The Weaning Stage: My Story

At the age of just 5 months old my son started to push me away and refuse to feed from the breast. At first I took this as him saying he wasn't hungry, but when he barely fed at all I started to wonder if I was doing it wrong. It was actually the beginning of a new stage.

Yummy! It's HiPP Organic!

He had lost weight and the doctor informed me that he was showing signs of wanting to be weaned and also teething as well. I rushed off to buy all sorts of baby food, bowls, spoons, everything you require to feed a baby solids. We tried baby rice but he hated the stuff, so we tried what would be considered perhaps bit of a later food and went for tastes of mango, banana and even apple. He loved baby rice when I mixed it in with some banana! I had to go back to get him weighed again a week after his last weight check. He had gained the weight back as well as some extra, a dramatic change for the best that all of us were happy about. However the moment the Health Visitor asked what my doctor told me she turned. She went from being happy to hear that he was gaining again to acting as if I was some sort of Devil Mother. I was confused and asked what should I do now and she simply said "Well the damage is done now, continue what you are doing". I left very quickly as I didn't want anyone to see me crying my eyes out.

You see it's considered that at 6 months old weaning should start. This is actually a guideline and babies are different to one another, your child may not be interested in food until 6 months old but your friend's baby may have shown a desire to start weaning at 4 months old. Don't feel bad if your baby starts early and don't feel bad if your child starts later then your friend's baby. If they aren't ready then don't force them. However if they are ready and your doctor agrees then give it a try and see how they react.

I know what I did was right for my son. He gained the weight back as well as more on top of that, plus he was happier and less grumpy. But what if I hadn't listened to my doctor and did what the Health Visitor said? That is something I'd rather not think about.

Petit Baby Syndrome

My son is a little baby for his age. This can be a problem as not only do I get comments from people saying he's small for his age but I find myself looking at other babies and those who are the same age as him are huge compared to Baby Al and last week I met a little baby who was only 4 months old and yet he was the same size as my 10 month old.

All this does make me paranoid that I am not feeding my son enough food or the right things. He loves fruit, vegetables, meat, and so on. About the only two things he doesn't like are cheese (on it's own, loves it as a sauce with his greens) and broccoli. I find myself in some sort of panic as I go into the cupboard to pick something that will make my son grow. Daft, right? I know it is but this is what it has come down to, all because a few people pointed out that he's small for his age and from my eyes overlooking that others are bigger than him.

I have a baby boy who would eat all day if I let him. Right now he's just had breakfast less then an hour ago and even after all the filling and healthy breakfast food he has just had he still wants more. So he's munching on a couple of grapes, a new fruit for him that he seems to love so much that he has to stare at each grape for a good long time before considering to eat it and then finally biting down on it. There are days where I think maybe I should give him some biscuits instead of fruit, but another side of me thinks if I just fed him biscuits he may end up unhealthy and I'd blame myself for the rest of my life and he'd be bullied at school and... aarghhhh! I know, I know, I am one crazy lady.

The thing is, and I say this because I don't want to end this with you worrying your child isn't eating enough and becoming like me, you should only be concerned when they stop gaining weight or lose weight. And don't go rushing to the scales every hour of every day. You can get your child checked by a health visitor. At first they tend to say come in every 1-2 weeks and then every month and so on. This is because at first babies gain weight like no tomorrow and by about 6 months old it starts to slow down, I use to see Baby Al put on 1lb a week when he was newborn and now he's doing that once a month.

If you have concerns about your child's weight gain then speak to your Health Visitor or GP.

Kitchen? What Kitchen?

I have to admit, I've never been an amazing cook. Infact it's the man in my life who bakes fresh loaves of bread and cooks anything that isn't just "put in oven and cook" which is my style of cooking. Yes I buy frozen food and do as little cooking as humanly possible, I think I get that from my mother. But ever since Baby Al could eat food I started to realise this room just off my living space is actually more than for making baby bottles and washing our clothes. It could actually be used for... cooking!

