7 months already?! I know, I know.
In the beginning, I was keeping track of his age week by week. It must have been that new mom excitement. When people asked how old he was, I could practically tell them to the day. But now I’m making it easy on myself. (We go by months.) He was born October 14, so every month on the 14th, we celebrate another month of having this extraordinary little man in our life.
So, what’s Bracken up to these days?
Well, right now he is nursing while I type this. (The vast majority of my typing has been one-handed since he’s been born.)
He is rolling over and while on his belly, he takes little lunges forward from time to time, a step towards crawling. He can sit up on his own for a little while (before occasionally toppling over.) He is happiest when he’s outside. He loves music and the sound of birds.
Bracken is expressive. Very expressive. He makes the most beautiful sing-songy sounds. (And he loves to sing while he poops.) His hair grows lighter and thicker by the day. His eyes are still the color of blueberries. His giggles and laughter are one of the sweetest sounds I’ve ever heard and his smiles seem to send a beam of light straight to my heart.
He plays with toys now and if he tries to grab something (like the camera this morning) and you don’t let him, he won’t be happy about it and he’ll be sure to let you know it. (Like I said, expressive.) He wants to touch and grab everything and put it in his mouth. He is teething and loves to chomp down hard on his toys. When Jeff is eating something frozen, Bracken likes to suck on it and it makes his gums happy.
He goes to the bathroom in the potty while I hold him over it. His stretches of dry diapers are getting longer. (You can read more about that here: Natural Infant Hygiene.) He doesn’t like wearing diapers at all and has learned how to unlatch his wool diaper cover on one side. (Won’t be long before he’ll be able to take the whole thing off completely.) He gets some diaper free time every day, especially as the weather is nicer and we are outside more.
He sleeps well at night, right in between Jeff and I. When he wakes up and is hungry, I just roll over and nurse him on my side, and we both fall back to sleep together.
(In the picture above he is wearing the outfit made of wool and silk, that our friend Heike, from Germany, sent. Thanks again Heike!)
He has been on mama milk since he’s been born. He’s only had a few tastes of solid foods. We followed the advice in ‘Nourishing Traditions‘ by Sally Fallon, and gave him some egg yolks (with a few other goodies in them), when he was about 6 months old. He got constipated, so we stopped. (Plus, the time didn’t feel quite right.) We are in no rush to introduce solid foods. We mainly tried it for my benefit, because I was feeling slightly depleted (and seemed to get sick more easily since he was born), and we thought supplementing his diet of milk might help me out a little. But then Jeff ordered us some powdered, grass-fed liver and capsuled it up. (Because we want liver in our diet, but just don’t eat it very often.) I’ve been taking it daily and I feel much more nourished and energetic. (Along with a diet of nutrient dense foods and a daily cod liver oil supplement.)
Our midwife advised us to wait on introducing solid foods for as long as we could. That really rang true to me. I’ve heard so much about food allergies being caused by introducing foods too soon (especially grains, which are very difficult for babies to digest.) Somewhere I read to start feeding babies solid foods when they start getting their teeth. That concept was so simple, yet seemed to make so much sense at the same time.
Overall, we trust we’ll know when the time feels right.
Other than that, Jeff and I are enjoying watching Bracken change, grow, and flower. Words just don’t seem to express the immense love and awe we feel.
As I look down at this little cherub angel baby with rosy cheeks,
that fell asleep cradled in my arm as I wrote this,
I am amazed that he is already 7 months old!
I love and cherish getting to know him more each and every day as he continues to emerge.
p.s. I am not feeling depleted. and he has 2 teeth already! So different than with my daughter. I was so thin and tired, and she didn’t get teeth until almost a year! I am learning so much becoming a mama again.
oooh how times have changed. I look back at my post above and there I was talking about what I did for my daughter, and now I’m completely resonating with YOU about Bracken and waiting with the solids. Zahraj will be 7 months on the 27th, so I am so aligned with what you wrote about Bracken here, but also because, we have been taking such a different approach with him and food. He has this thing where he actually is getting mad if I try to feed him with a spoon! (oddly enough since he will soon have one from Mystic Orb) but he only wants to sip out of a cup. I noticed too though that he’s not so much interested in eating only drinking out of a cup and nursing… He got a little constipated as well, the past 2 days he had moments that seemed painful and I felt so bad for him, so tonight and last night I didn’t offer solids. Basically, your post made me feel like I was not alone. Thank you for sharing.
very interesting, thanks
What an adorably cute pic of Bracken!! ♥
Hello all! Thanks so much for your comments. I have a lot on my plate tonight, but will write more soon!
