Baby Led Weaning: Food #1

Baby led weaning is a term used to describe a way to start baby on solid foods by feeding themselves. It is important to note that "weaning" in this context does not mean to end breastfeeding or formula feeding. With baby led weaning, there are no purees or typical "baby foods". Baby starts out on soft solid foods, such as avocado or bananas. One of the benefits of baby led weaning is that is helps to teach babies to chew foods. I am excited to chronicle our journey here!

Here is the baby led weaning website:

Baby Led Weaning

I also found a great group on Facebook:


Baby Led Weaning for Beginners

We started Marlene with baby led weaning just a few days before her 6 month birthday. She was showing signs of readiness, such as sitting up, and displaying an interest in our foods. I had conducted a lot of research and educated myself, my husband, and our teenage son on what to do if she were to choke. I think this is absolutely necessary, even if you aren't doing baby led weaning. 

Her first food was avocado. I chose avocados that were ripe and cut them into long slices. She immediately picked up a slice and put it in her mouth. She sucked on a few slices here and there, but I'm not too sure if she really ate any of it. 

I gave her a slice of avocado at meal times for the next few days. Each day she would play with the avocado and suck on it. Sometimes it would get a little slimey and I would pat it dry. 

What I liked about giving her avocado is that it is soft, easily sliced, and nutritious. What I did not like was that it was hard to store. Since she ate so little at each feeding, some of it went bad, or I ate a lot of avocado that week!

Overall, our first few days of baby led weaning were a great success! 

What was your baby's first food? I'd love to hear any questions or comments! 

There Goes My Nipple on Facebook

I can't resist posting pictures of my milk drunk little baby. After she fills up on breastmilk, she passes out and takes a nap. It's a sweet moment for both of us. It's also one of the best times to take pictures of her to share with friends and family on Facebook and other social media. As I have posted before, I don't mind sharing my breastfeeding photos on the internet. However, I usually make an effort to not show my actual nipple. I will either crop the photo or twist and turn my body to skip the nip shot. Well, the other day I accidentally posted a picture of my milk drunk little baby...nipple and all. I didn't even notice until someone commented on how cute my baby is. When I saw the enlarged photo, I realized there was nipple in the picture. I thought for a moment and then decided "what the hell, it's ok, there goes my nipple on Facebook".

See, nipples are kind of a big part of breastfeeding, and I like to normalize breastfeeding. I like to normalize it in public and on social media. I want the other women in my newsfeed to know that it's ok if your nipple sneaks its way into a breastfeeding photo. You don't need to be afraid of taking those pictures of your snugly milk drunk baby and sharing them with friends. What's a little nipple between friends anyways?

My husband asked me if I realized that my nipple was showing in the picture. I told him I did and asked him if it bothered him. He told me that it didn't bother him at all, he just wanted to make sure I knew. My older sister also wanted to make sure I knew. I am happy that I have people looking out for me and my nipples.

I will leave you with this snugly, milk drunk baby (and nipple)...

Using Essential Oils: Day #1

I am so excited that I have began using essential oils! I received my enrollment kit yesterday and used some oils last night. Here is what happened on day 1 of using my essential oils kit.

My 6 month old daughter has had a bad cold over the past week or so. She has been coughing, congested and her little nose has been running. Since she has been teething (which started about a month ago) she wakes up at 3am or 4am, then again at 7am. Mama has not been getting consistent sleep!

Before bed last night, I put a drop of lavender essential oil on my pillow, which is close to baby. We cosleep, and baby sleeps in her snuggle nest in my bed. I also put about 4 drops of the respiratory essential oil blend on a baby washcloth and put that over the nozzle on our humidifier. Would you like to know the results?

Baby slept 8.5 hours. Straight. I woke up and checked her breathing (like all parents do), and went back to sleep, enjoying that I didn't have to wake up just yet. I didn't hear her cough in her sleep, which is amazing since she has been coughing every night for the past week.

Coincidence? Maybe. But I really doubt it. Some people say that oils have a placebo effect (which I don't buy), but in any case, you can't placebo effect a 6 month old.

What were some of the first essential oils that you tried? Do you have questions about essential oils? Leave them in the comments below!

Stay tuned as I chronicle more of my essential oil experiences.

To check out more oils, please email me!