Solid Food post coming soon/Input welcome

 I am slowly working on writing a book.

It is not the book about the typical Nurse Judy topics, such as germs, fevers and common illnesses. Instead the subject is spirits and stories about inexplicable occurrences… stay tuned.

But I still enjoy writing my standard posts that might offer support to parents.

I am delighted to meet up with Dr. Ted on a regular basis so we can put our heads together and delve into different issues.

We are currently trying to create a thorough document that will help out any parent who is embarking on the solid foods journey.

Starting solids actually used to rank pretty low on my favorite things to talk about. When I was an office advice nurse, parents had so many questions about it and I never felt like I had enough time in the course of a standard 10 minute phone call to give them all the answers they were seeking. 

Ultimately, because the demand was so strong,  I started offering an hour-long solid foods class. The goal was to try to get parents to relax and to navigate through all the strong opinions and judgments when it comes to what to feed, when to feed and how to feed.

I stopped holding that class several years ago.

Since attending my class was no longer an option, parents have reached out to let me know that they searched my blog for a post on starting solids and haven’t found one. Alas, for the time being, that search still comes up empty. While there are some posts on specific topics, I never did one dealing with the basic ABC’s of feeding your baby.

There is just so much to say.

Now, thanks to Dr Ted’s encouragement, I look forward to adding a new document to my collection. We are in agreement that there is way too much stress about feeding your kids. We hope to alleviate some of that.

Grandparents, friends, and social media often have a list of RULES that can make folks spin around and worry that they must be doing something wrong.

Many people have very strong opinions. When I started doing research to build the curriculum for my class, I ran into someone at a Chinese Medicine clinic. When I told her what I was working on, she got very enthusiastic. She practically started to chant. LIVER, LIVER LIVER, is really all that babies need. It should be the first food for all kids. She practically followed me out of the office, yelling LIVER!

While indeed, offering kids liver might have some actual benefits, being exposed to such passionate thoughts about what is right and wrong is NOT my approach.

In fact, during my solids class I would tell a story about no matter how hard you try to be ‘perfect’, in most cases at some point your child was likely to eat something that was completely disgusting (and they survive).

In my case what comes to mind was the time our daughter Lauren shared a meal of meow mix cat food crunchies with a siamese cat named George.

How did I become aware of this? Because Sandy videotaped the interaction. (This was long before cell phones. He was holding a large camcorder. Times have changed.)

One for me/ one for you/another for me/another for you.

Oh, daddy. I surely would have put the camera down and redirected. Sandy defends himself by reminding me that we wouldn’t have that memory if he hadn’t continued recording.

(George the cat ended up becoming ours, but I digress.)

Dr. Ted is now the one trying to field all the questions about starting solids on a daily basis.

Just like we did several months ago with our long breastfeeding document , We are now looking at data and trying to come up with an easy to follow post that maps out our relaxed approach. We are lucky to have the wonderful designer Nancy Elle collaborating with us to make it easy to follow.

We will endeavor to answer all of the frequently asked questions.

When we did the breastfeeding post I put out a request for feedback and got some worthy responses. Some of these included their hard earned wisdom which we included and others requested topics that they wanted us to cover.

So I am once again turning to the hive mind…

For those of you who have successful eaters

• What are your best pieces of wisdom about solid foods that you would share?

• Are there any utensils, tools, apps that were valuable?

• What are the things you wished you knew before you started?

For those of you just starting out, are there any burning questions or concerns that you would like us to cover?

 I look forward to hearing any feedback you are willing to share!!!

With luck we will have a finished product in a month or so.

This photo is Coby, He is now six months and enjoying an assortment of foods.

How to educate your kids about germs/without freaking them out

 Germs are microscopic organisms that can cause disease, and are made up of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa. They exist in many places, including the air, soil, water, on our skin, and inside our bodies.

Minimizing exposure and risk are in everyone’s best interest, but having a discussion of things that are so tiny that they can only be seen with a microscope may be challenging for kids.

When educating kids about germs, it is important to strike the balance of knowledge, caution and empowerment. I asked my friend Brittany, who is a wonderful therapist to weigh in. 

It is in nobody’s best interest to have your child crippled from anxiety and terrified of these invisible monsters. Even in the best of times, over the years I have seen dozens of kids tormenting their parents as they went through germaphobic stages (that is the actual term!) Lady Macbeth had nothing on these kids as they would scrub their hands raw every time they came into contact with anything suspect.