Gawd, he is so CUTE!!!!!! Love seeing pictures and hearing updates.
(And I, too, am curious where you got your bulk powdered liver. I was looking at the Dr. Ron’s website, though I don’t think they sell theirs in bulk…)
He is so a cute little boy and it is hardly to believe that he is already 7 month old.
Although there are some negative aspects of the virtuell world, I am happy, that we have so the possibilty to know from each other and to share and connect.
love and light
Heike
Gorgeous boy you have there Taryn…
Such a happy little face!
xTania
Happy 7-month-bday, Bracken! He’s so cute! It’s amazing how close our parenting styles are to yours. We have done EC (natural infant hygiene) with both of our kids. It worked so easily with my daughter, and it takes a little more creativity with her little brother. But it is wonderful. We also didn’t rush solids; no reason to when mama milk is so wonderful! Have a great day.
What a cute little guy!
I find that he looks a lot like Jeff 🙂
We followed the NT guidelines with my son so we started him on egg yolk and CLO when he was 5.5 months because I was feeling depleted as well.
He liked it and soon we introduced meat and veggie soups.
I do not think that it is the egg yolk that got Bracken constipated, any kind of food introduced to an exclusively breast-fed baby is likely to cause him/her a temporary constipation.
My daughter though is now 11 months, is almost exclusively breast-fed and she weighs 27 pounds!
She, like Bracken, was reacting to certain foods I was eating (digestive enzymes helped us a lot here) and she refuses mashed food and does not like being fed with a spoon so I’m doing baby-led weaning with her.
She particularly likes tiny pieces of meat, fresh organic strawberries and sprouted grain bread.
So I came to realize that there’s not a “right” way to feed a baby, you just have to listen to his clues and trust your vibes! 😉
Love your blog and always read you but cannot respond as my baby girl loves playing with my computer keyboard! 🙂
Evi (the Greek girl 🙂 )
Taryn, I think he is blessed to have you as parents, and you are blessed to have him. Blessings all around then!
What a beautiful little boy he is.
Much love.
Hi there! I love your little fella…he has such character in those eyes! My littlest one is 10 months old and just beginning to get into food (that means maybe one teaspoon). With all three of our babes we waited until they had one tooth as we believe it means that they are ready to begin experiencing food. That meant about 8 to 9 months for all of them. Also, I think there is some kind of enzyme produced when the teeth arrive. It’s a Steiner idea, and I blogged about it in March I think. Anyhow, it sounds like you are loving your baby and your life with him. That’s all that really matters, isn’t it?
xo Jules
I would love to know where you get your powdered, grass-fed liver! (P.S, your little man is so cute! They grow up so fast don’t they? I’ts hard for me to think about my own two little guys growing up, but I suppose it has to happen. : )
He’s adroable. you’re such a good mama… I can sense the vastness of your love and connection with your son. 🙂 We introduced one food at a time when Isis was 6 months, one ever week or 2, but she mainly just nursed, she’d take a few silly bites in the evening and it was fun for her to try at least… All her food was just mashed up with our food processor by me. She liked pear, carrots, zuccini the best… and then she started liking oats… Mama’s milk is the best though! For sure… I remember when I started feeling depleted too, I got thin as well… BUt it’s just that learning curve right, you did what you had to do, I did what I had to do… I love being a mama.. Congratulations Taryn. 🙂 P.S. Isis has no allergies to food… We didn’t give her mango, tomato, peanut butter, or honey until she was at least 2 I think…
Oh my goodness, he is ADORABLE Taryn. 🙂