A Progress Report, A Confession and A Revelation

7 weeks into our weaning adventure and we are continually amazed at MiniMe's eating.  Sure, some days I feel like we are doing something wrong and I am going to end up giving her some sort of food complex but for the most part those days are few and far between.  It is hard not to second guess our choices and to compare MiniMe to other babies her age, or all those just starting out and stuffing whole sweet potatoes in their mouths on day 1.  I have to stop myself from constantly saying " why is she still not doing that?" And remind myself that in 7 weeks she has made so much progress.

We (read I) have come to accept that combination feeding is the best route for us and that MiniMe is more than happy to self feed chunks of fruit and toast and some veggies.  Sure she is still avoiding broccoli like the plague, but actually picked up and devoured most of half of a banana the other afternoon as a "snack".  She happily accepts spoons of yogurt, soup, porridge and mashed sweet potatoes and clearly shows us when she has had enough by turning her face away and keeping that little mouth clamped tighter than Fort Knox.  This morning she ate a good portion of scrambled eggs with a little help from dad holding chunks for her to gum bits off of, that is huge progress.  

Little events like this morning's scrambled egg adventure restores my faith in us as parents, it makes me proud of all of us, it helps me remember that MiniMe is her own little person, she is new to all this and is really coming along at her own pace.  Watching her gum down a frightenly huge chunk of melon reminds me of how incredible this journey we are on really is.  

Sure I still dream of the day she'll eat her way through a slice of lasagne, but I am happy with where we are.  This learning process is an experiement and we are doing just fine.  

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.  

1 step forward, 2 steps back: Week 3

Weaning is such an experiment, isn't it? We are experimenting, as parents, trying to figure out what would foods are "right" for MiniMe and she is experimenting with tastes, textures, and that thing called gravity.  All this trail and error has left us continuing to bumble through week 3. 

At the end of last week I thought that we had really made a break through.  MiniMe was happily putting everything in her mouth (or near her mouth) at least once before discarding it on the floor and I'm pretty sure a little bit of toast, peach and pizza crust was actually swallowed.  The pre-loaded spoon was also getting into her mouth before being banged around...PROGRESS!! 

And then MiniMe was floored by a horrible snotty nose and teething as well! Week 3 really has been a week of "Look Look, she's actually chomping on it" and complete avoidance of anything put on her tray. Ups and Downs.  

week 3

We had a lot of soup and yogurt this week.  Surprisingly, one of the big steps forward was on the spoon front.  MiniMe is now letting us feed her a couple of spoonfuls of soup or yogurt.  We show her how we use the spoon to scoop out some soup, then we offer it to her and this week she has been putting her hand on the spoon and helping us guide it into her mouth.  We usually get 3 or 4 spoonfuls in before she starts keeping that little mouth clamped shut.  

I introduced a few new foods this week and stuck with toast, pita, peaches, pizza crust, peppers and broccoli.  Scrambled egg was one of the new ones.  We had tried some omelette before so I wasn't too concerned about any allergic reaction, but I made sure not to offer any new foods that day...just incase.  In the end I don't think any egg actually made it into MiniMe's mouth...it was too bitty for her.  But she had a good time squishing it around her tray.  

Mango was another new food, but it wasn't very well received.  I kept the skin on (washed) to help her hold onto the pieces, but they were quickly tossed overboard.  Dad and I enjoyed eating what was left though, so that's a plus.  

Because MiniMe has been happy to have yogurt already I decided to buy fruit yogurt this week to see if she liked any of the flavours.  I bought tubs of Yeo Valley Organic Blueberry and Peach & Apricot. I love Yeo Valley yogurt anyway, it is thick and not sweet at all.  MiniMe wasn't too keen on the Peach & Apricot, which I thought was surprising since she has been happily sucking on peach slices, but she couldn't get enough of the Blueberry one! 

Finally, we eat a lot of pasta in this house.  It is a really easy, quick weekday meal for me to make and I tend to make sauces with loads of veggies.  We tried MiniMe with some plain penne pasta (easy for her to pick up) and she happily munched away on it.  Next week I am going to try some with sauce on it, but I suspect it will be too slippery for her to pick up.  

I noticed this week that at breakfast time MiniMe is still pretty dopey. She's not quite with it until after her morning nap so I stopped offering her breakfast from Tuesday and gave her what we think of as breakfast foods at lunch time instead...yogurt, toast, fruit and porridge bites.  Since she's still just exploring (and I think she will be for a while) it is ok for her to only be offered food 1 or 2 times a day, anyway.  

The snotty nose turned into a full blown cold by Thursday...putting a temporary halt to the weaning. 

Slowly Slowly: Week 2

Week 2 saw MiniMe showing much more interest in the food we offered her.  Almost everything made its way into her mouth...very little was gnawed on, but it was all given a try.  

