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.  

Getting Ready...

Last week I attended a weaning talk at the local baby clinic.  I only knew about it because the baby nurse had mentioned it when we were in getting MiniMe weighed before Christmas.  Actually, when we were there before Christmas she asked if we were staying for the weaning talk she was doing that day (which I didn't know about).  I wasn't really prepared to, at that point, so she said to come along to the one in the new year.  

Along we bumbled.  A few mums from my antenatal group were there getting their babies (born before MiniMe) weighed and when I asked if they were staying for the weaning talk they told me they had (all) already been to a talk and, besides, they were (all) already weaning.  That didn't really phase me. MiniMe is the youngest baby in the group anyway.  What I wasn't prepared for was for her to be the OLDEST at the weaning talk.  The baby nurse was actually surprised that we were there, and what she told us wasn't really relevant to us anyway...because it was all about weaning from 17 weeks.  

I guess I felt a bit the fool, really.  I hadn't been notified of any talks when MiniMe was 4 months old and since weaning wasn't even on my radar at the time I didn't think to ask about it.  Needless to say I didn't really learn anything new from the talk.  And it was only after the fact that I thought of some questions to ask (about offering whole wheats and grains, dairy, brown rice).  We see the Health Visitor in a week so I'll TRY to remember to ask her then. 

In the meantime we've decided to start MiniMe on solids TOMORROW! We had been intent on waiting until she is 26 weeks but social engagements mean that Dad won't be around next weekend and it wouldn't be fair on him to miss out on such a BIG EVENT.  

I've also been reading some weaning books, namely Baby Led Weaning by Gill Rapley and Weaning Made Easy by Rana Conway.  Rapley's book is all about Baby Led Weaning (obviously) and it outlines how to go about it through the different stages MiniMe will go through over the next few months.  It explains about gagging reflexes and, what I found interesting, the LANGUAGE, of weaning.  She says to OFFER food, rather than GIVE or FEED.  Offering implies that MiniMe is in charge of feeding and regulating her food herself, where as giving or feeding implies that we are making the decision for her.  Typing that out makes it all seem a bit hippy dippy actually, but in reality it makes a lot of sense.  MiniMe is exclusively breast fed, she already decides when she wants to eat and for how long...this is something that she will be able to carry on at the table.  

I'm happy to have read the Baby Led Weaning book to have a better understanding of the physical side of eating...what is actually going to be going on in MiniMe's mouth and the ethos behind letting her be in control.  I like that, but we have decided that we would like to do a combination of spoon fed and baby led weaning.  Conway's book talks about combining both methods but because she gives advice for weaning from 4 months the beginning of the book is pretty spoon fed/puree heavy and in her meal plans still recommends baby rice/porridge for 6 month olds.  I'm not interested in that, one bit.  

So we have decided that TOMORROW we are going to give finger foods a go.  Banana at breakfast, steamed carrots and lunch and steamed broccoli at dinner.  We have no history of allergies on either side of our family so we are just going to go for it.  For the meantime MiniMe will get to explore what we offer her for breakfast, lunch and dinner on the weekends when we can all sit down together, and for breakfast and lunch during the week (unless Dad comes home early).  Once she is settled and actually eating I'll start eating my dinner early during the week with her...but that's a while away.  

Stay Tuned...

4 months old and starting to think about weaning

It is hard, as a parent, to step back sometimes and just enjoy the moment you are in.  I try to stop myself from thinking about my baby's next stage, what she's going to be like when she starts crawling, when she starts laughing, when she starts (heaven help us) WALKING! 

We've recently celebrated our 4th month of being a family and I can't help but start worrying about what I think of as a really BIG milestone...weaning...eek! In a couple of months time she will be ready to start eating food...real food, not just baby mush...FOOD.  

I have loads of worries; breast feeding has been tricky up to this point so the thought of introducing solids while still struggling with breast feeding worries me BUT I'm not sure that MiniMe will be ready for solids and the thought of continuing solely on breast feeding also worries me, choosing the right weaning process for her worries me, knowing when to start worries me...sheesh, writing all this down makes me worry FOR ME.  

I've started doing some research on-line.  Looking at the differences between the bog standard weaning process of purees and mashes and mushes and blobs on a spoon where MiniMe and I play "here comes the aeroplane open wiiiide" on a loop for months and the on-trend Baby Led Weaning where MiniMe would feed herself and explore her food...the same food Mum and Dad have on their plates.  

I don't know what we are going to do yet.  We have to see how MiniMe develops over the next couple of months.  We have to wait until she is ready, and while I day dream of the two of us making pizzas together in the kitchen I really need to step back into reality and just wait.  

The few websites that I have had the time to briefly skim over during a rare moment of peace have really given me confidence for once weaning has been established, but what I can't really get my head around is the beginning few weeks and months of weaning...when MiniMe will still be getting most of her calories from breast feeding.  That is why I thought I'd start this blog, although at this point I don't know which path we are going to go down, it might be helpful for someone, somewhere, who is as clueless as me.