more experimenting

Another fairly good day in the Naomi-led ;-) household. Her appetite is definitely back which is fantastic although it is then challenging to get enough food into her. She's not back to sleeping through the night unfortunately. Just doesn't seem to have my sleep gene ha ha.

This evening I decided to cook Lancashire hotpot. Saw it on the telly the other day and thought yum yum. And red meat has iron in it, really important when you can't get your child to eat spinach! It was really lovely and Naomi didn't turn her nose up at it which was a relief. The lamb was so succulent and tender. But the big problem is that BLW takes sooooooooooo long. So some of the bits of lamb got cold and then they aren't half as palatable. She was still trying to eat them though, so I resorted to pushing them into bits of potato which made it much easier for her to handle.

Mango, however, is a different story. Definitely not impressed at lunchtime. Not sure if it was the taste or the texture or maybe she was just full of toast & dairylea. She had a WHOLE slice. But she did find room for a yogurt having refused the mango so maybe not. Will try again in a couple of days. I bought some frozen raspberries the other day so will get some of those out to defrost for her lunch tomorrow.

She's not into grapes either. We popped round to see a friend yesterday and her 18 month old was having some and really wanted to share them with Naomi. Another lack of teeth issue me thinks. Although, the way its going, it won't be for long.

BLW versus other principles

I don't think its any secret that I struggle with BLW. It goes against everything I thought I knew about feeding children and what worked so easily with my ds. So that's a big thing I have to get my head around to start with.

And then there's the issue that in order to give Naomi a wide variety of fruit & veg I come up against my other principles. We shop organically wherever possible and like to do this through a company that delivers to the door. Where they bring in produce from overseas they always ship rather than air freight to reduce the impact on the environment and they try, wherever possible, to send UK-sourced food.

I also believe in sourcing locally and in season and yet this conflicts hugely with BLW since there are only so many root vegetable dishes you can make in the winter! Yesterday I bought plums, apricots and mango in an attempt to vary Naomi's diet somewhat but these are from Argentina and New Zealand.

Not sure how I'm going to resolve this one. Might just have to accept that Naomi's needs have to win out for the moment and reign it in later.

gnocchi gnocchi ..... who's there!

I know, I know, lame joke! But another resounding success.

I bought these yesterday coz DH & I really like them and also I thought they would work better than pasta because they are potato based and so go really soft. And she loved them. They take 2-3 minutes to cook and you know they are done when they float to the top of the water, none of this 'is or isn't it al dente' business. Accompanied, as ever, by carrot, broccoli & cauliflower sticks. She also happily took the vegetable sauce my friend had made for her daughter who didn't want the spaghetti bolognaise the rest of us were having.

I also managed to chop tomato really finely and press it into the philly I spread on her lunchtime sandwich so I'm feeling a lot better about fruit & veg today. She still only ate a banana, refusing kiwi fruit and orange segments beforehand so its not that she was full. Maybe she distrusts green things but she will eat broccoli ...........

Ah well, for today I shall not worry.

hurray hurray a much much better day

A long time coming it feels like but Naomi had a great day today foodwise. I'm SO relieved!

Breakfast was Weetabix & apple puree. She's always starving at breakfast even though she had 5oz of milk in the night, so I can guarantee she'll make a good start to the day unless she's feeling totally beyond the pale.

For lunch I gave her leftovers from yesterday. Potato, chicken, broccoli, carrot. It just kept on going down and down and down. Accompanied by her enjoyment grunts! I gave her Petit Filous for pudding. I know this isn't BLW as I give it to her off a spoon but we did start weaning her with purees so there are certain limited things she'll accept this way still.

Spurred on by Saturday Kitchen from the weekend and other BLW experts, I decided to do her a 2-egg omlette for her tea. Luke & I were having jacket potatoes and so I cooked up some bacon and mushroom to go with them and added this mixture and some grated cheese to the egg & milk. It looked so yummy I was looking forward to eating most of it since I thought she was bound to reject it. That 'I know Mummy's slaved over this so I'll not eat a bit' mentality!

But no, I got just the soggy bits that she squashed on the highchair tray and couldn't pick up again. I'm astounded but hugely pleased. This means I can now get a large variety of things into her as long as I chop them up small enough not to impact against the egg. I need to experiment with the consistency a little so its a bit firmer for her to pick up. I think I was a bit scared of burning it. So some of it I had to put into her mouth. Again I know this is contrary to true BLW but I only did while I could see she was still reaching for the food and trying to pick it up. Her pincer grip is really coming along well so with more leftover carrot sticks she made an excellent meal and still demolished a small banana.

My daughter is back to having hollow legs whoopeeeeeee!

getting back to normal

Naomi seems much keener on food today which is greatly pleasing, we've been really quite worried about her. Every little thing seems to throw her off balance. But she wolfed her porridge & raisins this morning followed by a small bottle. She did really well at church and then had a 2hr nap after her mid-morning bottle. Wow wow wow!

