breakfasts

Pancakes Before we started having more egg-based breakfasts, I experimented with baking with eggs. He loved my oat flour pancakes with a little fruit spread. (I let him try one with a little pure maple syrup, one of the only times he's had sugar) Banana Bread and Oatmeal Puree Another puree "yogurt" (this one is raspberry, GF oats and banana) so that he could practice spoon skills. I also baked a batch of my Banana Bread, so he got a square of it which I broke into small cubes for him to pick up with his fingers and chew easily.  Eggs & Fruit Blueberries are his FAVORITE right now. He would eat a whole clamshell if I let him. So organic blueberries (I halve them before serving), organic pears and hardboiled egg yolks are an easy go to this summer. I use hardboiled eggs, because I found he likes the consistency of hard boiled yolks over scrambled.

Fruit Purees and Puffys Since we are holding off on dairy, I use baby fruit purees as his "yogurt". This was an organic strawberry banana mix that he enjoyed with some Happy Baby Organic Puffs. (I choose those because they have the least amount of ingredients, they are organic and they don't contain folic acid. More on that another time.)  Egg Yolk, Pear & Puffs Most mornings he enjoys 1-3 items and now that we do egg and beans, I like to try to give him protein at 2 out of his 3 meals to keep his tummy full without overwhelming his still delicate digestive system. This was organic hard boiled egg yolk, organic pear and puffs.  Scrambled Eggs and Breakfast Potato My husband and I had scrambled eggs and hashbrowns with ketchup, and I try to model most of his meals after ours so we share a "family meal". Grey's breakfast was scrambled egg yolks (we have not introduced whites yet as they are more allergenic) and a smashed plain baked potato with carrot puree as his "ketchup".

lunches + dinners

Taco Night ​We did "Taco Tuesday" and I wanted Grey to be able to join in. So for him he got plain ground turkey, a half of an avocado and I made him a black bean quesadilla with smashed black beans and a Coconut + Cassava tortilla.  Protein + Fats Avocado is this little mans jam. I paired it with black beans and scrambled egg yolk for a protein pack lunch of leftovers.  Meat + Potatoes ​I pick up organic rotisserie chickens often as they are SO easy to share and always a soft, baby-friendly texture. I shredded 1/4 of a chicken and served it with cubed sweet potato. We had the same thing and I love showing him that we eat as a family! The Perfect Mix I love when I can give him a carb, protein, fat and fruit. I rarely give fruit with meat due to all the research that it's hard on the gut, but occasionally when we need a big lunch for a play or swim date I pile on all the food. haha. This mix was organic jasmine rice, avocado, pear and organic chicken breast shredded.  Sandwich Alternative Since we have not introduced any type of bread yet, (still researching) for lunches, I have been sharing my turkey lunch meat with Greyson and he loooooooves it. I only give him organic, nitrate free by True Story Foods or Applegate but its a definite go to when I want him to get a full belly. I pair it with avocado and applesauce for a traditional kids lunch.

On The Go When we're on the go, I pack up easy to feed finger foods. We were going to look at our new house, so I packed up some banana bread and avocado for carbs + healthy fat to keep him full until dinner.  Veggies Upon Veggies Black Beans, Peas and Carrots make a nutritious lunch and he loves being able to pick up all the items.  The Randoms Some days are just RANDOM leftovers from the meal prep before things go bad, haha. Black beans, turkey and pears.  Baked Potato Night Mr. Charming and I were doing stuffed baked potatoes, so for Grey he got a baked potato and steamed broccoli and carrot puree to add another veggie and give him potato a "sauce" if it was to dry.  Pasta Night One of my favorite dishes for him, because he looooved it. Rice pasta cooked real soft tossed with peas, organic turkey and some leftover sweet potato. A little carb heavy, but I've noticed this kid can EAT and dinner he takes in most of his calories.

when we're out

​As an organic food company, we’ve always admired nature’s complex, built-in, and beautiful way of nourishing baby. We believe breast is best. But we’re also a team of parents that know first hand that life – and parenting – isn’t always perfect. Because life happens, our goal was to design an organic formula we can feel good about feeding our babies and yours. - Plum Organics 

I'm sitting in the rocker with my son in the blue light of dawn. We've been at this a few weeks now, getting to know each other after nine months of anticipation. I am searching for feedback; a sign that I'm doing right by him, getting closer to figuring out what ails him when he seems so inconsolable.

I hear voices. Well-meaning voices telling me, advising me, warning me to not let this tiny boy grab the reins and yank me down the race track. I look at the child in my arms, his eyes slightly crossed as he tries to steady his gaze, and I feel somehow, in spite of the fact that I've only been his mother for forty-two days, that he gets it. I mean, he knows what he needs more than I do. He is my sherpa guide, my compass.

He is barely out of my womb when I am asked how long I plan to nurse. I look at Nicholas suckling at my breast, and I ask him about his long-range plans. He burps.

He cries and I nurse him. They warn me not to do this too much, or I'll become a "human pacifier." They are friends, strangers, sometimes relatives. One neighbor is concerned that my baby will learn to depend on me for comfort.

My baby never took to a pacifier, or his thumb, or knuckle, or any plastic teething ring no matter how fascinating the texture or color. He wants to nurse. He likes to stretch his free arm upward and hook his fingers onto my tank top or bra, like he's riding the train and that's his strap.

In his laid-back mood, he nurses with both hands on his head, kind of massaging what little hair he has, like he's giving himself a shampoo. Sometimes, he thumps his chest then mine, like he Tarzan and me Jane. And sometimes, he's got too much on his mind and he just lays his palm flat on his forehead. My heart melts and breaks when, with his eyes closed, he reaches up to my lips with his outstretched hand so I can kiss his fingertips while we nurse in the shadows.
As the months pass, I learn to let go of my ego, to get out of the way, and, not surprisingly, we find our rhythm. Some days, we are tuning the instrument. Some days, we make music. Some days, I feel out of tune with both of us. But there is one constant amid the rapid changes of new motherhood, one thing I can offer my child regardless of time, place, and circumstance: comfort.

He is lying in the crook of my arm, nursing, after a long morning of cramps and gas. I feel so relieved for both of us. He couldn't be more comfortable if he were lying naked in a cloud. After my cyclone of emotions, from empathy to confusion, anxiety, exasperation, and guilt, I finally feel calm. He is at peace at last. For the moment, anyway. Sitting here nursing my baby, he is pacified, yes, but so am I. Being a human pacifier works both ways.

Nursing for comfort, his, mine, and ours, is so much more than soothing him when he cries. When we sit here after a difficult morning, after I've questioned my competence as a new mother, wrestled down my nostalgia for a past where everything seemed easier, struggled with tolerance and compassion and reminded myself (sometimes out loud) that all will pass and he will be happy and well-adjusted and remember none of his intestinal fury and my quiet panic, the shallow-breathing, and lilting lullabies sung tentatively over the shrill tones of his cry, I feel that nursing him in this slow and fluid silence is all about emotional replenishment. He and I re-group after the contradictions and ambivalence of that particular hour or day or week. It feels to me, in these moments, like I am refueling myself, bringing myself back to center, to the symbiosis that will dissipate in tiny, imperceptible ways as he grows. And it feels like he is, in these moments, reorienting himself, getting comfortable in his skin, clearer about me and my intentions.
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Letting my baby pacify himself at my breast feels right to me because it feels so right to him. He has made it abundantly clear that this is his chosen method of self-soothing. He wants a pacifier that's human.