9 month BLW mark

Liv is now 9 months, I have been a total blog slacker.
BLW (Baby-Led Weaning) has clicked with her and she is a pretty good eater. BM still makes the majority of her food, and she still wakes atleast once to nurse, but she is now sitting with me and eating 3 meals a day.
In a typical day I sit and have 3 meals with her at the table, a nice proper meal.
For breakfast I make her a modified version of whatever I am eating. If I am having cereal I just give her some OatieOs to enjoy with some banana. If I am eating eggs with toast I make sure they are scrambled so she can eat some and I just give her toast strips. I have not made pancakes for myself in while, can't wait I think Liv will love them.
Liv is not a big breakfast eater. This is a small meal, only a few bites.
For lunch I give Liv some fruit, what ever fruit I am eating, and then sometimes I homemade teething biscuit, a piece of cheese or some yogurt. I use those baby yogurt blends she loves them.
Then dinner is some of whatever I am eating. Tonight she had some stuffing, carrots and some BBQ chicken. It sounds like a lot, but its not. She has a few bites of each and thats it.
She still has BM after everytime she wakes up, and once before bed and once in the middle of the night.
I am not big on CIO and I still feel she needs those night feedings so I am not ready to night wean her yet.

BLW Moments months 6-8

Since I started BLW months ago things have progressed really slow with Liv's eating. She was very picky and didn't eat much. Some where around the 8 month mark she seemed to get it and feel in love with food. She now loves hummus, beans, chicken, carrots, blueberries and more. She still nurses much more then she eats, but she is eating more now.

Best Sunscreens

I wanted to post this list of safest sunscreens by EWG. I am a big believer in being careful what you put on your skin and your babies skin. The skin is the largest organ of the human body. I do not feel the government test the chemicals properly that they allow in sunscreens, in any skin products really.
1. Badger Sunscreen for Face and Body, Unscented, SPF 30, $12.97
2. Kabana Skin Care Green Screen Organic Sunscreen, SPF 22, $5
3. Beyond Coastal Lip & Face Screen, $7.69
4. Desert Essence Age Reversal Mineral Sunscreen, SPF 30, $9.59
5. Jason Natural Products Sunbrellas Chemical Free Sun Block, $9.40

The worst according to EWG has several just for babies!!
. Banana Boat Baby Max Protect, SPF 100
EWG says,"the sky-high SPF protects against sunburn but leaves skin exposed to damaging UVA rays."

2. Aveeno Baby Continuous Protection, SPF 55
EWG contradicts Aveeno's "Mild as water" statement and says this is nothing like water when swallowed.

3. Anthony Logistics for Men Sunstick, SPF 15
EWG calls out that this stick is not safe for eyes at all and actually, not a lot of sunscreen makers are creating products that are eye-safe.

4. Banana Boat Ultra Defense Sunscreen Stick, SPF 50
EWG points out that "even though sunscreen makers like Banana Boat often use stabilizing additives to keep their ingredients from breaking down in sunlight, the product still doesn't last forever on the skin."

5. Hawaiian Tropic Baby Creme Lotion, SPF 50
EWG claims that "this would only earn 1 star in FDA's proposed 4 star UVA labeling scheme" and that it does not provide "advanced UVA protection" like the bottle says.

Related articles by Zemanta

• EWG's 2010 Sunscreen Guide is Here (babyminding.com)
• 21 of the Best Natural Sunscreens (thedailygreen.com)

First Foods

These are common first foods for BLW and recommened by many organizations. Sweet potatoes, bananas,and avacados. I think we will start the foods in that order.

Teething?

I think we have started teething. We had many nights of Liv up crying and wanting to be held all night, but sometimes even that wasn't enough. My poor baby. She has also been eating like a pig. I think at the same time we are hitting the 6 month growth spurt early. She was getting up only once a night, now its back up to 2 or 3. It was so tempting to give in and give her some cereal, but I did not.
We are planning on starting her first solid in a week! I can't believe she is almost ready for food.

Week 22

We had more sleep progress. Liv on most nights is falling asleep in her crib after bein put down awake, and she is down to one night feeding from 7-7. There is hope for sleep. I have read so many sleep books and so many have mixed suggestions and mixed standards of how much your LO should be sleeping or eating at night. Many said that Liv should be able to sleep through the night. I was begining to think they were right, but when she woke up she seemed hungry. So on her own she just gave up one night feeding. She still eats around 12, but does not wake up to eat again till she is up for the day. I am glad I listened to my heart and what I felt she needed. Now I am hoping that when we have solids down a bit she will being sleeping through the night. But I have to admit, I do like the one feeding, getting up in the night and spending a little extra time with her. There is never enough time in the day imo so I like this little extra time.

Week 20

So we made it through the week 19 sleep regression. Liv has never been the best sleeper, but she has made great improvements. The worse night of the week 19 sleep regression she was up every 2 hours. The next night she slept from 7:30-6:30 waking only once!! She also rolled over that morning so I don't know if that goal helped her sleep. She hasn't done that great since then, but it is so much better. She is waking 2-3 times a night sleeping from 7:30ish to 8ish, sometimes 9. She has also been going down much easier for naps, but they are still mostly no longer then 45min so I will be working on that next.
I give credit to this to me, of course, but also to The No Cry Sleep Solution and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby. They both had great ideas and tips to help me help Liv sleep. Healthy Sleep Habits is pro cry it out, but he mentions how it may not be needed if you can get your baby down before they are over tired. I am not really for CIO, especially in a baby this young. It took about 3 weeks of following my sleep plan to get her sleeping much better. I dont think this is much better results they a CIO would get, so I am glad I did not go that way.
Being patient with Liv she finally got used to a routine and now knows, its sleep time I'm ready. Its amazing how much sleep she needs, but for the times she is awake she doesn't fuss, is so happy and social. Since I found how much sleep she needs, and respect and protect that we are both much happier.