Wednesday, April 9, 2014

From Breast to Best: Transitioning from nursing to the best foods on earth

Now that our little guy, Case, is a year old and eating a good amount of solid foods, I'm noticing him wanting to nurse less.  I'm not consciously weaning him but rather letting him make the choice, as I did with Booker who just weaned himself one day at 13 months old.  As Case is eating more food, I've had several people ask me about what we feed him and what my plan is for after he is through nursing.  So, since they've asked, I thought I would share our philosophy on weaning and replacing the best food on earth with the next best thing.
 
Selfishly, I would nurse forever.  I cherish the one-on-one time and, honestly, I love being the center of my baby's world for this period of time that goes so quickly.  I don't ever really want this sacred time to end.  However, I know that, as they grow, breast milk becomes nutritionally insufficient.  I suppose also that nursing too long may create some sort of negative social repercussions for my little ones :).  While I would be happy to continue nursing for long after the one year point, both my babies have seemed to view their first birthday as a sign to begin the transition away from mama. 
 
Since nursing is a primal act and a food source we as a species were intended to eat, it is very important to my husband and me that our little one transition to something very close to as wild and pure.  For that reason, we are filling his diet with as many wild foods as possible.  He is still nursing at wake-up but soon after has a smoothie made with wild dandelions and/or plantain, nettles, pine needles, frozen wild blackberries and spring water.  We also include raw honey, raw cashews and both the water and meat of a young coconut.  He loves it and it makes my heart smile to see him filling himself with some of the best foods in the world.  The smoothie is a great way to fill a little one with wild foods because the greens are a bit difficult for them to eat on their own and thawed frozen berries are a mess!  I can't wait for berry season when he can eat wild berries right off the vine with his big brother.
 
We mainly just focus on what we DO give him, making sure it is THE BEST FOOD EVER.  There are a few things we DON'T give him however, mainly because we don't want to gunk up his clean, perfect little system.  He has not had any grains at all, or dairy.  His first birthday cake was a raw cacao, coconut oil and honey combo that he devoured and was grain free.  In addition to the dairy and grain don'ts, we of course don't give him anything at all processed.  Only whole foods here because, well, that other stuff isn't really even food.
 
For the first 10-or-so-months while the little guy was nursing several times per day, I left his hydration to breast milk.  Now that he is beginning to nurse less, I fill his cup with either water straight from our local spring, coconut water straight from a raw young coconut, or chilled chaga tea. 
 
I've been asked at what point I start giving my babies whole foods and the answer is that, like with everything else, we try to listen to natural instincts.  We waited until they showed interest in real food but mainly when they got their teeth and seemed ready to chew.  To me, it seems like common sense that they would not be ready for solids before their bodies were equipped to eat them.  We don't do spoon-fed foods in our house because it just doesn't feel like human instinct.  Our babies go straight to feeding themselves whole, grain-free finger foods.  This probably doesn't matter at all, but it just feels right to us.
 
Anyway, there is my answer for those who have asked how we get our kids to eat healthy foods.  If you start them with nothing but the best, it will be all they know.  The only obstacle is trying to balance the best food ever with the temptation of all the other crap food that everyone seems to like to offer them as they get older.  That is one of my biggest challenges as a parent but I'll save that for another post at another time.  Until then, I am going to go nurse my sweet little baby while I still can...
 
                                          Case covered in his morning smoothie.
 
                                           Booker eating weeds he picked from the yard.