My foodie baby

My baby girl is addicted, yes already she has an addiction. It's amazing how in only 9 months you can become addicted to something, but since her addiction is anything but harmful we have agreed to go with it. She is addicted to breastfeeding. She likes the idea of real food but actually eating it is another story! She loves to play with it and then throw it on the ground! I'm a very clean person, don't really like being dirty, don't enjoy getting my hands dirty so the idea of letting Ava explore with food was not what I had in mind. I was much more for putting her in a high chair, putting a cute bib on her and feeding her some yummy organic pureed food with a spoon. But the more I became exposed to baby led weaning the more I realized the importance of how we exposed her to food. I don't want and won't have a toddler who won't eat this, and won't eat that! I am determined to not have that issue and I know many other people who have kids that way so I know it is possible. I want to help Ava avoid being my age and craving sugar and having several foods she won't eat. I was fortunate to grow up in a home that being a picky eater was not a choice! Oatmeal was a common breakfast and I didn't like it! But thanks to my Dad's persistence I now eat oatmeal as a common breakfast! And I LIKE it! Jeremy was raised the same way, I am again fortunate because he will eat anything! I have many friends who cook around there husbands likes and dislikes and that isn't an issue in our home.

So, back to Ava eating! She wants NOTHING to do with anything that resembles baby food! She is 9 months old but has only ever had a few bites or baby food as we know it, and those were a battle to get down! After reading more from the above baby led weaning article and other's on the same topic I decided to give up the baby food battle and just start on real food. Ava only has 2 teeth, although we can see the top ones so any day those should pop out! She can't chew much but will gum the heck out of any raw veggie we give her! We don't do baby teethers we give her fruits or veggies to gum on. I also steam organic veggies down and add a little organic butter and she loves them! We eat mostly organic but I make sure the foods we give Ava or all organic. The first 2 years of a child's life is SO important in developing her immune system and deciding if they will be a healthy child or a sickly child. I plan to be very strict with her eating for that period of life. I want to make healthy real eating normal to her.


Last week at mom Mom's Ava tried some rice pasta (she hasn't had gluten or wheat in any form and I don't plan to expose her to those for a while) with some tomato sauce and venison. Venison is a great way to basically get organic free range meats for free! My family is full of hunters so venison is easy to come by. We stripped Ava down to her diaper and let her go to town! She played with it, put it in her hair, ate it and had a blast! I love watching her develop and explore the world of real food!