Me, a liberal mother? Who would have thunk it?

That's right.  Me, miss germ-a-phobe, over-protective, controlling, cautious mother, has become pretty liberal when it comes to my baby. 

Pause for gasp.

Most of what I've become liberal about is food related.  As I have mentioned before, I started giving B eggs around 9 months.  He did fine with them and loves them.

At 10 months old, I jumped into the big one.  You might know it as PB.  Yes, peanut butter.  I know some literature out there says not to give it to them until 2 years old.  Personally, I think that's crazy because if my child is going to have a reaction I'd rather know about it sooner than 2.  Anyway, I needed more options in B's diet and pb is high in protein, AND fat, and that's just what a growing boy needs.  Thus, I gave it to him first just on bread.  Loved it.  Then, I made him his first pb&j...hello, heaven?  LOVED LOVED it.  I am so thankful that he showed no reaction.  There is something so easy about a pb&j, especially when we're eating on the go!

Bradley is now 11 months old (as of tomorrow).  He is pretty much been weaning himself from nursing for the past month.  He's cut out 2 of his feedings, and now nurses only 3 times a day.  Morning, before nap midday, and before bed.  I have had been offering him a pouch of my frozen gold in a sippy cup and he'll take it most of the time.  I recently decided just to pour him a sippy of organic vitamin D cow's milk.  He actually seemed to like that better than my stuff.....not to mention that's so much easier than the hole thawing process.  So there ya go, I've decided to forgo formula for this last month that he's "supposed" to be on formula.  He's still nursing 3 times, and I'm supplementing with cow's milk.  I know you are supposed to wait until 1 year of age but from what I've read, it's really only to make sure the child's GI tract is ready to digest cow's milk.  Plus he's still getting all the nutrients from my milk that he needs.  I know some doc's and mothers might disagree with my choice but really, sometimes you just have to go with your gut.  He's a great eater, he's growing bigger, he's healthy and really.....what's just one month?  I still can't believe I've been doing this whole nursing thing for almost a whole year now.  Wow, what an accomplishment.

On that note I finally threw away my "just in case" stash of powdered formula which I never used.  It was like 4 months expired anyway.

On a more liberal, non food related note, I turned B around.  (Conservative mothers all around the world just closed their lap tops on me.)  I know you're "supposed" to keep them rear facing for 1 year, and most new recommendations say 2 years (I'm sorry, but have any of those fuckers who wrote that recommendation ever spent more than 10 minutes in a car with a child who is screaming because their feet are pushed up against the seat and their knees are in their chins all while staring at your choice of car interior?)  I know, I know, a screaming baby does not at ALL trump safety, however, my baby is long enough by several inches, and heavy enough by a few pounds to be considered safe in a forward facing seat.  He loves it, and I love it too. 

So there ya have it.  I'm not all by the book in every situation.  Books, wait...what are those?

Tiffany