On the Road Weaning: Week 5

I haven't bothered writing anything separate for our 4th week of weaning.  MiniMe had a horrible cold, and then a fever and then a rash.  She wasn't interested in eating or nursing or much of anything, really.  I did continue to offer her things like toast and yogurt over the week, but only once a day if she was in good spirits.  Poor thing, it really knocked her for six...and totally screwed up all the progress we had made with weaning.  And to top it all off, we had a visit from the health visitor where we found out the MiniMe had dropped down another percentile on the weight chart...ugh.

She's never been a great feeder, and although she is very active she doesn't seem to want to eat for any longer than is entirely necessary...so she already had that against her, and then when I mentioned that we had only started weaning at 6 months and were trying mostly Baby Led Weaning, the Health Visitor told us that because MiniMe's weight gain wasn't steady and because she isn't a great feeder it was important to be more aware of how much solid food she was actually ingesting.  She said that she liked Baby Led Weaning and she didn't want to discourage me, but that if I was already trying some combination feeding that I really should try to spoon feed MiniMe yogurt or soup once a day...that way we could guarantee she was taking on at least those calories. And to offer her 3 meals, instead of the 2 I was already doing. All fine with me, really.

Week 5

The day following that visit we flew down to Norfolk to spend some time with the Grandparents.  They were really onboard with the whole finger food thing and totally prepared for the mess, which was really nice for me...made meal times less stressful.  Sticking with the advice we had been given I spent some time making a batch of carrot soup to freeze in an ice cube tray so that we were prepared for MiniMe's meals, and stocked up on some yogurt, cottage cheese and some fruits.  

When we visit The Grandparents we tend to go on lots of day trips so most of the meals at home consist of nibbles for the adults.  It wasn't ideal really in terms of wanting MiniMe to eat what we were eating, but she did manage some good salad plates of veggies, hummus and cheese.  Eating out was another experience, and despite having problems with most high chairs, she managed to nibble on little bits of my meals.  I only found it difficult once to find something appropriate to share on the menu, and when I mentioned to the waitress that I had found it hard she offered to bring MiniMe some toast...which was really nice of her.  In the end, though, MiniMe ended up sucking and gnawing on the pickled cucumber that sat atop my burger! 

This week plums and kiwi fruit were a big hit.  Totally messy, but a big hit. She can easily hold a quarter of a plum or kiwi and use her gums to scrape out the flesh from the inside.  Apples and cucumber were great to gnaw on and massage her gums, and she loved sucking hummus off the ends of bread sticks. 

We introduced meat this week as well, roasted chicken thigh shredded and some lovely lemon chicken breasts shredded too.  MiniMe couldn't get the meat into her mouth so I popped pieces in for her.  I know that I have read about not putting food in a baby's mouth for fear of chocking, but she was very good at gumming the bits I helped her get into her mouth.  She also loved the bolognaise sauce in her piece of lasagne.  

I fed her yogurt or soup everyday, sometimes both in one day...MiniMe is very happy for me to spoon feed her now, and has actually become less interested in picking up the finger foods we offer her.  She is very happy to pick up plums, kiwi, bread sticks, and toast but is less interested in anything that is too wet, or gooey or sticky.  She certainly isn't interested in licking anything off her hands if they get mucky.  

I think it is safe to say we are combination feeding, and happy about that.  

Eating Out During the Early Days

MiniMe and I have been visiting The Grandparents over the past few days.  I was slightly apprehensive about coping with her meals while we were visiting, mostly because we had quite a few restaurant meals on the itinerary.  I wasn't that worried about feeding her while we were in the house, I was a little bit worried about Grandad's kitchen floor and his reaction to the food being tossed overboard all over it, but I needn't of worried about that.  We put a large towel down under the highchair and just let MiniMe do her thing.  Grandad was surprisingly cool with the mess.  I was worried about feeding her while we were out.

Two weeks ago I would have just let MiniMe play with some toys while the adults ate, but after a visit from our Health Visitor I have been advised to make sure she is getting 3 meals a day.  While I'm sure skipping lunch on the odd day wouldn't really make a difference (she's still only experimenting with food) I have noticed that she is starting to EXPECT food if everyone else is eating. 

The things that worried me about offering MiniMe good while we were out were firstly, the mess and secondly having to choose my meal based on what I could share with her. Ok, maybe the second one is a little bit selfish of me, but it is actually really difficult some times, for example one meal I ordered a roast lunch thinking she would be able to have some of huge veg only for it all to be cut super small and cooked very al dente.  She did, however, manage to eat her way through a very soft roast potato on that occasion.  On anotther visit she gnawed away on some courgette rounds, basically sucking the juice out of hone, and when we stopped at a coffee shop for a break she had some of my teacake with  butter. 

The mess, actually, wasn't too much of an issue.  I did pick up all the bits off the floor when she was done, to help the poor servers.  I only offered her one bit of food at a time and handed it to her so that it wasn't sitting on the tray.  And I made sure to wipe the tray before and after eating with some wet wipes. Don't know if any of that really made a difference to anyone else, but it did to me.  

What was most difficult, and what I didn't expect, was how awful some of the highchairs are in some restaurants.  I know they can't all have the highchair we are used to, but some of them are just awful and I've had to bring a tea towel with me in our diaper bag to help prop MiniMe up!!!!