no time to blog

life is moving pretty fast here. we are very busy anyway, but on top of that we are going to be moving to gibraltar for the summer. lots to think about and unfortunately blogging will have to take a back seat.
charlotte's ssecond tooth is on it's way through and she is finally getting a bit interested in food. apart from the egg and milk allergies, she's eating everything she is offered albeit in small quantities still. there's not much to say on the weaning front so i'll not be posting for the moment.

bad news about egg

charlotte tried scrambled egg today, the tiniest bit, and it caused her allergic reaction on her face. bad news, it looks like she'll be egg and milk free now.

barcelona

we have been away in barcelona for a few days. charlotte loved the lifestyle and has started eating a lot more (but still not that much). she ate some new foods:
tomato bread - toasted ciabatta with tomato, olive oil and garlic rubbed on.
fresh bread with apple jam
fresh strawberries

pic to go here

not much going on

apart from a tooth finally emerging, not much has been going on in the past couple of days. we did join the library and pick up our bookstart bag yesterday. charlotte was also weighed at the health visitors' and she is now 16lb 13oz so she has goined exactly 10lb since birth.

so not much else to say. a bit of pasta with bolognese was eaten at lunchtime, but still not much to write about. alpro yoghurt and strawberry compote went down well though.

growing up

charlotte is finally getting a bit mobile (i'll look back with fondness on the days when she stayed put, i'm sure!) and she can now shuffle to her toy box and pull all of the toys out. it's brilliant as it keeps her occupied for ages. i have a feeling that this game will be short lived and soon she'll be in the cat food, kitchen cupboards and up the stairs. time to get babyproofing.



her first tooth is finally starting to come through too. i'm not looking forward to the experience of breastfeeding during teething...

grandma's asparagus soup

charlotte had fresh bread dunked in soup for lunch yesterday. she definitely enjoyed it as she kept sucking the soup out of the bread and then letting me re-dunk it.

we went to holland and barratt in the afternoon and bought an apple and pear spread. i mixed it with some plain alpro for pudding at tea time and she went a bit loopy in anticipation of each new mouthful. i've never seen her so excited about food and it was great to see. maybe we're getting closer to having proper meals together...

bank holiday roast

charlotte had her first roast dinner on monday. a piece of roast beef, roast potato and parsnip, carrot and spinach. she enjoyed the roasted veg but wasn't so keen on the meat or spinach.

the custard incident

we went out for lunch on saturday with some friends who have twins the same age as charlotte. during the meal, one of the boys dunked his hand in a bowl of custard and we were all worried that he may burn himself as it was quite hot. he took it in his stride and then returned to the play mat on the floor to continue playing. unfortunately, there must have still been some custard on his hand as a few minutes later, charlotte's dairy rash came up on her face. they had been sharing toys and, well, you can guess the rest. luckily it was a milder reaction as there was so little dairy present, but scary nonetheless.

so charlotte is still definitely allergic to dairy products.

no food today

charlotte was so excited about being in kingston shopping for summer clothes that she didn't want any solids today.
it's going to be a long night!

pasta and bolognese sauce

so i continued with the pasta and alpro theme today. she ate pasta with sauce for lunch and then just the sauce mixed with soya cheese for tea. i also steamed her some courgette for tea and she sucked all the juice out. i was able to feed her pieces of mince and vegetables on a spoon which was brilliant, but the courgette was firmly grasped in both hands to be sucked whenever i took a while to replenish the spoon.
here is a video of her "blink and you'll miss it" approach to eating pasta:

alpro yoghurt was also reasonably successful. she takes the spoon from me and feeds feeds herself which is very messy but great for teaching her how to use a spoon.

also, we went to visit yiayia (grandma in greek) and her great aunt and uncle. charlotte adored her great uncle and wouldn't stop smiling at him; she also kept everyone amused by clapping for us. unfortunately she hasn't learned to open up her hands to do it so she looks like a thunderbirds puppet. i'll try to get video uploaded.

pasta and alpro yoghurt

well, after realising that charlotte only really eats pasta and alpro yoghurt that's what i'll be feeding her for the moment! she had pasta and chunky tomato/veg/chicken sauce for lunch which she definitely ate a bit of. for dinner she had bolognese sauce with some chopped veg added and cheese on top (no pasta this time). she did manage a few bits of mince but didn't eat much. i then unveiled the alpro yoghurt to a big grin and kicking about. it is the only thing she'll eat off a spoon and she had a good amount of it.

