Fostering a love of nourishing food
The difference between a sugar-filled, packaged food diet and one that is full of healthy fats, proteins, and nutritious carb sources is like a gaping ravine! Your child needs fuel to grow their brain and body, which means us as parents deepening our understanding of proper nutrition. This applies to the mama too! Growing and feeding your baby needs a lot of protein, energy, minerals, and nutrients. Fads aside, I’ve learned to stick to the timeless nutritional foundations of wholefoods, soaking/sprouting, and prioritising home-grown, organic or spray-free where possible. The more things you can make from scratch (and freeze for efficiency!) the better. We got so many nuggets of knowledge from the book Milk to Meals, including introducing different flavours, textures, and spices early in their food journey. While pouch baby food may be convenient, have a try of it before you feed it to your baby. It’s often months to years old and is bland, making spices and flavour hard to introduce these later3.
Your child needs fuel to grow their brain and body, which means us as parents deepening our understanding of proper nutrition. This applies to the mama too!
Further on the topic of food, a collection of the right sized jars was one of the most useful investments we made at the start. It was handy having all the same size with the same lids and we got the Ball Preserving jelly sized jars because I was confident we could freeze and then reheat milk and meals in these as needed. They were the perfect size! Good water bottles are also essential when your child reaches toddler size (we use stainless steel) or if you are bottle feeding. Microplastics in unfathomable amounts, up to 16 million pieces per litre when babies are bottle fed with plastic bottles, were found in a Nature Food 2020 study4. This could be an important consideration for you and it’s as easy as using a glass bottle with a rubber teat if you are bottle feeding.
Final Thoughts
Two years down the track and I can say that parenting has been the most beautiful, challenging, and expansive experience of my life. The journey undertaken, values we pass down, and processes we place importance on are uniquely ours as a family, as the process will be uniquely yours. The lifestyle and parenting mindset you decide on at the beginning and mould through those first years will quickly become the foundation of your little one’s life. You can’t expect a three-year-old to suddenly understand why they have to do something different all of a sudden just because they are older! Remember that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to parenting, and what works for one family may not work for another. Do your research, find your flow, be consistent, and follow through on what feels right for you and your family – you’ll be on the right track to raising a healthy, conscious, and happy child.
Further Information:
EC & Low-tox: baby section of the blog on caliwoods.co.nz
EC Support Community: Facebook group ‘Sustainable Babies in NZ’
References:
1: Jordan, J 2014, ‘Elimination Communication as colic therapy’, Med Hypotheses, vol 83, no 3, pp. 282-285.
2: Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R. B., & Mangum, G. R. (2009). Cognitive neuroscience: The biology of the mind (3rd ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
3: McCabe, L., & Mendes, C. (2020). ‘Milk To Meals: A guide to inform, inspire, and nurture you and yours baby’s journey to food’. Xlibris Corporation LLC.
4: Dunzhu, L., et al 2020, ‘Microplastic release from the degradation of polypropylene feeding bottles during infant formula preparation’, Nature Food, vol 1, pp. 746-754.
Shay Lawrence is the founder of CaliWoods and CaliBaby. Shay focuses on bringing low waste, low-tox, and useful items to kiwi families alongside free education. CaliWoods is a certified bCorp and a woman-led business. @caliwoods_eco @calibaby_eco caliwoods.co.nz