The big hits this week were grilled pepper strips (we were having fajitas).  Dad thinks it is because I rubbed a little bit of olive oil on them before I grilled them so when placed before MiniMe they were nice and shiny...like plastic.

Tinned peach slices have also been a big hit. They are the perfect size for hands and oh so juicy! I figure, even if she isn't CHOMPING on them she's getting loads of the juice.  I have no problems with tinned fruit, especially at this time of the year. I'd love to have fresh peaches for MiniMe to try NOW but they are so expensive and...rock hard.  We've tried tinned pears, apricots and peaches and the peaches have been the firm favourite so far (as in she's actually picked it up and put it in her mouth).  It is a bit tricky finding fruit in JUICE rather than SYRUP but there is enough choice out there.  PLUS for £1 I can offer MiniMe peaches for a week.  Oh...yes, the peaches are a little bit slimy, but I just pat them dry with kitchen roll.

Finally, I didn't bother taking a photo of our FrIday night dinner...PIZZA.  Every Friday we have homemade pizza in front of the TV in our pyjamas.  Since we started weaning, however, we've been a bit more civilized and have been eating up at the table in our regular clothes but I can't wait until we can get back to our Friday Night Pizza Party.  This week when I made the dough I omitted the salt and then once baked cut off one of my crusts for MiniMe.  She LOVED it.  She happily sat there gumming away at her dough stick.

I am amazed on a daily basis when MiniMe puts the food from her tray into her mouth.  She has definitely become more curious about it.  She is in love with her spoon, but after 2 or 3 accidental tastings it becomes something to bang on the tray rather than put in her mouth.  She is trying MOST things and her shocked face is more and more precious.

Slowly slowly is our motto.  We are still reminding each other that it is OK if nothing reaches her mouth, that she is happy and chatty and enjoying sitting up at the table.  She IS making progress and this is all new and weird to her.  

On your marks....Get set...GO! Solid Food: Week 1

And so it begins.  

We've well and truly begun this weaning adventure.  Last week I finished reading Gill Rapley's Baby Led Weaning book and a couple of others that I borrowed from the library.  Dad and I had a chat one night in hushed tones to try to decide what we actually wanted to do; how we wanted to approach weaning MiniMe.  

We were excited...super excited...

MiniMe was not. 

I was, in the back of my mind, prepared for her to be completely underwhelmed by a chunk of banana sitting on her tray where her TOYS used to be.  She wasn't even curious.  Nope, no siree...she gave it the stink eye and then proceeded to avoid making eye contact with us and that blasted banana.  

At this stage, in the VERY EARLY days, MiniMe will just explore what we put on her tray (apparently).  She doesn't NEED to eat it, she doesn't KNOW that this stuff is good, and yummy and will make her tummy feel full.  She's supposed to see it as something new to pick up and put in her mouth LIKE ALL HER TOYS AND CLOTHES AND EVERYTHING ELSE WITHIN REACH.  Except for the first 3 days she didn't even do that. 

Week 1 

Maybe she's not ready yet.  She's not one of these babies that grabs food off their parents plates, she just isn't that interested.  She watches us, that's for sure...but she's just not getting into everything...yet.  

So, anyway, Week 1...

We decided to be very relaxed about what we offered MiniMe, and to really try to offer her things that were suitable for her stage of weaning (i.e. NOT WEANING) but that linked in with what we were eating.  Sometimes I decided what to feed her and then planned my dish around that.  

I guess that main thing is that we offered her food whenever we were sitting down to eat, instead of what our health visitor suggested...one type of food, once a day for a couple of days. I don't know if what we are doing is right for MiniMe...maybe we are over stimulating her offering so many different things.

I should say here that neither Dad nor I have any history of allergies in our families so we have decided that MiniMe should be ok with more than one new food a day.   We are sticking to just breakfast and lunch at the moment anyway since Dad works late so if she were to have a reaction we would be able to deal with it and watch it before bedtime rolled around.  On the nights that Dad is home early enough we are sticking with foods she's already tried.  And I'm keeping a food diary, just incase. Once we work up to more regular meals I'll have to make a real effort to remember to offer new things at lunch time.  

On Days 1 and 2 (when Dad was home) MiniMe employed a true avoidance tactic.  She wasn't interested at all. But by Day 3 she was definitely more curious and was at least TOUCHING her food.  Somethings were picked up, somethings were mashed in her hands, somethings were smeared through her hair.  She for sure got a taste of toast, omelette, avocado and some soup....like it actually went into her mouth.  Her gag reflex is impressive.  Just touching the softened oatibix set that off, so did the steamed carrot stick that grazed her lip.  

It is hard not to be a bit impatient and try to help her pick things up or lift bits towards her mouth, because we want to SEE her try her food.  But even by writing this blog post I can see the difference 1 week has made.  So she isn't so keen right now, she doesn't need to be.