As posted yesterday we had roast chicken et al as we had lunch guests. Naomi happily munched her way through several roast potatoes, some lean chicken, broccoli & carrots. Looked very pleased with herself the entire way through.

Tea was some bread & philly. She ate hers AND some of mine! And then had about 3/4 of a banana as well.

Big sighs of relief all round. And I have some veg left over for the fridge. DH forgot to buy lasagne sheets on the online shop on Friday (I was out for the evening before any asks why I didn't just do it myself!) so have to get some of these to make the mushroom ravioli I want to try out on Naomi. I have dried ones which I will try cooking to soften up but I'm not sure they will work. They don't make good canneloni when done like that so watch this space..........

endless milk

Naomi is still recovering from not being well so is basically back to being just on milk. Fortunately its full strength having being on diluted initially on the GP's advice. She'll still go mad for bread though and I gave her some pieces of raisin pancake this morning which she loved. DH makes his own so they have no added sugar or other nasty ingredients, just flour, egg and milk.

We're having roast chicken tomorrow so shall tempt her with that and try and remember to do lots of steamed veggies for the fridge as DH is working long hours next week, making feeding the children more challenging than usual.

Went out for dinner tonight to Pizza Express, Luke's favourite. He had a margherita with added chicken and Naomi ate a whole slice! Ok it was child sized, so 1/8th of a 6 inch pizza(!) but she really really enjoyed it and it made the whole experience very pleasurable.

close... but no tomato

After refusing virtually everything except a little milk and one roast potato yesterday, today was better. Naomi ate a good sized bowl of porridge & pureed fruit for breakfast without too much difficulty. Its good to see her tucking into something, anything, after eating so little the last few days.

For lunch I did a slice of bread with laughing cow cheese into soliders and it disappeared with touching the sides. Much grunting, smiling & rocking backwards and forwards. She'd had a nap of over 2 hours and seemed really hungry. But she still won't eat tomato. She can easily and adequately pick it up but it doesn't translate. Maybe its the lack of teeth although, if I understand BLW correctly, that shouldn't matter. I've tried several types cut in different ways. Perhaps she doesn't like them? We rounded off with half a banana cut into long strips. I can guarantee that this will not be refused unless she is feeling really under the weather.

I struggle with how little fruit and vegetable I can get into Naomi doing BLW. My ds didn't want to know about finger food so at the same age he would happily tuck into anything and everything. One of his favourites was steamed & lightly mashed veg with rice & cheese, a kind of mini risotto. But that's no good this way as it needs to be fed in off a spoon. I can't even do similar with pasta because again, although Naomi can pick it up fine, she can't deal with it in her mouth. So we are left with potatoes or bread for her carbohydrate and this means its very easy to fall into the trap of too much wheat.

I know babies still get a lot of nutrition from milk in their first year but Naomi is now of an age where the balance should begin to tip in favour of solids. Helllllllllppppppppppppp!

not much doing

Naomi has had a tummy bug since I last posted and is not really interested in milk let alone anything else. She was eager for bread yesterday lunchtime but didn't want cheesy potato for her tea. We're having roast chicken today, which she loves, so I'm hoping to tempt her with a few morsels.

She's perkier in herself than she has been for a couple of days and is still sleeping well so I'm hoping normal service will be resumed shortly. Although that means back to finding new and innovative ways of getting food into her! Might have to have a chat with my HV and see if she has any suggestions. A fellow BLW has a finger food book and I remember getting one from the library with Luke because he wouldn't eat anything himself. Shall have to have another look - how different can two children raised in the same family be?!

not such a good day

As the title suggests, today was not really positive about food. Naomi didn't eat much breakfast although she did drink the additional milk as usual. Then hubby took her for her last vaccination - the second dose of the new PCV - and I went to Toddlers with Luke.

At lunchtime she ate some scrambled egg and toast soliders but wasn't really interested. I thought she'd have grabbed at the chance to play with the egg, we make it quite thick on purpose, but no. And hubby said she'd only had an ounce of her morning milk before refusing.

All was kind of revealed this afternoon when we were out shopping and stopped for a coffee. Naomi threw up. Poor love. Don't really know why and she has had 6oz of milk quite happily in place of her dinner and we'll offer more before bed as usual. Is it the vaccine? Maybe her ears aren't better. She had an ear infection last week and had antibiotics for it but they are restricted in what they can give her because of her heart medicines. She can't have any of the 'mycin' antibiotics for instance. She finished the full course but I shall have to keep a close eye on her to check for signs that it didn't work properly.

Ah well. The joy of having children!

the three b's.....

Bananas, broccoli and bolognaise. The latter being not as successful as the others. Naomi has long threatened to murder in cold blood ANYONE who gets between her and a banana. And now I think broccoli is on the hit list too. Being full of iron I don't have to worry about how difficult it is to do spinach the BLW way.