last night she had pizza and only ate the toppings and then a melon and mango lolly for pud. i reckon i could do variations on pasta and sauces, yoghurt and lollies for a while and give her a reasonably balanced diet.... she is still having 8 nursing sessions in 24 hours so she won't go hungry.

less successful again

we are again struggling with food, with charlotte throwing things around a lot and me desperately trying not to show my frustration. i have been very proud of my restraint, but am finding it so difficult to sit and watch as she bats the spoon away or dumps the whole meal on the floor. i know i have to be patient and let her go at her own pace but it is such a painfully slow one that i'm getting really frustrated by it.

ok, rant over, she has been picking the toppings off her pizza which shows excellent finger/thumb co-ordination which i am very proud of. she has also had the tiniest taste of coconut and mango/banana puree which she has had no adverse reaction to so far and hopefully this will continue. my theory is that i can make creamier meals and puds for her by using coconut cream instead of the milk alternatives that are practically water. also, i love coconut cake and thai curry so i have to get her used to it so she can join in family meals!

more pasta

we had pasta with tomato sauce and cheese for lunch today. i made a sauce with tinned tomatoes, garlic, basil and a lo-salt stock cube. pretty simple really, and i had to add salt to mine as it was a bit strange without it. i grated soya cheese to go on top but chickened out and had normal cheese on mine.
charlotte slurped up and swallowed 3 pieces of pasta and sucked the sauce off loads more. i was so impressed with her. she did gag on one bit and spat it out, but still went back for more. hooray!

she wasn't so impressed with the boring old squash and broccoli chunks that i steamed for tea, but did have a good amount of her alpro peach yoghurt. she's still coughing loads and if she's still bad after the weekend she'll be off to see the doctor.

getting better

charlotte is finally breathing like a normal baby again, but still has a nasty cough and runny nose. these i can deal with as she's been like this before, but i'm so glad the wheezing has died down.

she had an avocado sandwich and a taste of mango and melon pudding at lunch time so i'm very pleased to see she's getting her appetite back.

i got the "birth to 5" nhs book out to read about croup and now charlotte has claimed it as her own. she is sitting turning the pages and licking the pictures as i write. she absolutely loves it! it's the epitome of lazy parenting - she can read how to do it all herself!

youtube link

this link really made me laugh and brightened an otherwise very grey day:
laughing quads

croup

we won't be posting for a little while as charlotte has a nasty case of croup and is off her food again. we spent all last night in A&E with her as her breathing was so bad.
she's a lot more settled and less wheezy now, but it will be a while before she's back to her old self.
back soon.

fish cakes

we really are getting adventurous now. it spurs me on when i see that charlotte is getting more interested in food, and yesterday i made fish cakes.

i decided her first fish would be cod, so i cooked up some cod and some potatoes, then added a little chopped spring onion and parsley, mashed it together and then fried up fish finger shaped cakes. we shared them last night for tea and again today for lunch and they seemed to go down well.

my attempt at making them easy for her to hold was a waste of time though - she picked them up and crushed them in her fist so they oozed between her fingers. she then poked around in the mess and picked out bits that she wanted to eat. messy (what isn't?) but as long as she enjoys it i don't mind.

pizza

i bought some bruchetta slices, ready to toast, from waitrose yesterday. my plan was to use them to make mini pizzas for charlotte. i toasted one, added a good layer of my pasta sauce and then grated some cheezly on top. it looked great, and i tried a bit - not bad at all. i let it cool and gave it to charlotte - i think she liked it...


she also had some alpro peach yoghurt for pud. i'm so pleased that she is finally getting to grips with food. she still woke 4 times to nurse in the night though, yawn!

lots of good news about food

firstly, i made some pasta sauce for the monkey today. it was griddled courgette, carrot, chicken and cherry tomato with basil. i didn't puree it, i pulsed it until the lumps were quite small. she had some with pasta for tea and ate a piece and a half of pasta and also some of the sauce on a spoon (lumps and all). she also had a good amount of pureed mango and banana for pudding. yippee!

other good news is that i had a reply from the ABM to my e-mail. i had asked about delayed introduction of solids and if it had any health implications. the email included a link to a kellymom page which was brilliant. it explained a lot about why babies don't always want solids at 6 months and made it clear that breastfeeding exclusively for up to a year is perfectly ok. there are also loads of links on the following page regarding delaying solids.

i am really pleased about all of this. i know it does not address the frequent night nursing or early waking, but hey, one thing at a time!

pasta success

now we have decided to stop worrying about the amount charlotte eats, she has started showing an interest in food again. i'm pleased that she had no reaction to tomato as it has opened up a whole world of new meals for her.

