Welcome to the July Carnival of Natural Parenting: Let’s Talk About Food
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have written about their struggles and successes with healthy eating. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
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Leave it to me to attempt nightweaning while the beannut is going through a maaajor growth spurt here, folks. We’re talking stunts upon stunts at night (sitting up, rolling over—yes, she’s late to the game—clapping … and eating ALL NIGHT LONG—every half hour to be exact). This has been going on for six nights.
So I stopped the miserable attempts to quit the association between boobs and sleep and I just started feeding her. A lot. Today, she drank a half a cup of hemp milk …
(we bought this brand at Whole Foods… free of the evil carrageenan):
…nursed
(sorry no photo)
…ate two “baby servings” of this Growth-Spurt Soup
It doesn’t look so hot here. But it’s just vegetables and an egg dropped in.
…First I took an egg yolk, since I wasn’t completely ready to introduce the whites, which are more liable to cause a reaction.
…I stirred it into a pot of the soup—which was made from carrots, zucchini, celery, and spinach.
…Then I put it all through her food mill.
…she also ate fistfuls of her special banana bread (wheat-, dairy-, sugar-free)
Then she nursed some more. It was a feast to top all feasts. I gave her a second serving of it all later in the day.
It bought us some time. Not by much because I think she’s also teething and I’m getting my period, which means a supply dip (these events all seem to gang up on us at once here), but a few hours of sleep that wasn’t interrupted by a ravenous teething baby.
Phew.
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Visit Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!
Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:
(This list will be updated July 13 with all the carnival links.)
- Welcome to Two — All About Food — In case you hadn’t heard, there is a conspiracy afoot from the two year olds of the world. Shana at Tales of Minor Interest stumbled onto their newsletter!
- Four Seasons of Eating Locally — Jenn at Monkey Butt Junction has pointers for what fresh produce can be found year-round. (@MBJunction)
- Happy Families Can Have More Than One Diet — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now has figured out a way for her family to live happily as vegans and vegetarians with relatives who eat meat. (@DebChitwood)
- My Own Omnivore’s Dilemma — Seonaid at The Practical Dilettante prioritizes responsible consumer choices for her family.
- No Gluten — No Cry — Joni Rae at Tales of a Kitchen Witch Momma learned to cook balanced meals when her son’s food sensitivities prompted a diet overhaul. (@kitchenwitch)
- Try, Try Again — Stefanie at very very fine has become an enthusiastic consumer of locally grown food.
- CSA — Week 1 — Casey at What Love Is wants her children to know where their food comes from, so she joined a friendly CSA. (@CBerbs)
- Food: Parenting or Homemaking? — Michelle at The Parent Vortex sees food as part of a parent’s nurturing role. (@TheParentVortex)
- 5 Tips to Help Kids Develop Healthy Eating Habits — If you struggle with healthy eating, helping your child develop healthy habits might be a challenge. Dionna at Code Name: Mama shares five easy tips that will help your kids learn to make good food choices. (@CodeNameMama)
- Family Food: Seeking Balance Between Healthy, Sustainable & Affordable — Kristin at Intrepid Murmurings has a whole list of ideas for how she can improve her family’s eating, both now and into the future. (@sunfrog)
- Whole Foods in, Wholesome Feelings Out — Jessica at This is Worthwhile has turned her back on the processed, preservative-ridden food of her childhood. (@tisworthwhile)
- When to Splurge on Organic (and When It Is Okay to Skip It) — Becoming Mamas tell you what foods to prioritize when buying pricier organic food, and where you can find it cheaper. (@becomingmamas)
- A Locavore’s Family Meal — Acacia at Be Present Mama tells a story in pictures of her family taking a trip to the local organic farmers market and then preparing a summer meal together with their bounty.
- Eat Your Food, or Else — Why should we not bribe a child to eat? TwinToddlersDad from Littlestomaks (Science Driven Real Life Toddler Nutrition) explains. (@TwinToddlersDad)
- Food, Glorious Food! — Luschka at Diary of a First Child describes three easy ways her family has started eating healthier. (@diaryfirstchild)
- Celebrating Food — Mrs Green at Little Green Blog believes in food as medicine and thinks it’s worth paying more to keep healthy. (@myzerowaste)
- Oil and Yogurt — What have you been motivated to do with the current oil spill crisis? midnightfeedings has started making her own yogurt. (@midnightfeeding)
- Growth-Spurt Soup (AKA “Beannut Stew”) — BeanMa has a special stew to help her baby through growth spurts that keep her up all night. (@thebeanma)
- Why I Love The Real Food Community — Much like many people who follow AP/NP values, Melodie at Breastfeeding Moms Unite! takes the parts of the “real food” philosophy that work for her family and leaves the rest. (@bfmom)
- Feeding a Family of Six — Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children gives helpful tips for feeding a family of six.
