November 2012 - Babies going trick or treating

[StuntNun]

Previous thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/postnatal_clubs/1870430-November-2012-Babies-are-getting-busy-busy-busy

Oscar shakes his head lots. I am trying to teach him to nod his head too but it ends up as a kind of head roll His favourite thing at the moment is to dance. He sits on his bottom and wriggles around shaking his arms. Tres cute. As for babbling, I get mumumumumum a lot, but I have no idea if he is aiming that at me or not.

Date outfit ordered from Topshop online.

Once I pop I just can't stop .

Is anyone elses LO's very attached to something? I know I've said before how O is with the muslins.

I was in the kitchen with him yesterday, when he figured how how to open the tumble dryer. Inside he found a massive stash of muslins. I turned around to him running out the kitchen with 5 muslins trailing behind him, squeals of glee alerting me to his mischief .

Today, he managed to get at the pile of clean washing on the dining room table, and, you've guessed it, removed all the muslins for chewing, sucking and rubbing purposes .

He won't go to sleep without one unless you want a real fight.

Oscar loves his Muslims too He sleeps with one every nap and bed time. He also picked one out of the clean washing this morning and crawled around the room with it hanging out of his mouth. That is another favourite game at the moment - pick up an object in his mouth and crawl around the flat with it...

Oh FFS. Muslins!!

Well. I have got a bit lackadaisical. This week would have been something like moussaka, hummus sandwiches, beans and mash, egg fried chicken and pea rice, fish and chips, lasagna, tomato soup, hummus sandwiches, lasagnA, cheese and cranberry sauce toasties, pr s slow cooked lamb! various puddings. Cheese and fruit for snacks. Not necessarily all in that order.

But I did not have much kitchen access. So it's why a bit mince and easy based.

R has weetabix with milk and fruit puree for breakfast.

Lunches are leftovers from the night before, sandwiches - boursin, hummus, egg mayo, tuna, sardine in tomato - scrambled egg and toast/bagel/english muffin, beans and the same.

Dinner he eats what we eat - shepherd's or cottage pie, fish pie, tuna or vegetable pasta, stews, fish+chips (2 fish fingers), curry, cous cous, sausage and mash, risotto, kedgeree... If it's really lumpy i mush it but most meat is slow cooked so pulls apart and he can handle that in sauce now.

I cook salt free for dp's bp but use lots of herbs. He couldn't have the fish pie but everything else is easy to do dairy free without even noticing tbh.

Pumpkin risotto:
Heat 2tbsp oil with 1/2 tsp each cumin, turmeric, curry powder and paprika and 1tbsp tomato puree (or whatever spices are in your cupboard)
Soften a finely chopped onion. Add 1/4 of a pumpkin, diced small, and 1/2 a courgette, ditto. When soft, add a mug full of risotto rice, fry for a minute then add 1 pint of water a ladle full at a time, stirring till each ladle full has been absorbed before adding the next.

I did this with salmon the other day and R went nuts for it! Kedgeree is similar but with regular rice, smoked haddock and poached egg.

A tin of sardines in tomato sauce with the bones out mushed up and mixed with spinach (1 blob of frozen) and 1 tbsp baby sized pasta goes down well too

Snacks are Organix, toast/crumpet/bagel, cheerios/shreddies/blueberry wheats, malted milk/morning coffee/nice biscuits (at baby groups!), apple/pear/satsuma, rice cakes, breadsticks...

Homemade baby biscuits:
1/4 cup plain flour
1/4 cup baby cereal or ground oats
1/2 cup apple juice
1/4tsp ginger

Add juice slowly to dry ingredients to make a dough. Roll and cut into small shapes. Bake at 160 for 25 minutes.

I did 200 for 10 and they were a bit soggy so i reckon they need lower and longer for a nice crunch [hsmile]

Yes, we have Snoop Dog, accompanies Little O for comfort. Or Snoop Dawg if you are hip like pass

Would love to hear a food diary as I'm struggling a bit here too with variety.

We have a bunny here he is attached too along with a blankie both made by my auntie.

even!

