The Rules - French Style

Oh, how I wish I was aware of these 'rules' when Hannah was younger.

Meal time was ALWAYS a struggle in our house.  

Downright stressful, actually!

She was the QUEEN, okay, PRINCESS of picky eaters.

Largely as a way of asserting her control over the situation, 

her diet consisted of noodles for far too long.

Noodles! 

Plain, white, cooked noodles! 

Luckily, as a teenager, she now enjoys most foods, and is actually 

very conscious of what she puts in her body.

In saying that, I can't help but wonder if I had followed some of the tips above, 

that life would have been easier for us all?

Thoughts?

 

 

Seasons of Parenting

It is always so intersting to me to watch my partner, Anna, with her kids.

Although we are both parents, our kids are clearly at different stages in their lives. 

Anna - 3 young kids.  Me - 1 teenager.

If you parent young children, you know how physically demanding it can be.

Exhausting, actually.

Fast forward to parenting a teenager - well, it's exhausting in a whole different way.

An emotional marathon of sorts.

Sometimes you feel like - "Wow- I've got this!"

Other times - not so much.

So, today, as I dropped my sweet, soon to be 16 year old daughter off at her boyfriends house (sigh)

I suddenly saw the passage of time like no other.  

It simply goes by - time that is.  

And fast!

So, no matter what season you're in right now parenting your little lovelies, enjoy.

Before you blink, you'll be in yet another season.

A season where they need you significantly less in some ways, and more in others.

My girl, Hannah, on the left.

11 years ago! 

Sniff-sniff.

P.S. 

Speaking of time - we're on Day #2 of our 

Pay it Forward Giveaway.

Be sure to head over to our facebook page and enter!

Crafting, Crowns, and Spring

As you know, the theme of the month here at Olive Baby has been getting new product shots done!  

As easy as that may sound, it takes a certain amount of preparation to get ready for the photo shoots which leads to the title of this post - crafting!

What I'm currently working on is one of these lovely floral crowns for our 

Olive Baby model, Clara, to wear at an upcoming shoot.

These are fairly easy to make and you can find loads of inspiration on Pinterest.

So, I'm super excited to share with you the final product in photos, but until then, be well and 

think Spring! 

Busy Schedule, Going with it!

I know people are following my food intro schedule for Clara, so I'm finding time for updating, but it's tough! Our life is certainly hectic to say the least - 2 self-employed people, 3 kids, and my husbands 'part-time' life as a triathlete!

Anyway, because life is so busy I am not stressing about how much or how fast we intro, but focusing more on the quality of food. There have been days that I don't give any solids - I have allowed her bowels to catch up with the newness of solid food, which has been a good approach. Clara isn't 100% into food yet, which is normal. Most of her nutrition still comes from breast milk, which is how it should be still!

So since i've last written I've tried grating some frozen liver into her sweet potato (at the last stage of cooking before using the hand held mixer). The first day she didn't take to it much, but after a couple days of not having it she took it no problem. Liver is great for the iron that babies start to need more of at 6 months, but on days that she's not having that I throw a few leaves of organic baby spinach into her purees, an egg yolk or some green peas. I personally can't stand liver - not the taste OR the smell, but I realize it's nutritional value! I'm so surprised that a baby tolerates it! She loves avocado with banana, mango or blueberries, but i'm trying to hold back on the sweets in preference for developing her other tastes (in particular leafy greens!). When peaches were in season I let her share my peach (no skin, but she's use her gums to work on it - she LOVED the flavor). I also let her suck on a watermelon slice. Giving food in this manner is more 'baby led weaning' as it's not in puree form but more in it's natural state. I'm still cautious about choking so i don't allow many foods in this form. Clara seems to grab at the things that she 'shouldn't' be having yet - breads in particular, so i pull those away from her, which goes against baby led weaning! So I would say all is well, and we're going with it! Another update soon!

On a side note, I'm so happy to see all the recent weight-loss success stories in my patients. I love it when eating clean becomes a way of life for people and pounds start to melt away! These life changes is what I live for as a Naturopath! 

Baby Food Intro - 3rd time around!

So my third child Clara is 5.5months old and is REALLY interested in foods - grabbing at anything that comes within reach of her little body. It's been 5 years since my first child had solids introduced into his diet, and i'm certainly doing things differently this time around. As a 'new' mom I fell into the trap of introducing grains as a first food, but after several years of experience, research and experimentation I'm doing things differently. The enzymes to properly break down grains (amylase) are not developed until closer to 10 months, and gluten is one of the tougher ones to break down so that one can be save for closer to 12 months.
My patients know that I'm now recommending 'nourishing foods' be introduced first - these include a big focus on healthy fats, veggies and organic meats. It's very similar to the recommendations of the Weston Price foundation.
So examples of Clara's first foods will be sweet potato with egg yolks or coconut oil, avocado, various veggies with added fats and liver (we have a frozen organic liver which we will be grating into various foods for a source of iron, vitamin A, zinc and various other vitamins). I will be updating my progess as I go, and will share my experience if I can.
Today I let Clara sample a puree of organic carrots with touch of apple, and a warm egg yolk mixed in (soft boil an egg and scoop out the runny yolk). She gobbled it up. A note about egg yolks - unlike the protein-rich whites which are not recommended until 1 year of age, the yolk is high in essential fatty acids, fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K). VERY good for the brain development in children!

Dr. Anna Falkowski HBSc, ND.
Naturopathic Doctor & Founder
Olive Baby
www.olivebaby.ca

Olive baby is a line of 100% natural baby skin care products. Formulated by a Naturopathic doctor (and mother) with sensitive skin in mind. Olive oil is nature’s perfect skin moisturizer and is the foundation for our products.

My New Inspiration!

It's funny how things happen. I recently had my third child - a baby girl named Clara, just 4 weeks ago today. My boys are now ages 5 and 3, so with Clara I'm back in the newborn stage - constant feeding, sleeping and pooping. It's amazing how we can forget how needy babies are at this stage, even if we've done it before! So what I've discovered during this stage is my renewed passion for SAFE baby skin care. When I look at Clara's fragile infant skin I realize how easily it can be irritated. Heat, cold, water, thrush and moisture can all cause rashes and irritations. Since Clara was born in the winter, we're dealing with a cold and dry climate, and I have been protecting her skin religiously with Olive Baby products. We bath with the Head to Toe Body Wash and I'm loving how gentle and non-drying it is on her skin, and that she smells like 'herself', not like a perfumed baby soap after her bath. While she's warm and moist after her bath I rub Olive Baby Body Butter all over her body, with a special focus on the diaper area which is exposed to constant moisture. Her skin looks great and she has not had any diaper rashes (knock on wood!). I like that I can put it on her face, even on her eyelids because there's nothing in the product that could irritate her. She really seems to enjoy the process of the massage as well - it relaxes her and helps with any digestive troubles like gassiness. I've had people comment about how lovely she smells and how soft her skin is. I'm pleased to say that she doesn't smell like anything other than the sweet smell of honey from the beeswax in the Olive Baby products. Anyway, being back at this stage has motivated me to continue making and expanding the Olive Baby line into the future! I'm excited to reach as many moms as I can to share this natural approach to baby skin care!