Search Results for: blog what child led weaning looks like

My Experience With Child-Led Weaning

So you’re committed to breastfeeding your little one, but you’re still in the throes of full-time breastfeeding and wondering if you’ll ever get your body back. Perhaps you have decided to let your baby self-wean, but you are not sure how it is going to play out in everyday life. Part of you is afraid your baby will never give up her “nanas” (or whatever your little one calls them). That’s one of the main reasons many moms decide to wean at a certain age. Not having a concrete end in sight is hard for some moms. For others, weaning … Continue reading →

Letting the Child Decide when He’s Done with Something

I cannot count the times that parents have lamented to me about two sides of the same issue—they are either upset that their child won’t give up something—a bottle, pacifier, sleeping in the crib, diapers, training wheels, etc., or they are upset that the child WANTS to give up something—the bottle, pacifier, sleeping in the crib, diapers, training wheels, etc. Instead of letting our child determine when he or she is ready to give something up, we parents seem to think we should exert more control and be the ones who choose when the child is done. In my opinion, … Continue reading →

Baby Blog Week in Review: April 23 through April 28

Welcome to the baby blog week in review. We had a light week due to my ridiculously busy spring schedule. But if you’ve missed something, here are the links to the blogs for the week: Monday, April 23 Hospital Staff Bullies vs. Parental Rights Part 3 This was the last part of a series we started last week, talking about what happens when you don’t like the medical care of your child. Our 3rd daughter Meghan had significant trouble breastfeeding as a result of rigid hospital policies. Check out this blog to finish the story! Wednesday, April 25 When You … Continue reading →

What Child Led Weaning Looks Like

In my last blog, I talked about what child led weaning was not. In our culture it is not that common to breastfeed for more than a year and definitely not more than two years. Consequently, many of the things that we do actually encourage weaning when maybe that’s not our goal. Child led weaning usually takes place well after the child’s first birthday and occurs when the child is both nutritionally and emotionally ready. This means that he/she is drinking from a cup well, eating plenty of solid foods, and is at that stage of development where he’s ready … Continue reading →

What Child Led Weaning Is Not

We’ve recently been discussing how old is too old to be breastfeeding in the forums. As a result of this discussion, I’ve realized that there’s lots of misinformation regarding child led weaning. Since we were already talking about weaning in the baby blog anyways, I though it would be helpful to start our discussion with what child led weaning is NOT. It is extremely rare for babies to wean themselves before one year of age. I would actually go so far as to say it is not the norm for babies to wean themselves before 18 to 24 months. Yet … Continue reading →

Starting Solids: Alternatives to Rice Cereal

I have a lovely photo of my daughter tasting her first solid food. It was just after Christmas, and she was just over 6 months old. Me: neurotic about potential food sensitivities. Her: eagerly reaching out for the bowl of the stuff that she was actually allowed to put into her mouth and swallow! We began with sweet potato, and the photo shows my daughter eagerly reaching for the bowl, then looking mystified at the sweet and gummy texture of the food. At least that’s what it looks like she’s thinking. Rice cereal is often recommended for babies. Mostly this … Continue reading →

Breast Feeding May Help Cut Mom’s Arthritis Risk Too

Posted on by

Subtitle: Yet Another Reason to Nurse a Toddler Why it is that as Americans we think that the proper age to wean is 12 months is beyond me. It defies all the medical research that is out there and also defies the current trend in the rest of the world. But yet again, here is another study that shows that breastfeeding is not only healthy for the baby but it’s healthy for the mother too. What’s particularly interesting to me about benefits that the mother gets from breastfeeding, is that those benefits are generally derived from a breastfeeding relationship that … Continue reading →

“Momnesia” Is Not Just in Your Head

When my first daughter was born, I wrote a check for fourteen hundred dollars. The problem was that the amount due was fourteen dollars. The company very kindly called me, and to my embarrassment I found myself saying, “I’m sorry, I just had a baby.” While I’m sure I made the office bulletin board of loopy customers, it turns out that there’s something to this loopyness that we moms get after we have babies. Personally, I’ve always blamed the sleep deprivation. I am one of those people that needs at least a solid nine hours of sleep per night. I … Continue reading →

Valorie’s Breastfeeding Index

Later today I will post a review of the baby blog of 2007 so why does breastfeeding get its own category? Well, in part as an answer to readers who want to read what I’ve written on breastfeeding. I’ve written so much on breastfeeding at this point that you all have asked for an index of sorts so it’s easier to find what you’re looking for. It’s also in part because I’ve become known as the breastfeeding lady. . .guru. . .whatever you want to call it. I’ve been at this breastfeeding business for a long time and many of … Continue reading →

Mushy Food Makes Picky Eaters

The idea that you have to feed your baby pureed baby foods is a very cultural one. Here in America at least, many moms are told to start feeding solids (and by solids I mean that mushy stuff in a jar or rice cereal) around 4 to 6 months. Then we spoon feed them until they finish the jar or ‘eat a good meal.’ We fret if they don’t eat and we fret even more if they at a whole jar yesterday and only want two bites today. However, advice may be changing as UNICEF and others start to talk … Continue reading →