Holt: 8 Months

Boy, our little man has grown so much this month! He is definitely packing on the rolls now that we are eating so much solid food and IT. IS. ADORABLE! I could just kiss those cheeks and that belly all day!

*We have mastered crawling and becoming mobile this month. I put him down to play with toys, turn around for 2.5 seconds, and I find him halfway across the room. And he has such an adorable crawl---he crawls with his right knee down and his left foot up on the floor, so he's like a little monkey. He also loves to walk (with help) and is starting to pull up on things. He grabs onto our fingers and his little legs and feet take off----he always has a destination in mind and knows exactly where he wants to go! I give it 2 months TOPS before we have a walker.

*His first tooth popped through on 03.15---we are still waiting on any others, but I think he is currently trying to cut the 2nd bottom tooth as well as both top teeth. Son is drooling up a storm----plus he is pretty cranky and chewing on everything. Any thoughts on the amber teething necklaces? I know a couple of people who have had success with them, but I also know some people are completely against them because they pose a strangling/choking hazard. I'd love any thoughts and advice on them!

*Now that we are mobile, we are learning boundaries. So far, he has done really well responding to the word "no"----he will stop what he is doing and look at me. Most of the time, he turns around and finds something else to grab his attention, but every now and then I have to pick him up and redirect him. I know we will reach a day where discipline is necessary to accompany "no", but so far he seems to be picking up on things.

*His personality is definitely starting to shine through! He is such a happy baby----he just constantly smiles and laughs (and he has found his screeching voice). He is currently obsessed with dogs---his face just lights up and he starts moving his arms excitedly and screeching. I also have a hunch that he is going to be a thinker like his daddy. He really studies things and is very curious about how everything works--I can just see the wheels in his little head turning all the time!

*He absolutely loves to be outside and with the warmer weather we have gone on lots of walks. He has also felt grass for the first time (and has tried to eat several handfuls of it). That has to be one of the neatest things as a parent---watching the sense of awe on your child's face when they experience something new just reminds you not to take things for granted.

*We celebrated Holt's first Easter this month. We took a quick, spur of the moment trip to see family and have Easter lunch. So of course we had to take pictures! Cutest little bunny I've ever seen! :)

Weight: 17 lbs. (15th percentile)---yay! Out of single digits!
Height: 28 inches (50th percentile)

Favorites: *mama and daddy--mostly mama this month though *Sophie (or any dog really) *crawling/being mobile *eating *being outside *paci  *playdates with friends--it's so fun to watch him interact and play with other babies

Milestones: *crawling *sitting up *walking with help *1st tooth popped through *1st Easter celebrated
*1st ride in a shopping cart *1st time to swing at the park *1st bath in the big bathtub *attended his 1st wedding *Had his 1st Cabela's shopping experience

Sleep: He has mostly been a rockstar sleeper---going from around 7ish--7:30AM! In the last week or so though, since working on teeth, he has woken up a few times looking for a paci. We had one EXTREMELY rough night on Good Friday----he woke up EVERY HOUR from 7:45pm--7:00am. His mouth hurt from trying to cut 3 teeth and he was super snotty and stuffed up because he couldn't breathe. It was a rough night for everyone. We are down to 2 naps a day now. For about 3 weeks, he took a 2-2.5 hour morning nap and about an hour nap in the afternoon. Once teething started, he maybe sleeps an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. Hopefully we will revert back once those stubborn teeth break through!

Feeding: Holt cut back on formula this month since we added 3 meals of solids per day. The pediatrician told me to expect this so I know it's normal. He is down to 3 bottles/day with 7-8 ounces each. Follow along with more details of our solids journey with the Baby-Led Feeding posts.

Holt-man,

Words cannot express the amount of love your daddy and I have for you. You completely light up our world and it is so fun to watch you grow and start to become a little tiny independent human being. We often talk of how you are turning in to a little boy right before our eyes and we can't wait to discover your personality and interests. We LOVE being your parents---it is the best job in the entire world!

1st shopping cart experience at Sam's

Playing with our friend Lola

Loving the outdoors (and trying some grass)

1st Cabela's experience

Pondering the fishing equipment

Trying a lemon

Crawling (and drooling) master

corn on the cob felt good on those gums

enjoying the sunshine

first bath in the tub

we LOVE Sophie

1st wedding---he did awesome!

handsome little man

sleeping angel

fun times with GiGi

Baby-Led Feeding: Month 2

check out that pearly white!

Whoa! Little Man upped his eating game this month! We jumped from maybe eating solids once a day to THREE meals a day and 24 ounces of formula. If the amount of food he puts away is any indication of teenage years, I am in trouble!

