Introducing Solids

It's a very exciting time when you start to introduce your baby to solid foods. A whole new world opens up to them and the dynamic of meal times around your house is about to change. This episode is packed with information that we simply can't capture here so be sure to listen to our podcast and we hope that you pick up something new or interesting.



If you have any comments or experiences to share, please provide your feedback - we would love to hear from you. In this episode we talk about:

• foods to introduce
• organic vs. non-organic food
• introducing solids while maintaining breast milk/formula
• ways to prepare homemade baby baby
• freezing/storing baby food
• snacks
• feeding your baby on the go

Most books and resources now say that you can introduce your baby to solids from age 4-6 months however your baby will give you signs that they are (or aren't) ready. If your baby is pushing the spoon out of their mouth with their tongue and it appears that they don't know what to do, it may be a bit early for them. However, this is a new experience for your little one so a little bit of confusion and awkwardness will ensue.

While introducing solids, there are many signs to watch for - namely allergies and digestive issues. Most physicians recommend that you introduce food one at a time, and offer it to your baby for 3 consecutive days. If there are no signs of allergic or digestive issues, you can add this to your 'safe' list and introduce a new food. To offer some variety, I would offer a new food while still offering the 'safe' food because if there were any issues, it was likely caused by the new food. Also, if your baby is refusing a certain food - leave it, and come back to it later. They say that you need to introduce a food approx. 10 times before you can determine that your baby doesn't like it.




Here you can see that Sienna wasn't so sure about kiwi the first time she had it, but after re-introducing it again at a later time, she now loves it!







Most people, including the 5 of us started our babies with infant cereal. The easiest cereal and most common that people will start with is rice cereal. As Jenny learned, this gave Taylor some serious constipation and was only relieved with the use of an infant suppository that they picked up at the drug store under the guidance of the pharmacist. Sienna also had constipation issues when introducing rice and Selin then introduced prunes which helped alleviate any issues for Sienna. Ashley however, didn't have any issues with the rice cereal. I was forewarned however that rice cereal may have caused some constipation while oat cereal may have made her stools loose. These are normal reactions to new food and therefore, introducing solids can be a bit of a juggling act.

We all chose to make our own baby food and found that it was easy, cost effective and gave us the confidence that we knew exactly what was in the food we served. In this episode we talked about how we prepared baby food - bake, roast, steam - puree and serve (or freeze if you've made ample food to keep you going for a few days). Even though we chose to make our own food, there is nothing wrong with buying jarred baby food; and there are some foods that we do offer from the jar - because they are more convenient for travel and/or it's a finicky type of food that we just didn't have any desire to make at home (ie: prunes).

In this episode, we also talked a bit about organic vs. non organic food for your baby. This is a personal decision that everyone should explore for themselves. Buy local and in-season where you can as this will greatly benefit your baby's taste bud development and will help them appreciate texture.

• Top 12 Foods to Buy Organic: http://organic.wonderhowto.com/blog/top-12-foods-buy-organic-0115802/

Our Mommy-sentials for this week:

Happy Baby- "The organic guide to baby's first 24 months" by Dr. Robert W. Sears and Amy Marlow. The link to it is: http://www.happybabyfood.com/our-products/our-book

Wholesome baby food - http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

Phil & Ted's portable highchair - this nifty little gadget attaches to any chair and acts as a high chair on the go.

Baby Cubes - easy to use, BPA free plastic cubes to store and freeze your baby food.

Svan High Chair - this is an exceptional high chair that grows with your child. http://www.svanusa.com/svanchair.cfm

Kiddopotomus Tiny Diner: Easily suctions to any table - great for restaurants or taking on the go to protect your baby from germs. http://www.kiddopotamus.com/p_tiny.php

The Safe Sippy: A wonderful light-weight, stainless steel sippy cup to help transition your baby from bottle to cup. We LOVE the safe sippy. http://www.kid-basix.com/thesafesippy.php

Dimples Forever Discount for friends of "Little Baby Steps"

As our girls have now (or will soon) celebrate their first birthdays and thus marking the anniversary of Little Baby Steps, we want to share an exclusive discount with all of our friends and supporters. We have teamed up with Dimples Forever - a unique jewellery designer that imprints a fingerprint onto a lovely pendant, cuff links, bracelet charms etc. Fans of Little Baby Steps are invited to a $10 discount when you quote LBS17 during check-out. (and yes, you can share this discount code with all of your friends too!!)

Dimples fingerprint jewelry kits enable you to easily capture the fingerprint impression of a loved one, newborn infant to mature adult, wherever and whenever you want to! That fingerprint, a moment in time permanently preserved in a pure silver fingerprint jewelry charm, can be worn and enjoyed each day. Check out www.dimplesforever.com to learn more and start shopping!

Cheers,
LBS

Raising a bilingual baby

Hello, Bonjour, G'day, Hola, Guten Tag and Buon Giorno!

In this episode of Little Baby Steps we sat down with Isabel Tremblay again to chat about her experiences in raising a bilingual baby. When you listen to the podcast, you can hear Isabel's French roots so it's no surprise that she's speaking French to Estelle.

