gutz.

In New Zealand, the term 'guts' refers to someone who eats a lot. I don't know this from personally experiencing the name calling by the way. :)

Seeing as how a lot of pictures that I post of Brennan look like this...

(loving the thinking hand)

...he could be considered quite the guts. I have received a lot of questions about how he eats so much and such a variety for a 10 month old. Some of you may have no interest, but if you do: read on.

We waited on solids until after we came back from America seeing that it would be easier to travel without baby food plus formula. He didn't need any more nutritionally than what he was getting from that, so it was a good decision for us.

I had heard a lot about 'baby led weaning'. Usually, I write these things off and try my own thing. Which is kind of what I did.

I am not typically going to sit down and read a book about a strategy to feed my kid. I wanted him to be able to experiment with food (within safe limits) and decide when he was full. He raises both arms above his head when he is finished. He may have eaten everything or very little, but I personally think that he is learning to know what full feels like and stop eating. (wish I knew that!)

I did start him on purees but we both quickly tired of spoon feeding. It was a power struggle.

We both wanted the power and we both got the struggle.

I gave him a spoon full of food in his hand and he promptly put it in his mouth. I knew that he was way ahead of this puree thing.

I liked how the fact that he did eat them for a while, let me know things that he would react to and that he would get full.

He was showing all of the signs of wanting to be an independent eater and I was cool with that.

My first divergence from purees was puree spread over toast. May not seem like a big deal but to him, it was independence gold! I still serve this as a snack. I consider it a 'vegetable spread'!

From there, we tried anything that he seemed interested in. We still spaced it out to watch for reactions but within a month, he was eating what we were eating.

Using this way of feeding, I was able to hand him a slice of steak and he would gnaw it to death. He learned to chew instead of just swallowing. It was this fact that enables him to not choke on the more complex foods.

It's extremely important to never leave a child alone that is eating. If they are fatally choking, you WILL NOT hear them.

If Brennan does have trouble, I am right there. I watch him closely and give him a second to figure it out. He has only had one time when he didn't. He was eating ground beef mince and started laughing. It went down the wrong way, but after some assistance he was fine. 

Sometimes,it totally freaks guests out that he is eating everything we are eating but it makes life SO much easier. We can begin our routine of a family dinner table instead of eat when you can dinner table.

A typical food day would be:

Breakfast:

Banana, blueberries, avocado and sometimes oatmeal or small pancakes

Snack:

Toast with hummus

Lunch:

Chicken, corn, avocado (his favorite) and crackers (snax/Ritz)

Snack:

Seedless grapes cut in half, rice cake

Dinner:

Whatever meat and veggies we are having for dinner. His favorite nights are the nights we have couscous!

If it is edible, he has tried it within what is safe. HONEY is not okay until after year one, but I know you know that. We have strayed away from peanut items, but he has so many fruits and veggies that he barely has time to eat what he has!

No more boring menu but if you want some more ideas, you can look HERE!

WARNING: These recipes are fancy schmancy. I look at them and think...right...pancakes, meatballs, veggies, etc. Don't get too fancy when the whole purpose is to make life simpler.

It is important to note:

Feeding this way can be very messy. I am constantly cleaning the highchair. If you get a catcher bib and strip them to their diaper, clean up is pretty easy. In public, I use the same bib and he eats things without any form of sauce, etc. That way, I don't have to strip him down in public.

Hope that answers all the questions.

If God blesses us with another, we will do the exact same if possible. Starting at 6 months, gave him the time to get the skills needed to explore his food. Starting with purees allowed us to allergy test. We may do purees for that reason with the next but who knows.

Tomorrow--back to the regularly scheduled shenanigans.