I’ve been doing a lot of laundry this week.Putting something in your mouth and chewing is something we largely take for granted until we have to teach someone else to do it. Especially someone who, as of yet, has no teeth and has subsisted for 6 months of life on an entirely liquid diet. (Quite frankly, the Prawn can remain toothless for as long as she wants. The minute they come through, Mr. DD and I are going to have to start brushing them and I can only imagine that this process will be only slightly easier than trying to tango with an octopus.)
So, we’ve started on solids.
There is quite literally a bewildering array of advice in terms of weaning floating around. When you should start. What you SHOULD give. What you SHOULDN’T give. How much salt is too much? How much sugar is too much? Do you mash, mush or puree? I myself have been given conflicting advice by two midwives working AT THE SAME SURGERY. In light of this obvious lack of organization among health professionals, I have taken my own path which is called, “Feed My Daughter Things That Don’t Make Her Vomit Or Bored Enough to Simply Smear In Her Hair”. It seems to be working out okay. My full color recipe book of the same title will be in stores in time for Christmas.
We are pretty much still at the textured goo stage. In a fit of supermommy ingenuity, I prepared an actual meal for the Prawn several nights ago; the same meal that her father and I were having, which included salmon, mashed potatoes and peas. This was after I was tremendously pleased with myself; not only had I prepared a tasty, nutritious, low salt meal for my daughter, I had made enough for two MORE meals for her which I promptly stuck in the freezer.
Of course, it made the Prawn gag. Try as we might, shovelling ejected comestibles back into her gaping maw, we could not get her to eat until we gave up and went back to the organic puree that we’d been starting her out on. (Which, by the way, looks god awful, but she seems to think that a broccoli, pea and pear combo is manna from heaven.) So, to the health visitor who so confidently proclaimed that babies don’t NEED food to be pureed, even at the beginning, I say please kiss my ass. YOU feed her. I am investing in a hand blender asap and the Prawn WILL eat her food in liquid-ish form for a bit. In fact, next week, I'm going to give some recipes from Mush a whirl.
It could certainly be worse. I could be feeding her crisps. I could be putting Coke in her bottle. (No shit. One of the midwives I talked to early on told me she’d run into someone who was doing this) I could be I could be Britney Spears. Eating mushy food for a bit will not be the worst thing to ever happen to the Prawn.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an appointment with a stain treater and three bibs covered in day old Weetabix.
9 comments:
Yes - I'm going with my "instincts" on this one too... Jasper's favourite so far has been frijole beans and guacamole from my plate. He also liked the cauliflower and parmesan soup.
I might be a bad mum I think. He wans't sick or anything. He couldn't get enough!
(It's very fun to watch them trying stuff though, isn't it?)
P has that high chair, as you will probably gather from Mush, ONLY THE BEST BABY FOOD BLOG IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD. Thanks for the mad props. Heh.
I'll try to stick some introductory purees on the blog just.for.you.
Also - would this organic puree be Plum Baby Foods perhaps? For awhile that is the only mass-produced food young miss would eat. Thank god that didn't last forever at £2 per 100mls.
That is the best picture. I have a similar one of my daughter looking at the camera with the same expression of disgust, like, "What the hell is happening here? GIVE ME MY BOTTLE!" Three months later, she's finally enjoying food a little more. Girl could eat avocado every meal, every day.
Meg- Apparently, babies can eat just about anything we eat, so bring on those beans and guac! I've only held off feeding the Prawn chilli because I don't know how to explain about "the ring of fire" to a 6 month old.
Pru- Yes, I noticed the high chair! And can I just say that P is insanely cute in that video? The organic stuff is Ella's Organic Kitchen, which comes in at about 75p per sachet. She's all over it. But yeah, anything I can blend up, even just a bit, would be great.
electriclady- I haven't tried avocados yet, but I will!
My Alexander seems to be overtaken by love for the yogurt. Prunes, not so much, and now apparently cereal is off the list of good things as well for him. I say ignore what other people say and go with your gut. There's seriously nothing cuter than a baby eating solids. It kills me.
Coke in a bottle! yikes!
I love the lolbaby pic.
I have met moms who put soda or Kool Aid in their bottles. Scary!
That face looks a lot like the one my niece gave when introduced to solids! Good luck!
Good luck on the feedings! We really mashed foods for our DD when she was that age. She liked the jarred organic baby mixes, but she also loved mushed baked yams that I would make with our dinner, or once I took half a cooked veggie burger and pureed it with some extra water thrown in. She loved it! Go figure.
OMG, I am the world's biggest lolcat fan, and when I saw this picture I burst out laughing and immediately thought which of my friends I could send the unbelievable cuteness of this picture too. What a darling. Good luck with those veggies . . .
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