby can "tell" you when she's finished eating. It was a proud day when Buttercup signed "all done" two weeks ago. My little genius!

Onions

You just never know what foods a baby might like unless you try them! For example, Buttercup likes cooked onions.

She has had finely diced onions mixed in with other foods before, but never larger chunks their own. So, as part of our hawaiian chicken meal, I put some onion strings on her tray.

I was surprised at how much Buttercup ate. She seemed to really enjoy them! She ate them in a similar fashion to the steamed green peppers - she kinda flossed them through her mouth. But, she did eat three or four strings.

In the past I've always considered onion a flavorful filler in foods. But, it turns out they are chock full of goodness. Onions contain natural antibacterial properties, they support the immune system, and they're high in vitamins A & C. Slam dunk!

PROS: nutritious and delicious

CONS: a bit stringy

Rutabaga/Swede

A great thing about using the baby-led solids method is that your baby can take advantage of yummy seasonal produce. The fall-ish weather has inspired me to buy more root vegetables, including one of my favorites from my time living in the United Kingdom: swede (known as rutabaga on this side of the pond). Usually I mash rutabaga/swede and serve it as a side dish, but I made fries out of them one night. I've recently discovered that you can make oven "fries" out of pretty much any root veg - taters, sweet taters, turnips, beets, carrots... These are a healthy alternatives to deep-fried french fries, and are also a great shape for little baby hands! Just make sure you leave off the salt for baby's portion.

Buttercup loved her rutabaga fry and gobbled it all up. Out of curiosity I looked up the nutrition benefits of rutabaga: it is really high in vitamin C and also a handful of minerals. Interestingly enough rutabaga also helps with milk production, so this one is a great option for mommies, too!

PROS: easy shape for BLS

CONS: none

Pineapple

Buttercup is really making her way around the world, food-wise. She's had Mediterranean, Moroccan, Indian, Japanese, Mexican, and now Hawaiian flavors! One of Hubby's favorite dishes is Hawaiian chicken. It contains pineapples (naturally), so Buttercup got to try a new food.

The pineapples were already in chunks, and I just cut them into smaller chunks (maybe 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch?). On a sidenote: Buttercup has been enjoying smaller pieces of food, rather than the classic BLS french fry shape. I wouldn't recommend doing this in the first couple of months of solids, but Buttercup has demonstrated that she's mastered the pincer grasp and is able to move food in her mouth and chew it up really welll, so that's what we generally do now.

So, Buttercup loved the pineapple. I think she ate the equivalent of a third of a "ring" of pineapple during dinner, along with chicken and onions (stay tuned for more info on onions).

PROS: tasty vitamin C food

CONS: none

Raisins, take 2

Buttercup has graduated to straight-up raisins.

When I first started giving raisins to Buttercup, I would soak them for a few minutes to soften them a bit. Maybe I'm an over-imaginative first time mother, but I kept visualizing a hard raisin torpedoing into Buttercup's windpipe.

Anyway, Buttercup now eats the raisins fresh from the box, sometimes with her breakfast cereal. These are proving to be a super easy and portable snack. They are also a good pooping food - a good tip for those of you out there with constipation-prone kiddos. In addition, raisins are high in lots of vitamins and minerals, most notably: potassium, iron, manganese, and copper.

PROS: easy, quick snack with a nutrient-packed punch

CONS: don't go overboard unless you really enjoy changing poopy diapers

Vegetable Curry

A great thing about introducing solid foods to your baby using baby-led solids is that you can develop your baby's flavor palate early. Example: curry! Don't be nervous to give your baby spicy foods. If you regularly eat spicy or strong flavors, then your baby has already tasted them via amniotic fluid and breastmilk. Besides, have you ever thought about what Indian babies eat when they're starting out on solid foods? I'm sure they don't even bat an eye at curry!

