Milk Teef

After what seems like months of "teething" and drooling - we are finally seeing the supposed tell tale signs that Bub's milk teef are coming in  - white swollen gums, red cheeks, pulling at her ears, LOTS of drooling, putting everything in her mouth and the runny nose.

Poor Bub has been blowing snot bubbles since yesterday afternoon and trying to make the best of it.  We've had some changes in her bowel movements since we've introduced solids so that's been interesting to say the least.  Going 14 days without any er movement to almost every day is not fun.  Especially since I am not one to catch on quick and then stuff moves out of place.  Let's just say she'd give Ann Hathoway a run for her money for most wardrobe changes in a single day.

I think the teething has put a bit of a damper on enjoying solids as well. Yesterday we tried fresh black berries and organic full fat greek yogurt... She made a face but licked up the yogurt which was nice and chunky since i'd strained it. The berries she eyed wearily and mushed a bit but didn't really try.

Later that evening it was steamed asparagus and carrots.  You should see the face she made when sucking on the asparagus - NO THANK YOU.  I think steaming just made them too bitter.  The carrots were okay but again, she just wasn't her chirpy happy self at meal time.

7 months old on Earth Day

The Bub turned 7 months yesterday.  She celebrated by showing us how well she can slide backwards, find a wall and then use it as leverage to leap frog forward.  1 step forward 2 steps back as they say :)  She also joined us at the dinner table to try some of my quinoa khichdi.

 Khichdi is an Indian dish eaten all over India, especially in the Northern regions and thus varies in how its made and what its served with.  A comfort food the staple ingredients are lentils and rice served with a side of yogurt based soup either hot (kadhi) or cold (chaas).

I made my version of my favorite with split moong dal and replaced the rice with quinoa.  I love kadhi but never with my khichdi.  So I made some chaas.


Split Moong & Quinoa Khicdhi ingredients include:
2 1/4 cup split moong
2 1/4 cup quinoa
1 potato, diced
1/2 a large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp green chili, minced
1 inch ginger, minced
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1tsp garam masala
a pinch of red chili powder
a small piece of cinnamon bark
2 cloves

Chaas
Organic Full fat yogurt and water, with salt and cumin (the Bub was served only yogurt with her khichdi)

We weren't sure how she'd take to it since unlike the 2 inch finger sized pieces of food she's been given, it was all granular and mushy, even the potatoes were just in chunks.  So we decided to also give her a spoon to see what she would do.

At first she just grabbed at the khichdi and sort of scooped at the yogurt trying to bring it to her mouth.  But then after a few tries she also started opening her fist a bit so she could sort of mash the food onto her lips.  The spoon she just gnawed on until i filled it with flattened some khichdi onto it and put it down.  She picked it right up and put it in her mouth!  Once or twice she got the the curved side in facing up and the food slid off before it could go into her mouth but then she figured it out.

So every few minutes or so i'd put some food onto the spoon and place it back down on the tray.  Sometimes she went for the spoon other times she ate with her hands.  Either way she made sure to get it everywhere including her nose, eyes, chin, underarms and of course, her mouth :)

Solid Foods... shouldn't they be, well SOLID?

"Have you introduced solids yet?"

Since the Bub turned 4 months I've been hearing this question or some variation and after the umpteenth time it has started to feel more like an accusation than innocent interest.

For the record N and I had decided to wait till Siena was at least 6 months since both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization recommend exclusively breastfeeding for the first 6 months and since I'm able to do so and there are no concerns with her weight gain, bowel movements or sleep habits we were in no hurry.  So while many of Duckie's peers were slurping away on rice cereal and spoonfuls of peas and chicken puree Siena has been quite content with latching on to Mommy's milk machines.

  As we approached 5 months N and I realized that it was time to think more about how we wanted to approach this new chapter.  We knew that we'd be making food at home since I can't stand the taste of jarred food and will not feed her anything i won't eat.  Outside of that we hadn't a clue.