- Starting Solids at 6 Months — Did your doctor recommend that you give your baby cereal? Sheryl at Little Snowflakes discusses how whole foods are so much healthier (and more delicious) than traditional cereal. (@sheryljesin)
- Am I What I Eat? — Andrea!!! at Ella-Bean & Co. has figured out a way to avoid grocery stores nearly altogether.
- Are We Setting Our Kids Up To Fail? — Megan at Purple Dancing Dahlias found that cutting out the junk also transformed her sons’ behavior problems.
- Changing your family’s way of eating — Lauren at Hobo Mama has techniques you can try to move your family gradually toward a healthier diet. (@Hobo_Mama)
- Real Food — What kinds of fake foods do you eat? And why?! Lisa C. at My World Edenwild talks about why she chooses real food.
- A Snackaholic’s Food Battle — Julie at Simple Life wants to stop snacking and get into the old ways of cooking from scratch and raising her own food. (@homemakerjulie)
- Food, Not Fight — Summer at Finding Summer doesn’t want her kids to grow up like her husband: hating everything green. (@summerm)
- How Do You Eat When You Are out of Town? — Cassie at There’s a Pickle In My Life wants some tips on how to eat healthy when you are out of town.
- Carnival of Natural Parenting: Food! — Sybil at Musings of a Milk Maker hopes that by serving her children healthy, balanced meals, they will become accustomed to making good food choices. (@sybilryan)
- There’s No Food Like Home’s — NavelgazingBajan at Navelgazing revels in the Bajan food of her upbringing. (@BlkWmnDoBF)
- This Mom’s Food Journey — Kat at Loving {Almost} Every Moment made a journey from not paying attention to food to growing her own.
- Who Knew Eating Was So Hard? — The challenges involved in changing to healthier eating habits take on a whole new dimension when you have a child who has difficulties eating. kadiera at Our Little Acorn shares her own experiences. (@kadiera)
- Loving Food — Starr at Earth Mama truly believes food is her family’s medicine and is willing to spend days preparing it the traditional way.
- Food Mindfulness — Danielle at born.in.japan details how her family spends money on each category of food. (@borninjp)
- Food for Little People — Zoey at Good Goog wants to bless her daughter with happy traditions built around good food. (@zoeyspeak)
- Eat Like a Baby — Have you been told that you should not equate food with love? Kate Wicker at Momopoly shows us why that’s not necessarily true. (@Momopoly)
- Food — Deb at Science@Home tries to teach her children three rules to help them eat a healthy diet. (@ScienceMum)
- Healthy Eating Lactose-Free — MamanADroit gives us tips on how to eat healthy if you are lactose intolerant (or just don’t want cow milk). (@MamanADroit)
Wonderful post! You bought back memories of my daughter – I remember once jotting down the amount of time I spent feeding her in 24 hours and it was 15 hours LOL!
How the sleep deprived operate.
Anyway, that was a fascinating post; I learned that egg whites are more allergenic than the yolks, plus I would never in a thousand years thought of adding a yolk to soup – what a brilliant idea.
Do you have the banana bread recipe on your site? My dd would love that
Thanks for an excellent and informative post
What a cool idea! I’m not going through a growth spurt (that I know of), but I want to try this soup myself.
Probably not ground up, though…
Isn’t it always the way that you decide on some change in nursing right when they decide to go through a zillion things at once? Ah, well, it will all work out eventually!
Yum! I remember those toothless food days
My baby is 2.5 yrs old and still not night-weaned – we still co-sleep, though, so I’ve never been in a hurry to do so. Good luck with the teething growth spurt!!
[...] Growth-Spurt Soup (AKA “Beannut Stew”) — BeanMa has a special stew to help her baby through growth spurts that keep her up all night. (@thebeanma) [...]
Mrs. Green, I’ll post the banana bread recipe separately and let you know when I do. Thanks!
Dionna, don’t know how you do it. Maybe I’ll look back at some of your posts for inspiration.
[...] Growth-Spurt Soup (AKA “Beannut Stew”) — BeanMa has a special stew to help her baby through growth spurts that keep her up all night. (@thebeanma) [...]
