So following on from the afternoon's eating in public success I was much more relaxed about dinner last night. We were having macaroni cheese (always a 'no food in the house' standby!) but while it was being cooked the Moo decided she was starving! Strips of mango and long slices of pear were devoured with all the pieces of papaya studiously ignored. She tried one then avoided all the rest - not a great favourite then!!
Once dinner was ready she happily tucked into the pasta (I had used the spirally stuff as it would be easier to get hold of) and its definitely the smallest thing she's managed to get reliably into her mouth. She also really liked an onion ring!
I think all that food must have helped her to be more settled last night too.
This morning she enjoyed french toast and pears which has been our "cleanest" meal so far!
Saturday, 27 March 2010
Friday, 26 March 2010
Look what I can do!
So today D-Moo decided to show her Aunt and baby cousin (10wks younger than she is) how BLW works while we were out with the boys at soft play. She sat up in her highchair with her sleeved bib covering her lovely dress and made a huge mess with toast and butter, ricecakes, banana and pear. Laughed the whole time and was part of the meal.
I did notice over her shoulder the little boy who had to eat a whole (cold) jar of something orange before his mum had her dinner. He cried through the jar and cried through her meal and it didn't seem like a very happy time for either of them.
Think D-Moo's cousin will be a BLW convert now that they've seen how stress free it can be. S has even asked to borrow my Gill Rapley book.
I did notice over her shoulder the little boy who had to eat a whole (cold) jar of something orange before his mum had her dinner. He cried through the jar and cried through her meal and it didn't seem like a very happy time for either of them.
Think D-Moo's cousin will be a BLW convert now that they've seen how stress free it can be. S has even asked to borrow my Gill Rapley book.
First holiday and definite preferences emerging!
So I know she's got a tooth (two teeth now actually!) and that she enjoys self feeding and BLW but the ex puree weaner in me just won't shut up!
I bought some jars and sachets of slop to take with us on holiday on the premise that I didn't want her hungry and keeping everyone awake all night and that if we were eating in a restaurant that the food probably wouldn't be suitable. Well we did eat in a restaurant and the food probably wasn't suitable but she loved it and refused every mouthful of slop completely! The Baby Led Weaner in me was quietly very proud as it justified to me that she's much happier doing it herself than me trying to get food into her. The only thing she would tolerate (just) was an apple and pear fruit pot but I only gave her that because she hated the porridge! (Never trust anything you have to reconstitute with water!)
So new foods while we were on holiday included crusty bread with butter on it while waiting for our meal to arrive, a beautifully turned cheffy carrot barrel which was the perfect shape to fit in her fist, apple & blueberry ricecakes as a snack and some of the Organix wotsit type crisp things. Definite favourites of the trip included my raspberry sorbet from my starter (must have been good on the sore gums) and roasted red peppers and ciabatta bread from my brie and pepper roll.
I bought some jars and sachets of slop to take with us on holiday on the premise that I didn't want her hungry and keeping everyone awake all night and that if we were eating in a restaurant that the food probably wouldn't be suitable. Well we did eat in a restaurant and the food probably wasn't suitable but she loved it and refused every mouthful of slop completely! The Baby Led Weaner in me was quietly very proud as it justified to me that she's much happier doing it herself than me trying to get food into her. The only thing she would tolerate (just) was an apple and pear fruit pot but I only gave her that because she hated the porridge! (Never trust anything you have to reconstitute with water!)
So new foods while we were on holiday included crusty bread with butter on it while waiting for our meal to arrive, a beautifully turned cheffy carrot barrel which was the perfect shape to fit in her fist, apple & blueberry ricecakes as a snack and some of the Organix wotsit type crisp things. Definite favourites of the trip included my raspberry sorbet from my starter (must have been good on the sore gums) and roasted red peppers and ciabatta bread from my brie and pepper roll.
Monday, 22 March 2010
The tools of the trade
Yay! After a few weeks of night waking we have discovered the culprit. Its hard and white and has been lurking just under the surface for weeks. D-Moo finally has a shiny new tooth to help her chomp on all these lovely new foods she's trying!
She must have heard that her grandad was taking her to a restaurant for her dinner tonight and thought it would help!
She must have heard that her grandad was taking her to a restaurant for her dinner tonight and thought it would help!
I want what he's got!
I clearly remember this phrase from my own childhood but wasn't ready to be dealing with it from my own children just yet! OK so the Moo can't talk yet but she made herself more than clear, sweeping the breadsticks and fruit off her tray and shouting at her brother. What was he eating? Mince and tatties with carrots and peas! So he very generously shared it with her! It would appear that she has an "other people's plate" fixation and as we were having prawn curry which wasn't quite ready she went for the Bogie's instead of mine!
I must add here that once I sat down for mine she really enjoyed strips of paratha dipped in plain yoghurt. It was a wonderfully messy, interactive dinner!