The world of baby food open up to me and I started to buy books, collect recipes from websites, go to our local library and take out some helpful books on nutrition and recipes for babies and then I kicked myself into gear and bought a cheap hand blender from Asda. I had never used a hand blender before and this was the basics of all blending products. I gave it a try the next day and learnt a few things which I then wrote down and tried different tactics. Apples very quickly became my number one enemy as they go brown so fast no matter what I tricks I pulled. Banana are our one true friend as not only are they so easy to cut and blend into a pureé but later on they are a soft and healthy finger food. I've also just started to give mango a go and it's a huge hit, specially when mixed with banana as mango can be fairly strong on it's own. How do I know? Reading was a sure key to all this but also I didn't mind making one small bowl for him, test it out and see what we both thought of it. If he reacts well to it then I'll try again to see if he still responds in a positive way before I finally give it the thumbs up and keep the recipe.

One of the things I really want  to do this year is make an e-book filled with healthy and easy foods for babies to enjoy. I have to admit I cheated on mango as they are a big fruit but I found my local supermarket sold packs of sliced mango for real cheap and could make at least two healthy meals for him out of that and a banana, saving me money and a bit of time. My next step will be to finally get my hands on some meat as at the moment any meat Baby Al has in his diet is purely from bought baby food. I have been too shy to make my own meaty meals for him but now I feel prepared and ready to take on a new world of tasty home-made baby food!

Sugar and The Line

So where do you draw the line on sugar in your baby's diet? I had a rather amusing moment with my Health Visitor yesterday when we took a trip in to get Baby Al's 8 month review done. I asked a million questions that I had on my mind and don't really think she answered me one bit.

Food came up as a question as my son refuses to eat anything mashed or any of the stage two jarred stuff that you can buy in supermarkets. Her reply was to mash the food instead of blending it, as if I wasn't smart enough to give that a go. He loves his blended peas, carrots and sweet potato but the moment I mash it then it becomes this evil meal that is no longer allowed in the mouth. The thing is he will eat a mashed up banana without any problems! I then asked what would be a good starter food for mashing. "Anything" was her response. Well thank you for such a helpful list. I will enjoy spending money on every food in the shops and wasting my time mashing up and having it spat back at me. Clearly banana has something that others do not have, my guess being is when it is mashed up it's rather watery with very soft lumps. So my brain clicks and ponders what other fruit or vegetable is like the banana when mashed? Sweet Potato tends to be soft and easy to mash when cooked so this will be one of my future tests, along with pears which are soft and juicy.

During the food talk and watching him move a small cube between each hand she asked about finger foods. I told her that he has all sorts but has become a fan of baby biscuits. She freaks out and says to stop giving him baby biscuits or rusks due to the amount of sugar in them. I protested by saying I have Organix rusks and biscuits which have grape juice in them. She said that's just as bad. Hold on a second! This woman is telling me that the natural sugars of a fruit is just as bad as the white powder we use in our baking and other food related produce? Well if I follow that sort of thinking my boy wouldn't eat a damn thing because most fruits have a natural sugar to them and they are far better then eating actual sugar. And yet here I find myself infront of a lady who believes anything that uses the word "sugar" should not be in my child's diet. Ha!

She ended on a low for me when I asked what his weight was in lbs as I forgot to ask. She said 18lbs which made me real proud because that would be 3lbs gained since last month! I got home, got my phone out to text my mom (I always keep her up to date on how he is doing) and opened his red book to read 15.14lbs. My heart sank. He gained 0.1lbs in a month. I know they say that any weight gain is healthy but my boy did the same thing at 5 months and then lost 2lbs because he wanted more food. I figured he was hungry still and what I was feeding him was not enough to keep him going. All this tied in with many problems we have been trying to resolve but have failed. It all fits. Even as I write this it's only just sinking in how this Health Visitor told me he had gained 3lbs when in reality it wasn't even 1lb gain like he usually puts on.