Watch Me Bloom Blog

Benefits of Letting Your Baby Feed Themselves

January 25, 2021

Many parents wonder whether they should start complementary foods with spoon-feeding or baby-led weaning. A combined approach is beneficial for your baby for a couple of reasons. Initially, spoon-feeding makes sense because it ensures your little one is getting enough daily iron. But, as your infant gets older and the oral cavity develops, they will soon be ready to try different textures. Self-feeding allows infant to develop independence and mutual trust, aids in fine motor skills and sense for feeling, squeezing, and dropping items—and teaches food awareness, developing taste, smell, and temperature appreciation.

Behind the Scenes: Designing a Collection

December 28, 2020

Hello—I’m Karen, the other face, and designer/illustrator of Watch Me Bloom! Join me this month as I share my experience and creative process in designing our book series—Recipes for Growing Me—and what it's like to develop a product collection. From the character development, to matching onesies, creating a ready to go baby shower gift, lunchbox cards to affirm young children, or a variety of digital wall art/prints, we've got a gift for every baby shower and new parent.

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How Much Should My Baby Eat?

November 30, 2020

There’s no doubt, being a first-time parent can be stressful. With so many new things to consider; knowing if your baby is eating enough is just one of the many concerns you might have. You’ll often hear experts (including parents!) say that newborns will typically have feedings every 2-3 hours. But, how much per feeding? And how does this change as they get older? In this month’s blog, our goal is to simplify the guidelines on how much to feed your baby, starting from birth to 12-months-old.

How Much Vitamin C Do We Need?

October 26, 2020

Cold and flu season is around the corner. In this month’s blog we explore vitamin C in more detail, looking at the crucial role it plays in our bodies, where we can find it, and how to ensure our little ones are receiving enough of the recommended daily values. Vitamin C is an essential nutrient that cannot be produced by the human body and is consumed from natural sources or supplements.

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Understanding Food Labels

September 28, 2020

Enjoying a balanced and nutritious diet has gained a lot of attention in recent years due to the high rates of obesity and chronic illnesses caused by a poor diet. So how can we make better, informed choices about the food we consume, and for our families? In this blog we dive a little deeper into food labels: what they include, what to look for, and how to use them to make healthy choices. This is a longer post, but we decided it was important to dedicate a whole post about nutritional labels so that you know exactly what you are reading and what it means!

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Eating a Rainbow: Why this is Important

August 31, 2020

Have you ever heard of ‘eating more colour’, or ‘eating a rainbow’? What does this mean? And why is this important? The American Heart Association divides eating in colour into five main categories: Red/Pink; Blue/Purple; Yellow/Orange; White/Brown; and Green. In this blog, we dive a little deeper to understand why eating in colour is important, and explore its benefits.

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Pros & Cons of Homemade Baby Food

July 27, 2020

These past few months have been an interesting time! With a forced slow-down of the economy due to the Covid-19 pandemic, our lives have been turned upside down; however, some might argue this is for the better! Busy lifestyles lead us to easy solutions for the short term, yet they aren’t providing the long-term outcomes we desire. The importance of eating healthy is something that we hear everyone talk about—but we need to dive deeper into how nutrition impacts our little ones and carve out the time to make infant nutrition a priority.

What is Responsive Feeding?

June 29, 2020

Responsive feeding involves understanding your baby’s cues regarding feeding—and responding to them appropriately. It sets the foundation for healthy eating habits and leads to developing the skills necessary for self-control and management of food intake. This includes ‘responsive parenting’—the positive interactions you have with your baby (including, but not limited to food) that lead to a mutual understanding and bond that results in optimal feeding behaviours, as well as secure relationships and better cognitive and language development.

How to Make Finger Foods

May 25, 2020

Okay, so now that you know your infant is ready to progress to textures, what are the best finger foods to offer your baby? It is recommended to avoid foods high in sugar, such as store-bought food pouches that do not offer the nutritional benefits that come from fresh foods. Finger foods should also be soft, easy to swallow and cut into bite sizes. Also, offering finger foods promotes self-feeding and gives infants a chance to develop autonomy.

Texture in Your Baby’s Diet

April 27, 2020

It seems to be well documented that infants are ready for complementary foods at around 6-months of age; however, the importance of introducing different textures around 9-months is not as well known. It makes sense that this transition should naturally occur if the goal for infants is to enjoy a variety of foods and textures by one year of age; [3] but how are we supposed to know when—and why our infants are ready for this progression? According to an expert panel review, introducing finely chopped foods at around 9-12 months is recommended (provided that your infant shows signs of developmental readiness).

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Importance of Breast Milk Donations

March 30, 2020

The importance of breast milk for infants has been well documented and breastfeeding is considered the gold standard for essential nutrients and protective agents. But what happens when a mother and baby are unable to breastfeed? There can be several reasons for this, including premature birth (which may be secondary to the shortened period of the mother’s changes in her mammary glands), the stress associated with premature birth, or other causes. Human Milk Banks are a wonderful option for babies unable to breastfeed, especially those in critical care in the NICU. Essentially, they can provide important microorganisms when breastfeeding is not an option.

Benefits and Challenges of Breastfeeding

February 24, 2020

Breastfeeding has long-term benefits for children—including lowering the risk of Type II diabetes, obesity, and better intelligence scores. Breastfeeding helps protect infants from childhood illnesses; breast milk contains all the nutrients an infant requires until 6 months old (then complementary feedings can start with continued breastfeeding up to and beyond two years). Breast milk has antibodies and helps protect against childhood illnesses such as diarrhea and pneumonia.

Breastfeeding is great for mothers—it helps lower risk of breast and ovarian cancer, as well as Type II diabetes, and postpartum depression. Also, breastfeeding can promote infant bonding, as well as greater postpartum weight loss.