On the subject of breadsticks, I got some of the small party size ones which seem the perfect size to munch on while not being so long that she can test her gag reflex! Added to the toast at breakfast (dipped into greek yoghurt with mango sauce) and the rice cake at mum's (only likes the large ones as she can hold it with both hands) she was on carb overload. Think she'll be on fruit & veg today to balance it out!
I must add here that once I sat down for mine she really enjoyed strips of paratha dipped in plain yoghurt. It was a wonderfully messy, interactive dinner!
On the subject of breadsticks, I got some of the small party size ones which seem the perfect size to munch on while not being so long that she can test her gag reflex! Added to the toast at breakfast (dipped into greek yoghurt with mango sauce) and the rice cake at mum's (only likes the large ones as she can hold it with both hands) she was on carb overload. Think she'll be on fruit & veg today to balance it out!
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Spaghetti is hilarious.... apparently!
So tonight's offering for "dinner a deux" was a toast starter followed by mummy's spaghetti with garlic and courgettes in a cream sauce. This is a meal I make for myself when I don't have to cook for the whole family as nobody else likes it (philistines!) but I'm glad to say my daughter is sharing my tastes.
Each fistful of spaghetti was scooped up, laughed at and banged off the highchair tray until she realised that actually its supposed to go into your mouth. The discs of courgette were sucked dry of all the creamy, garlicky sauce before being lovingly fed to the dog (philistine in training I think!)
Stewed pears and greek yoghurt to follow but getting tired and grumpy by this point.
We've survived a whole weekend without Daddy now as he's been off to John O Groats on a charity drive. The sleeping thing seems to have sorted itself out now too (after a fashion) with just one wake in the night. Wonder if a spot of lunch would help her get some more calories in...
Each fistful of spaghetti was scooped up, laughed at and banged off the highchair tray until she realised that actually its supposed to go into your mouth. The discs of courgette were sucked dry of all the creamy, garlicky sauce before being lovingly fed to the dog (philistine in training I think!)
Stewed pears and greek yoghurt to follow but getting tired and grumpy by this point.
We've survived a whole weekend without Daddy now as he's been off to John O Groats on a charity drive. The sleeping thing seems to have sorted itself out now too (after a fashion) with just one wake in the night. Wonder if a spot of lunch would help her get some more calories in...
Friday, 19 March 2010
I don't feel guilty now.
I wasn't going to post today's food as I intended this to be a BLW blog. Real life isn't like that sometimes and dinner time was a bit of a battlefield tonight.
On the menu for everyone else was pizza - much too much salt for a wee one and no energy today to make from scratch as we often do. D-Moo was so tired from a short nap this afternoon that she was just not up for feeding herself. So she lazily opened her trap for the shovelled in smush which may have been parsnip, apple and baby rice (or pears, I'm not so good at the labelling!)
Sometimes things are worth getting upset about though and today isn't one of them!
She also managed to eat almost a whole pancake for breakfast by herself and is getting much better with holding in the crumbs from her apple muffin with both fists!
So now crashed out for the night and I've celebrated by giving myself a nasty chemical burn with oven cleaner. Who says I don't have exciting weekends anymore!?
On the menu for everyone else was pizza - much too much salt for a wee one and no energy today to make from scratch as we often do. D-Moo was so tired from a short nap this afternoon that she was just not up for feeding herself. So she lazily opened her trap for the shovelled in smush which may have been parsnip, apple and baby rice (or pears, I'm not so good at the labelling!)
Sometimes things are worth getting upset about though and today isn't one of them!
She also managed to eat almost a whole pancake for breakfast by herself and is getting much better with holding in the crumbs from her apple muffin with both fists!
So now crashed out for the night and I've celebrated by giving myself a nasty chemical burn with oven cleaner. Who says I don't have exciting weekends anymore!?
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Loaded Spoons
So tonight's offering for dinner was a loaded spoon affair. The Bogie and I were having fish pie (haddock, peas, cheese sauce, mashed potato) which really doesn't present itself in the Rapley-esque chip shape! She managed remarkably well even though by the end she was opening her mouth waiting for me to shovel it in rather than putting her hand out for the spoon.
I have noticed that she seems to eat better if she's eating off my plate rather than off the highchair tray - it may be the height of the table or just that she feels safer eating my food!
We compromised by me spoon feeding her yoghurt as she was getting very frustrated with not being able to scoff it quickly enough!
I have noticed that she seems to eat better if she's eating off my plate rather than off the highchair tray - it may be the height of the table or just that she feels safer eating my food!
We compromised by me spoon feeding her yoghurt as she was getting very frustrated with not being able to scoff it quickly enough!
