BLW aka Baby-Led-Weaning

DS, DD, SAHM, EBF, STTN, CIO and BLW.  Obviously, us moms love our acronyms and they come in handy when you are talking about the same things again and again.  The first 6 I’ve known for quiet awhile, especially with the help of Google and various mom/baby forums and boards over the years.  The way information travels these days, which is quicker than ever before, you can do all the paper and library book research you want, but the material could be totally outdated.  I did my library research, then hit up google and mom blogs after mom blogs, and Youtube actually helped the most!

Baby-Led Weaning is not new agey, but I’ve read it’s another cog in the “crunchy Mom” wheel that is so common these days.  It sounds like parents have realized that the way things were done when they were children- or their parents themselves were children- aren’t exactly raising the healthiest eaters each generation.  Companies are capitalizing on charging what they charge so it’s one less things for moms to learn/handle/do in general.  It was a big deal to go from small glass baby food jars, to plastic reusable ones, and then from that to these space-saving pouches.  It seems the original idea was the most green to begin with, because glass doesn’t leach chemicals and make many happy crafty projects when reused.  I digress.

BLW: Baby led weaning is simple= no mushed food, no purees.  Go.

You take what the rest of the family is having, and slice it up into adequate sizes (comparable to either a potato chip, or two fingers in size) and give it to your baby.  You don’t “help” at all! or shove food or do any extra work for baby.  Baby doesn’t need a plate or utensils.  You sit back and eat your food like a family should, together at mealtime.  It sounds so easy!  I keep reading that it’s messy, but since I made all the baby food for Sillyboy at 6 months (never before! please don’t listen to the riffraff or your mom on cereal in a bottle or other scary things), I’d take a mess over the mountains of peeling/slicing/steaming/pureeing/portioning months anytime.  We begin late next week.  Have you tried baby led weaning?  Something similar?  A combination?  RhodeyGirlTests and YoungHouseLove have both tried with differing results, but both of their kids eat real (i.e. not baby) food every day too.

P.S. by the way, DS= Dear Son, DD= Dear Daughter, SAHM= Stay at home mom, EBF= Exclusively breastfed, STTN= Sleeping through the night, CIO= Crying it out.

Upcycled Banner for Kid’s Room

Sillyboy is getting smarter, older, bigger, (wiser?), and just growing up so fast.  He’s long made the jump from toddler bed to his personal twin size bed as well.   His taste in toys has jumped from Thomas the Tank Engine to Cars, and then to Star Wars and recently Lego Ninjagos.  So this all effects his decorative walls in his bedroom often.

We had a pile of picture book sleeves lying around- you know, the glossy full cover paper flaps that supposedly “protect” the book while advertising its pictures on the front.  I thought I could keep them for something or other (mod podge craft time!) since they were a futile attempt to keep the books beautiful forever, and besides, where’s the fun in that?

Using a few of these book sleeves, an empty wrapping paper tube, a yard of random yarn/ribbon, and a bunch of masking and packing tape, we created a banner to hang in his room.  Here’s the backside:

It isn’t very pretty from that view, but it is a project that is kid-friendly.  He selected the book sleeves, helped tape them together, and decided the layout.  It is something he can proudly point at, talk about, and display in his room because we’ve read these stories many times.  And now he’s reading them all by himself!  I don’t know how much longer he’ll enjoy our cheap/easy art adorning his walls, especially since his new found love of Harry Potter is only growing, but it’s a nice way to keeps his favorites in mind.

 

Every time I look at it, I want to read Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree all over again!  (sorry for the crooked picture!- still using my phone as the no. 1 resource currently).  What do you do with your bookcover sleeves?  Anything creative?

Healthy Child Healthy World [useful printables link!]

Since I finally got around to testing out my free trial sizes of Honest products, I took the plunge and ordered my first set of diaper/wipes bundle and a home product bundle.  I’m excited to test out the sunscreen and multi-purpose cleaner the most!  The eco-green earth-friendly talk has been everywhere, with today being Earth Day and all.  The motivation behind a lot of movements was spurred on by Healthy Child Healthy World– a non-profit organization that is trying to promote a healthier environment for all kids (and families).

Former CEO of the company, Chris Gavigan, authored a highly revered book by the same name.  (I just grabbed it from the library today!).  The org has helped many families identify and remove harmful toxins in their lives to create lower allergy and asthmatic environments.  Healthy Child Healthy World works to educate families for the future of our children.  While perusing their site, I found a list of informational printables for you here.  You can print some out, or download the app to keep the pocket lists with you always.  They’ve already done the research for the healthiest brands- look for them by name.

Baby Slinging

Get Blossom‘s and Amy Farrah Fowler‘s images out of your head, and try out reading Mayim Bialik’s Beyond the Sling book.  If you’ve ever heard of attachment parenting or helicopter parenting, the image of an unwashed hippie in dreads with a tie-dyed baby sling with the smell of patchouli over their shoulder might come to mind.  Nothing wrong with that.  Patchouli gives me headaches. But people- and trends (what works and what doesn’t) have adapted just as the ways we raise our kiddos have.  I  like to read a lot of non-fiction, and even if I disagree or find faults with a book’s message, I’m not lost on gaining some education.

Mayim is touted in both good and bad ways for this book, written by herself as a mom of two.  No one can ignore that she earned a Ph.D. in Neuroscience.  And she wasn’t a baby person at all before having kids, so she’s a strong voice now for attachment parenting, La Leche League International (she’s a certified consultant), and the Holistic Moms Network.

Bed sharing and elimination communication are not for me.  I might have to do some more research on the latter with bambina though…  I do believe, however, that raising a confident child by gently communicating with them (no yelling!) is a great and wonderful plan.  She shares a lot of the personal sacrifices she and her husband have made to create this environment for their kids.  I read her book cover to cover in just a few days, and I’ve taken some small learned habits away from it that I think make me a better mom.  Be sure to read her section on sharing toys at a playground- or not forcing “please” and “thank you” on her kids!

Kind Lifer

If you’re anywhere near my age, Clueless was a hot film, and Alicia Silverstone became a household name.  She grew out of her Batgirl acting phase, got married, and had a baby boy (Bear Blu) last year, and returned to acting.

Somewhere along the way she went from a raw foods diet to a pure vegan one.  She chronicled her lessons in macrobiotic recipes mixed in with traditional English fare for breakfasts, get togethers, snacks, and healthy cure-alls for various ailments (daikon tea is a super natural diuretic, no need for a juice cleanse) and put them into her book “The Kind Life Diet” – check out her website here which is hugely forum directed and anyone’s able to comment and ask questions-