she had pasta with a tomato sauce and melted cheezly (soya cheese) for lunch and after sucking on a few pieces of pasta popped a whole piece into her mouth, chewed it and swallowed it. i was stunned, and am convinced it didn't actually happen! she also had some mashed up papaya/melon/mango as pudding.

she is still waking up hungry in the night, but i guess this is to be expected until she's eating more solids.... it's a slow process.

back, but still not eating much

not much of an update, but we are still struggling to get food into charlotte. she's not really interested in anything that we offer, be it finger foods or spooned food. she just has a quick taste and then gets bored with it or grumpy with me and throws it all on the floor.

this has led to fequent night wakings to nurse as she is not eating enough during the day. it's tiring and frustrating and i have no idea how to get things to change. i am not too keen on speaking to the health visitor after the last run in, so not sure what to do next...

not hungry

the doctor said that it's normal for her to have lost her appetite due to the cold. the bad news is that we could be in this situation for another week or so. i also read somewhere that it's normal for babies to have 8 or so colds in their first year - this is her 3rd so does that mean we've got 5 more to come in the next 4 months? what a depressing thought!

so until she gets her appetite back (unless something very exciting happens in the meantime) there's not much point in me posting.

back soon (i hope)

doctors again

hooray, charlotte is sleeping upstairs, so i have had a few minutes to upload some video and pics to our online albums. i have also worked out how to put video onto the blog which will be great when i actually get around to videoing charlotte eating something!

we're off to the doctors again in a bit. she's had a temperature and been off her food for a couple of days, so it's time to see what a professional thinks of the situation. she did manage to chew on some rice cakes and apricot compote last night for tea, but apart from that has had nothing but milk for 2 days now.

copycat

i have stolen the idea from billy's mummy and hopefully will have a video of charlotte below. she is playing with an activity centre that i used to play with when i was a baby:

too tired for food

naps did not go well yesterday. teething and a cold have made getting to sleep and staying asleep very difficult. we are all very tired today after a busy night.
not much else to say, but monkey did have a little bit of tartex vegetarian pate on rice cakes for tea last night. no dairy in it, and it's savoury unlike all the fruits she normally has so it should make a nice change for her.

i made a lot of papaya, melon and mango lollies and ice cubes yesterday and also some banana and mango puree. hopefully these should keep us going on the sweet front for a while...

poorly again

another cold has caused charlotte to lose her appetite for solids completely. she kept picking up her beloved courgette sticks and bread sticks then touching them on her tongue and throwing them back down again. as she's all bunged up i guess she can't taste much so i don't blame her. it hasn't tempered her appetite for milk though, so i'm being kept busy.

since starting "the no-cry sleep solution" tom and i feel that she's not been napping for long enough in the day and that has disrupted her night time sleep. well, today she has already napped for 1 1/4 hours until 10am and is now back in bed for her long lunchtime sleep. good girl. hopefully she'll sleep until 2pm and maybe even have another nap later in the afternoon.

out and about

we had a busy day yesterday. up to visit my mother in law first, then on to wandsworth common for a lunch date with a friend who is pregnant. we sat on the common and played, which was lovely and had lunch in a little cafe. charlotte had the usual breadsticks, organix carrot snacks and dried apricots.

she was then very well behaved as we nursed on a bench on wandsworth common. she pulled my pashmina tightly around her so nobody could see. i enjoyed this experience very much, and was glowing with pride at both of us for feeding so well in the busy park.

then on to an engagement party in streatham, where charlotte met lots of new friends and tucked into the crudites (but no dips) after demloishing the rest of her breadsticks. she didn't swallow any, but sucked on a celery stick for ages.

busy day

we were out all morning and charlotte did not sleep at all. as she missed her morning nap i put her to bed early for her lunchtime sleep and she missed lunch. she did have tea though - courgettes and then a mango and banana lolly.
we had another go with a bottle today, but with infa-soy formula instead of expressed milk (until she gets the hang of the bottle i'm not bothering to express again). she chewed on the teat a bit, but didn't really drink any. i'm going to persevere though, and try the bottle at the same feed every day for a few days to see if she'll remember how to use it.
we took her passport pics this afternoon. very cute - i'll try to upload one at some point.

peach

just a quick post to say fresh peach went down well for breakfast.

rice cakes with n-d. cream cheese and apricot compote went down well for dinner last night.

no other news really.