Breastfeeding and Sleeping Through the Night
I have come to the conclusion that I was blessed with manna from heaven in the form of my son. He slept 7 till 7 with a dreamfeed at 10 from the age of about 8 weeks. Fast forward my life 5 years and I have bags the size of suitcases under my eyes from D-Moo's constant night waking.
The traditional puree weaning school of thought is that when they stop sleeping through they are ready for baby rice etc. Stop sleeping through? I'm still waiting for it to start!
I am driven crazy by well meaning strangers asking, "is she good?" and have to smile and say yes when I want to tell them that after four years of trying to conceive her I think she isn't just good she's flipping amazing as I am sure all they want to know is if she sleeps all night.
That said she only woke up once last night at 4am but was rudely awoken by Mr Flibbertigibbet getting ready in his own noisy way to catch an early flight.
I remain resolute that 8.30's not a lie in when you've been awake from 4 till 7.
I love breastfeeding, its simple, fuss free and completely portable. The only downside to this is that she's really not keen to have a bottle. In fact, went completely on strike the last time she stayed at mum's overnight and went with nothing from 4pm - 10.30am. Just shows me that all these night wakes aren't because she's starving!
The traditional puree weaning school of thought is that when they stop sleeping through they are ready for baby rice etc. Stop sleeping through? I'm still waiting for it to start!
I am driven crazy by well meaning strangers asking, "is she good?" and have to smile and say yes when I want to tell them that after four years of trying to conceive her I think she isn't just good she's flipping amazing as I am sure all they want to know is if she sleeps all night.
That said she only woke up once last night at 4am but was rudely awoken by Mr Flibbertigibbet getting ready in his own noisy way to catch an early flight.
I remain resolute that 8.30's not a lie in when you've been awake from 4 till 7.
I love breastfeeding, its simple, fuss free and completely portable. The only downside to this is that she's really not keen to have a bottle. In fact, went completely on strike the last time she stayed at mum's overnight and went with nothing from 4pm - 10.30am. Just shows me that all these night wakes aren't because she's starving!
Experiments in spoon feeding
Roasted carrot sticks and crinkle cut chips were D's tea last night as we were eating macaroni cheese and I wasn't sure if it would be too much salt, dairy and wheat all in one go when we're relatively new to weaning.
She loved the chips and carrots and I decided to give her a yoghurt afterwards. It was a peach Muller Little Stars one. The BLW approach is to give loaded spoons so I handed her the spoon with the yoghut on it. She liked it so much then next time I went to give her the spoon she opened her mouth so wide I just put it right in.
She obviously liked it so much she didn't want to spread it up the wall or in her hair today so I just fed it to her. Turns out she's better with the spoon than I am!
She loved the chips and carrots and I decided to give her a yoghurt afterwards. It was a peach Muller Little Stars one. The BLW approach is to give loaded spoons so I handed her the spoon with the yoghut on it. She liked it so much then next time I went to give her the spoon she opened her mouth so wide I just put it right in.
She obviously liked it so much she didn't want to spread it up the wall or in her hair today so I just fed it to her. Turns out she's better with the spoon than I am!
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Getting more adventurous...
So we've started to move on from the fruit and vegetables by themselves and go for more family food.
French toast went down particularly well and is the first meal we've all sat down to as a family and eaten the same thing!
She also turned her nose up at the mashed potatoes mixed with the gravy from the sausage casserole preferring instead to munch on a whole sausage quartered lengthways. Probably too much salt in this meal to repeat it though!
This morning's jam on toast experiment wasn't so successful though! She has taken to picking up what she doesn't want to eat and banging and banging it off the highchair tray.
French toast went down particularly well and is the first meal we've all sat down to as a family and eaten the same thing!
She also turned her nose up at the mashed potatoes mixed with the gravy from the sausage casserole preferring instead to munch on a whole sausage quartered lengthways. Probably too much salt in this meal to repeat it though!
This morning's jam on toast experiment wasn't so successful though! She has taken to picking up what she doesn't want to eat and banging and banging it off the highchair tray.
Starting out
So after a quick squizz at the Gill Rapley book we took the plunge.
Foods offered in the first two weeks have included nectarine pinched off my plate.
Foods offered in the first two weeks have included nectarine pinched off my plate.
It was popular but lots of sucking and not much eating going on, it was too slippery to hang on to I think.
She's also enjoying the apple and pear porridge but only if I hand her the spoon!
A confused start
So we started this weaning journey the same way we started the last one. With tears, frustration and wallpapering the house with breastmilk and baby rice.
The photos tell the tale of her enthusiasm for this momentous occasion, or not as the case may be!
So we tried with some other tastes mixed in. She tolerated apples and pears, gagged on butternut squash and flatly refused mashed potato.
I started to notice she liked holding the spoon and would swipe anything she could reach from my plate so came to the conclusion that we would just go with the Baby Led Weaning approach and we're not looking back!
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