Comments on: Feeding Baby Naturally: What, When & How

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:57:56 +0000

I have experienced this problem off and on with my little ones as well. Time will take it away. Their little bodies are learning how to digest food properly and sometimes it just takes time. You could try prune juice, which is a recommended laxative. Try smoothies as a way of getting more liquids into his body as well. That always worked for us. Otherwise you are doing all the right things! Don’t stress over it too much…it will work itself out.

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:28:05 +0000

Any thoughts on helping an eight-month-old with constipation? He easily gets plugged up and has painful, pebbly BMs. I am only giving him fresh pears, peaches (frozen, unsweetened), avocado, lettuce, prunes, kefir, and yogurt. I’ve backed away from squash, yams, apple, banana, etc., because of his trouble. I am trying to get him to drink plenty of water, but he isn’t crazy about it. So I give him a bit of juice in the water, but he still isn’t into it. I’m doing well to get about three ounces of water down him in a day (he is 17#). I’m nursing him too, of course. I’ve started taking a laxative tea myself to help him, which seems to help but is giving me abdominal discomfort. I haven’t been able to find much information about the safety of giving herbal laxatives directly to the baby.

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:02:52 +0000

I have been experimenting myself with coconut kefir and that is definitely one method that you can use, but to me it is so much more complicated than is necessary. You can do the same thing by purchasing coconut water, or just use coconut milk. I am doing the coconut milk method because it gives you a yummy thick creamy kefir that is delightful. I am going to be sharing how to make it soon, but you really don’t need a powdered starter. They are more expensive and you have to keep re-purchasing them. Try buying kefir grains from Cultures for Health. They can be reused again and again. They also have a few recipes on their site for making coconut kefir.

By: Krista

Krista — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:33:23 +0000

I found this link for making cocunut kefir. Does it look like a good one to you? It looks like I’d need to buy a starter. Does that sound right? http://www.bodyecology.com/mcoconutkefir.php

Thank you!!!

By: Cara

Cara — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 04:35:49 +0000

I enjoyed reading this post. Our first daughter refused baby food and would not eat solids until we allowed her to feed herself (about 8 months). Our second daughter loved to eat, but we introduced self-feeding early on. We also set baby forks or spoons in front of them at each self-feeding meal. Eventually they picked up the utensils on their own. Our youngest is 15 months and she regularly (with little mess) feeds herself yogurt, cereal with milk, soup, applesauce, etc. with a spoon. Our first daughter was the same, though I didn’t realize it was anything out of the ordinary until our friends (who had a child the same age) commented several times on how well she fed herself at 18 months:)

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:55:14 +0000

I would personally use coconut kefir, but apple cider vinegar or lemon juice would be perfectly suitable for an infant. Nourishing Traditions does not recommend the consumption of grains until the baby is a year old though, because of the difficulty to digest in their developing digestive system.

By: Krista

Krista — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:40:25 +0000

Do you recommend soaking the grains in apple cider vinegar or lemon juice if the baby is allergic to dairy? My husband and I both have dairy allergies and have avoided it for our kids since it seems likely they would, too. In Nourishing Traditions those are the non-dairy alternatives for soaking. Which one would you recommend for Baby? Thanks so much! I sure am enjoying your site! I also wanted to let you know that I found a great place to sample cloth diapers. I was going to do Nick’s as you recommended, then a friend told me about Jillian’s Drawers. You can try a combination of diapers for 21 days and send them back, even if they are stained. I was really impressed with their customer service. They even let me swap out a couple that I knew I wouldn’t want so I could try Happy Heiny’s as per your recommendation. One question on the diapers: do you worry about formaldehyde in polyester in diapers? Thanks so much for taking the time to respond!!!

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:54:26 +0000

I can definitely see your reasoning, but we don’t feed those foods to our kids until they are a year old, so a little dash of salt to flavor their veggies is good for them. They are really just eating fruits, veggies, and various meats before 1 year, so they don’t get the normal salt in other things.

By: Katie

Katie — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:17:38 +0000

If you are using any processed food (including cheese or bread, which can be very high in salt) then the infant is very likely to get the 0.8g of sodium that s/he needs. Sea salt has exactly the same amount of sodium as normal table salt, which is the issue in over-salting. Plus babies don’t need a salty taste in their food-every taste is new to them. So for me, it’s a question of is it needed (no), and has it the potential to cause harm (yes) with minimal theoretical benefit (from the micronutrients) which she’ll get in larger amounts from other foods if she has a varied diet.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:23:21 +0000

I also love cloth diapering. I was probably the least likely person to try it.(Just like I’m reading this blog for the first time and equally as skeptical of all this new information. ) We use FuziBuns, but I’ve heard others are just as easy. Snaps instead of pins and only an extra 2-3 loads of laundry a week. The smells are something you deal with even with disposables. Check out http://www.cutietooties.com. It’s the local store’s site where I bought my diapers. She’s really informative.