melon and non-dairy cream cheese

ah-ha, another winner! i pureed some melon (not sure which one it is but it is small and orange inside) and added a dollop of the n-d. cream cheese it still looked a bit sloppy so i added a bit of baby rice to thicken it slightly. she had it for tea last night and again for breakfast this morning. it would have been mango, but M&S fruit stocks were rubbish yesterday. lucky really, as i now have another fruit to add to the list of acceptance. i want to try papaya too, but none available.

i'm not sure if the n-d. cream cheese can be frozen, so i'm a bit worried about freezing the excess food. i'll have to look into it.

comments

i just found the bit where you control your settings for comments. i've changed it so that anyone can now leave comments for us. just thought you should know.
looking forward to hearing from you.
h.x

mango and more mango

lunch was a sandwich made with the non-dairy cream cheese and apricot compote, which the monkey really enjoyed. she then ate a defrosted cube of the mango and banana puree with such gusto that i wish i had defrosted more. i had missed her 11am milk feed, so she must have been really hungry!

we had a breakthrough on the nursing to sleep at lunchtime. she fed and then rolled over and kicked about for a bit before falling asleep without a murmer. it was amazing! my long term plan is to get her to fall asleep in the cot by herself and i think this is a great move in that direction.

finally, tea was steamed courgette and a mad mix that only a weaning mum with shopping to do could concoct - avocado, non-dairy cream cheese and some of the banana and mango puree to sweeten it. she loved it. i'm going to put mango in everything from now on.

feeling awake - hooray!

she just chucked all her breakfast on the floor, so no breakfast this morning. in an attempt to give myself more than 2 seconds of typing time, i have given her a toy that attaches to her clothes - she keeps trying to chuck it on the floor but it just dangles over the edge. i wish i could find food that did that...

on the advice of a person on a babycentre forum (where i get most of my advice at the moment!) i have purchased "the no-cry sleep solution" by elizabeth pantley. so, for the past 24 hours we have been keeping a log of sleep and nap times in an attempt to work out why charlotte is still waking for so long and so often at night. unfortunately for the book, and hopefully fortunately for us, charlotte was very good last night. she only woke to be fed at 10pm and 4.15am and both feeding sessions added up to 65 minutes - a far cry from the 4ish hours of night-nursing that we had seen.

anyway, i shall continue to work through the book and see if we can improve things further still - the ultimate goal is that she is not needing to nurse after 7.30pm. we'll see.

mango and banana lolly

last night we had a great success with food - a home made mango and banana lolly made in the annabel karmel lolly moulds. she ate nearly all of it, which really surprised me! she kept stopping and giggling, and by the end of it her top lip was really cold - i guess her mouth was too, and the strange sensation was provoking the giggles. so i think that the way forward for feeding must be to freeze everything into lolly shapes - gravy and potato lollies don't really sound tasty though.

on the bottle and milk front, not so good. tom tried her on the tommee tippee bottle with 4oz of hard pumped milk - she refused it and pushed the bottle away with her hands. i'm not going to try that again, as expressing 4oz of milk and throwing it away is a bit soul destroying.

this morning's breakfast of defrosted mango and banana was not eaten. for some reason i thought that as the lolly had been so successful, the warmed puree would be just as good. no chance. good old breadstick and dried apricot were substituted to great effect.

also, my mum has been teaching her to put her arms up in the air. as i write this, she is sitting in her highchair with all her toys on the floor around her waving her arms in the air. it started off with just one arm, and she had the look of a school child who wants to ask a question, now it's both and all of the time! i just took a picture:

bottles and sleep

i now have 4 oz expressed milk in a bottle in the fridge. hopefully tom will be able to give it to her tomorrow.... i am very excited, but trying not to get my hopes up too much.

on the sleep (or lack of) front, we are in the middle of a very wakeful time, with charlotte not settling well and waking often to nurse. i did tons of research today and have changed the night time routine. we went from fighting sleep until 8.30pm last night to blissfully sleeping in her cot at 7.10pm tonight. fingers crossed that the night goes as well as the evening!

casserole - the end of blw?

i used the lo-salt stock cubes to make a chicken and carrot casserole this afternoon. i am determined to get more food into the monkey as she has been very hungry when nursing for the past few days. for this reason i pulsed (not smooth, more like a lumpy puree) the casserole and gave it to her on a spoon.
not by any stretch of the imagination was this baby led weaning, and i am going to have to admit defeat on the strict guidelines as she did eat it and that was the most important thing for me today. i am not about to stop offering her finger foods, but i am also not going to rule out spoons either. she does sometimes take the spoon and feed herself, so i will encourage that too.

there, i said it.

