So we began our weaning adventure a week early at 16 weeks! This part of parenting I absolutely LOVE! What's better than cooking up an array of varying colours and flavours and watching a little face explore new flavours! (Avacado was my favourite so far) As I understand it, it's not recommended to start until 6 months but 17 weeks is an absolute minimum. Well my kid was (as usual) exploding into about 8 nappies per day so I did what I saw fit! I myself eat a couple of bananas when I have a dodgy tummy so I began with a tiny amount of banana mixed with her milk! A few teaspoons to start with only but it cleared it up for her. You're supposed to give the same fruit or veg for a couple of days to observe for reactions so I stuck to banana for pretty much all week! I saw somewhere that you should give vegetable as a first food for 2 weeks and this was my plan... After the banana helped soothe Amelie's butt explosions! (Which it did soon enough)
I did some research and found that a lady called Annabel Karmel is like the Michelin star chef of the baby weaning world. Even though the recipes did in fairness tingle my own taste buds, I felt that it was just a recipe book and I had no idea which foods were ideal for when (and why) so I opted for the informative Ella's Kitchen first foods book. It makes for easy reading but covers all key aspects relating to babies' development as well! For instance, I never knew that babies' iron levels plummet at around 6 months and iron rich foods are vital! So I had stuck rigidly to the 2 week day-by-day guide to weaning! - we just cut out the broccoli and cauliflower because Amelie is a gassy baby (joy for me) and I wanted to avoid these vegetables as I had already started the process of weaning so early. This book is seriously like a bible for the anxious parent, ie: me!
It's needless to say, I LOVE this 'phase'; watching the chick's squirming face as she discovers flavours she's not sure of and smiling face as she is [demanding me to keep] shovelling in heaped spoonfuls of spinach into her grin-blushed face! We have persisted with some 'unsure of' flavours to encourage a wide ranging taste bud, but I'm not gunna torture my kid and subject her to brussels sprouts too persistently - that and it makes our house smell like a burst sewage pipe. We don't need that kind of negativity at 11am.
So I've said I have been enjoying this bit. But obviously not every bit of it! The cleaning is unreal! Our chosen meal always ends in food chaos leading to a full blown wash. I started co-showering because my back just couldn't take anymore bending over the bath. Once a day is plenty! Plus it's so convenient and quick! Having to cook food fresh is also quite tiresome, and making sure it's a well balanced 'meal' takes its toll. Have I given enough vitamins? Any carbohydrates? Have I fed her too much? Perhaps too little? We are a good couple of months in with solids and I'm now having to think about healthy and nutritionally balanced meals. Amelie will sometimes have a meal twice a day, but it's not quite regular yet, I kind of just go with it! Honestly, that's the best advice I could've given myself: just go with it. She will eat what she wants and how frequently she wants it. She knows best. I mean, within reason. Since discovering cheese triangles, I'm fairly certain that she would eat 3 if she could! But we will stick to a half of one and on a good day, a whole cheese triangle as the salt content is a little higher than I'd like and I've recently (from Ella's book also, I should be an Ella's rep!) learnt that baby's kidneys struggle to process salt at this age still so it's best to avoid!
Below are some funny, and mildly annoying things I've discovered recently:
1. No matter what is on the spoon, it will end up all over a baby's face and hands! Cue the eye rubbing by baby and a frantic search for wet wipes by me!
2. What started out as 'oh she's so cute reaching for the spoon and trying to feed herself' has now turned to 'oh god you've shoved the spoon too far and now you're gagging up the entire mouthful' or 'ffs you have just grabbed the spoon and shovelled the spoonful all over your face because you missed your entire mouth'. So now we just hold hands and shout 'yaaaay' as animated as possible to distracted from said spoon!
3. Babbling is so lovely. Not when each one starts as soon as you put a spoon of yoghurt to your baby's mouth.
4. As above but sub babbling for blowing raspberries.
5. When you've slaved away at a baby recipe and your kid takes one taste and gives you a face like 'what on gods earth is this rubbish, take it away.' That's a real face.
6. Smell - some veg really stinks. So broccoli, sprouts, peas kale. Basically I'm sure anything green.
7. Appearance - whilst berries and colourful veg is exciting and looks the-bomb-.com, when you start blending actual meals lots of it looks the same going in as it will coming out. Best example: lasagne! And maybe porridge.
8. The nappies. Goodbye yellow with white speckles... Brace yourself for adult like (in every imaginable way) poo. And I'm being 100% serious when I say EVERY time we get in the car, I have a poo to deal with. It's not even exaggeration. (so I'd be grateful if anyone could confirm this is normal or had any advice on this issue!)
That's all I could think of for now. I've lost track of how many bibs I have cleaned, and replaced! I used to just chuck them in the washing machine and wash in a couple of days, but then when it came out mouldy (after being washed) I realised bibs needed instant cleaning and only then could be placed in the washing machine. Oops! The chair in which Amelie eats gets washed more times than my hair in a week, and as for the pots, pans and liquidiser... They're the story of my life, daily basis.
But when you see how much they grow and how they develop from liquid to semi liquid then start taking in chunks and texture, you can't help but feel proud and see how it was all totally worth it!
Having said that, I can't wait until I can just give her a bog standard sandwich for lunch, and McDonald's for dinner. (I'm kidding about the dinner, it'll be KFC)
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