She did eat some of the spag bol, albeit off a spoon. I did her some small pasta shells but she just wasn't interested in even trying to pick them up. She just regarded them disdainfully - such a range of expressions my darling has. Might have a go at making ravioli with stiff fillings - maybe ricotta & mushroom - so that its chunky and munchable. We got a better reaction with the rice pudding. Naughty I know but we were having it. She did have a good third of the banana first.

Lunch was another 'b' now I come to think of it - wholemeal bread which disappeared quicker than you can say jack rabbit, tomato and dairylea cheese. Which she attempted to feed to the bee on her highchair toy as well as herself! At least I think she ate all the bread, over half a slice! I certainly didn't find it on her chair, the floor or tucked into her clothes.

life's too short to stuff a mushroom

But not it appears, to peel clementine segments!! Naomi so enjoyed these yesterday I thought I'd offer her more for pudding this evening. However the skin was more troubling today so I decided, lightbulb moment, we'll peel them. After all, other people do. Sooooooooooooo difficult though! Maybe if I ate prawns and therefore shelled those on a regular basis I'd have had more luck. They really didn't resemble segments at all by the time I'd finished. But Naomi still loved them. When she's in seventh heaven she squeezes her fists together tight and rocks back and forth really excitedly. Its so fun to watch! She had her first kiwi fruit today and that got the same wonderful reaction. That's when the struggle to do this is really worthwhile.

Today wasn't such a good day. Luke was at preschool and these days are difficult because her natural lunch times falls at exactly the time I have to go and collect him. So she either has to eat early, when she's not really ready, or a bit later when she's yelling for it and so I have to get it ready as quick as possible. This can also throw out her nap(s) and make everything a bit of a disaster. So I cheated and gave her a bottle of milk for lunch as we got invited out at the last minute. We've not been doing lunch for very long so she didn't really care. But it did depress me somewhat because its not the real plan.

One of my big problems with BLW is that a lot of the things that we eat as a family aren't that child friendly. We eat a lot of sauce-y things - chilli, spaghetti bolognaise, that kind of thing. So I've got to work out ways of adapting these for Naomi. My husband gets home in time for he, I and our son to eat together and we don't really want to change this. We think this is really important for our family and have been doing it since Luke was not much more than a year old.

But my son's favourite meal is sausage, beans and chips and we also have quiche as an emergency 'short of time' standby, neither of which I want to give Naomi yet. But neither do I want to cook her something completely different a lot of the time. Somehow the other BLW mums I've come across are just so much more organized than me. They must live in parallel universes that give them an extra 8 hours in the day or something!

Tonight we had jacket potatoes so I mixed some home-made hummous (chick peas whizzed up with formula milk) into Naomi's and fed this to her off a spoon in the traditional way and then gave her baked butternut squash to eat in her fingers. She really enjoyed the latter from the faces she was making and the grunting! Its a shame I cut it too thin and baked it for too long though as it was a lot of skin and not much else. But she was able to suck out what flesh there was. There should have been baked carrots too but I cut those FAR too thin - more like burnt crisps lol. Will know better next time.

why am I doing this?

Naomi, my gorgeous, adorable, feisty 7 month old daughter has decided that food off a spoon is not sufficient! She would much rather get her hands in the bowl and do it herself. In this way she is completely different to her older brother at the same age. So I find myself wandering through the mire that is Baby Led Weaning (BLW). These are just some thoughts on what and how we are doing. She doesn't have any teeth yet which can make certain things tricky. And although BLW says control in the mouth is connected to the ability to adequately pick something up, this doesn't always seem to be true for Naomi. But then she did start off as a puree fed baby and we do still use a spoon alongside the finger food feeding. I wonder if this makes a difference or not?

Today Naomi has had some interesting flavours. Dairylea triangles and goat's cheese for lunch with small tomatoes cut into sixths, alongside her cubes of bread. I find it hard to come up with ideas for lunch as we have sandwiches and can be very samey but I want to give her as varied a diet as possible. BLW's I know give a lot of baked root vegetables but I need to be more organised for that! For tea on Sunday she did really enjoy the cold leftover veg from the roast dinner we had at lunch so I shall try cooking extra for the fridge and see how that goes. We do 99% of our meals from scratch so it will just take a bit more effort.

Pudding was some clementine segments that I thought she might have trouble with because of the skin but, no. The apricot was a bit neglected even though it was her favourite last week. I cut them in half today for the first time, as everyone else seems to, but I think she gets more enjoyment out of them whole. She likes to chew them, show them off, chew them a bit more, show them off again and then squirrel them in the roof of her mouth for later.

For dinner we all had left over roast chicken that I minced and added to mashed potato to make sausage type thingies. I then egged, crumbed and fried them. She wolfed them to my great delight along with her staple vegetable of broccoli. She just adores munching 'trees'. The mixed berries & natural yogurt for pudding might have been a bit tart but it still went down fine.

At least in the mornings she is really hungry and so will eat porridge or weetabix with added fruit off a spoon. I DON'T do mornings!