Happy birthday! One year old

So it's been a little while since the last entry, and yet we don't actually seem to have come very far!! That in itself is probably one of the biggest challenges with BLW (for me, anyway).
All around us babies of the same age are dropping milk feeds and eating apparently vast quantities of food, while Baby Bean's breakfast this morning consisted of both boobs (guessing around 6-8oz) and 2 chewed slices of banana malt loaf.

Notice I say "chewed", not just 2 slices.

That would be because Bean still has this interesting/infuriating (delete as per my mood that day) habit of putting food in, chewing and making "mmmm this is yummy" noises, before pulling a face and pushing it back out again. Sometimes she puts it straight back in. Sometimes she puts an identical thing in. Sometimes she drops it over the edge. And sometimes she ejects the contents of her mouth because she's so eager to get the next handful in she doesn't have the time to swallow?!

To be fair, her first set of molars are making huge lumps in her gums so for the past 2 days she's been more about the milk than anything. Even her all-time favourite (tomato pasta) went more on the floor than in her mouth. But even the best of days see her consuming far more than the 500ml (18oz) of milk that is "recommended" for her age, and which apparently drops to 300ml as of yesterday. Because obviously the clock hitting midnight sparks a magic chain reaction within my baby's digestive system and brain development that goes "bing - less milk now please!"

To be honest, I don't mind. At 11 months her food intake doubled and she seems to have got the idea that food is food, as well as fun. The only people who seem to mind are EVERYONE ELSE! It's a bit of a pain in that she doesn't sleep as well as other babies who take less milk and more food (more because Bean's favourites are low-calorie fruits and veg) but I'm quite happy for her to move away from milk a few months later than traditionally weaned babies. But in the eyes of so many other people, this slower transition is just proof that BLW doesn't work.

They couldn't have it more wrong.

This slower transition proves the exact opposite - that Bean is moving onto solids at her own pace; at the pace her body is setting, and therefore at a pace that she is controlling.

So when I am the Mummy with the only baby who will eat coconut curry, Brussel sprouts and chooses grapes over chocolate, that is when I will smile smugly to myself and know I did the right thing.

Baby Bean, demonstrating how to hide food in her seat, the day before her first birthday:

 

PS. Rant over :-)