And my cauliflower. Oh, and my broccoli romanesco? Yep, that’s gone, too.
I realized recently that while I’ve posted somewhat regularly on Elimination Communication (a method/practice that I seriously question, especially given some recent reading, but more on that in a later post), I’ve been a bit remiss in writing about something that has been much more rewarding, more straightforward, and less fraught with questions and stress: Baby Led Weaning.
Gabriel started slowly with self-feeding, which is normal and natural. I definitely had questions in the beginning, but other than referring to the Baby Led Weaning book, I just kind-of went with it, offering a variety of solid foods, practicing patience with his developing appetite and pincer grip, and resting easy knowing that he was still meeting most of his nutritional needs with breastfeeding.
And then somewhere in the last year (maybe the nine or ten month mark?), he just really took off, and he’s never looked back. He eats proficiently with fingers and a fork, and we’re working on the spoon. Overall, he’s become a fairly neat eater, though of course some meals lend themselves to being messy at this age.
My biggest ongoing challenge is how to vary the grains in his diet. Pasta and bread are easy go-to foods, but I’d prefer he eat something other than wheat, wheat, wheat (and I’d prefer to avoid buying expensive wheat-free pasta and bread). Millet, quinoa, rice, and other small grains don’t make particularly great finger food, nor can they easily be speared with a fork. When those grains are on the menu, we often spoon-feed him the grain portion of the meal.
While his interest in a particular food can vary meal to meal (sometimes he’ll shun something one night, only to gobble up the leftovers at lunch two days later), overall, he eats what we eat for meals: lots of veggies, various beans and grains, nuts and nut butters, eggs in various forms, fruit, tofu, tempeh, some cheese . . . .
Given our passion for delicious, high quality food, we couldn’t be happier. Well, except for those times when all three of us are eyeing the last two pieces of roasted cauliflower. Then we would be happier if there were more cauliflower in the oven.
Her Green Life 