The Baby Made Me Do It

The last few days, Cecelia's been resisting eating from a spoon.  I've had to basically trick her into eating, which is frustrating since she seems to enjoy such a nice variety of foods.  So, since she's started eating food with her fingers, she doesn't seem to want to eat from the spoon.  I made a ton of pureed food and have it frozen, so this was especially frustrating, even though (of course) it's a step in the process of growing up.  I would have to sprinkle her tray with cheerios and each time she'd grab one she'd open her mouth and I'd slip the spoon in.  She'd eat, distracted by her own quest to get more and more cheerios, all the food and I'd let her finish off what was on her tray.  But, the last few days she seems to have caught on to my trick.  She'll turn her head each time the spoon comes anywhere in her line of sight.

So, this brings me to Baby Led Weaning, and boy was it ever baby led.  A friend told me about this a while ago, but since I had made all that food already, I figured I'd look into it later.  She told me the general gist of it though, so I had a pretty good idea what it was all about, but I still haven't read the book I've been meaning to get.  So many books, so little time.  Regardless, with her hunger strike reaching a critical point, I decided to just start her on softer food chunks and slivers.  She loved it, naturally, and took to it right away.  She ate what she wanted, and left the rest.  It wasn't too messy and I was able to just toss the leftover chunks.  Now, I have to prep and stock up on foods made in this way!

Another friend suggested a way to use all the surplus of purees too - cook them into pancakes, waffles, etc., making them into instant fun finger foods too.  Cece's been loving waffles as a treat/teether, so this is a no-brainer.  I may have to invest in a waffle iron.  Though, I'm pretty sure she'd love fruit and/or veggie pancakes just as well.

Finally, while we're on the topic of food.  Dairy is one interesting topic.  So, you're not supposed to introduce cow's milk until baby is one year old, though we probably aren't going to even then since we drink other milks in our house as it is, but now we have even more reason not to...and back to topic...so, no cow's milk til 1 year, but you're supposed to start yogurt and cheeses well before that.  Which have...milk in them.  Which brings me to my point.  I introduced yogurt about three days ago, and quickly realized that it did not agree with Cece's body.  This should not have been surprising since dairy doesn't agree with her daddy's body either.  It was somewhat surprising though, since I've had yogurt all through breastfeeding with seemingly no consequences.  So, after I finish off all the baby yogurt I stocked up on (when will I learn my lesson?) and greek yogurt I got to try out, I might take a break from it too to see if there are any behavioral changes...i.e. maybe she won't be quite so crazy.  And maybe she will, but it's worth a try.  So, I will never again question anyone's interpretation of a food allergy/sensitivity based on frothy poo, because when you see it, you believe it.  I credit EC with helping me to tell when Cece was constipated in the past and now it helped me to detect a food sensitivity - I cannot say enough good things about this process, it really helps you to stay in tune with your baby and his/her needs.