Right det! I started a thread similar to your question as I was worried about making special meals for p for the rest of her life.

Breakfast:
Toast.
Toppings - avocado, peanut butter, vitalite, jam (really not keen)

Lunch and dinner any combination of-
Pasta and a homemade tomato sauce (toms, courgette, carrot, mushrooms, onions etc)
Fish pie
Veg and chick pea curry
Salad veg with avocado and olives with oat cakes
Salmon risotto
Lamb tagine
Meatballs with roast potatoes/in tomato sauce/with Cous Cous
Tinned mackerel with pasta/Cous Cous/ rice and veg
Tinned sardines with pasta/Cous Cous/ rice
Roasted veg and leftover roast beef
Cottage pie

Basically her meals are very much about pasta and Cous Cous.
If it is fish then she omnomnoms it. I know you have a fish phobia so is there any way you could get MIL to prepare a simple tinned salmon and pasta dish once a week or so and bathe him afterwards? It is full of calcium and dead easy.

What do you put in sandwiches? I would like to make P's lunches more 'lunchy' as at the moment dinner and lunch are the same really.

For fast meals I have done beans on toast and mash and beans. Both were nommed happily and accompanying veg.

My worry is about salt not sugar but I think the same advice stands. Thy eat tiny amounts so letting them eat what you do is fine. I would avoid giving him sugar replacements and just go with a wee drop of sugar. DH felt dreadful today as he arrived home armed wib aldi baby biscotti all chuffed because they were dairy and egg free. First ingredient is sugar. It's fine though - these I would give once every few days. Sugar free organix type I give whenever actually.

I don't pulse a lot anymore, just Sunday dinner but I leave the hpveg in batons for him. The moussaka went down a treat with all boys.

pidj your biscuits sound awesome.

My fish pie was with oat milk.

P also went mental for mackerel in pasta with steamed spinach. Proper arm and leg waving!

I just for know where necessary. Today interestingly we gave p a roasted potato and bits of beef. She cried and there it around. DH made her mashed potato and carrots then chopped the meat up and mixed it - happy penny

I suspect when she is very tired and very hungry she just wants it IV'd

I am trying to stop cooking separately now and eat more as a family in the week. I am going to to a chicken and butternut squash bake tomorrow from the EK cook book which has some great ideas. I have been doing lots of soups (when I have free access to kitchen) for lunches as they satisfy my calorie counting and I think they are a good lunch for boys, they really like the golden vegetable from the hairy dieters book, parsnip and ginger and tomato and lentil.

Do they at some point just get better at eating more adult food?

L still struggles with some stuff and I am worried I'm doing it all wrong :(

That is what I was hoping for sophia. I have soup for lunch every single day and have done for many years. I am not sure how p would cope with this though as she would need it all spoon fed or more bread and as she is a toast or nothing breakfaster I am not keen on adding more bread

pikz I am coming to the conclusion that it is both baby and parents who adjust better. I can see p wanting to be more independent at meal times but like today she just wanted to open her gob.

Ah, i cheat and do mine by poaching the fish in seasoned milk then bunging cheese at it till it thickens a bit. I have also been know to top it with frozen mash oat or rice milk would work, then thicken with flour?

R prefers mush when he's tired. Teething dinner is cauliflower and spinach and cheese on tiny pasta! With yoghurt or fruit puree for pudding

He now eats bananas from the skin like a big man

Pass use the soup instead of milk to make up baby rice?

R copes with lumpier purees now, i figure i just make them less smooth and increase the finger foods until the two ends meet iyswim? He's starting to show an interest in using his play spoon to pick up food from the bowl (i keep a very close eye on that, don't want tomato sauce up my books!) and is getting more in with his hands - he's another that wouldn't cope with blw, he needs Food Now and plenty of it!

I made it just as I would normal fish pie -
Poach fish in (oat) milk with onions, bay and cloves
Strain fish retaining milk
Make the sauce with vitalite and flour than add milk slowly.
And so on.
Just no cheese

Love the new name BTW!