[...] Growth-Spurt Soup (AKA “Beannut Stew”) — BeanMa has aspecial stew to help her baby through growth spurts that keep her up all night. (@thebeanma) [...]
Hmm, hemp milk?? Does Woody Harrelson have anything to do with that? haha
[...] Growth-Spurt Soup (AKA “Beannut Stew”) — BeanMa has a special stew to help her baby through growth spurts that keep her up all night. (@thebeanma) [...]
My kiddo pretty much hates eggs, although I was able to tempt him with some egg yolk mixed with rice once, and he does like soup, so I’m really interested in trying out your egg yolk soup recipe! Hope you get some sleep soon!
[...] Growth-Spurt Soup (AKA “Beannut Stew”) — BeanMa has a special stew to help her baby through growth spurts that keep her up all night. (@thebeanma) [...]
[...] Growth-Spurt Soup (AKA “Beannut Stew”) — BeanMa has a special stew to help her baby through growth spurts that keep her up all night. (@thebeanma) [...]
Thanks, Shana! Eggs with rice sounds great too … and some veggies!
[...] Growth-Spurt Soup (AKA “Beannut Stew”) — BeanMa has a special stew to help her baby through growth spurts that keep her up all night. (@thebeanma) [...]
Love this idea! My little guy is an EATER and some days I feel like he is a bottomless pit. He doesn’t nurse so much anymore, despite my efforts, but he LOVES food! Especially eggs. Cool idea to add it to soup
I also was going to ask for the banana bread recipe (cause he’s also wheat intolerant) so I’ll be looking out for it 
Thanks!
[...] Growth-Spurt Soup (AKA “Beannut Stew”) — BeanMa has a special stew to help her baby through growth spurts that keep her up all night. (@thebeanma) [...]
Interesting idea to add egg yolk to the soup. We will have to try it one of these days. Why do you have to blend it in a food mill?
One of our favorite recipe is to make egg fried rice with veggies using left over basmati rice. We try to go gentle on the soy sacue, even when we use the low sodium version. It is amazing how much sodium soy sauce contains!
When our twins were infants, one of them was feeding from the breast while the other took only the bottle. We also supplemented with formula since there wasn’t enough for both. The tracking sheets got crazy! Looking back, I am simply amazed at the amount of breastmilk and formula they consumed in the first few months.
TwinToddler Dad, I just like the food mill, that’s all
And I’m def. going to try the egg fried rice.
Teething has to be one of the hardest things in our home. We’ve been dealing with it since about 8 weeks, and on and off it rears its head again. Now 9 months and four teeth later, I still dread the teething monster.
I like the sound of the soup, although wouldn’t blend it. My sister’s Bosnian boyfriend’s mother adds egg to most of her soups, which surprised me, but it does a lot for the flavour!
Good luck with the weaning and the teething!
[...] Growth-Spurt Soup (AKA “Beannut Stew”) — BeanMa has a special stew to help her baby through growth spurts that keep her up all night. (@thebeanma) [...]
[...] Growth-Spurt Soup (AKA “Beannut Stew”) — BeanMa has a special stew to help her baby through growth spurts that keep her up all night. (@thebeanma) [...]
[...] Growth-Spurt Soup (AKA “Beannut Stew”) — BeanMa has a special stew to help her baby through growth spurts that keep her up all night. (@thebeanma) [...]
[...] Growth-Spurt Soup (AKA “Beannut Stew”) — BeanMa has a special stew to help her baby through growth spurts that keep her up all night. (@thebeanma) [...]
[...] Growth-Spurt Soup (AKA “Beannut Stew”) — BeanMa has a special stew to help her baby through growth spurts that keep her up all night. (@thebeanma) [...]
We just got our first tooth over here, so I appreciate the eating…all night long! Even today, my quick eater, lounged for a good 45 minutes!! You could always try an amber teething necklace during the day – I am of the opinion that it can’t hurt! And I too am looking forward to your banana bread recipe…yummm!!!
[...] Growth-Spurt Soup (AKA “Beannut Stew”) — BeanMa has a special stew to help her baby through growth spurts that keep her up all night. (@thebeanma) [...]
Ah, teething. 11 months and no teeth yet. And we’ve had soo much teething! Thanks for the reminder … gonna break out the amber necklace tomorrow!
[...] Growth-Spurt Soup (AKA “Beannut Stew”) — BeanMa has a special stew to help her baby through growth spurts that keep her up all night. (@thebeanma) [...]