But my new baby Joseph reached 6 months a couple of weeks ago, and some friends asked if I would blog his BLW adventures here or not. It’s hard not to say yes when Joey’s having so much fun with it!

So I’m rounding up some other mama bloggers whose babies are BLWing too, and we will be posting our stories, food ideas, recipes, tips, and BLW news in the coming weeks and months.

Are you excited? Joey sure is!

Oh, and by the way, Joey thinks kale is pretty awesome.

When Anneliese started actually eating more food around 10 months or so, I needed to find a good breakfast food for her. Eggs were obvious. High protein, cooked in butter for good fat, filling, and sustaining. The problem was she didn’t like eggs. I don’t know if it was the flavor or the texture or what. But she didn’t like them (she loves them now). I could give her fruit for breakfast, but fruit is a lot of carb/sugar action and miniscule protein, no fat. So while she could easily pound 3 cups of strawberries, that sort of breakfast wouldn’t be doing her any favors.

So I invented these pancakes, and they were a hit.

Ingredients

• Butter for the pan
• 1 large or extra-large egg
• 2 Tablespoons of almond butter (I eyeball it. Sometimes it may be a bit more.)
• A generous sprinkle of cinnamon
• Optional – a pinch of baking soda
• Optional – a few drops of lemon juice (if you add baking soda)

Method

1. Warm the butter in the pan over medium heat.
2. Meanwhile, crack the egg into a bowl and whisk in the almond butter.
3. When the egg and almond butter are combined well with few to no lumps, add cinnamon, and if you’d like, baking soda and lemon juice. (They just make them a bit more fluffy)
4. Spoon the batter into the pan and jiggle the pan a little so it spreads out.
5. Cook until the bottom is “set” and you can flip the pancakes. Flip with a spatula and cook the other side.
6. Enjoy! Anneliese likes to eat them with a banana and a lot of water.

I made these for her again today, even though she loves eggs now, just for a bit of variety. She was definitely pleased with her pancake breakfast (I doubled the recipe and she ate almost the whole thing). Afterward she had a 2-hour nap. Lovely!

You can get plastic dishes with divided sections so that different foods don’t have to touch each other, and bowls with suction cups on the bottom to foil your clever and devious children. Everything must be plastic and unbreakable. Because of course children are maniacs and can’t be trusted to handle anything of any importance.

In Montessori philosophy, babies are weaned (as in baby-led weaning/solids, not as in halting breastmilk/formula suddenly) at low tables with tiny chairs they can get in and out of on their own very early. They are allowed to feed themselves using their fingers or a “pre-loaded” fork or spoon (until they can “load” it themselves). They drink out of appropriately-sized glassware and use real ceramic dishes. To appeal to the child’s sense of beauty, a flower in a vase or other centerpiece may be placed on the table.

To see this in action, watch this video. It’s not mine, but it’s been a favorite of mine for a long time. It just goes to show that children, including very young babies, are not maniacs by nature. They are extremely capable and only need to be taught and supported in order to learn skills of independence. Babies are small people learning at astonishing rates… not animals to train or inconveniences to manage.

I personally decided to forego the Montessori weaning table (and it may be a bit “extreme” for most families), because I wanted to be able to sit around our regular dining table as a whole family, and share a meal. I chose instead to use a Svan high chair, which is highly adjustable and extremely sturdy, with a foot rest that can be lowered as the child grows up, to allow her to climb into the chair on her own (the independence aspect). Another similar chair is the Stokke Tripp Trapp. Watch for a sale (I got mine on mamabargains, but they said it’s unlikely they’ll get a chance to feature it again) or scour craigslist for yours. They’re expensive new.

I almost never used the tray, and very soon also removed the “cage” around the seat so that Anneliese could sit closer to the table. That instantly reduced mess, since most of the food she accidentally dropped would land on the table. Still, a lot went on the floor at first, but now we hardly have anything on the floor at the end of a meal. Have patience with your child. She is learning every single day.

(I had the seat cushion on backward, so that it would pad the edge where her legs hung down. Now that she is bigger and sits more comfortably, that’s unnecessary, and she does fine without the cushion at all when it is being washed.)

Dishes don’t need to come from a special line of baby dining “essentials.” In fact, you might have some in your house already. We didn’t buy any new plates or bowls for Anneliese. Instead, we use saucers, appetizer plates, and salad plates as her dishes. Her bowls are ramekins and small dipping bowls. If your dishes are more precious to you, or irreplaceable, try looking for pretty saucers at your local antique store, or just buy a few separately at the dollar store, Pier 1, or World Market. I want to let you know though, that Anneliese is 1 year old, and she has never broken a dish or bowl.