To be honest, I have bought way more baby food this month than I ever anticipated when we decided to leap into the Baby-Led Weaning journey. I have a couple of reasons:

1) We introduced fruits this month and it is WAY harder for him to grasp---fruit is super slippery!
2) With his dairy/milk allergy thing, he can't really eat what we eat. That makes it more difficult because I can't just give him bites of whatever I make for dinner or whatever I order at a restaurant.
3) My child LOVES to be fed from a spoon. Some days he prefers it over feeding himself.

I still put pieces of fruit or veggies on his tray and he does feed himself. I have had to make them smaller because he started stuffing the whole chunk of food in his mouth and he would gag. I usually offer him banana or sweet potato or zucchini. (He eats banana and sweet potato EVERY DAY). I also found these Gerber Fruit and Veggie Melts (the only melts I could find with no dairy) and he loves to feed himself these too!

I found a brand of baby food at Walmart called Beech-Nut. It is CHEAPER than Gerber and they use Non-GMO certified foods. That's a win for me! Plus, they incorporate meats so Holt gets a little added protein. (Until he gets more teeth he can't chew up meat properly and I'm afraid he will choke). I have also bought a few Earth's Best brand baby food---a UK brand that uses organic produce.

I buy both Stage 2 and Stage 3 baby food jars and I also buy the baby food pouches made up of fruits and veggies. When I get his food ready, I add bits of sweet potato or zucchini or banana to make it more chunky and that ensures he is still practicing chewing and not just swallowing.

Example of our Daily Eating Routine:

7-7:30 AM     Holt eats an 8 oz bottle
8-8:30 AM     Holt eats breakfast---usually some kind of fruit puree with chunks of banana
9 AM             Naptime
11-11:30        Holt is up from nap and he eats lunch---veggie/meat puree with sweet potato and zucchini chunks
1-1:30 PM    Holt eats an 8 oz bottle
2ish PM        Naptime
4-5 PM         Holt eats dinner----veggie/meat puree with sweet potatoes again and sometimes some fruit for dessert
6:45-7PM    Holts eats an 8 oz bottle and then is down for bed

I have made scrambled eggs a couple mornings and he likes them ok. But they are kind of dry and he doesn't chew very well without teeth yet, so he ends up gagging quite a bit.

I did introduce peanut butter one time and he loved it! And NO allergic reactions! Once I introduce grains I'll probably spread PB on some toast and see how he likes that.

We also tried puffs and Ritz crackers this month--both were a huge hit!

This month, Holt has been introduced to lots of fruit---banana (his FAVORITE), apple, mango, strawberries, peaches, plums, kiwi, and pears. He had some diaper rash with the pear so we are holding off on that for a bit. Except for the banana, he has eaten all the above mentioned fruits from Beech-Nut and sometimes I add cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice to add a little flavor.

He has also been introduced to chicken and turkey as well as rice and little star pastas (both in the baby food). These can be somewhat bland so I have been adding spices such as garlic, cumin, curry, and paprika. I do not use salt.

Green veggies have somewhat taken a backseat this month with the introduction of the sweet fruits. He will still eat them, but I typically mix them with an orange veggie like carrots or sweet potato.

One thing that I felt like was tough to find (probably more tough than usual because of his dairy allergy) was nutritious snacks. I like Plum Organics brand, but their teething biscuits have a lot of sugar. I know he is already getting sugar from fruit so I'm trying not to add too much extra on top of that. Most of the other snacks on the market for crawlers contain some form of dairy so he can't eat those right now. I did some looking around on Pinterest and have found 2 recipes for nutritious and yummy snacks! (Check out my board here to view them and some other helpful info on BLW) One was homemade teething biscuits and the other was baby food muffins. Neither one had dairy, used very few ingredients and were super easy to make--plus Holt loved them so it's a win win for this busy mama!

The recipe made around 30 mini-sized muffins

The recipe made approx. 20 teething biscuits

Goals for Month 3: 
*introduce peanut butter again
*introduce cheerios---we need to start practicing the pincher grasp
*continue to find nutritious snacks and new recipes to try
*maybe try pancakes? Depends on if he gets any more teeth or not

corn on the cob---im sure it felt good on his gums

trying out the teething biscuits

he loved pears, but they caused diaper rash

he tried a lemon at a restaurant and loved it! we will limit them though because of the wear on enamel

I"m looking forward to the next month and what new food adventures we will try---especially with more teeth!

How to Go Dairy-Free for Baby's Sake

2 month old Holt

After talking with several friends of mine who are also new moms, I have realized that the dairy/milk sensitivity that my child has is EXTREMELY common. I'm not sure if it's more common now than when I was a kid or if people are just more informed about it, but seriously around 7 out of 10 moms I talk with are dealing with it. 