on the floor

up until today, food had a chance of at least being tasted before it went on the floor. today, the entire tray was cleared in stages - first cucumber, then soya cheese went straight over the edge. then, bread sticks and sweet potato wedges after a brief taste.
i was not to be outsmarted, however, and then gave her the softest dried apricot in the bag. ha, ha, my plan worked perfectly, it was so soft that when she opened her mitt over the edge of the tray it stuck and wouldn't fall off! she then realised she did want it after all and has now deposited a sorry looking apricot skin over the edge.

soya cheese

just got back from a mammoth shopping trip (all for charlotte, as usual!).
she is currently sitting in her highchair munching on a chunk of soya cheese, which tastes a bit like processed cheese slices and is a bit salty, but i think she deserves a treat. we also have a tofu based cheese spread type thing, some vegetarian pate to try out and some lo-salt stock cubes all from holland and barrett.

i also bought the tommee tippee steriliser, which is chugging away in the kitchen getting bottles ready for use later today. i was very good and expressed milk this morning, so we may have our first proper go with a bottle tonight.

the lucky girl has new babygros as well. i think the 3-6 month ones were getting a bit tight!

back on the bottle?

on new years eve charlotte decided that she didn't like drinking her milk from bottles, only from the original source (ie. me). from that day she has refused to take a bottle and so tom and i have stopped trying to give her one.... until today. we saw some friends over the bank holiday and their boys use tommee tippee closer to nature bottles. i bought one today and a fast flow teat for it in the hope that charlotte may be coaxed into using it.

i got the steriliser out of the cupboard and it was broken. no idea what's wrong with it, but it's not the fuse. grrrrrrrr. so i put the bottle through the dishwasher and used it with some watered down apple juice at lunch time. she loved it. she drank an ounce of juice and wanted more, but i had to take it away so she would have a good milk feed before her nap. we were very excited about it, as it means that chance of a night out may be back on the cards - yippee! now i have to get a new steriliser so i can start expressing (not looking forward to that) again.

lunch was a couple of home made chunky chips and some mashed cauliflower and spinach. she loved the chips but wasn't so bothered with the veg (surprise, surprise). she did have half a plum afterwards, so i let her off her veg.

quinoa

a new food for charlotte today. breakfast was banana on toast, which was licked and sucked as she seems to like the banana more than the toast. lunch was mashed broccoli with quinoa, which she seemed to enjoy. i tried some and it was quite nice. i may have to start using the quinoa in more recipes...
last day of antibiotics and i can't wait until she's back to normal on the nappy front. poor baby has had a really upset tummy and the worst wind ever for the past few days.

avocado medley

i was mashing some avocado to put in a sandwich for the monkey and i thought i'd also try it on a spoon (seeing how good she has been with spoons recently). i mixed it with some baby rice and rice milk to bulk it out a bit. i gave her the sandwich and she wasn't really bothered with it. i then offered a spoon of the mash and she grabbed it and started eating. unfortunately she took to putting the wrong end into her mouth.


but once she got going there was no stopping her. she ate the whole lot and pretty much ignored the sandwich. she made a serious mess, but i don't mind as she ate so much.


i steamed broccoli for tea which she still won't eat. i then tried pear puree and weetabix again but no luck either. even a bread stick wasn't going down so i gave up and breast fed her instead.

big dinner

she must be starting to feel better. i've not seen her eat so much before.
at lunch tom defrosted some of the butter bean and spinach mash for her, which she ate from the spoon and on trusty rice cakes. at dinner, we sat and watched in amazement as first an organix corn ring, then 4 pieces of steamed courgette were munched, chewed and sucked. then, i defrosted a cube of the banana and mango puree from yesterday and mixed it with some baby rice. she took spoon after spoon of it and licked each one clean until the whole lot had gone! i think we have reached the point of no return!

more spoon feeding

this evening charlotte had mashed potato mixed with avocado. she fed herself with a spoon and seemed to eat a fair bit. for lunch i made a mango and banana puree with some rice milk and baby rice to bulk it up. she did feed herself with the spoon, but didn't eat much.
she's back to practically drinking the antibiotics from the syringe. maybe we could feed her expressed milk this way and give me a night off, seeing as bottles are out and cups are still too messy....

nasty medicine

wow, this stuff stinks! it didn't smell bad yesterday but today it is foul. i really think it has put her off her food. she refused everything up to and including apple rice cakes - this must be bad.

i put her on her playmat while i made myself some breakfast and when i popped my head back round the door to check on her she was on her tummy! the first roll and no one saw it. going to have to keep a much closer eye on her from now on...

