Sunday, March 18, 2012

First post and Mel's first food: Sweet Potato!

Hi Guys,


So this is my first post! Yay! So much has been happening in my life lately, I thought it would be cool to keep track of things. It will be nice to look back at it later on... I hope this blog brings me some positive friendships, input and discussions about things that I like and practice, such as AP, breastfeeding, gentle parenting, etc. 


OK, another important thing is that I am Brazilian and English is not my first and most fluent language. So if I write something stupid or some absurd, let me know and I'll correct it! No hard feelings, I promise!


Today was a very important day for my husband and I: We gave Melanie her first solid food. We are trying to do "Baby Led Weaning", which I prefer to call "Baby Led Solids". That consists basically of not spoon feeding you baby and no pureed food. She has to grab the food by herself and feed herself. I know that it sounds like excuses of a lazy momma, but it is actually very beneficial to them. I read the book "Baby Led Weaning" by Gill Rapley, I read a lot about it online, forums and even watched other moms practicing it on Youtube. 


We chose sweet potatoes to be her fist food. Reasons: Sweet potatoes are sweet like breast milk, and according to this website they are an excellent source of vitamin A (from beta-carotene) and a very good source of Vit C and magnesium. They also contain vitamin B6, potassium, iron, copper and fiber. 

Keep in mind that by introducing solids to Melanie, we don't plan on reducing her breast milk intake at all!
So that's how it went:  



I cut the potato in strips leaving the skin and baked them for 20 minutes 
at 350 degrees. They were well cooked, but they were kind of hard for someone with no teeth to eat. 
I researched some other ways to cook it. Next time I'll just poke holes on the potato, wrap them in foil and bake them, and only then I'll cut them. We'll see how that goes...

I consider today's experience to be very very positive, though. She grabbed the potato better than I would have thought and she sucked on it until she was able to smash with her gums. When she swallowed some pieces she made a funny face, but she didn't gag at all. She enjoyed playing with it a lot, and she seemed to love the taste while she was sucking on it!



Okay guys! That's it for today. Hope you enjoyed... If you come across my blog, please leave a comment, a question, some feedback please ;)

Bye for now,

Ca

2 comments:

  1. I love your blog Cassia! I can't wait for the next post! I don't know how you have the time to do this, I barely have time to read and watch! Where did you get the mesh feeder?
    (this is Adrianne)

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    1. Hello Adrianne, I am glad someone is reading this! haha Baby stuff is pretty boring until you have one, then you get kind of obsessed, right? I know I am!
      I got the mesh feeder at Babies R Us. Anton takes care of Melanie while I post! He is AWESOME!!! But it doesn't take too long, about min/post :)

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