Disclaimer: EVERYTHING in this blog post is my own personal opinion. I am just passing along some info that has helped me. I also want to thank my friend and fellow “mommy” Ashley for starting me on this quest for a healthy, happy family!

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So I am definitely doing things a lot differently with my second child then I did with my first. That is not to say that I did things “wrong” when Kenley was a baby. She is a very good, smart, outgoing, sweet, healthy, little girl.

But I have noticed just in the first 9 months of Cohen’s life that he is a lot healthier then Kenley was.

Kenley had 4 visits to the Emergency Room, countless Dr’s appointments for being sick, and 3 rounds of antibiotics before she even reached 10 months old! Cohen is 9 months old has never had more than a mild cough. He has never been to the ER, never had to visit the Dr, and has never been prescribed anything.

I am not saying that I am doing things perfectly this time around, but I think everything is trial and error with your first.

I began researching lots of things when I was pregnant with Cohen. One thing that sparked my interest were conversations with my chiropractor who had helped me with some of Kenley’s skin and digestion issues (Kenley vomited every morning for months around the age of 2 and our chiropractor was the one that helped her get over that with just 4 adjustments in 2 weeks!)

I also had great conversations with Ashley, mentioned above. One of the things she said to me that really struck home was that we owe it to our kids to learn and educate ourselves on everything there is to know about parenting. And with that same thought, we need to research EVERYTHING we are putting into their little bodies.

So here are some of my “research sources”: My OB, my midwife, my doula, both kid’s pediatricians, our chiropractor, numerous books written by Drs and by moms, talking with my mom friends that seemed to have super healthy kiddos, and of course some research on the wonderful “University of Google”

Breastfeeding Advocate

Goal: Breastfeed for 4 years

………haha just kidding! (I can hear the gasps now!)

Let’s try that again………

Goal: Breastfeed for 1 year.

I have 3 months to go and I am so excited I made it this far!!! I really hope and pray I make it to a year but we are just taking it day by day. We have had a few hard days…ummm like when he got teeth! (YIKES) But again, I notice the health of my little boy and I forget all about how he occasionally drags his little teeth

Breastfeeding is one of the hardest things I have done as a mom, but it has also been the most rewarding. My mom is the one who first tuned me into the benefits of breastfeeding. I am so thankful for her support. Even if we don’t want to admit it, I think we all kind of mirror our mothers when it comes to parenting. And I think that is a good thing in this case!

I am BFF’s with Jill from La Leche League. She helped me out when my little guy wasn’t gaining weight and taught me some tricks to make sure he is getting that “hind milk.” And all the mom’s at The Leaky Boob Facebook Page are awesome and give great advice when I am struggling. So glad I have these support systems this time around! Because trust me it has NOT BEEN EASY!

Kenley was only breastfed for 5 months. She got her first ear infection 2 weeks later! But I look back and with the craziness of my schedule I couldn’t do it any more. To this day I don’t regret that decision because it was what was right for me at the time. Even if I could rewind the clock I wouldn’t change a thing about quitting early.

I also need to say that every mom has a tough decision to make regarding this subject. I hope that every mother makes the decision that is best for their family. Don’t listen to what anyone else says, especially me! Only YOU know if breastfeeding is right for you and your little one. You may have medical issues that prevent you from doing this, you may have no desire, you may be having multiples, you may have a busy work schedule and no time. There is no wrong decision…only what is RIGHT for your family.

Making Baby Food

Goal #1: Introduce food when Cohen is 10 months old.

Well that goal went out the window around 7 or 8 months when Cohen started “drooling” over everything he would see us eat. He would stare at us and follow the food from the plate to our mouths every time we took a bite.

It was kind of pitiful! Cohen looked at us with sad puppy dog eyes and I know inside he was saying, “Come on guys…please! Let me try some food! Stop withholding all the yumminess!”

Ok buddy YOU WIN!

“Yummy! I get my very first bite of baby food!”

“I am so excited I don’t even care that Mommy put me in a PINK high chair!”

“I am sooo ready….bring it on”

“Here it is: my first bite”

“ohhhh….ohhh …..what the?”

“WHAT is that?”

“Umm mommy, tell me again why I was begging for this?”

“I’ll try one more bite of this sweet potato stuff”

“Yay! Much better the 2nd time!”

Goal #2: Make homemade baby food for my little guy.

When my first, Kenley, was a baby I had a few mom friends that made their own baby food. And here were my secret thoughts about that: “Well good for you!…isn’t that special!?! Glad you have the time to do that!” (note the sarcasm).

But blame it on the hormones because when I was pregnant with Cohen I set another goal to make his baby food! Mainly the reason I decided this was because I was staying home now and I figured I had the time to at least try it out.

Well I can tell you now….

IT IS SOOOO EASY!

I make enough in 1 Sunday afternoon to last about 3 weeks.

