Bedsharing on Vacation

It is especially helpful to bedshare on vacation when it can be harder for littles to fall asleep and the desperately need it.
This is one way to keep a little from rolling off the bed since hotel beds aren't usually against walls. I put the backs of the chairs against her side of the bed, added suit cases and garbage cans to stuff between the chairs and the wall to keep the chairs from shifting. Added a blanket, pillow pet and book from home helps for sure.

On our latest trip, there weren't any chairs so I moved both night stands on to one side and pulled one down from the head if the bed a bit just in case.

These solutions work great for an older bedsharer, not for a newborn who can slip between slim gaps.

Baby Led Solids

Penny is 4 months old now and very very interested in eating. But, we will wait. We learned about readiness signs and virgin gut with Ellie and waited until 5.5 months. I've learned more and plan to delay solids until at least 6 months, possibly longer before starting BLW with Penny. While she is very interested, mimics us and reaches for food we are eating, she is not yet sitting unassisted and not consistently able to bring items to her mouth, it is still far too early.


BLW stands for Baby led weaning (the concept was made popular in the UK where "weaning" means "starting food" where here in the USA we use "weaning" to mean "off of something". Some people use the term "baby led solids". This is not to be confused with Child Led a Weaning which is a term used for allowing a child to wean off of nursing at their own pace at their own time.

Baby Led Solids is the solids feeding philosophy that believes that a child doesn't need solids until she is capable of feeding herself foods rather than spoon feeding. This means for most families that they wait to offer solids until baby is at least 6 months old.
Some BLW families give baby just whatever the family is eating, others are more selective about what is offered to baby. Some follow the "new food every few days to watch for reactions" rule. Others only watch for and/or delay certain allergens.
For us we gave fruit or veg or meat from our meals. We delayed grains until near the 12 month mark and very minimal until after 2 years old. Ellie had some trouble with dairy in my diet when she was exclusively breastfeeding so we waited to try cow dairy until about 18 months.

The menu will vary from family to family and is customizable. Many families skip cereals.
The biggest difference with BLW is that the food is placed in front of baby and baby brings it to her mouth rather than it being spoon fed. Foods aren't mashed or pureed. Foods are soft cooked (if needed), cut int steak-fries size or very soft foods into pea sized. Baby is in control of how fast/slow how much or how little they eat and when they're finished. Normally spoon-eaten foods (apple sauce yogurt etc) are either licked off of baby's fingers or baby can dip/lick the spoon or are offered with preloaded spoons set on the high hair tray.
Some babies will eat a lot others will not. The key is the child leads the process. Most parents agree than solids are just for fun, practice and exploration until about 1 year old and not to worry about quantity as long as baby is primarily breast or formula fed as that supplies all of their nutrients.

If you're more curious about BLW there's a book, Facebook page and blogs you can read.

This is my opinion of BLW compared to spoon feeding purees.

I think, babyled teaches them, allows them to listen to their bodies much more than if theyre spoon fed, Right from the beginning. They won't be eating too much, which can set them up for healthy eating habits for life. Also, babies fed cereal might get a taste for simple carbs and not for a variety of foods. Baby led introduces babies to a wide variety of foods, which can encourage a love for a range of nutrients in healthy foods and prevent picky eaters. IN my opinion it's not just the "to chew or not to chew?" question. It's the beginning of their relationship with food. The exploration and play encourages physically, cognitively, emotionally, and socially positive development. Pinching peas, grasping slippery peaches, using two hands for watermelon wedges, chewing on warm steak, losing grip on green beans, smearing refried beans all around. These things are awesome for development and there isn't a spoon-fed equivalent to the exploration and play.

Also, the BLS baby learns how to handle food in her mouth while the gag reflex is stronger. A spoon fed baby doesn't learn how to chew before they swallow until after the gag reflex moves back and relaxes, increasing the likeliness of choking.

At meal times, the BLS baby is actively participating in the family connection, as is the parent who is able to eat, talk and enjoy his/her meal with the family. Often spoonfed babies are fed separately and not learning the social aspect of meals and emotional experience of family meal times from the get-go.

We were very happy with the process and result of doing BLW with Ellie and look forward to starting with Penny, but not until we are certain she is ready.

So you say you're uncomfortable with breastfeeding in public.

I understand why you are uncomfortable, society has been sexualizing breasts since before you were born. You, and many others have the sexual function of breasts in the forefront of your minds(thank you media) rather than their primary function, which is to nourish babies. The problem with that mentality, and with expressing your thoughts to suppress a woman's right to nurse her child, and that child's right to eat, is that it continues the de-normalization of breastfeeding.

Many people nowadays rarely, if ever, see women nourishing their babies with their body. Those people become parents or grandparents or aunts or child care providers and have a disconnect with (God's or) nature's design and choose to feed formula, which is proven to raise health risks. The increase in health problems as well as the enormous environmental impact of formula use affects everyone. That disconnect with nature's design can also lead women to not trusting their bodies' natural capabilities and intuition when it comes to health diagnosis, childbirth, taking control of health issues etc. It has been proven that the more a woman sees breastfeeding and hears positivity surrounding breastfeeding, the higher chance she has at breastfeeding her children and the longer that they will be able to nurse.
The health of children, the environment, economy, and society will be greatly improved when the majority of mothers breastfeed.

So try this. Instead of expressing discomfort with a mom nursing(covered or not) (verbally or with body language or after the fact gossiping), smile, nod, imagine your own babies, nieces, nephews, imagine love and support and realize that breasts were made to feed babies and mammals were designed (by God or evolution whichever you believe) to consume their own mother's milk. And parenting can be hard enough without criticism.

Rear facing to the max

This is Ellie, 37 months, rear facing. Insisted that her baby be buckled up also.

If you're wondering why she's rear facing 2 years longer than the minimum law requirement, and 1 year longer than the aap minimum recommendation, it's because the NHTSA recommends rear facing as long as the child is within size limits of the seat, ideally until 4.
She's in a Britax Boulevard70 and is almost at the height limit, soon she will move to a Chicco Nextfit, which has a higher height limit so she can rear face to the max. I'm estimating til 4.

This blog post should not be your only source of car seat information. I'm not an expert (although I'd love to be) and this post is not all inclusive.

Check out Car Seats For The Littles or The Car Seat Lady for much more inclusive articles.

(That's 2 month old Penny in the Chicco Nextfit next to her btw)