So ‘Little Dimples’ (I’m trying out new nicknames for my kids, as I’m getting a little superstitious about using their real names), turned 6 months last week and is now onto FOOD, yay!
The question is of course, ‘To Puree or not To Puree’. My decision is to go the rather laxidazical route of the second child, which is to make it up as I go along and see how it goes.
With ‘Curly Headed Boy’, I didn’t know much about anything asI ‘d had so little warning about the ‘baby thing’, so I just assumed I’d go the puree route. But after a couple of weeks of baby rice, he had a nasty stomach bug and then refused anything pureed. I’m a pretty rubbish cook, so I was tearing my hair out making stuff that he then refused, especially as he wanted to be held all the time, so the whole cooking experience was a nightmare. Then I went to a local Mum’s for coffee who passed him a strawberry when I mentioned my worries (I think that actually anyone with potential allergy issues is meant to avoid strawberries!), and heh presto he munched it down. So I ended up sort of ‘Baby Led Weaning’, even though I don’t think it was even named at the time. Which means, I cooked normal food (healthy, no salt etc), and let him help himself off my plate.
The downside is that obviously they can’t get lots of food into their tummies for quite a while (i.e months). But as I was breastfeeding, it wasn’t too worrying. The upside was several months later, when Curly headed Boy was munching on anything pretty much, and other Mums were having ‘lump refusal’.
So with Little Dimples, I’ve been letting her munch on cucumber for some time and suck my apples. This week, I’ve given her baby porridge in the morning and evening, and let her munch on my crusts or some pitta bread. At lunch time, I’m letting her munch on a slice of apple, or suck my banana into a big mush (she doesn’t like it squashed up); apparently fruit ferments, so it’s best during the middle of the day, which I didn’t know, but luckily was doing things the ‘right’ way around.
For a baby who has only had milk so far, it’s amazing to see her munching on bread, I really wouldn’t have imagined that it was possible. But she can sit up really well, and has a couple of teeth; and one of my mummy blogger mates (muddling along mummy) said that is a good indication that a baby can manage baby lead weaning.
She is VERY keen on her food! I’ll let you know which way things go and how she manages over the next couple of months. My body is already a bit relieved, as I’m pretty sure her demand for milk has reduced just a little.
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