sick baby

aaaah, she went to see the doctor and she is officially sick. she has a wheeze which the doctor thinks is bronchiolitis and has prescribed some antibiotics for. i opened the bottle and it is the same stuff i remember taking as a kid when i had ear infections - the smell really took me back. i gave her some and it dyed her lips and tongue bright yellow - i'm sure there's no need to put dyes in medicines - it's not like she's looking at it and thinking "oooh, i'll like that as it's bright yellow".

she had some toast for breakfast and i'll probably give her some veggies for lunch. nothing new for a few days in case she has a reaction and we can't tell if it's the antibiotics or the food.

she's pretty happy though, and currently bouncing in her door bouncer while i type. she's started getting grumpy when i take her out of it - she'd stay in all day if i let her!

mince and onions

i made chili for dinner last night, and before i added any spices i took some mince and onions out to give charlotte today. i even wrapped it in a spare tortilla and handed it over. she picked it up, pulled a bit of the meat out and put it into her mouth. she then grimaced, spat the meat out and flicked the tortilla so all the mince fell onto her tray. she then sucked on the tortilla and decided that is was no better and threw that on the floor. not a successful meal!


i gave her some rice cakes instead to appease her, and an apple fruit bar. she had a bit but didn't seem that bothered with these either.

poor coughing baby

charlotte's cough is still there. she's not really bothered by it but if she's still bad tomorrow she's seeing the doctor. she's all off on her normal daytime routine though. instead of sleeping at 9.30 and then again at 1ish she forced herself to stay awake until 11.30 (from 7am!) then suddenly got really grumpy and slept until 1.30pm. needless to say, she missed her normal lunch time and will now need to sleep during "dinner" so i'm going to have to give her some food in a minute!

she had veggie spread (like marge but def. no dairy in it) on toast and a piece of apple for breakfast. the toast went down a storm, but she wasn't so keen on the apple. i tried a bit and it was one of those fluffy tasteless ones - no wonder she threw it down in disgust! my daughter, the food connoisseur!

spoons

hooray, spoons seem to be getting used for putting food into her mouth - finally! we had a breakthrough at breakfast with a banana/weetabix/rice milk combo. she was taking a full spoon from me and putting it into her mouth, then swapping the empty one for a refilled one. i was amazed, as it seems she is finally up for eating instead of just tasting.

for lunch i made a puree (eeeek) of butter beans and spinach - very healthy. she did the same as breakfast to start with, but eventually lost interest and threw the spoon down. the picture shows how much food was on the tray...


...then i made the mistake of offering her some water from her doidy cup. with her lightning reflexes, she managed to upend the cup spilling the water all over the tray. she immediately started slapping her hands into the watery mess and managed to splash spinach water all over me, the wall, the table and the floor. well done. bad enough? no, then the doorbell went and i had to go and speak to a neighbour with spinach all over me. the joys of weaning!

magician at breakfast

i think she was trying to magic the dried apricot away by repeatedly tapping it with the end of her bread stick. she then got a bit carried away and hit the tray so hard that the breadstick shattered and flew off in all directions. a look of suprise was quickly followed by a pouty face and a howl as she looked at her tray and just saw a big squashed apricot and no bread. i think she REALLY loves breadsticks!

i'll try to get a pic uploaded at some point.

her cold is still bad, we all had an unsettled night so needless to say we are both a bit grumpy and i'm guessing tom probably is too. oh, and she has kindly shared her cold with me so we are both hacking like we smoke 60-a-day now. how pleasant.

pitta bread and avocado

a winner, she actually ate some of the bread and avocado before she threw it on the floor. i also gave her some steamed courgette which she ate too. i'm so pleased with her. must remember to make that meal again!

banana on toast for breakfast

i'm trying to contain the giggling, as this was by far the funniest game she has played with food. a piece of toast in each hand, she took it in turns to swing them around her head like a lassoo until the end of the toast (quite soggy by now) flew off onto the floor. i don't think she ate anything, but it was the best entertainment! she's still really snotty so maybe not really up for food at the moment.

turkey and courgette

nice dinner if you ask me. c wasn't so sure about the turkey, she gave it a quick suck and dumped it in favour of the courgette. with one piece in each mitt she had a lot of fun squishing the two together and then pulverising them on the tray. she has this habit of flicking the food around the tray when she's had enough, if i'm not quick, on to the carpet it goes.

she had avocado and rice cakes for lunch and a bread stick for breakfast. she's done really well today as she was awake a lot in the night and very grumpy today due to a streaming cold. poor baby is really snotty (i've never seen anything like it!).

anyway, i'm still fuming about the health visitor. i think i may write a letter of complaint.

