Mad Skillz

I was thinking about all the things that Sprout has learned to do since starting solid food & came up with a list of them all, broken down into basic components. I wonder if he'd be able to do these things or be as good at them if we were spoon-feeding him purees? (Any mamas out there who are not doing BLW who can report back on that?)

Here's what I came up with:

• Picking up items & putting them into his mouth. (kind of cheating putting this on the list, as it was a prerequisite for starting solids, really)
• Pincer grip (e.g. being able to pick up peas between thumb & forefinger)
• Picking up slippery foods like avocado or mango
• Grabbing smaller chunks in his fist & opening his hand to get them into his mouth (seems like this would be easy, but babies can't open their fists & let go of things intentionally for a long time)
• Putting a spoon in his mouth (initially many spoonfuls went into his nose or ears, but nowadays he's quite accurate. Still mooshes the excess all over his lips & chin though)
• Moving food around in his mouth with his tongue (rather than just bringing it forward by gagging)
• Biting off pieces
• Chewing food into smaller bits (still working on this one, but it's coming along)
• Sucking on food/mushing it against his palate with his tongue to disintegrate it
• Swapping food from hand to hand
• Using a second hand to help get bigger items to his mouth
• Drinking from a cup (when held by a parent)
• Adapting to different textures & figuring out the appropriate 'technique' to use to eat each one

Still working on:

• Holding the cup himself
• Scooping up food himself with the spoon (at the moment we load it & hand it to him)
• Dipping food in sauce (he's starting to get this)
• Dealing with hard or chewy foods (he can manage soft stuff like overcooked broccoli, roasted yams, or crispy stuff that breaks down easily like rice cakes, dense fruit like pear & apple that take a little gnawing)

These days his main limitations are just that we haven't fed him certain foods yet, so he can't just eat what we're eating. We're waiting to introduce wheat, so far he's eating rice, millet, quinoa & barley. Oats are next. He's eating cheese & yogurt, but nothing unpasteurized. Nuts, shellfish, egg, citrus & other acidic fruits can wait until he's a year at least. Honey is also a no-no for a few months more, as is anything with added salt or sugar. So we're still not quite at the point where we just hand him chunks off our plate, but we'll be there in three or four months.

Leaps & bounds

A week ago, at the Ravensong baby group, I sat Sprout on the mat in front of my leg & he fell over. He was unable to sit up for more than five seconds without needing me to stabilize him. Today he sat up for three minutes on his own! I know this not because I was timing him, but because I filmed it. I'll spare you the "director's cut" & just post the end where he plays with his toy & then does a face plant into some tummy time. (Don't worry: he's on a thick blanket on a foam mat. No head injuries!)

What's really exciting to me is what the next developmental step is: solid food! Now that he can sit up fairly well, is reaching for things & bringing them to his mouth, he's ready to eat. I'm planning to try Baby Led Weaning, which is a fancy new term for a very old concept. He will pick up the food & eat it himself, no "brrrrr... here's the airplane, coming into the hangar" spoon-feeding. No purees, so he'll experience different textures & flavours, learning to manipulate the food in his mouth with his tongue. Theoretically this will encourage him to be more adventurous with food at a young age & when he's older too. Of course we're not going to be giving him granola or carrot sticks just yet, we'll stick to one food at a time & it'll be cooked & 'gummable'.
It'll take a few months before he's really eating significant quantities of food--the first while he'll just be playing & learning how to get it in his mouth, then how to get it to the back of his mouth & swallow it. I have high hopes that he'll basically be eating the same things we do within about six months.

The rollercoaster

Sigh. Still we go up & down on the rollercoaster of breastfeeding & supplementing. I thought we had it down pat with two bottles a day in the evenings. Sprout gained 11 ounces in two weeks. Then the next two week period he only gained five. This means he gained a pound in a month, which is on track, but I worry that he might not gain enough this week or next. Maybe the fact that I've gone back to school & am away from him for 5 hours twice a week is negatively impacting my milk supply?

Today we got down to Ravensong Community Health Centre's Infant Drop-in & weighed Sprout. He's gained a little over four ounces in the past week. At his age, he should be gaining about a pound a month, so that is just about perfect. Whew! The rollercoaster goes back up...

Pretty much every day I consider giving up & just feeding him formula. It would be a lot easier when I go to school. He'd probably eat a lot less frequently too, which would mean longer blocks of time to do things without having to worry about finding a good place to sit & feed him. I would be able to be away from him for long stretches, making it much easier to schedule 'me time'. I wouldn't have to always be the one to feed him--anybody could do it.

But I wouldn't be the only one who can feed him... he wouldn't need me in the way that he does now. I wouldn't have the magical power of the boob to soothe him, to lull him to sleep. I would give up the intensely physical symbiosis, no longer feeling the quick suckling trigger my letdown & hearing him start to gulp as I feel the electric sensation of my milk flowing faster.

When he's breastfeeding his behaviour is slightly different from bottle feeding. He pops off & gives me the hugest smiles, or starts to 'talk' to me briefly, then turns back & nurses a little more. He makes funny little nasal nom nom nom noises & he pats the top of my breast with his upper hand, grabs a handful of my scarf or shirt or puts his fingers to my mouth. When he's drinking from a bottle he'll crane his neck around a bit, but it's a tug of war to get that nipple out of his mouth. He's not going to stop & chat for a minute, he's just drinking it straight down.

A few months ago (but man, does it feel like years!) I was just trying to get through each feeding, then each day, then each week. I started thinking, "I'll just try to keep this up until he's three months old & reevaluate then." We got to three months & things were getting easier, so I set six months as my next milestone. Now that we're just a couple of weeks away from six months, I don't think I'm going to wean him just yet. My next milestone: I want to see if I can possibly stop the formula supplementation once we've gotten him eating well & actually taking in a good amount of calories from solids.