Helloooooo Friday. You’re looking good. (where’s that kissy face emoji when you need it.)
I hope everyone is well and you’re excited about the weekend. I know I am. Now that soccer is over, I’m looking forward to leading a Saturday morning Trackstars group (we now have an indoor space and it’s wonderful!!) and then heading to the Sunset for eggs and bacon. I’ve also got a few other chores/errands to do but nothing too big. This should be a relaxing weekend for us!
Today I wanted to talk about breastfeeding and introducing solids!!!
I mentioned in Porter’s 6-month update that I usually don’t introduce solids until my babies are 8 or 9 months old. Since I’ve had numerous emails asking me about this decision, I thought I’d touch more on it here on the blog. Apparently how, what and when you feed your children is fascinating to others. 
Basically, we don’t introduce solid food until the child is ready for them. Some people call this “Baby Led Weaning.” I’d take it even further and call it “Baby-Led-Weaning-With-A-Hefty-Side-of-Lazy-Mom.”
I also hired my 4 year old to babysit. She’s pretty bossy.
What does that mean??
I don’t do baby food.
Purees. Foods on spoons. Me sitting down with a spoon and feeding a baby. Yeah. I don’t do that.
I have two main reasons behind this:
1) I don’t have the time.
and 2) I don’t have the desire.
(It’s ok if you don’t agree with this. I’m not really talking about you today. I’m talking about me.)
I’ll break it down for you.
I’m lazy.
Not in all things but in many. I don’t take the time to pick out the perfect outfit for my kids. I make many lazy meals. I pick and choose the things I want to battle and fight against and spoon feeding a baby just isn’t something I want to sit down and do. Even if I had the extra 10 minutes that it would take to feed a baby (and pick up that messy half-spiddle/half-food stuff off their chins and spoon it back into their mouths….eek), I just wouldn’t. Does that make me an anomaly? Maybe. I know that for some mamas there is this draw to spoon-feeding. It’s considered fun. I so badly want to identify with that because I DO SEE THE CUTENESS…but again it’s just not a desire. We can still be friends – please, let’s still be friends.
Another reason I delay solids is that I LOVE nursing.
I fell in love with nursing my babes six years ago. When I first set out to breastfeed, I hadn’t a clue what it would be like, if it would work, if I could do it. And I struggled. Big time. (I also had some postpartum depression that I’m sure didn’t help). I felt so stuck to Henry, like all I wanted to do was run away but he would always be there, gnawing on my nipple. Sorry. That’s the way I felt.
His cuteness kept him alive…
And then God changed me. Because I needed to be changed. I needed to let go of some of my freedoms and my selfish ways and truly embrace motherhood and, for me, that meant embracing breastfeeding my baby. I don’t think He requires that everyone nurse their little ones – I think that, for me, nursing was a way of giving up my control. Six years later and I’m a huge advocate. It’s mess-free. It’s convenient. And breastmilk has everything that Porter needs at the moment. We’re in no rush but in a few months from now I’d say cheerios or small pieces of banana will be his first foods.
So anyway…that’s the reason(s) behind the madness.
And now you know. 
QUESTION: Thoughts on delaying solids? Thoughts on baby-led weaning?
splendid…lindsay
Reading an older post, but totally needed to read this. I have struggled tremendously to breastfeed my almost 8 week old (2nd baby…first was formula fed)…hoewver, we’re still at it and it mostly works! I love that you said you were changed by God. I NEED THIS RIGHT NOW! I need to let go of the control I think I have over every single thing and just embrace motherhood! Any other words of wisdom on this?! Loved this post. So glad I found your blog!
I guess I did this too although I don’t think there was a name for it back then, my daughter screamed bloody murder when we tried to spoon feed her so we stopped trying and nursed exclusively until eventually when she was 8 or 9 months she started grabbing at our food and feeding herself from food we had at the table. She just must have been ahead of her time ;)
I have no real thoughts on this as this is all new to me. I am just going to let Madison lead me. But if we do start her on solids around 6 months promise we will still be friends ;)
Dude, you rock. I did everything my pediatrician told me to do with my first baby (rice at 4 months, oatmeal and baby food at 6 months, etc). With my second, I did more of my own research (and ignored my pediatrician) and nursed exclusively until 6 months when I went straight to vegetable baby food, but also did baby cereal. If I have another one, I would skip cereal altogether and puree my own vegetables. Except that it would still be mostly nursing until he/she could do finger foods. Cuz I’m not a fan of spoon feeding babies either. Hello impatience! I am ALL for baby-led weaning. Both my kids weaned themselves at 13 months, and it was much easier than forcing them to wean when neither of us (or my poor boobs) were ready. God gives us breastmilk for a reason! And I’m pretty sure Porter is not wasting away ;).
Good for you, mama. And thank you for always speaking your mind, and being honest and vulnerable! And for your good opinions, which always agree with mine ;)
I did BLW with my son (now 15 months) and it was great. I gave him a small piece of food every few days starting at 7 months, but nothing consistent. At 9 months I did a combination of spoon feeding and finger foods at every meal and I started giving him food everyday. I decided to do some spoon feeding to increase his calories and nutrition (I gave him bone marrow, sardines, egg yolks, yogurt+coconut and almond meal, spinach). I felt that with just finger foods he couldn’t get all the nutrition I wanted him to get (it’s really hard to eat fatty things with your fingers because they are slippery or liquid). I still BF until he weaned himself at 14 months (oh how I wish he wouldn’t have done this! But he just doesn’t really like to drink a lot of milk, even now). In any case, I am a big advocate of at least trying out BLW. I think I first heard about it from Katie at Yes I Want Cake long before I was even pregnant and it just made so much sense!
I just have to say, I’ve never been a huge person on commenting. I love to read and be the nosy person behind the scenes on blogs but couldn’t help myself this time. I love how strong you are in your believes about your children and how YOU choose to raise them and yet are able to have the confidence and grace to say, “You don’t have to except me and your entitled to your opinion but this is me.” I think so many people feel like they have to give in with the “norm” of what is and isn’t acceptable and get overly criticized if they don’t fall into that category. So I guess I just wanted to give you a fist pump. :)
dude…i’ll fist bump you right back! :)
:)
Thank you for sharing! I feel ya girl. My youngest is 6 1/2 months old and I have yet to really start any solids. I think it’s definitely more laziness on my part. What we’re doing is working great and we’re both loving it so what’s the rush? We’ll cross that bridge eventually, probably sooner than later, but I’m good with how things are going.
Ah! So glad you shared this. My little one is 4 months (and already cutting his first tooth) and we are trying to figure out what to do feeding-wise. I want to keep breastfeeding exclusively and plan to do so for a bit longer, but can’t decide when to start introducing solids. Its so nice to hear another take on all this! For some reason I feel like there is pressure to introduce solids even though I don’t feel like we are ready yet!
I attempted purees and baby cereal for 2 weeks. Common sense and BLW reading initiated a switch to BLW for us.
We all loved it. Eating out was far easier (not that we did it often). Susanna’s food selection grew. We learned what she liked vs not. Everyone was happier and it was far simpler.
We’ll BLW the next daughter, too.
Thank you for being so honest! Everyone has to do what is right for their family! Despite the fact that I don’t have babies yet, I’ve never had the desire to breastfeed. I know my personality, and I also think I’d feel too “stuck” and go crazy because of that feeling. My feelings might change when I do have a baby, but if they don’t, I’m not going to let myself feel bad or let others make me feel bad. To each her own!
I am so interested in this as we begin to discuss – so many thoughts, opinions, etc…I’m hoping with enough prayer, thought, soul searching I find out just the best fit for us!