Saturday 14 March 2015

Baby-Led Weaning

Well, our sweet girl is six months old. Where did the time go? Seriously, it's been the fastest six months of my life. I've laughed, cried (sometimes simultaneously), learned and unlearned. But you know what? These have been some of the best months of my life. Julia is a bubbly, lively baby who wears her heart on her sleeve. I just adore her and would not have my life any other way.

Anyways enough with the mushy-gushy 'I love my child' talk. Today was an interesting day. We started baby-led weaning about 2 weeks ago. It's been a blast watching Julia explore different textures, how to move her hand to her mouth and the look on her face when she experiences a flavour she wasn't expecting.

I want to talk about why we chose baby-led weaning. We had decided this well before Julia was born. Knowing the problems I faced with my fertility issues, and how good I felt on Paleo, I knew that I wanted to start my child off in that general direction. Add in that BLW aides gross and fine motor skills at the same time, and I was ready to commit.

One of Julia's first meals was ground beef, sweet potato and carrots. For the most part she just sucked on whatever got onto her hands, and that's how most of her meals have gone. Until today. Today, Julia demolished a quarter of a banana. Her hand-to-mouth coordination and her grip have improved tenfold so she was able to get a lot of the banana into her mouth. The only downside? We think Julia may be intolerant/allergic to bananas. I know, right? Of all foods...bananas?

Sidenote: Hubby is actually mildly intolerant to bananas and mashed potatoes. When he eats them, he gets a tingly feeling in the mouth for a few seconds, but it goes away quickly. That said, he still eats these foods regularly, as he has no other ill-effects from them.

Back to Julia. About 30 minutes after breakfast, Julia started to get really cranky, had a runny nose and really watery eyes. She was constantly trying to rub her eyes and started to fuss a lot. If you know Julia, you'll know that she is a morning bird so it is unusual for her to fuss so early in the day. When I was previously researching BLW, I had read about symptoms of allergens/food sensitivities, so I knew that the whole runny nose/watery eyes combo could be a sign of a sensitivity.

The symptoms have stayed throughout the day, so we didn't give Julia any more to 'eat' as we didn't want to (potentially) make her feel any worse.

I'm aware that Julia could just be getting a bug - she could have caught a cold. Or she could have hay fever as we have been having some slightly warmer weather. The thing that perplexed me though, was that these symptoms started about 2 hours after getting up and only 30 minutes after eating the banana. Couple that with the fact that she actually ate the banana today and I'm a bit skeptical.

Where do we go from here? We are going to wait until tomorrow to see if Julia's nose and eyes are still bothering her. I've read that foods can bother you up to 48 hours after consumption so if her eyes/nose clear up within the 2 days, we will steer clear of bananas for a month or so and then try to reintroduce them.

Other than today's instance, Julia is loving baby-led weaning. She has already learned that when she gets put in her chair, she is going to get something that she can eat. Hubby and I are enjoying it too, and I am glad that we are able to enjoy this phase just as much as Julia.


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