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...