Starting solids is yet another one of those highly debated and hotly contested areas in motherhood. I personally felt like there was so much information out there and so much advice given- it's really confusing to know what is the right fit for you and your baby! To puree or not puree? Organic homemade or store bought baby food? What about gut flora and fauna? (for the record I had no idea that was even a thing before becoming a parent) How much iron does he need? What if he doesn't like anything? SOO MANY QUESTIONS!!! Recently some of my friends have been asking me how I have such a confident eater and the thought occurred to me. He is really pretty awesome at eating now but how did we get here? What I realised is that it was mostly all lead by him. We just helped him along by offering him lots of choices and opportunities to experience food in a positive way. I thought I’d share a little bit about our journey into solids so far and a bit about what I’ve learned in...

I've been teaching in the Early childhood sector for almost 9 years now and in that time I've learnt a lot about educational philosophies. When I became a Mum myself I was pretty set on using a lot of the principles of the RIE philosophy because I know that the work of Magda Gerber has been studied and proven over the last 70 years. I personally love many of its principles because it was how I was raised (Even though my Mum didn't know about it). It is essentially placing love at the centre and viewing the baby and child as competent and capable. Sadly (like anything) there's a lot of hate out there about how the RIE philosophy is too strict or too old fashioned but I argue that those people have no idea what there talking about and here's why... I have seen the RIE philosophy work in practice in 5 different settings now (3 of which I've personally worked in). II dont think it's a strict rule book becuase it's about creating a culture of kindness fo...