Slave to puree

[Loll34]

Can someone please reassure me that spending what precious free time one has in the evening creating delicious baby purees for ungrateful offspring who will just regurgitate/pull face reminiscent of one smelling dog poo/smear in hair/splat with spoon on curtains even though METRES away from them is worth it?
Feel particularly aggrieved today as managed to defrost entire freezer worth of puree by accidentally leaving freezer door open over night. Plus defrosted lovingly made Annabel Karmel recipe for beef casserole only to find that it had turned into brown fibrous matter resembling coconut matting... Ah well, she wouldn't have eaten it anyway.

[hairymclary]

haha, how old is said offspring? can you move onto mashing instead of pureeing?

[DizzyBint]

hmmm..have you looked into baby led weaning (BLW)? no need to puree at all..

[Loll34]

I haven't looked into BLW - shall investigate. Dd is 7 months so a couple of months before mashing I think. Plus, nagged dh into letting me buy one of those Beaba Babycook machines at astronomical price so have to be seen using the damn thing.
It was useful for about 2 weeks...

[hairymclary]

oh you can deffo do BLW if she is that old.
just give her steamed veg, bits of toast etc. she'll be fine

[Toothyboy]

7 months should be old enough for mashing! Ds2 is 8 months, started weaing at 6 months - I didn't puree a single thing, just mashed from the start! Now he eats whatever the family's eating, but chopped up a bit.

They can chew well with their gums even if they don't have many teeth. Give it a go - dd may surprise you!

[Loll34]

Well, have been busy reading about BLW weaning and it is DARNED interesting. Dd is a happy little mite when munching on finger food but very resistent to most purees...I may try a change in approach.
But what to do with all those bloody purees? Dips? Frozen missiles to hurl at the cats when trying to nick the baby's food?

[Loll34]

Getting irate now... the whole weaning thing is just another way of getting nuerotic first-time mums to part with their dosh, isn't it. Damn Annabel Karmel and her alluringly marketed one-woman baby food industry

[AitchTwoOh]

some people use them as pasta sauces or put them on toast. there are some ludicrous ideas on the blog. good luck with the BLW, it's the dog's bolleaux i think. (but then i would, i write the blog

and you can still use your lovely beaba steamer for vegetables. you can even cook 'em up in advance if you like, freeze them and just dunk in boiling water to defrost. that's what one of my friends does.

[Loll34]

Thanks v much AitchTwoOh, really good blog. I am converted!!

[colditz]

Ds2 eats pieces of toast, and slices of banana, and he is 6.5 months old. I never intended to BLW him, but am excrutiatingly lazy, and it's easier to let him scavenge off his brother's plate than bugger around with a blender.

[AitchTwoOh]

thanks Loll. and yes, colditz, it was my innate laziness that led me to BLW as well.

[Loll34]

LOL colditz!

Once you accept that time spent with blender does not = worth as mother, you're away! One tiny remaining neurotic first mother niggle, and yes, I have only been doing for it a day, but she doesn't seem to eat that much...

[AitchTwoOh]

well, she's only been doing it for a day...
you could look at the other way... maybe you've been feeding her too much? don't worry, she'll chop and change on how much she eats, if my dd is any gauge.

[Loll34]

I have a bit of an issue about the quantity dd eats due to early breastfeeding horrors resulting in a big weight loss and hospitalisation... this is why I'm really keen on giving BLW a good try. I REALLY don't want to be one of those mothers who create food issues due to my neuroses.
Having said that, she had a good scoff of some sweet potato tonight...or would have done if I hadn't burned half of it.

[AitchTwoOh]

oooh loll, welcome to my world. did you read my rant about breastfeeding and formula feeding on the blog? we had to go back to the hospital to get weighed every two days. (including christmas day, yo ho ho). i've blocked a lot of the horror, out, to be honest.
that's why i'm glad to do BLW, because i feel it absolves me of all that responsibility i felt when i couldn't do the breastfeeding thing. because let's face it, dd didn't deliberately starve herself, i wasn't making enough milk...
However, this way i can cook, put some food out, let her take what she wants and then chuck the rest out (i'm not that wasteful, actually, i tend to freeze things). once you've done it for a while you will see that it's perfectly normal for the babies to eat loads one day and a slice of toast the next, but for the moment you'll just have to believe me. without getting too preachy, i really see BLW as an opportunity for me to get back on track with DD's nutrition, after stuffing up the bfing. i'm so glad i'm doing it, really. {smile}

[Loll34]

I've just been having a better look at your blog, Aitch (Babybear is VERY cute) - which answered my question about the amount they eat too. How sad is it to still feel upset about bf when they're 7 months old, but I really do... my hospital experience included getting locked in the loo for an hour at two in the morning with nurses saying "you need to turn the LOCK dear" and me screaming "I AM turning the f*cking lock". They had to get a security guard to kick it down in the end. Bless the NHS, there wasn't even a seat on the damn loo. And that was the end of my attempt to bf... at least it wasn't xmas.

But as you say, this is a way of feeling that you're doing your best. Without turning into a crazed, big-haired Annabel Karmel clone. Actually, I do have big hair but it's from having avocado smeared into it.

In fact, after slaving away on all those friggin' purees and feeling desperate because dd would just sit in her high chair and howl, I felt really chipper today - I gave her some food to play with, she even ate some of it, but she was making little happy noises and THAT hasn't happened before!

Thanks VERY much for pointing me in this direction.

[SoupDragon]

"You will see that it's perfectly normal for the babies to eat loads one day and a slice of toast the next"

[littlepiggie]

soupy play nice or its the naughty step.

[Loll34]

Yes, or I shall get demoralised and revert back to holding dd's nose and shovelling carrot glop in as soon as she opens her mouth to take a breath.

[SoupDragon]

[DizzyBint]

you're trying something new loll so give it time. your baby is 7 months so should still be having a lot of milk as the main source of nutrition, the food thing is just playing and tasting at the moment.

[Loll34]

Thank you DizzyBint . I must admit I'm enjoying feed times a lot more but really need to lose the feeding neurosis or dd will soon learn that it's a good way to wind mummy up.
Not that my angel daughter would ever wish to do that, of course.