Chicken stock

[ellasmum]

Hi..

I am attempting to make DD's food myself but being a pretty cr&&y chef I am a bit clueless. Attempted to make chicken stock from Annabel Karmel's receipe and it turned out to be all fat and no liquid - followed the receipe to the letter but am guessing not enough water to start with.

Anyway, was wondering if I can use her receipes with packet chicken stock or do they have too much salt in?? Has anyone done this? Am I being too anal??

Or on DPs!!!

I find that all responsibility for food is delegated to me - DP refuses even to taste the stuff! Lots of sympathy for non-eating baby - yesterday DS refused his tea (organic salmon!) - Mum ate it instead...

More depressing food refusal today - more screaming and crying but at least no food throwing by Mummy!!!

Had her weighed for the first time in about 6 weeks today and she had put on hardly any weight so am now even more worried about her not eating.

Why are babies so frustrating???

Hi Ellasmum, sorry my "ready-made stock" tip was duff !! the stuff I had from Tesco wasn't too salty at all and my dd loved the stuff I made from it - sorry !!

My dd used to go days without food too - somehow it's so much worse when it's stuff you've made yourself ! She survived for a while on a couple of fromage frais plus milk every day - then she started eating again ! Try not to worry, I know how you feel though - it is infuriating !

Forgot to say - when she wasn't eating, to save my sanity I reverted to jars for a while and somehow I felt less frustrated that she wouldn't eat them !

I should probably see a shrink - but it worked for me !

Scatterbrain - don't worry about the stock - I think she would have refused to eat anything I gave her.

I am just going to have to make sure DD drinks plenty of milk whilst this food crises continues.

Know what you mean about jars - it pains me to through away the food I made but jars don't really bother me.

Ellasmum, I second that about jarred food, it is not so painful throwing it away!

However also don't worry about the weight gain thing. I truely believe that once you get passed the initial few weeks it is just designed to make you more neurotic as a mum

I think I had my dd (who is now 18 months) weighed around 6 weeks, then again at 9 months, and I haven't done it since

Does anybody know if post six months, the salt thing is actually bad for them or is it just to avoid bad habits?

Ellasmum, just to say that giving more milk may make her less hungry for real food, it becomes a vicious circle, ie you give them more milk as they are not eating and then they need to eat less as they are getting full up on milk. Definitely, definitely, try some jars, I tried the Hipp Organic as it made me feel better that at least she was having organic!! If it helps my daughter refused just about all jar food but would eat the Hipp penne pasta and tomato (or something like that), may be worth trying that one too!
I so, so, sympathise, it can be soul destroying, I would second don't go for any more weigh-ins, I was told to go once every 2 weeks and it made me obsessional about weight gain. Haven't been for about 11 months now and am far less worried!

Am off to Sainsburys today to loads up on various jars - AK can bu**er off for a while quite frankly!!

Janus - totally agree about the milk - I have been giving her solids first to avoid the 'filling up with milk' issue. However, due to complete lack of interest in the solids have had to then fill her up with milk.

Fingers crossed today

How about just making vegetable stock? Saucepan of water, carrots, potatoes, celery etc boil and then simmer for a while. Got this from a different baby food book 'real recipes for real kids' and it was great, freezes well too. Used to do quite a bit of home made cooking when ds was younger, now nearly 2 and on more convenience food, tut tut, although he adores vegetables and fruit, oh and yoghurts and ice cream (due to teething..again!).

ellasmum, you have made my day...reading through the past week of your life, think I went through, and I have to say came out of the other side of what you are going through.

I think the worst day, was when my ds refused six different meals I had loving made and individually frozen for him. This involved me defrosting, heating up, and then cooling off each meal, as I thought it was my food he didn't like. Nope its just all babies are little b**rds in disguise when it comes to giving Mummy a hard time with food.

I would like to say it gets better... but heh you wouldn't liek tme to lie would you?

deegward - definitely don't want you to lie, but.... please tell me how long this stage lasts for??

Went to meet 3 other Mums with babies yesterday and while they all tucked into their lunch (babies that is), my DD once again refused and caused a real scene whilst I swore at her - sure they have all gone home telling their other halves what an uncaring Mum I am.

deegward - definitely don't want you to lie, but.... please tell me how long this stage lasts for??

Went to meet 3 other Mums with babies yesterday and while they all tucked into their lunch (babies that is), my DD once again refused and caused a real scene whilst I swore at her - sure they have all gone home telling their other halves what an uncaring Mum I am.

Ellasmum, don't worry you just get used to it in the end!!! My daughter (2.3) is still not a good eater and yes she has friends who gobble up everything and I watch with a real pang of jealousy. However, mine loves fruit and will gobble down loads of grapes, berries, etc, which some Mums then look on jealously as theirs won't touch fruit. You always find something to cling on to!

Ellasum, well he's 2 1/2 now, and we still have our moments. I now just offer a couple of things and if he says "no" to both, just go for the "well you'll be hungry then" attitude. He usually suggests something, but then sometimes he doesn't eat.

It won't do them any harm at all missing a couple of meals. It certainly makes them hungrier then next time.

Another tip is to try to be eating at the same time, and the same if not similar thing. Children like to be the same. Also if you can draft in other kids - that often works - my ds will eat most things and clear his plate if he has a friend to lunch.

Just don't take it personally, they will wolf down next month, what they threw back at you this month!

It doesn't get better. My ds is really fussy in a way, won't eat any fruit unless disguised in other foods like Weetabix. Sometimes he just decides that he doesn't like what I have defrosted for him, even though he loved it last week. I know that, if I could just get him to eat one spoonful, he will realise how yummy it really is. Sometimes I can and we have a good meal time, and the rest of the time it goes in the bin. following which the crackers with cheese spread come out!

My friend has the same attitude as deegward, in that she tells her three year old that this meal is the only one he will get, and he either eats it or goes until the next meal. This works for this age group, because you can sort of reason with them, and because they probably make up for it at other times of the day. But, at your dd's age (I'm assuming that she's young, due to the chicken stock recipe!)you can't do that. I know how you feel, and it is hard, but TRY not to worry. Babies have this amazing ability to pick up on your anxieties, and play on them, as I am discovering afresh at bed time with my ds!