Knowledge

Here are some kid friendly talking points 

• The world is full of tiny things that we can’t see without a microscope. This might be just the time to read Horton hears a Hoo! There are also loads of great age appropriate books to read specifically about germs. Brittany likes this book and it has the option of being read aloud Germs Make Me Sick! By Melvin Berger.

• Most of the tiny things, including many types of bacteria, are good and important. Some of the tiny things that we can’t see are called germs. These are not so good and are usually considered troublemakers.

• People aren’t generally impacted by germs unless they manage to get into our bodies. If they do get in, they can grow and spread. If you can stop them from getting in, you win!

• Have your kids figure out the openings in their body where the germs can enter; mouth, nose, eyes...maybe even a cut. A germ that gets into a cut can cause an infection, but most viruses are getting in through the face.

• Once the germs get into the body, they might make the person a tiny bit sick or very sick. Sometimes the person with the germs inside doesn’t feel sick at all but is still able to spread the germs to someone else. Germs are sneaky!

• If a sick person coughs, sneezes, sings or yells near you, you can breathe in the germs through your nose or your mouth. That is one way for the germs to get inside. 

• The longer you are near an infected person, the bigger the chance of breathing in their germs. Luckily the germs don’t stay in the air for too long. 

• Here’s a fun activity: Get out some bubbles and blow a few. Imagine that the bubbles are full of germs. Notice how they float for a while and then land and pop. Once the bubbles land, that surface now has the germs on it. If you touch it and then touch your face, that is another way that the virus has found a way in.

Actions/preventions

Hand washing is key

• It is important to be thorough. Don't forget fingers and  thumbs If you have long nails, make sure to get under them

• We should wash our hands for at least 20 seconds. Hum a song; your kids might have fun finding a favorite little ditty that helps them keep time. Happy Birthday is a popular one

• Running water is much preferred than a bowl of standing water, so that the bacteria gets washed away

• Water temperature doesn’t actually matter

• Damp hands can transfer way more germs than dry ones, so make sure to towel off or use an air dryer after washing.

• Hand sanitizer is not as effective as soap and water, but sometimes that is all you have available. Make sure you use enough to cover the hands, rub around for 20 seconds and make sure you let it dry.

 Other actions

• We should take off our shoes before coming into the house to prevent outside germs from tracking indoors 

• Teach your kids to cover coughs and sneezes. If there is no tissue handy, then cough into your elbow

• Avoid crowds when possible. If someone has any symptoms of illness, please consider wearing a mask when out in public. Mask wearing is a good way to protect you from being exposed. It is also an easy reminder  not to touch your face.

• Stay up to date with immunizations. When I would give shots I would explain to kids that I was putting magic protection into their body so that if certain bad germs got in, this could protect them

What do we do about thumb suckers?

Habits are hard to break.

Here is a link to an earlier blog post. 

As most of you know, nagging doesn’t work.

Talking about germs and doing some fun experiments, might be helpful tools to add to your arsenal

Do some fun experiments.

Glitter is a great example of how things easily spread. 

1. Do this outside (my niece Rose says that glitter is like the herpes of the art world)

2. A playground is perfect.

3. Put a little glitter on your hands

4. Set a timer and play on several pieces of equipment for about 10 minutes.

5. Get out a magnifying glass (it makes it more fun)

6. Retrace your steps and see if you can see little pieces of glitter

A little olive oil and cinnamon can show you the value of soap and water 

1. Mix some cinnamon or nice smelling spice in some olive oil.

2. Coat your hands with the substance. 

3. Now wash it off with just water, no soap. It becomes clear that the oil and scent are not going anywhere, you need a good scrub with soap to get your hands clean.

Soap can make things scatter

1. Get a bowl of water

2. Sprinkle in some black pepper

3. Stick your finger in the bowl and you might indeed see how some pepper sticks to the finger

4. Wipe the pepper off of the finger

5. Now rub some liquid soap on your finger

6. Stick the finger in the bowl and watch how the pepper scatters

You can see how cool this one is on this short video on youtube 

Bottom line

Brittany kindly reminds us that the point of this post is to educate and empower our children.  If you are dealing with a child that seems especially stressed about the existence of these microscopic threats, first validate that what they are feeling is perfectly alright.  Remind them that there are always things within and outside of our control. By focusing on the things within our control their big feelings will get smaller (see talking points above). 

If you’re a parent who gets the creepy crawlies just thinking about germs, your personal discomfort might contaminate the conversation. If that is the case see if you can pass on this particular task on to another trusted adult.