I am a FTM and totally learning as I go. DS is 8.5 mo. I have a few miscellaneous questions. TIA! You don't have to answer all of them!
Sippy/Straw cups- I have been wanting to give my LO water/formula in a cup. I have both the sippy and the straw version. I have heard the straws are better, but I would be happy if he would use either. Both have handles on them. I give them to him a few times a day, and he just doesn't get it. He grabs one handle (not usually both)and starts chewing on the staw/spout. He doesn't actually suck. Any advice on how to make this happen other than just keep giving it to him? He has drank water out of a water bottle before, but most of it ran out of his mouth and I was holding the bottle for him.
Pack n play- right now we use it as a diaper changing station. He is starting to get long for it, but it still totally works. When did you stop using it as a diaper area and start using it for it's intended purpose-a play pen? Or would you use it as both and just pop the diaper part off when LO was in there? If you don't use it for diapering anymore, where do you change them?
Solids- we do mostly BLW, and he is GREAT at feeding himself, but my hubby sometimes gives LO purees. For those who do strictly purees, how do you wean? How much purees/ bottles to give your LO? I'm just curious more than anything. On days that he gets purees I don't want to overfed him. Also, when can you start giving them cherrios so they can work on their pincer grip?
Development- he is not crawling/scooting yet. He tries when he is on his belly and I feel like he is getting closer and closer. He can get his butt in the air, but not lift up on his arms, or he can get his arms all the way up, but not his butt. He sits fine, but he will try to reach for a toy with his upper body, but doesn't know how to move his lower body towards the object too (and start to crawl from the sitting position). Therefore, he can't get from tummy to sitting or sitting to tummy. Any way to encourage this? I basically have to move him from one position to the other. He tries to get from sitting to tummy, but ends up falling on his poor face and crying. I also haven't really thought to put him next to furniture to see if he will start pulling himself up until recently. I just started putting his hands on the ottoman and letting him stand there. He still needs me for a little support, but he is getting better. Once he is able to stand without my help, will he start to pull himself up? How do I encourage this?
He seems to do everything just a little later than everything I read. He is usually on the later end of “normal”. He started rolling around 6 mo, started sitting around 7 mo, but just recently got a lot less wobbly. He hasn't missed any milestones or anything, so I think that he just likes to take his time. I'm a worry wart so I want to make sure I'm doing everything right. He hasn't clapped or waved bye yet.
Re: Few random FTM questions
A general rule is that "Food before 1 is just for fun". It doesn't matter whether that food is in the form of purées or table foods.
It is strange to me that BLW and purées have been assumed to be opposites. Kids don't eat purées forever. If you start with purées, you should be gradually varying the textures of them so that baby has variety and increases the amount of chewing/mashing being done. As you offer increasingly chunkier foods, you will eventually develop a full range of table food type foods being offered.
It's a relatively short time that kids are eating purées anyway. After about a year or so, they can probably handle almost anything that isn't a physical choking hazard, or allergen.