(Time) Consumption

I never really gave it much thought, but it is totally understandable: Feeding an infant takes time. I'm not talking food preparation, but the mere fact that you now are responsible for feeding another human being, one with limited capabilities for feeding themselves.

We're using baby-led weaning (BLW) to introduce solids, which means Elle basically eats what we eat. It's really cool because it has heightened my awareness of how and what we eat, and it is awesome to watch her experience new foods and explore this new world. It is also nice to not have to prepare anything special for her - I'm already in "Camp Hates to Prepare 2-3 Bottles a Day," so saving extra work is spectacular in my book.. Her motor skills are developing at lightning speed as she manuevers food in to/near her own mouth, and there's no forcing-food-down-her-throat anxiety for me to deal with, which I appreciate.

Not so sure about this food thing.

But I don't really *do* meals at home. I start my day with coffee and a side of cereal and fruit. I typically eat a bagel or English muffin as I drive to work. And I'm a fast eater (a trait made necessary by the fact that I talk a lot, so to get all of my convo in during a meal time, I've learned to maximize my eating efficiency), so even when I do sit down to eat, my meal doesn't last long. Tim and I have very opposite schedules, too, and eating meals together doesn't happen on a daily basis.

For the most part, I snack, eat several small meals, grab a banana here or a handful of grapes there. My eating pattern at work is similar - I pack a salad, some fruits, maybe some pretzels and pudding, and I graze the night away. This lifestyle needs some work to mesh with the pace of BLW.

BLW isn't just about the food - it's about the meal. Elle is supposed to be encouraged to try new things - explore new tastes, textures and smells. And do it on her own terms. We're supposed to dine with her - not just for supervision's sake, but for her to watch us, preferably eating the same food she's eating, so she can mimic us and feel included.

Babies don't really derive their primary nutrition from solids until around 1 year of age, so this added meal time is more for play, practice and experience right now. That means the five times she nurses or takes a bottle each day are still (and will remain, for several months) her nutrition. And that means that right now we're essentially doing double mealtimes.

For the first 10 days or so that I offered food to Elle, she played, sucked, touched, smelled, etc., but not a single morsel of actual food went to her stomach (there was a lot of dramatic gagging going on, which is understandable for someone who has only consumed food in liquid-form for her entire six-month lifespan). Finally, she ate a few "bites" of food the other day, and that was fine - there's no risk of malnourishment just because she hasn't "cleaned her plate." I was just extremely excited that she was finally beginning to experience the taste portion of food :) 

"My to-do list is completely empty,
so no rush on lunch, OK, Mom?"
P.S. I totally took this photo before thinking
about this blog post. She's constantly
grabbing stuff off the computer desk.

But we have the challenge: Super-fast, generally impatient eater with 2,026 things to do on a daily basis meets new-to-food, not-a-care-in-the-world infant. Now that we've introduced "mealtime" with Elle (a mealtime that involves more than just nursing every few hours), we're bouncing around, looking for a groove. The past few days have involved me preparing and packing food during Elle's nap, or Elle sitting patiently in the dining area, watching me prepare not only my own "lunch," but also pack my dinner and figure out what to serve her (because she's just not ready for Special K just yet).

So far, she's been offered rigatoni, banana, apple, pear, steamed broccoli, noodles, chicken, rotini, asparagus, steamed carrot, avocado, applesauce, quesadilla, guacamole, and her favorite so far, English muffin. This week, I'm hoping to introduce sweet potato, rice and I'm not sure what else.

The other time-consuming part of this is that Baby Girl gets messy :) So that means more baths and more clean up. The other day I found pieces of broccoli in the folds of her chubby neck. AWESOME :)

Any other moms done BLW or have tips on this stage of double mealtimes? What are your baby's favorite foods?