There's no reason to stop breastfeeding at 1. The WHO recommends going until age 2. I personally breastfed my daughter til 28 mos. My youngest is almost 8 mos and I'll continue to breastfeed him as long as he wants. Look into child led weaning. That approach is likely the most paleo-primal approach to feeding our children.

Steak! Not joking, tough steak is great for teething and babies love it. Look at youtube vids of babies eating steak, they really relish it.

+1 recommendation for Nina Planck's book.

Congrats to your wife on nursing/pumping so long! I myself did 6 months of pumping with my first, and so know how much dedication that takes. Check out kellymom.com for a WEALTH of practical breastfeeding info, in particular this fact sheet and link list on nursing past one year (frequently referred to as "extended nursing"). Good luck!

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/bfextended/index.html

Also, for solids - get a mini chopper/food processor. (Walmart sold ours for $9.99 five years ago.) These easily puree bananas, avocado, other soft-cooked foods, etc. And dishwasher-safe pieces make for easy cleanup.

Edit to add: Sorry - all these ideas are coming to me over the past couple of days. Check out wholesomebabyfood.com if you like. It's definitely not fully paleo compatible but it does offer some tips on making whole foods palatable and nutritious for your baby in terms of cooking/prep/storage.

Although my wife is not paleo (I'm trying to change her!), we give our 3 and 1 year old what we eat. Apart from anything else, it's easier for the whoever is preparing the meals and doesn't allow them to dictate what they eat (believe me, they will try). I find babies can cope with most foods. I don't go against the admittedly CW advice that some common allergic foods should be avoided (nuts especially) until they are a certain age. And some foods require some assistance - meat needs chopping up (or chewing it a bit for them first like some cultures do).

Interestingly, I found that both my children gravitate towards fruit, soft vegetables, eggs, and dairy naturally (but not meat). It's only when they are a bit older that they 'learn' to eat crap like cookies, pastries, etc.

Finally - in this day and age - well done to your wife for getting this far with breast feeding. Many mums give up after a few weeks. Good luck.

pureed steamed vegies. pureed meats. easy on the fruit. Introduce one food at a time. go easy on the spices at first. Many times I'd puree whatever food we were eating with a little water or broth added.

So pumped up to watch my 18 week old mow down an entire soft boiled egg (whipped up with a hand blender) followed with a mother's milk chaser. He's a little cave-boy! Plenty of good baby foods are just regular paleo-foods smashed, blended or strained to prevent a choking: liver, egg/egg yolk, steak, coconut milk w/ berries, yams, etc.

I'm not even opposed to the local raw dairy products we have available locally, fermented cream etc as a food now and again.

Goats milk is the closest you'll find to human breast milk...

I just finished watching on YouTube Loren Cordain's "The Paleo Diet and MS." and at the very end of part 7 of 7 an audience member asked him that exact question: what to do about calcium needs when done breast-feeding. I don't want to get his answer wrong. But I found this entire series very informative. He goes in great detail explaining how these "bad" proteins cross over into our blood stream. Watch the entire series if you get a chance. But here is the link to part 7:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzyreAZzif0&feature=related

I breast fed all of my children. When they were little I was not paleo. They all got a ton of milk/dairy products and we still do. They are all above average in height and intelligence, but I am struggling with getting them off the grains first. WE eat a lot of eggs. I always tell people kind of half joking, "We eat a lof of eggs!" I know they are very nutrient dense. I don't know when it is recommended to start eating eggs.???

Hey everyone.

Thank you so much for these great replies. I really appreciate it.

For the most part, you have confirmed what I originally conceived: Just feed him what we eat. Seems logical enough to me. We've already done this more and more as he's eaten more solid foods; it's been a joy to watch him enjoy foie gras, runny egg yolks, salmon, ground beef, and even a bit of bacon.

It's great to know I'm not alone as a paleo parent :-)

-Chris

Just thought I'd share my little paleo baby 6 months old enjoying a meaty lamb bone.

He also chewed on some sauteed spinach with olive oil and garlic tonight. :-)

Let baby eat what you eat!

I'd let them try whatever you are eating for the most part (of course, no alcohol, I'd not do honey, and all those normal exceptions. But it's natural for them to want to eat what you eat. Set a good example and the child will follow.

I'm kind of busy right now so might want to check Cooling Inflammation blog. There is quite a lot of talk about babies and diet in the comments section.

I am also searching for the best way to transition from breast milk to paleo. I was in an accident when my baby was 6mo and I lost my milk supply by the time she was 8 months. In a desperate effort to keep her off formula, I started mixing up the Weston A. Price baby formula. Although I use raw dairy, goats milk is probably a better choice. but neither is paleo so what does one do? I'm sure paleo woman nursed until baby could take part in eating what the family ate. I agree that babies need to nurse for as long as possible. AFter 5 children, I found they have a need to be held and to suckle long past the one year mark and although my kids only averaged one year....I totally agree with the 2-3 yr. nursing. the big question becomes....what do you do if you just can't?

My 6.5 month old LOVED sucking and gumming the juice out of a nice tender strip of steak. Great for iron too.