Weaning, part two; 10.5 months

Hokay so here we are again with a further instalment of ‘making it up as I go along’, AKA weaning.

Only this time, I am enjoying it more than 3 months ago. Don’t get me wrong, I still have days where I’m like ‘we’ve got NOTHING she can eat in the house, she’s going to STARVE’ and moments where I’m all ‘why oh why am I making everything? Am I making this harder than it should be?’ But I think I’m getting into the swing of the meal prepping and freezing thing. Slowly but surely. 

Some days I also really worry about the amount she’s eating too but I saw something on Instagram recently that encouraged parents to feed with curiosity as opposed expectation. So ‘I wonder what she’ll go for today’ when presented with her plate of really fucking random stuff, rather than ‘oh god she needs to eat that bit because that’s full of the goodness’ etc etc. Variety and nutrition is also a concern. Sometimes I feel like she’s eating the same stuff over and over and I’m just very unsure about making sure she’s getting the right amounts of the macronutrients (so protein, carbs etc) in each meal?

Baby is 10 and a half months now and first thing’s first, something to clear up from Part One here; I rather hastily disregarded (sold on eBay) the harness for the Stokke Tripp Trapp. Back then I didn’t see any use for it but since changing Elodie’s seat from the baby one to the I dunno, bigger baby one(?) where she constantly tries to stand and fling herself back and forth (normal yes?…..Yes?) I had to bloody well revisit eBay again and find a bargain version of the harness. I think I broke even. Just.

Food prep

I mostly batch of an evening (like once every two weeks) but prefer doing this during the day if poss so I can y’know, HAVE an evening. So if baby is occupied and happy on the floor/sat in front of a whirring washing machine i’ll at least get a recipe out and start peeling and chopping. If time and her mood allows I might even get to cook stuff! But if not, at least once she’s down for the night I have already made a good start.

Breakfasts; mix of baby led and spoon feeding

• HATES PORRIDGE
• However, likes cold soaked oats (like only soaked for 10 mins) in cold milk (oat/coconut/almond) with a sprinkle of flaxseeds (I mean what the fuck) and some fruit pieces like raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and banana
• Avocado fingers
• Scrambled egg – want her daddy to make his special tofu and turmeric version soon.
• Toast finger with dairy free butter and/or smooth peanut butter
• Oaty fingers
• Banana fingers

Lunches; mostly finger foods

• A mix of steamed veg, scrambled egg (if she hasn’t had that for breakkie), chickpea pasta and grated dairy free cheese, plus defrosted things like homemade croquettes, muffins, pancakes and fritters.
• Plus fruit fingers like papaya, mango, kiwi or some steamed apple and pear. She might have a few spoonfuls of dairy free low sugar plain yoghurt. I dunno why, its gross.

Dinners; Mainly spoon fed

• Dahl – although she’s starting to HATE this
• Chilli
• Pasta and veg sauce (mini pasta shells from Boots, top tip from a friend)
• Mushroom and sweet potato mush
• Ragu
• Bolognese
• Vegetable stew
• Plus perhaps rice pudding with fruit mushed in or fruit fingers or leftover quinoa mixed with soft fruit.
• A ‘Quick I haven’t got anything for her dinner dinner’ =  Quinoa mushed with steamed sweet potato and courgette. Takes like 10-15 mins. Done.

Snacks

Have started to introduce afternoon snacks:

• Wholemeal bread finger with hummus
• Homemade ‘BB bread’ from the Young Gums book with smooth peanut butter and banana
• Any lunchtime leftovers

Milk (formula) intake

This has really dropped, sometimes to just over 400ml a day when the recommended amount is 500ml minimum per day. So I have started her on one 0.5ml dose of vitamin drops every morning. However the health visitor at a routine check this week, said it’s good that she is really dropping down because she is going to be on just food in a little over a month. EEEEK. Obviously plus an actual milk drink (not formula). On that, I don’t want to have her on cow’s milk, so looking at alternatives. Don’t want soy either. Any tips? Oat is coming out as nutritionally comparable to cow’s regarding calories and calcium but can be sugary so maybe it’s just a case of doing some more research into finding a suitable Oat one. The Health Visitor this week sort of said that they push cow’s milk mainly because of tradition and our culture/society. Oh who bloody knows. All I know is that I am just trying to make sure that she’s getting what she needs. So if anyone has some intel on this situation, hi!

Timings

Our days now go a little something like this at the mo:

• 7/7.30am – formula of around 120ml 
• 8/8.15am – breakkie and some water sips + vitamin drops
• 9am – up for a nap. Sometimes doesn’t go off until 9.30/40. She might do an hour, or **maybe** up to two? I shower. It’s glorious/rushed.
• 11am – fun time / get dressed (her, I should defo already be dressed….ahem)
• Noon – her lunch. I’ll make a bottle too but offer her this once she’s eaten and pre-nap
• 1-ish – up for a nap but again might not go down until 1.30/40 once we’ve fought over a nappy change. Again depending on the morning sleep this **could** be up to two hours. Sometimes it’s nearer to one. 
• 3-5pm – the two hour entertainment zone. Mummy as entertainer, baby in the role of mini entertainee. This can be tough if she’s got a face on so we tend to buggy up and run post office errands or walk the dog or pop to the supermarket or the park etc. I think we’ll start swimming again soon as this would be a good option for this time slot. She’ll have a bottle in this time too but not too close to 5pm.
• 5pm – her dinner.
• 6pm – up for a bath, I take a bedtime bottle along.
• 6.45-ish – in her bedroom, lights off, bedtime bottle
• 7pm – Baby asleep.

Next steps

I really want to try and just go with it a little more when we’re out and about and start ordering stuff from menus that can be given to baby. I guess it’s just a case of asking for no salt, alternative milks and no honey. Hmmm. Will report back on that in part three. Sort of tried it this week at baby’s first soft play date with her NCT chums – ordered her a plain jacket potato, toast fingers and hummus dip.

I might try her on some fish. I don’t know why and I might not but I might? I might not because all we hear is that it’s full of shit from the water so reckon i’ll do some research, obvs, because I’m annoying yes? Not meat meat though. That’ll be her decision when she’s older. Don’t know why I don’t categorise fish in with meat though. Strange huh?

Eating together. You hear a lot about the importance of eating meals together to help their development as they watch you eat, plus for them to see that meal time is family together time, a social activity. But to be honest it is usually only breakfast and very occasionally lunch where we do this. And even then I’m not sat at the table properly, I’m at a weird  twisty angle to feed her while shovelling in my own grub. 

Ok bye

Vx

p.s – it’s still messy.

---