Our vegetable curry recipe comprised: tofu, cauliflower, chick peas (very soft), onions and sweet potato. Though I didn't know it at the time, I made the mistake of trying this meal when Buttercup was in a crabby mood. At first she wouldn't even touch the pile of food I gave her. I gave her a slice of banana try and pique her interest in food, and suddenly she was sampling all the food on her tray.

Buttercup ate leftovers for lunch the next day and ate a ton of it. Of course, everyone knows that curry is always better the next day.

PROS: great for building adventurous eaters

CONS: somewhat messy/staining

Apple, take 2

Now that apples are in season (and on sale!) we have been stocking up on them.

I was never completely satisfied with our previous experiences with apple, as Buttercup would get little tiny bits stuck in her mouth. But, a brainwave came to me one day: steaming the apple slightly!

So, here is the new procedure: I peel an apple (which is a lot easier than trying to wash off the waxy coating they put on them), then rinse and cut into slices or chunks. I steam them for just a minute, until they're semi-transparent. This yields apple chunks with a similar consistency to raw pear, which Buttercup can't get enough of. These squishier apples are also easier for her to hold. BONUS!

By the way, I've also heard that shredding apples (or carrots) is a great option for youngish babies just starting out BLS.

PROS: easier to handle and eat

CONS: requires a bit more prep work

Shepherds Pie

Happy Autumn! I'm very pleased to be making comfy fall-like dinners again. One of my standbys is shepherds pie, in which I use Morning Star Crumbles, mashed potatoes (made with natural yogurt in place of milk) and frozen mixed veggies (green beans, carrots, peas, corn, lima beans). Obviously, there is a lot of room for customization with this meal as you could use any kind of meat or veggies.

I plopped a mound on Buttercup's tray and said/signed "hot" to her. She does really well at waiting for her food to cool down. I used to wait to serve food to her until it had cooled, but that got to be a nuisance. I don't think most babies would purposely hold on to something if it was uncomfortably warm, but maybe Buttercup is just a genius.

Anyway, she loved this meal. I've noticed that Buttercup has no qualms with foods being mixed. She will happily pick through it for specific items, or shove a handful of mixture in her mouth, depending on her mood. She ate this meal hand over fist, using both hands to move food to her mouth really quickly like a little machine. By cleanup time she had eaten roughly half a cup, and there was absolutely no fallout on the floor which made mommy very happy. For the record: Buttercup doesn't usually eat that much food during her solid meals.

PROS: great way to combine yummy foods

CONS: none

BLS Poem & Some Stats

I can't give due credit for this poem, as I haven't been able to find the origins of it. But, it is helpful:

Up till one it's just for fun!

From one till two, they'll copy you.

From two till three, just let them be.

From three till four, worry no more.

From four till five, just watch them thrive.

Also, the following stats will really reassure you that your baby is getting all the nutrition he needs during the beginning phases of introduction to solids. I've been wondering about this info for awhile, so was happy to stumble upon the information:

Age	Nutrition & Calories from Breast Milk	"Solids" calories needed
0-6 months	100%	200
6-8 months	95%	200
9-1 months	93%	300
12-24 months	66%	550

This means that for the first 8 months, your baby could eat just a slice of bread with butter and still be on target for caloric needs. Cool, huh?

Blueberries

Blueberries are not for the immaculately dressed infant!

We never got the chance to introduce Buttercup to fresh blueberries, since they were in season before she was capable of safely handling them. However, now that her pincer grasp skill is firmly developed I got some frozen ones and they have proven to be a huge hit. If you are going to use frozen blueberries for your little one I'd recommend going organic, as frozen blueberries can pack quite the pesticidal punch (even more than your average non-organic produce).

Anyway, because they had been frozen these berries were quite soft when thawed, so they were really easy for Buttercup to chew. In fact, I've never seen her eat anything so fast. She was literally eating them hand over fist. I am thankful that I put two bibs on her, though, because her outfit would have been destroyed by the purple juice.

PROS: high nutritional value (antioxidants!)

CONS: non-organic is high in pesticides, very messy