That's a good idea re the rice.

I don't purée/mush anything here. O just eats what I eat. Toast/porridge with fruit for breakfast. Scrambled eggs/pasta/sandwiches for lunch and then anything goes for dinner. Cheese/fruit/rice cakes/breadsticks for snacks.

Feeling incredibly lonely tonight. Sodding weekends. I want someone to share them with. Not helped by seeing a photo of 'the other woman' in my old flat, with photos of O in the background, standing exactly where I stood for my first photo with O I couldn't care less if XP is seeing her, although he still denies it...but the fact that she is in my old flat which still holds so many memories of O makes me feel sick. I reckon she is actually living there now.

Detective I would give J custard, jelly and cakes, all with sugar, although he hasn't had them often. I would avoid artificial sweeteners like the plague for all three of mine as well. J has banana/ toast/ butter/ strawberries/ Cheerios/ Petis Filous/ fruit pot. Lunch is either an EK pouch, leftovers (kept back specially for him) or whatever I'm having if suitable. Dinner is e.g. chicken leg/ pork chop/ sausage plus boiled potatoes/ mash/ chips/ rice/ pasta and whatever veg we are having only I add the salt after takin out his portion. If he still seems hungry then he gets a baby biscotti/ rusk/ raisins/ chocolate chip cookie.

I'm having an early night and desperately hoping for some positive news tomorrow on the house move. J is at the CM tomorrow so I'm hoping to get four hours work on the loft done.

Oh chasing I wish we could be there with you.

All of this is momentary. Intermittent. Fleeting.

Breath deeply.

One day not too long from now, I would imagine, you will find every day busy and entirely gratifying.

Until then share with us. Go into the bathroom and take a big deep breath of the bubble bath you use for O or take something from the laundry basket. Breath him in and remember that you have balls of steel and you are making a massive sacrifice for your son.

It won't always be like this

Keep the ideas coming.

We are limited even further by the no tomato thing.

Gutted as baked beans would be a great lunch, or with mash/sausage for an easy tea now and then.

DP has some tuna for him this week, he said he will do a pasta more fecking pasta! bake!

O generally has pasta with either chicken or ham pieces, with either tinned or cooked frozen sweetcorn or peas (sometimes both) sometimes I add mayo to it, if I don't mind a messy meal time!

I would like to do something different for him with pasta, but really struggling as no cheese and no tomato sauces! He did have a little cheesy pasta before we stopped the dairy again .

Pass Sandwiches are made with lean meats, we have chicken breast or ham on the bone, both of which are mine as part of my slimming world stuffs, so at least I am not having to buy extra for that .

We spent £150 today. It's ridiculous!!!

I am spending at least £30 a week on O's food. Even shopping in Aldi!

Pikz O struggles with some things too. Sandwiches just end up as bread with bits of meat on the side!

I just worry I am not giving him balanced meals :(

I try hard, but feel so limited, both with time and money, as well as ingredients!

Okay, so, I will try and do a breakdown of the meals I do him (I don't differentiate between lunch and tea tbh)...

Soft boiled egg with toast.
Pasta with the above combos.
Carrots and peas with cooked chicken breast (put some pepper and garlic on for flavour).
Sweet potato with cinnamon, chicken breast.
Soup - basic veg, a sweetcorn/noodle soup - I will try others soon.
Mash, sausage, veg.
Sandwiches.
EK pouch.
Mushed up meal from freezer (I do different meat and veg ie. pork, apple and leek, beef stew, curry etc).
Eggy bread.
Spanish omelette (spinach and potato).
Scrambled egg on toast.

The mush still goes down the best tbh. Maybe I should just keep making meals and mushing them up? Maybe I am pushing him to normal meals when he isn't ready? I don't know. I just feel he is always eating the same things, and they are boring and not balanced meals. I try and do the protein, veg and small bit of carb in each meal, but it doesn't always happen. If the meal has no veg with it, he always gets a banana or fruit pot after.

I need to stop flapping.

Oh pass you lovely lovely lady. You just made me cry. What would I do without you all?