And IT. IS. HARD.

So, I thought I would try to help any moms out there (new, not so new, or expecting) by offering the details of my experience with Holt's milk sensitivty/allergy. 

So, what made us even ask our doctor about it in the first place? From about 4 weeks--8 weeks, Holt was extremely gassy, fussy, and in lots of pain. He would wake up crying during naps and during the night, extending his legs and becoming straight as a board. He howled cried in pain. BROKE. MY. HEART. There is nothing worse as a mama than knowing your baby is hurting and you feel completely helpless. We tried gas drops, burping, sleeping on his tummy, walking, bouncing, EVERYTHING. We thought he had reflux. I really wish I had known about DoTerra essential oils and the DigestZen at the time. I think that would have really helped him with the gas pain and his upset tummy. 

Not happy that our poor little guy felt bad

OH---one tiny symptom I forgot to mention----his poop was slime. Literally. 

I knew this wasn't normal so we took in a couple specimens to our pediatrician. They tested for blood and it was negative (PTL), but they were very concerned about the consistency. At our 2 month checkup, our pediatrician told us his first inclination was that Holt had a dairy sensitivity. Basically, it just means that his little digestive system is unable to properly breakdown the protein found in milk and milk products, called casein. This results in bad gas pain and slimy poop. The good news is that he should outgrow it by the time he is 1 year old, so he won't have a milk allergy for life. Apparently this is very common in infants and is easy to correct. 

Since I was breastfeeding at the time, that meant I had to start a very strict dairy-free diet. Here is a list of all the ingredients I was not allowed to have:

(here's a list in case you can't make out everything):

artificial butter flavor

butter, butter fat, buttermilk

casein

caseinates (ammonia, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium)

cheese

cottage cheese

curds

custard

half & half

hydrolysates (casein, milk protein, protein, whey, whey protein)

lactalbumin, lactalbumin phosphate

lactose

milk

nougat

yogurt

pudding

rennet casein

sour cream

I also did not eat any beef. BASICALLY ANYTHING FROM A COW.  Just don't eat it. 

I started looking at EVERY LABEL in the grocery store. There are milk products in so many things! There is also a website that was very helpful, www.godairyfree.org, and it shows you what menu items to order at restaurants that are dairy free. 

Once we figured all of that out, I started implementing my new diet. Our doctor also recommended "resetting" Holt's digestive system by putting him on formula for a whole week while I pumped to keep up my supply (this is because it takes a whole week for whatever you eat to get out of your milk supply). We used Enfamil Nutramigen (it is specifically designed for baby's with the milk allergy) and I could tell it made a big difference within a few days. 

That week was one of the hardest weeks of my life! I was either feeding Holt a bottle or pumping pretty much 24/7, not to mention I had to dump all the milk I pumped because it contained dairy. My husband was such a huge support and trooper because he had to feed the middle of the night bottles while I pumped. After the week was up, I went back to breastfeeding. His poop started getting slimy again. After a few days, we asked the pediatrician and he recommended doing another week of formula and pumping. AWESOME. So, we did another week and it continued to help. 

It took 6-8 weeks to completely get all the dairy out of both of our systems. Yes, you read that right. 6-8 WEEKS. Gradually over time, his poop got better and his gas got better and he returned to my happy, smiling baby. 

Going dairy-free was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. It made me so thankful that I don't  have to deal with a dairy or gluten allergy all the time----I have a newfound respect for those of you that do! It was tough to completely change my lifestyle of eating (and inadvertently my husband's too :p) but I would do it all again in a heartbeat. I would STILL be doing it if I was able to breastfeed. 

So, what did I eat? 

Lots of chicken and pork. (YAY BACON!) Lots of fruit and veggies. The only bread I could eat was either Nature's Own or Sara Lee. For milk, I used Silk's Almond/Coconut milk or just Coconut Milk. For chocolate, I ordered "Enjoy Life" brand off of Amazon and it wasn't really any more expensive than a regular bag of chocolate chips! For ice cream, my brilliant husband found Banana Whip. Basically, you freeze bananas and blend them in the blender until the consistency of ice cream! Then you can add other things like peanut butter, cinnamon, vanilla, chocolate chips, sprinkles, etc. SO. GOOD. You can also have sorbet because it's basically just fruit and water. We also didn't really eat out much because it was so hard to know exactly what all the ingredients were. 

Now that I know what to expect, I am more confident with any future children that I'll be able to spot a dairy allergy sooner and be able to alter my diet efficiently. Hopefully this will allow me to breastfeed for longer next time. 

I hope this helps! If you have any questions or other advice, please contact me!