further language info

just a quick addition to the "R" debate from yesterday. i had a message from a linguist who said that pronunciation of the letter r is not related to how a baby feeds. i have linked to the forum post as i think it is interesting (i hope you don't mind Nicki):
language development post from Nicki on babycentre

i have a good mind to go back to the health visitor and make a fuss about this. it's terrible that this kind of ignorance is being passed on to mums as gospel.

un-health-y visitor

grrrr. as i hadn't had charlotte weighed for a while, i thought it would be a good idea to go see the health visitor today. she is a very healthy 15lb 13oz and following the same line on the chart that she has been on since birth. all good, except the health visitor then proceeded to give me some (un-asked for) advice. "i know you have enjoyed breastfeeding up to now, but you really need to start cutting back and getting her to eat more solids". what? what happened to milk being the main food for the first year? she was acting like i'm indulging myself by choosing to breast feed my baby!

so that annoyed me, to say the least.....THEN she came up with the best part. apparently i'm not getting enough solids into her by baby led weaning, and if she's not getting lots of solids she's not going to develop her facial muscles properly which could result in her having speech problems... "not being able to pronounce letters like r properly" apparently. i inwardly laughed at this, but also wondered where this could have come from. it was discussed on the babycentre forums and it seems she was confused between bottle feeding (which doesn't work the jaw muscles) and breast feeding which does. no excuse when you think that she is dishing out this ludicrous advice willy nilly to the good people of ------ (nearly told you where i live!).

anyway, charlotte enjoyed her mushroom on toast (the juice made the toast all soggy)for breakfast, especially once she bothered to pick it up and stopped just licking it on the tray...


we went to the south coast for the day with my parents and my grandmother. pub lunch where charlotte sat in the biggest high chair i have ever seen. she looked like a doll and couldn't reach over the lip to get to the food on the tray. on my mum's lap she had a chip and a dried apricot. unfortunately she threw her broccoli on the floor (don't blame her when there are chips about!)

she had a breadstick for dinner as we were running late and didn't have time for much else. i was suprised how much she ate of it (so there, health visitor!)

dinner last night

i had to add a picture of charlotte demolishing a jelly for dinner last night. i saw it on baby billy's blog and thought it looked like fun. none was eaten, but she thoroughly enjoyed slapping it so it splashed everywhere. never again!

soya a go-go

hooray! she had soya yoghurt and mashed banana for dinner last night and no reaction at all. i have been showing my solidarity by swapping milk in my cooking and my tea for soya milk. i might as well start getting used to it as cooking in the future will be with soya by the looks of things.

nearly forgot, she had a bagel with avocado for lunch. it was good because she had a hunk of bagel to hold while she licked off the avocado. once she's eating more, i think bagel may be a bit too salty for her though.

wedding

we went to my sister's wedding in london yesterday. it was in a thai restaurant, so unfortunately there was nothing on the menu for charlotte. she had rice cakes and dried fruit, but was more interested in our food, and who can blame her? i'm going to try her with some soya yoghurt and fruit puree this afternoon. not much else to say, just fingers crossed for a good reaction with the soya...

early weaning and crohn disease

i just wanted to add a link to baby banana's diary, as this is something that i had no idea about until today. again, i am so glad we waited until 6 months to wean...

http://babybanana2.blogspot.com/2007/03/crohn-disease-linked-to-early-weaning.html

gagging

we just had our first serious gagging incident. i was a bit worried, but i held it together and just encouraged her with smiles and praise. she got a big chunk of bread into her mouth and couldn't swallow it. she made some funny faces and gagged a few times before bringing up some of the water she had been drinking and the bread came with it. phew. i'm glad that's happened now as i have a bit more confidence in her ability to prevent herself from choking. i am glad i give her water with her food, as i'm not sure what would have happened otherwise. she has a little beaker which sits just out of her reach (she can't be trusted with it just yet). when she wants some she reaches for it and i hold it for her. it works pretty well as less gets spilled with me holding it, but at the same time she chooses when to have some.

wheat test

this morning we tried a wheat product for the first time (the disasterous rusk biscuit had been wheat free - oh, the irony!). fingers of bread with the trusty apricot compote on them. what a success! no obvious allergies and she seemed to eat a lot once it went all soggy. the picture shows her trying to give some to the cat - ahhhh, bless. she just had the same again for lunch as i'm going to make sure all is ok before i move on to something else. i am feeling triumphant as she ate loads again. hooray!

we went to sainsbury's to get some rice and soya products to try. i think rice this week then soya next week. one potential allergen at a time. at least wheat seems to be ok. they didn't sell the soya based cheese alternative, so i'll have to go to a health food shop to hunt some down.