Selin is speaking Turkish with her baby Sienna and Rita speaks Greek with Aria, however they primarily speak English while introducing a little bit of a second language.

Isabel's mother tongue is French and learned English when she was 17, so instinctively she speaks exclusively in French with Estelle. This can be difficult when they are around non-French speaking people because not everyone will understand what Isabel is saying to Estelle, however it's very important for Estelle's development to identify one person with one language. Isabel's husband speaks Italian and English however he speaks only in English to Estelle. Isabel teaches Estelle through reading, demonstration and speaking to her in French. She has done a lot of research in the area of language development and brain wiring and expects that Estelle may speak a little bit later than her peers to give her brain time to catch up to both languages.

Estelle attends an English daycare (as it's hard enough to get into a daycare, let alone a French daycare!) but will attend an exclusively French school when the time comes.

For anyone trying to raise a bilingual child, Isabel recommends that one parent associated with one language and the other parent associated with the other language. This helps the child identify one parent to one language and to be consistent.

If you are raising your child to speak in multiple languages, please share your feedback and tips with us! For more resources, check your local book store to find books on French language skills and be sure to listen to Isabel's interview here:


PS. be sure to listen until the very end as Taylor has something very important to share with everyone!

In this episode, our Mommy-Sentials focus on reading. Here are a few of our favorite books that we're reading to our little one's right now:

• The very hungry caterpillar
• I love you forever (it's a real tear jerker!)
• Dogs (touch & feel book)
• Wiped by Rebecca Eckler - she talks about "the first year" in a very open and honest way

Returning to work

In this episode, we interviewed Isabel Tremblay - a new mom that we met in our New Mom's group. Isabel has already ventured back to work and introduced her daughter Estelle to a daycare enviroment so we wanted to sit down with her and get some advice since we'll be going back to work soon (sniff sniff).

Isabel was in a unique position where she started a new job when she was 3 months pregnant so the fact that was only able to work for 6 months before her maternity leave, factored into her decision to return to work in January; when Estelle was 6 months old. In Canada, we are very fortunate to have 12 month maternity/parental leave compared to the US and Europe where the government only allows 6 weeks maternity leave. With that in mind, Isabel felt that a 6 month maternity leave was sufficient for both Estelle and her career.

Given that Estelle was only 6 months old when she went into a daycare environment, Isabel was able to provide a complete schedule for Estelle's care: from feeding, to napping, to diaper creams etc. Isabel hasn't noticed any negative impact from daycare - Estelle is thriving and getting lots of attention from the daycare providers.

Not an overly emotional person, Isabel didn't sit in the daycare parking lot and cry her face off (I hope I can say the same!). However, she returned to work on a Thursday so that Estelle had 2 days at daycare and was then able to spend the weekend at home again before returning the following week. She did however have a "moment" before Estelle began daycare when she realized that this was the last time that she was putting Estelle down for her afternoon nap etc.

In terms of illness - we often hear that kids in daycare are always sick. Isabel weighed in on this by sharing that in the first 3 months Estelle was only sick once! Way to go Estelle. However, over the past few weeks Estelle did come down with a little bug but this is to expected. Fortunately Isabel has a good relationship with her employer as she had to take time off in order to stay home with Estelle.

Fortunately Isabel hasn't run into any issues with Estelle having separation issues but if you find yourself in this situation, try to alternate the person who drops the child off and the person who picks up the child.

Isabel and her husband both really cherish their "family time" - even more so now that they are both working. A natural extroverts, they have found themselves turning down dinner dates and social engagements in lieu of spending time as a family ... and they love it! They are happy to trade their late nights for early mornings because it means that they can maximize their family time on weekends.

Isabels advice for parents returning to work: be sure to get yourself organized. The mornings are more challenging than evenings, so ensure that you can establish a routine that works for you, your hubby and baby. All three of you need to be dressed, fed, groomed and out the door! It's a definite team effort.

Listen to the full interview with Isabel, including her tips for parents returnig to work:

Toyota Sienna Commercial

Check out this very funny commercial done by Toyota poking fun at parenthood and what we've all become...very clever! The entire series is on Youtube :)

I thought I'd share this one, seeing as how I have a daughter named Sienna but not yet the mini-van (which she is not named after..lol).

The Mommies & Babies of LBS!

We ventured out to High Park at the crack of dawn this morning to have our photos taken by Kimberly Dunbar. The forecast called for rain and we were about to cancel but then the sun came out and we were good to go! The girls were all dolled up and on their best behaviour :)

Thanks again Kimberly for these amazing photos- which will soon appear on our site. Thanks to you we'll have amazing memories of the group we've formed and more importantly the best friends we've all made during our mat leave...

Visit www.kimberlydunbarphotography.com to learn more about how she can capture the same memories for you and your little one!

Children's Tylenol & Motrin Recall

Children's Tylenol & Motrin Recall- read carefully: http://www.mcneilcanada.com/en/downloads/JJ_Release_on_April30.pdf