Finding appropriately-sized silverware is a cinch too. Choose silverware the same way you would decide on it for yourself. See if it feels balanced in your hand, and notice if it looks beautiful (children are more likely to treat something with respect if it is obviously a thing of beauty or value. They’ll know if you just give them “the cheap crap” because you don’t trust them).

Anneliese’s first silverware was actually an appetizer set we already had (left). It’s unfortunate that they’re no longer available. The gorgeous 12-piece set was only about $10. We picked up a similar set at IKEA (right) which is in “toys and play” but is food safe. We actually haven’t used this set, and I want to note that the fork tines don’t seem sharp enough to actually pierce much effectively, but I do love the shape of the spoons and knives. Plus, the set of 16 utensils is only $7.

This spring, I found a jackpot at World Market, where you can buy individual pieces of beautiful condiment flatware. I bought a few matching sets of forks and spoons, although knives were available too.

Cups and glasses are another story, and another area where you don’t have to just buy what’s on the shelves at Wal-Mart. Anneliese has never had a sippy cup. There is nothing WRONG with sippy cups, but I just don’t see the necessity of it, if she can drink out of a glass or a straw like any other person. I drink from glasses at home. When I’m at restaurants I use straws. On the go, I might have a straw cup or a sport-top bottle. These are all viable options for babies too.

Here is the glassware/drinkware that Anneliese uses.
From left to right:

• A creamer we already owned (we have 2), used as a pitcher by my husband and I for refilling her small cups
• A shot glass we already owned (set of 6, which we never actually used for alcohol) which is the perfect size for Anneliese to hold and drink from on her own – this is the most-used out of the three options. The weighted base also helps to prevent accidental spills.
• An espresso mug from World Market.
• A stainless steel baby mug.

When Anneliese learns to walk and starts to want to help out in the kitchen, I’ll store her dishes and flatware where she can reach them, so that she can help set the table. Her place setting, when complete, will probably look something like this (or with one of the larger cups to drink from):

I will probably also make her an embroidered or appliqued placemat to help her with setting her place.

Not all baby-led-weaning families are Montessori families, but both philosophies tell you to trust the child, to follow the child’s lead, and to support the child in her learning. If I can trust my child to gag up a piece of food that’s too big, I can trust her with a ceramic dish.

Baby’s age: 12 months. Dishes/glasses broken to date: 0

Feel free to ask any questions, and I’ll try to answer them in the comments or in a later post.

But warming up some deli meat with a bit of cheese on it, and rolling it up makes it much easier for baby to manage. The cheese acts like glue holding the roll-up together.

Anneliese isn’t a huge fan of cheese in general (though she loves ricotta and brie), but she’s been enjoying these meat-and-cheese roll-ups quite a bit.  They make a quick lunch that is full of protein, great for a growing kiddo.

It’s full of vitamins and minerals, some of which are harder to find in other foods (like iodine and zinc), and you can use it to wrap up almost anything.

I just gave my girl a strip of it to play around with. At first she was excited that I gave her Paper! In her high chair! To EAT!

But when she tasted it she was a bit taken aback by the flavor. Wait a second… I’ve had paper before, and this isn’t what it tastes like! Then she just crumpled it in her hands and waved it around at me for a while.

But once she got around to tasting it again, she really seemed to like it, and she ate quite a few bites of it. She was a little bit annoyed at the way it stuck to her hands once wet, but all in all it was a good experience.

Don’t be tempted to make “healthy stir fry” by just steaming everything or using a tiny bit of spritzed oil (basically trying to eliminate the fat).

Fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K REQUIRE fat for your body to be able to use them.

When you stir fry or cook at high temperatures, be sure to use fats that are stable in high heat. Examples are ghee, lard, tallow, and coconut oil. (I use butter too but ghee is better for high temperatures.) If the oil you use has too low of a smoke point, it will release free radicals (which are carcinogens – cancer causers) when it reaches that temperature.

Maybe I should apologize for my stir-fry ramble… but meh… you can ignore it if you don’t agree or if you don’t care.

But Anneliese likes stir fry. Yup. Random post… I might be brain-dead right now.

It started off innocently enough…

Anneliese wanted to be sure they could be trusted before diving in full-force.

And within a few minutes, it was clear that we had discovered a new favorite. This baby girl loves raspberries basically as much as I do.

She thought it would be prudent to finish off the meal with a spoonful of brie. Good pairing, baby girl. Smart lady baby.