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[Violet enjoying some finger foods as a one-year-old)
Lucy is about four-and-a-half months old now, so I'm starting to think about feeding her solids. I'm planning to wait until closer to six months to begin, and I'll admit I'm equally nervous and excited.
If you've followed the blog for a while now, you'll remember that Violet suffered from a condition called FPIES, or Food Protein-Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome (yes, it's a mouthful!) She basically had a severe intolerance to dairy and soy that didn't show up on allergy tests. The major reactions started when we began feeding her solids and testing out formula (around 5.5 months). After a bunch more reactions and a slew of tests, the lovely doctors at CHOP diagnosed her and recommended that we not feed her anything other than her prescription formula (aka no solids) until she was about a year old to give her damaged GI system time to heal. She now seems to have outgrown both intolerances (hurray!) and eats like a "normal" kid, but I never really got the experience of feeding a baby.
Lucy is a very happy healthy baby and doesn't seem to have the same issues that Violet did, but I can't help but be a little nervous. At the same time, I'm really excited to give this whole baby food thing a go! I've been checking out a lot of different information on the topic and am considering going with Baby-Led Weaning, which is basically just a fancy way of saying I want to let Lucy feed herself. Instead of spoon-feeding her mushy purees, you just give your baby an appropriately-sized hunk of food, like a bit of cooked sweet potato, and let them go at it. Have any of you had any experience with baby-led weaning? Did you like it, and if so do you have any tips for me? Thanks in advance from a second-time mama but a first-time baby feeder :) xo, Lauren
P.S. Tips for Little Eaters and Fun Products for Feeding Your Toddler
