I am pleased to say that he is not a fussy eater (so far so good) and if he didn't like it the first time then he eventually did after the third or fourth try. He is going through a bit of a funny time at the moment and is kicking off at meal times as he wants to feed himself or eat finger foods which I have just begun to introduce (Ted has 2 teeth so that helps him a bit). I plan to just continue to offer him a wide variety and his old favorites and hopefully he will go back to how he was, greedy! Watch this space......
Here are a few things which helped to get where I am with Ted now and a few things that have helped my friends as well.
- I cook from fresh and organic where I can. I haven't been silly with the organic as its just not possible to do absolutley everything organic and not stress about what your baby is offered at say, a friend or relatives house. I think fresh and healthy are of paramount importance. This makes me feel good. James and I don't eat packet food so why should Ted?
- My steamer has been an essential tool when cooking for Ted. It is 2 tiers and goes on the stove so I can use the 'cooking' water to thin out purees. I steam literally all the fresh stuff I cook. Most recipe books I have tell you to saute this and simmer that. When it comes to fruit and veg combinations I think steam the lot. Another bonus to this method is that it preserves vitamins. The more the merrier there.
- The hand blender has been the other essential tool. As I say, its just a hand belnder and I have mangaged just fine with that so far as you don't need huge quantities anyway. However, I did see a great looking gadget whilst browsing in boots the other day (a highlight these days). It is a steamer and blender in one by AVENT. I have the AVENT range for bottles, steam steriliser, food and bottle warmer (fantastic product) so perhaps the blender thing could be one to check out ...sadly the one that got away for me.
- In terms of what to cook I say try Annabel Karmel for recipes and ideas. You don't need to stick to her ideas to the letter, treat them as that, ideas. Also, in terms of advice about when to wean and how long to sterilise for etc don't take these kinds of books as gospel. I think that if you read all the books you can get some conflicting advise, especially about when to wean. By all means, take it all in but if in doubt ask your health visitor (and if you don't like 'yours' then pop to a local drop in and seek another opinion). I found that my health visitor gave me the best, most straightforward advise. She told me where I was going wrong. You can't get that from a book or magazine.
- Don't forget you know your baby the best. If you feel he or she is ready for solids at 4 months or 5 then give it a go. If you have been advised to start but feel your little one is still a few weeks away then don't rush, increase the milk feeds (bottle or breast) and I found it helped to let Ted always feed freely from the breast, take little breaks and come back to the boob until he was full. N.B: Breastfeeding is certainly not just for christmas....you know like a dog. You have to hardcore about it. Well worth it in my opinion. I started Ted on solids at 4 months but he didn't really take to it so I incresed the boob feeds and that held him off and left him more satisfied until he was just a little over 6 months.
- Ted didn't take to bland baby rice but I know that other babies do. His favorite was and still is, sweet potatoe and I find that if I am introuducing something new, like when I first did fish, I used sweet potatoe and carrot as a base so he had something familiar to go with something strange. With this in mind I always cook and freeze a few portions of sweet potatoe, butternut squash and carrot for emergencies.
- I found it useful to cook and freeze in large batches using AVENT milk containers. These have been the best by far that I have found, not the cheapest, but they are nice and large and you can express milk into them and store breast milk in the fridge and freezer. I have found others in boots and even supermarkets. I do not recommend the small ice cube tray sized (most people use these) as they were a waste of money for me as they only satisfied the boy for a few weeks before his greed overtook me which meant he needed more than 2 portions and that was a pain to heat up etc. I would say go bigger and have the same meal for tea or lunch 2 days running as long as you defrost in the frigde overnight and heat up in seperate batches. Another great thing about AVENT is that I used redundant 4oz bottles to freeze big portions of food using the 'sealing discs' which are a fantasic tool that also stop those pesky leaking teats (on the bottles, not me unfortunatley).
- I have a big cooking session every few weeks and freeze the lot so that means we don't need jars when we are on the go as I just take a couple of pots from the freezer each evening for the following day. I also cook meat and fish in small portions (the only time that the ice cube size trays are good). This way I can add, for example, salmon or lamb, to a veg dish of my choice. I find this keeps mealtimes fresh. Spice of life and all that.
- I know this may seem hard but what your mother or other assorted relatives say is not law. Don't forget if you are 20 or older your parent would have weaned at 3 months. End of. That doesn't mean you have to do the same. Don't be pressured. Accept advise politely "thats very interesting, I have never heard that before, I will give that a go" all do the trick.....disregard the crap.
Slippery little sucker.
No comments:
Post a Comment