Ava is 6 months old as of March 24th! A few weeks before her sixth month birthday, we started introducing solid food here and there using Baby Led Weaning ideas.
Baby Led Weaning differs from older ideas of feeding babies table food because it allows the babies to feed themselves with little to no help from parents, skips over all jarred food and baby cereal, & encourages babies to try lots of unique flavors & textures. We did not follow BLW protocol with Margo and decided to go a different route with Ava.
Since Margo wasn’t exposed to the foods that Ava has been and will continue to be, she’s in the process of “reverse picky eating”. Because she was our first, we were very nervous giving her big pieces of food at a young age and really stuck with purees and baby puffs for the first few months of her table food life. It wasn’t until she got a little bit older when she started having more “solid” food, and even then, the options of food she would eat as a 9-12 month old were limited. Because we didn’t know any better, we continued giving Margo food we knew she liked rather than encourage her to try new things and get outside of her comfort zone.
Once Ava was born, I knew we had to change things this time around once she reached the age to eat food. Noah and I agreed it would be better for her health and our sanity for her to learn to eat food beyond what the baby aisles were advertising. Already, we’re seeing tons of progress in both her and Margo.
Ava’s been eating food for the past three weeks now. She’s had anything from greek yogurt, many types of fruits & veggies, steak, chicken drumsticks, and even cajun soup! Margo has been watching Ava enjoy these foods at the supper table, which encourages her that she can enjoy them too. Not only is Ava eating well, but Margo is actually jumping way out of her comfort zone and eating it too! It sounds so silly, but to Noah and I, this is a huge step to Margo getting better nutrition as well as learn I’m not making two separate meals any longer. Both girls are doing great with BLW and we couldn’t be any more excited!
I’m sure you’re wondering…why barf in the title? Well, here’s a gross story for you.
Last week, I made one of my favorite crock pot meals from Half Baked Harvest. It’s a delicious herb chicken and creamy orzo meal full of cheese, white wine, broccoli, and all the goods. While we were all enjoying the full meal, Ava got to munch on two large pieces of broccoli from the dish. She was inhaling the flavors, probably faster than what she could handle. All of the sudden, we think a piece of orzo triggered her little gag reflex and she began coughing super hard (which is good and healthy) and literally threw up three times all over her tray (also a very normal part of BLW). Naturally, Noah and I freak out (not good and healthy) but Ava didn’t seem to mind one bit. She may have been covered in her own vom and we may have been scared half to death, but that little Stick of Butter was happy as can be, all filled with the cheesy, yummy goodness of a meal.
BLW has been going really well so far! I’m still nervous at times and really have been careful what we feed her. Ava and Margo are doing great and it feels good as their mama to make sure they’re both getting the exact nutrients their little bodies to thrive and become strong, healthy little girls!