It was around this time a friend mentioned a book explaining what they did with their daughter, something called "Baby Led Weaning". Pulling out my English to American dictionary, it seams in the US weaning focuses on getting off of breastmilk, whilst in the UK it means getting onto foods.  BLW is basically allowing your child to feed themselves as you introduce them to solids.  And by SOLIDS they actually mean SOLIDS. Not mush, pureed, unidentifiable slop.

The concept is simple enough, wait until your baby is at least 6 months of age, shows signs of interest in food - AKA attempts to take fistful of whatever you have on your plate and shove into their mouth or stare you down as you enjoy that deliciously juicy strawberry and can sit upright unassisted or in high chair.


Then introduce baby to real food.  The (healthy) food we eat everyday, the way we eat it.  Allow them to experience different tastes, textures, smells and learn how to actually eat it.  Of course there are some rules to follow - no salt,preferably cut into pieces that they can hold, understanding what food groups to offer and how often, skipping foods your family members have serious allergies to,  no honey, no cow's milk until 1 (unless used as ingredient) etc.  Also we've decided to try and buy mostly organic fruits/veg and organic, grass fed meats.  There's a bit more to it than that and you can read up more here as well as on the thousands of blogs documenting people's experiences.

The concept really appealed to us.  What better way to learn how to recognize and differentiate foods, how to chew, suck, swallow and really experience all that food has to offer.  Not really possible when its all been mashed up to one consistency.  Most importantly it takes advantage of the fact that up until 12 months babies get their nutrition solely from breastmilk or formula so food is just for fun.  FOOD IS FUN UNTIL ONE.  It's not about how much they eat, but their experience.

So we read the book, did a little research and have been playing around with it for a few weeks now.  After buying a few pieces of equipment- highchair, large washable bibs, table cloth for floor we are ready to let Siena lead.

So far she's "eaten"
sliced green apples - I made the rookie mistake of offering it to her before I'd nursed so she was hungry frustrated

sliced pears - N was a little nervous that it was too ripe and she'd choke on the skin- and we re-read the section that helps explain that the place where babies gag is further up front from where they choke and this helps them to recognize how far back to keep their food.

carrots - uncooked so after gumming it for a bit i think she may have gotten a little sweet taste but that's about it

english cucumber (seedless) - seemed to enjoy sucking on it

celery - may have gotten a little flavor from a piece... but have to remember to offer it with hard strings removed as she gets teeth

roasted sweet potato - first time no skins, second time skin on....she gummed this around and definitely swallowed some, pushing the skin out.

TJ's Whole Grain Bread -  1/2 inch by 3 inch slice of my toast... the part that went into her mouth she gummed around until it was soft and ate, the part that remained in her fist turned to mush and we tossed it.

quinoa - a little harder to eat but she dug her hands in anyway, grabbing fistfuls and putting the closed fist into her mouth


Banana - yes, i touched a banana, and proceeded to cut it and give my daughter the chance to eat it.  She does not seem to have my aversion to them, unfortunately.

roasted green beans, eggplant, portabella mushrooms, and red bell peppers in olive oil, black pepper and garlic - i think eggplant and green beans were favorite but she grabbed at everything - with both hands.

And tonight's dinner - fish & chips.  Cod seasoned with panko, garlic, and herbs.  Roasted sweet potato wedges skin on and steamed broccoli.   Don't think she actually swallowed any of the fish but did gum it around.  Went to town on the broccoli - literally shoving floret after floret into her mouth.  Was a pro at eating the sweet potato and spitting out the skin.

It is messy.  She ends up wearing most of it and throwing the rest on the floor.  It is stinky - we've gone from one poopy diaper a week to one every other day in all colors and quantities.  But that would have been the case if we'd used baby foods.  The best part is we get to sit down around the table and share our meal together as a family.

What's up next?  Waiting in the wings are an avocado, mango, butternut squash, and chicken but we're open to suggestions!