AND WE'RE BACK! A Catch up and some meal ideas

I've been struggling with a Babe who all of a sudden decided that the fantastic nap routine she FINALLY got on was NO GOOD and that she much rather nap on the go, which has meant that between that and 2 trips to Canada in the last couple of months I haven't had much time to sit down and post anything here. 

Over the past couple of months (from 10-12 months) I can't say that I have noticed any big changes in  MiniMe's approach to eating, her likes and dislikes, or her appetite.  She is still excited by food more often than not and even on the days when she isn't feeling well she will still eat most of what we are offering her.  

At 10.5 months her bottom 2 teeth FINALLY came through and we have noticed that she is trying to rip stuff like bread into smaller bites using them, but without the top guys it is still pretty difficult.  She definitely prefers her food in smaller bite-sized pieces. Every day I will offer her something in a bigger piece but she leaves it until I cut it up smaller (strips of chicken, toast, banana...anything).  The bite sized pieces I offer her are still large enough that she needs to gum them though. 

While we were away visiting family in Canada we ate out a lot and most places were very accommodating making us veggies without salt, sweet potato fries without salt, bringing a side of toast and peanut butter, or an extra scrambled egg.  She helped things, of course, with her big smiles and goo goo eyes.  I often ordered something that we could share and then a side of something else to share because the KIDS menus just weren't appealing. 

We are back home now, trying to get over the 2nd lot of jet lag and resume normal service.  Here are a few things we have had over the past couple of weeks to offer some inspiration. 

Breakfast: Corn Flakes softened in milk, banana and peanut butter and jam bread roll ups

Breakfast: Scrambled Egg with cheese, blueberry porridge bar and yogurt

Brunch: French Toast, scrambled egg, beans and yogurt

Snack: Peanut Butter with mashed banana (slices of banana and a coffee for mum) 

Dinner: Spaghetti Bolognese and broccoli 

I cut the spaghetti strands in thirds so they were easier to schlurp up 

Dinner: Beans, avocado and cheese

Dinner:  Pizza with cheese,ham and mushrooms (I make my own dough so there is no salt) 

Lunch: Minestrone Soup with Alphabet pasta and hummus bread roll ups 

Breakfast with MiniMe

We have hit week 6 of our adventure with solids, and for the most part MiniMe is really enjoying this new experience.  Sure, she still hasn't given broccoli a second glance (even mashed and mixed with sweet potatoes she shunned it) but she is now picking up and devouring chunks of banana and will give almost everything we put down in front her a try.  She makes exaggerated chewing motions, and is getting better at finishing huge mouthfuls before ramming some more in.  Also, in the past 2 days, or so, she is able to open her fist up a bit to get at the ends of whatever is in her hand.

When we started out I was trying to offer her something at every meal. I wasn't that worried if it was touched or played with or if it made its way to her mouth, I just wanted her to get used to the ritual of sitting up at the table, eating and talking, together.  In the beginning she wasn't too interested in breakfast...I don't know if it was because we were trying to eat too close to her waking up and nursing, or if she was still a little dopey from being asleep...but she wasn't even interested in picking things up.  

Over the last three weeks I've tried to be more aware of when we are having breakfast in relation to her last milk feed.  It is difficult.  Some days MiniMe nurses between 6 and 6:30 and then dozes for an hour or so. On these days we have breakfast about 30 mins after waking up and she will happily eat everything I offer her. On other days she will sleep through the 6:30ish feed and wake around 7:30 starving, nurse and then won't touch her breakfast an hour later, by which time I am starving! 

Regardless of her nursing time I still like to offer her a full breakfast on the off chance that she might all of a sudden be starving.  Sadly, I am just not able to read her signs yet.  

Anyway, here are a selection of breakfasts we gave had over the past couple of weeks.  Since we are combination feeding I always offer MiniMe something that I can spoonfeed her and some finger foods so she can also self feed.  The biggest change is her sudden u-turn with banana.  She is happily picking it up and shoving it in her face, so no need to mash it up any longer! 

Porridge made with water and stewed cherries and blueberries.  This was a big hit.  I wasn't confident with giving MiniMe the fruit yet, even cut up,so I mashed it and she had porridge with all the juices. 

Oatibix with banana (mashed for MiniMe) with buttered crumpet and coffee for Mum.  I read somewhere, I can't remember where, that crumpets are a better finger food to offer than toast at this stage because they don't compress the way toast does in the mouth and are easier to gum.  MiniMe loves them and they are also easier for her to hold.  

We slept in very late one day after a particularily horrible night so MiniMe and I had a lovely brunch of tomato and cheese omelette, cottage cheese (to spoonfeed), cucumber and toast.  Sometimes I hold the piece of omelette for her to bite a bit off of, sometimes she happily picks it up herself, every day is different.  

Porridge made with water, mashed banana and milk for MiniMe and brown sugar and cinnamon for Mum, toast and crumpets, and the manditory coffee.  The mashed banana was the only bit of fruit in the house that morning and while MiniMe was happily picking banana up by this point I didn't want it ending up on the floor.  

Blueberry yogurt, banana, and peanut butter on crumpet.  We started out giving MiniMe plain full fat greek yogurt, and she seemed happy with it, but after a few weeks I did a little bit of research and decided that the organic full fat fruit yogurt Dad and I liked didn't have much added sugar (especially for the amount MiniMe was eating) so we have been giving her the same stuff we eat for a few weeks now.  She tried peanut butter on her crumpet that day.  We have no history of allergies and I made sure not to offer any other new foods on the same day...and all was fine...phew.  

Now that MiniMe is eating more and is much more capeable chewing and holding different foods we are finding it much easier sharing what we are eating with her.  

What are some of your favorite breakfast foods? 

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. 

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.