I just follow the recipes and directions from the Wholesome Baby Food website

Or from this book

I use a Magic Bullet to puree the food, but you can use any blender.

Then I store the food I want to freeze in these Beaba Multi Portion Freezer Trays

PROBLEM: I was running out of freezer trays and didn’t really want to spend the $$ to get more.

Ice cube trays at Wal-Mart don’t have lids But………. TJ MAXX had these!!

They have lids and they are rubbery on the bottom just like the Beaba Trays….but they were only $4!!! SCORE! Wish I would have found these earlier.

Oh, I also love these glass Wean Cubes for storing the food in the fridge and in the diaper bag. The frozen portions fit perfectly in these too so they can thaw out.

Here are the foods Cohen has had so far….

Sweet Potatoes. Just bake in the oven for about 40 minutes and mash up with a fork and add a bit of water. You can puree in a blender if you want a creamier texture but I didn’t even for his first food.

Avocados. Cohen’s Favorite. These are awesome because you don’t have to do anything but cut it open, scoop it out, and mash it with a fork.

When we are out at restaurants I just ask for some slices of avocado to mash up for the little guy and they always give me some for free!

Carrots. Steamed and pureed in a blender with a bit of water.

Cohen got a really bad rash from this one. So we had to take some days off eating baby food while it cleared up.

Bananas.

Another easy one. I can’t believe I spent $$ on a jar of this stuff when Kenley was a baby. All I had to do was throw a banana and a fork into the diaper bag. Then when it was time to eat you just, again, mash it up with a fork. So easy!

Green Beans. Steamed then pureed in the blender with a bit of water.

Butternut Squash. Cut in half. Seeds scooped out. Baked in the oven for an hour. Scooped out and pureed in the blender.

So here are some things I learned about baby food (not just for homemade baby food….this includes store purchased). I am ashamed to say I didn’t know any of these things with Kenley!

1) Four Day Rule. Introduce 1 food for 4 days straight. Watch for reactions like runny nose, cough, diaper rash. This could mean the child is allergic to the food. Not necessarily allergic for the rest of their life. It may just be too strong for their system and you can try that food again in a couple months. Cohen had a really bad diaper rash reaction to carrots. So we won’t have that again for a few months.

2) Introduce first foods during the lunch or afternoon hours. If an allergic reaction happens and you feed your baby his first foods at night then he could get pretty fussy or have a really bad diaper during the middle of the night. No one likes a crabby baby at 3:00 a.m.

3) Put a small amount of the food into a separate bowl. Your baby may not eat the entire thing. And the bacteria from their mouth will be transferred back into the food by the spoon. So if your baby doesn’t eat it all and you put the jar back in the fridge it will sit there for a day with bacteria growing in it. So put a small amount in a bowl and add to it if you need to. Then throw away when he is finished.

4) Give your baby some water after each feeding. Water will help with the digestion of the food. I put a little bit of water in a sippy cup and Cohen loves it! It also is a good way to start “cup training”

5) Follow a chart about what foods to introduce at what age. Who knew there was a chart?? Not me! Well not until recently…. With Kenley I just introduced veggies and did those straight for 3 months. Then I started with fruits. And I am ashamed to say now that I just picked the ones I liked. haha I had no rhyme or reason to the foods I was introducing to her.

Wholesome Baby Food has printer-friendly charts for every age group. You can find it here on their website. Look under the SOLID FOODS tab.

Note: Since I didn’t introduce foods until about 8 months with Cohen I started at the 4-6 months chart and will go on to the next ones once he has eaten most of the foods on that chart.

6) Rice cereal DOES NOT have to be your baby’s first food. WHAT? Yea I wasn’t sure about this one either. But again, after doing lots of research I decided to give it a shot. Read this to understand more. Again this was a personal decision….I introduced rice cereal to Kenley at 5 months old and she is fine But with Cohen I am not going to give it to him at all.

Now this brings me to…………

Goal #3: No dairy (yup that includes cow’s milk), No wheat, No “forbidden foods” until Cohen is 2 years old!

(Read about forbidden foods here)

I know, I know…this may sound insane. Or I may sound like an over-protective mom….BUT think about it.

For the first 2 years of Cohen’s life he will have a healthy diet of: breastmilk (until 1 and then bottled breastmilk beyond that), veggies, fruit and protein. In my opinion what more does he need??

He is a baby….how will he even know he is missing out on fruit juice, milk, peanut butter, corn, eggs?? He will get all of those things soon enough! Oh and don’t worry he WILL be getting cupcakes on his First Birthday! I am not that mean

Also, I may not make it to 2 years. I may give in and give him those foods earlier…but again this is just a GOAL! Every Dr. I talked to said the longer you wait the better. So even if I just get to 18 or 20 months I will be happy.

Well now that I completely sound like a crazy mom I will leave you with some cute pics of my little guy eating