Seven surprises about breastfeeding an older baby


I feel privileged to be breasteeding my ten-month-old. It shouldn't be a surprise as it was for the health visitor who visited us a couple of weeks ago. After all breastfeeding, particularly if your baby is under a year, is nothing if not normal. Read more

Wearing an older baby: woven wrap vs soft structured carrier


While I know people who've worn their babies in stretchy wraps all the way into toddlerhood, I packed mine in when Talitha hit six months. Her weight by then made the fabric uncomfortably bunch up around my shoulders and the more mobile she became Read more

The breastfeeding father


I've just had my first Mother's Day and, funnily enough, it's made me think about fathers. Laurence Talitha bought me La Leche League membership. The LLL is an international charity for breastfeeding mothers and I've just begun going to its Bristol branch meetings. The Read more

Don't label my parenting: struggling with "attachment parenting"


I've recently become uncomfortable with the term "attachment parenting". It's tricky because it very much describes what we're trying to do. Though we do have a routine, we watch our baby and not the clock. We refuse to rush her independence. We respond to Read more

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Baby led weaning

Baby Led Weaning Carnival 1 – apples, sushi and a lot of mess

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Adele Jarrett-Kerr Posted in Baby led weaning | 6 Comments

Talitha turns eleven months this week. As if some chemical reaction was timed for the appearance of two teeth, she’s suddenly begun to eat substantial amounts of food. Despite my bravado, opting for Baby Led Weaning from the start, a small part of me worried about her entering her second year of life without much of an appetite for anything but boob.

Mind you nothing’s necessarily wrong with that either. A mere century or so ago it was illegal to feed an infant solids before a year without medical advice to do so. Not that I’m advocating waiting that long either! I digress. On to the carnival.

About two weeks ago I invited bloggers and others to share their baby led weaning experiences as inspiration and encouragement, and generally as a resource for anyone visiting this Circus. Somehow I’ve got my dates mixed up, horrendously. So, this post was meant for this morning but it is now nearly the next day. Alas.

First off, if you’re not sure what I’m on about when I say “Baby Led Weaning”, head over to WAHM-BAM where Tasha gives a clear and thorough explanation of what it entails, with some tips about how to do it. I fully identify with the mess captured in her photographs and envy her the dog.

Next, we’ve got a photo from Molly of Mother’s Always Right. Her gorgeous daughter Frog is just past one here and making good headway with an apple. Unpeeled and unsliced, it was the stuff of nightmares for her unconverted friends. She looks like she’s loving it and it’s almost given me the courage to offer Talitha the same!


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Introducing the Baby Led Weaning Carnival

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Adele Jarrett-Kerr Posted in Baby led weaning | 22 Comments

The health visitor came for a routine visit. I agonised beforehand about certain choices we’d made that we’re bound to be contentious, especially bed sharing and baby led weaning.

Maybe she’d surprise me but I made up my mind to be suitably vague. I just didn’t want to get into it, you know?

I keep thinking now that I should have.

HV: How many times a day does she feed?
Me: Oh, it varies.
HV: She should be eating more solids by now and demanding less of you.
Me: Mmhmm.

Really, though, why didn’t I say what I was thinking – that actually it’s perfectly fine that Talitha still breastfeeds at least six times a day?

That’s her main source of nutrition for the first year. It’s more nutrient and calorie dense than any other food I can give her. When she’s ready to eat enough to displace milk feeds, she will.

This is yet another reason I love baby led weaning. It ensures that she does what she’s going to do on her own unique schedule.

That said, she really does eat. Even now, it’s exciting seeing her do it. Her dexterity has improved massively and she usually will eat all sorts of things from cereal to squid.

I seriously lack inspiration as to what to feed her, though. Left on my own, I’d eat toast all day long but I want her diet to have more variety than that.

So that’s part of why I’ve decided to hold a bi-weekly Baby Led Weaning carnival*, to gather inspiration. The other is to gather real-life stories of BLW families. Hopefully this will be both an ongoing resource and celebration.

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The week in baby led weaning

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Adele Jarrett-Kerr Posted in Baby led weaning | 11 Comments

I literally trawl the internet looking for photos of babies eating and real-life experiences of baby led weaning. If you are similarly inclined, read on.

Lamb and vegetable pot-roast-stew-thing.

Probably a bit too fatty but Talitha absolutely loved it. In fact I think she kept forgetting she already had stuff in her mouth but, hey, if she doesn’t mind spitting things out and putting them back in her mouth, who am I to criticise?
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The start of a love affair with food

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Adele Jarrett-Kerr Posted in Baby led weaning, Our life is a Circus | 24 Comments

The first smile is a classic landmark. The first smear of curry across your baby’s face? Not so much. The first time she shovels more chicken into a mouth full of chicken while trying to babble? It’s pure delight.

Boiled egg

Talitha started eating solid food the week before she turned six months. She had kept grabbing at what I was eating and it seemed time to let her do what she would. So, I peeled her a banana and the carnage began.

Brocolli

I don’t even remember what she’s eaten so far. I look up into my brain when people ask. Eventually I admit that she eats whatever I do. I ate chicken curry and rice yesterday and buttered toast this morning so, yeah, that’s what she eats.

Some of it is pureed – as in, if I’m eating soup then so is she. I load the spoon and at first she feeds her eyebrows. A few minutes in and it’s actually going into her mouth. Who would’ve thought my seven-month-old could use a spoon. It’s pretty hilarious.
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Baby’s first overseas holiday

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Adele Jarrett-Kerr Posted in Baby led weaning, Our life is a Circus | 6 Comments

So we’re finally back from our month-long holiday in Trinidad and Tobago. As evidenced by how quiet it’s been on Circus Queen, I got a little distracted.

Talitha is now an airplane flying badass. We flew from Gatwick to Tobago, Tobago to Trinidad, Trinidad to Tobago, Tobago to Trinidad again, Trinidad to Tobago again, then Tobago back to Gatwick. Phew! We actually survived all that. As everyone assured me we would.

To those who made it sound like the flight out there wouldn’t be so difficult, I’m glad I didn’t believe you. At the same time, I wouldn’t go as far as a friend who compared it to giving birth did. For the 17 flippin’ hours it took us to get from door to door, the baby slept for a grand total of 45 minutes – and not even all at once.

Luckily, she’s just not a cranky baby. Even so, flying with any six-month-old is not for the faint of heart. But we got through it. With lots of “Here’s this toy. Now this one. Check out this new toy from Grandmum and Puppa. Ok, the safety instructions are more interesting. Oh yes, that vomit bag’s good for chewing. Let’s play ‘This is the way the lady rides’. Ergobaby carrier time. Look at that little girl. Hi, can I trouble you to help me get my bag down? Do you mind watching her while I pop to the loo?” for nine hours.
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