Author Archives: Rebecca Wilkens

About Rebecca Wilkens

BabyLed is the married mother of one beautiful daughter. She and her family live in the Midwest of the United States. BabyLed loves learning new ways for her family to be healthy and happy. She is a strong believer in attachment parenting, cooking from scratch, and alternative medicine (but is very thankful for conventional medicine when it is needed.). She would much rather avoid illness by living a healthy lifestyle than treat an illness after it has arrived. BabyLed loves reading, cooking, nature, and good old celebrity gossip. BabyLed graduated from college with a degree in Elementary Education. After teaching preschool for two years, she quit her job to be a fulltime mommy to her infant daughter. Being one of those "paranoid, first-time mothers" has led to her reading many books and articles on parenting and children. Although she has been around children her entire life, the birth of her daughter gave her a whole new perspective on what children are all about.

Dilemma: Baby Food Storage

When I decided to make my own baby food, I didn’t go out to buy any special materials. Sure, there are some handy do-it-yourself baby food kids, but I couldn’t justify spending the money on them. I use my own pots to steam the vegetables, puree them in a regular small food processor, and store them in regular Tupperware. The Tupperware is where I ran into some problems. Our refrigerator is usually jam-packed with food and drinks. Don’t ask me why, because I couldn’t tell you. It’s just my husband , daughter, and me. What are we going to do … Continue reading →

Early Potty Training Tips

Early potty training used to sound like a completely unnecessary hassle to me. I’d read articles about mothers trying to read their babies cues as early as 4 months of age. They developed the ability to know when their child was about to pee. About to pee? How did they do that? It’s not like a baby grunts to go number one. And yet, there was something appealing about having a 2-year-old who was completely potty trained. Still, I didn’t plan to do it with my kids. As children begin eating solids, it becomes very obvious when they are about … Continue reading →

Potty Training: Start ‘Em Early

There’s been lots of pooping on the potty going on at my house lately, and no, my husband and I do not have the stomach flu. I’m talking about our 1-year-old. Yep, you heard me – she’s pooping on the potty. Before you start rolling your eyes, calling me one of “those crazy moms who starts potty training a week after her child is born,” hear me out. I didn’t plan to be an early potty trainer; it just happened naturally. One day, when my daughter was about 11 months old, I was sitting next to her on the floor, … Continue reading →

Panic Attack

My baby is dehydrated. Every single morning, since the day she was born, she has soaked her overnight diapers. Literally drenched them. Not usually enough to get her clothes wet, but sometimes. If they were cloth diapers, I could smell the ammonia aroma from a mile away. If they were disposable, the things weighed about 10 pounds. It made sense. During the day, I changed her diaper every two hours or so. All she consumed in the way of “food” was breast milk. She was a healthy, growing, well-hydrated little pumpkin. Of course her diapers were going to be full … Continue reading →

A Day in the Life of a One-Year-Old: Afternoon/Evening

This is a continuation of yesterday’s blog, which shared the morning routine of my one-year-old daughter. Today’s blog will share with you my daughter’s afternoon routine. See how it compares with yours. My daughter’s morning nap (beginning around 10:30am) very often will go until noon. As soon as she’s up, we get lunch ready. These days, she’s mostly eating soft, partially pureed vegetables and fruits. She’s also learning to drink water from a cup (we are not doing cow’s milk with her). After lunch, we either play with toys in the living room, or relax on a blanket in the … Continue reading →

A Day in the Life of a One-Year-Old: Morning

I’m confident and comfortable with the fact that every child is different. Each child has different sleep habits, eating habits, and develops at his own rate. Still, I like to hear what other babies and mothers are going through to see how it compares to what my baby and I are experiencing. For this reason, I’m going to give you a day in the life of my one-year-old. I figure some of you reading this may also have a one-year-old, or a child close to that age. As your child goes through her day, you may be thinking, “Is that … Continue reading →

My Baby: A Bottomless Pit

These days, I’m convinced my 1-year-old has some extra storage space in her stomach she’s hiding from me. She’s not a big kid. She was huge at 6 months of age, then completely thinned out. In fact, I’m pretty sure her weight has stayed the same from 6 months until now. You’d think that a little peanut like her would have the appetite of a bird. No siree. That girl can pack food in like nobody’s business. A month ago, we’d eat breakfast together, and she’d consume a small amount of my daily bowl of oatmeal. Now, I have to … Continue reading →

Everybody’s Talkin’ ‘Bout Quinoa

I’ve developed a fairly active social life with other young mothers living near me. During our get-togethers, our conversations generally center around all things baby: breastfeeding, solid feeding, diapers, spit-up, sleep. You name it, we talk about it. A word that frequently came up during our discussions about solids was one I had never heard before: quinoa. One friend and my sister were both feeding quinoa to their infant sons. I was intrigued, but because we were in the process of moving, I never took the time to investigate this so-called superfood. I ran across a box of quinoa in … Continue reading →

Warm Weather Car Safety

Depending on where you live, winter can be long, depressing, and, let’s face it, cold. When warm weather arrives, many of us can hardly wait to get outside. There are parks to visit, playgrounds to explore, and beaches to comb. And yet, with all the fun surrounding warm-weather outings, some precautions need to be taken when traveling with a baby. Before you even place your child in the car, check the car seat, especially any metal buckles or other metal parts. These can get extremely hot during a warm day, especially if they are in the direct sunlight. The last … Continue reading →

Fact Or Fiction: The Later Her Teeth Come In, The Healthier They’ll Be

Because my daughter was so late to cut her first tooth, my husband and I had the “pleasure” of hearing many opinions on the matter. Many experienced parents shared that their children were also late to get teeth, and several young parents shared how many teeth their babies already had. The most common remark we heard, however, went something like this: “You’re lucky she doesn’t have teeth yet. The later her teeth come in, the healthier they’ll be.” This often was followed with stories of people not getting teeth until 14 months of age and going on to never have … Continue reading →