Allow me to introduce:
The Sippy Cup.
Let me start with a little background. As you may know, I have not yet started Leah on solids. Dr. Pediatrician (Leah's Pediatrician, further known as Dr. P) recommends that she be able to sit up a little better on her own before we start anything. I have mentioned before that Leah is long and lean, which makes balancing pretty tricky for her. I am also in the midst of researching the Baby Led Weaning method for feeding. It's a british concept, and their definition of weaning is different than the american definition. The British term means " to add complimentary food". "Baby Led Weaning, quite simply, means letting your child feed themselves from the very start..."
My understanding of the concept is to skip puree's and spoon feeding and start your baby on pieces of very soft foods that they can feed to themselves i.e. slice of cooked sweet potato, slice of avocado. I believe it stems from the fact that they used to feed babies rice cereal and purees at a much earlier age. Before babies have the natural inclination to put things - anything into their mouth. So spoon feeding was absolutely necessary. I will say that Leah has been putting EVERYTHING in her mouth for about the last month and a half. And an interesting little tidbit; she stopped taking her bottle and pacifiers about a week after she discovered her thumb.
Exhibit A
A couple of the pro's to the BLW method is that it helps baby develop their motor skills, they eat with the family because they can feed themselves; no else has to feed them. Which helps to avoid the food wars that can evolve from Mom and Dad being in control. Baby eats however much or little he or she wants. Breast milk and/or formula will still be their main source of nutrition. Check it out, it seems pretty neat. I had heard of it before, but reading Josey's experience peaked my interest.
To tie that all together I started to wonder with the BLW concept, if Leah might just do better feeding herself milk. We tried different bottles, and different nipples, and different positions, and different milk temperatures, but none of that worked.We use the glass bottles, so I knew that was kind of out of the question. I started researching sippy cups for beginners. I really prefer the concept of glass or stainless steel, but the only stainless steel sippy's they had for beginners, did not get great reviews.
So I sat down on the floor with my legs open, and put her in between sitting the same way, but allowing her to lean on me for support. I put the sippy in front of her and let her decide what to do. She immediately picked it up and put the mouth piece in her mouth. Now, it was still completely level so she wasn't getting any milk. She just sat there and gnawed on it a little bit. I gave her a few minutes then I slowly guided the cup up in the air to help her get a little milk. It caught her a bit off guard the first time and she coughed a little, but she got it right away after that. The flow is super slow and requires suction or pressure on the mouthpiece to get any out, so I feel very comfortable giving to her to handle.
I would basically let her explore it and do it her self with just the tiniest direction.
And within ten minutes of the second day with the cup she was like JLO rockin the mic one handed.
And after that she was all: What are you still doing here? I got this, fool!
(Please excuse my pastey, pastey white legs)
(Please excuse my pastey, pastey white legs)
So the test will be tomorrow, when she is home with my MIL. Hopefully she can maintain and hone this new skill. And finally get back to eating while I'm at work. Oh, and I think I'm going to start her on Sweet Potatoes this weekend. Woo hoo!