on a more icky note, she definitely swallowed a lot more rice cake yesterday than ever before - i saw the evidence today when changing her nappy. mmmmmmmmmm!

allergy advice

we just got back from the doctors and she said that there is no need to do an allergy test, it's pretty clear that charlotte has a lactose allergy. we are going to try her with soya products for a week to make sure she is ok with that. if she is allergic to soya too, the doctor will refer us to a specialist. fair enough, i think.
so, tomorrow morning i'm off to get some soya milk, yoghurts etc. for her to try.
tom asked the doctor if goats milk would be ok for her, and she said it would be worth a try. i think i'll wait a bit before trying it though - one step at a time.

definitely allergic

well, i was doing so well today. charlotte had rice cakes and apricot again, which she still enjoys licking and sucking. unfortunately i made the mistake of thinking that she might like a rusk biscuit with her banana this afternoon. she loved the biscuit, which quickly went mushy and went everywhere, but i noticed that she was starting to get a rash on her face.....

aaarrrrrgh! there is milk protein in the rusk biscuits! i hadn't thought to look. after a swift clean up, the rash didn't progress too much, but i kicked myself for not looking at the ingredients. i am taking charlotte to the doctor tomorrow to discuss this milk allergy.

last weekend

i'm nearly caught up now. over the weekend she had the following:
broccoli, which she wasn't too impressed with. she definitely swallowed some, as i discovered the following day during a nappy change, but i think it was more luck than judgement!
on sunday, she had a bit of roast beef and roasted carrots. some of the beef came off as a chunk in her mouth, she spat a bit out and swallowed a bit. carrots were still not really enjoyed.
she also had a chip (shock horror!) in the pub. it was gummed to get all the soft potato out and then the outside was thrown on the floor. i think she enjoyed it.

disaster part 2

unfortunately, i gave charlotte a piece of cheese in the hope that she's be ok with it. she looked like she was really enjoying it, but the redness started around her mouth so i had to take it away. it looks like she has a dairy allergy.
she also had a piece of roast chicken. she sucked on it for ages making strange faces, but didn't eat any.

week 2 continues

so, after the formula disaster, i wasn't sure if it was the baby rice, formula or milk in general that had caused the allergic reaction. we stuck to safe products for the next couple of days:

banana and pear puree made into lollies (great for teething pains)
rice cakes with apricot compote (in a jar) spread on top, which has become a firm favorite in the licking stakes.
weetabix and expressed milk, which she turned her nose up at.
steamed parsnip, which was really squishy and she seemed to enjoy.

week 2 - disaster strikes...

a horrible, horrible day.
i boldly decided to give charlotte baby rice mixed with formula milk (she was handed a spoonful and licked it off the spoon). she seemed to like it, but then smacked the spoon into the side of her head. almost immediately, a red rash came up around her mouth and down the side of her face. it was like nasty nettle rash, and just got worse and worse. we wiped her hands and face and headed straight to our doctors surgery. the doctor saw her and gave us some antihistamine as this was apparently a typical allergic reaction. only problem was now working out what caused it.

week 2

monday
we tried dried apricot, turned inside out. she loved sucking on these but again didn't swallow much. she did dribble loads though. also steamed carrot which wasn't soft enough, so she didn't get on well with it.
the best food today was baby rice cakes and mashed avocado, which she licked profusely then threw on the floor once all the avocado had gone.

week 1

so, once we were started, we quickly moved on to the following foods in week 1:

big chunks of steamed butternut squash, which she definitely swallowed.
banana, which she seemed to like, and was expertly presented to her after (i'm sorry i can't remember who it was) someone explained to me how to do it (see picture).

apple, which she wasn't really bothered with.
steamed courgette, which was sucked for a long time.
asparagus, which she sucked on, but didn't seem to be swallowed.

the story so far....

ok, i have some catching up to do here.
my husband tom and i started charlotte on solid foods the day before she hit 6 months. she was showing all the signs of being ready to try something new, but without seeming starving hungry all the time.
she had been sitting in her high chair at the table and desperately reaching for our food. we started out with steamed pear, which we offered for 3 days - by the third day she was happily slurping on the juice, but not actually eating any. this was a good start. she was also nursing every 2 -3 hours in the day and waking at 10ish and 3ish in the night to feed.

to be continued...

the beginning

hello,
after discovering how few resources there are for people who are interested in baby led weaning, i have decided to join the community of bloggers who share their experiences online. i shall try to recap on the story so far...

hilly.