This morning as the “treat” at the end of her breakfast, I washed some blackberries and served them whole for Kaia. In general, for berries like blackberries or blueberries, it’s not advised to give them whole at her age…. unless the child has shown advanced chewing/biting abilities. So with both types of berries now, I just give them to her whole (occasionally, I flatten the blueberries slightly), and she’s comfortable and more than able to chew through them and swallow. Our nanny watched Kaia shove one whole blackberry into her mouth after the other and laughed.

“If you told me a year ago that I was going to allow a 15-month old to eat WHOLE blackberries under my watch, I would have told you that you were crazy!” our nanny laughed. “I’ll be honest, Yvonne. I have learned a lot about what babies are capable of with food because of you.”

I smiled. It’s always funny when your nanny relents that she was wrong, and you were right. I’d say that with 8+ months of practice with chewing and biting, it’s partly just practice that led Kaia to being the good eater she is. But the other part of it could also just be luck. Maybe if another kid had her same environment and conditions, perhaps they wouldn’t be as mature as Kaia is with food. Who knows?

“Maybe you will do this same form of baby-led weaning for your next nanny kid at your next job,” I said to her, winking.

She shook her head. “No, no… I don’t think so. I will stick with what I am comfortable with!!”