September 2014 - 6 months already?!

[holls2000]

new thread!

Aw Team your DH's thoughts about the perfect mum brought a tear to my eye. You and your DD are very lucky to all have each other

Acorn am I imagining it or did your lo have reflux too? DD did and we're getting the gagging and throwing up with any lumps. I can't really afford to let her throw up atm either as she's got a cold and is right off her milk.

We're off to the North Yorkshire Dales this weekend, really looking forward to some time away with DD and DH and a bit of a break!

E use to gag with lumps but is much better now, he has learnt to chew! It just suddenly clicked one day! So not sure I can offer any advice in how to over come it!

lil I started with veg and fruit purees and then a few weeks into it I tried meat. I use to cook the meat with a veg and then blend it all down together!

Apples - yeah, he's a reflux baby too. Same here, he's had a cold for 3 weeks and his weight gain is dropping a bit, not helped by throwing up massive amounts every time we try and feed him anything non-purée. Enjoy your breaks, sounds lovely.

I suppose we used to have vomiting with puree and he overcame that pretty quickly. He still keeps shovelling food in even after he's just been sick so I don't think it bothers him.

we have offered carrot, bns, swede, sweet potato, apple, pear, parsnip, potato and something else. all have been a success except maybe swede. we are moving onto meat and slowly adding dairy at the weekend. I'm v nervous about the gagging thing.

team what a lovely thing for your dh to say .

holls what's bns? Am I being dim?

Acorn I decided to try dd with lumps again at lunch as her cold is tons better today and it was really successful. She had some melt-in-the mouth crumbly cheese and a tiny bit of bread and was fine with both. Hopefully both our little ones will improve more when the colds go!

Kitkat how long is it that you started? Don't worry about what your hv says, it is not set in stone, and it is not as if she will refuse solids forever, I would just offer small portion every day until she gets used to it. The thing is we seem to forget that these little babies are only used to milk, so to suddenly be faced with 1.a spoon instead of bottle/breast, 2.loads of weird tastes instead of milk taste, and 3.loads of different texture instead of liquid, will be too much for most babies to tolerate. May I make two suggestions: you could mix her usual milk with whatever you are feeding her (if you have not done it already...) Starting from watery texture; i.e more milk. Avocado is brilliant for this. Also when offering finger food, I would not expect her to start chewing all of a sudden: I would assume it is play time and let her have fun with it. Try not to get stressed as she will pick up on that; I wouldn't push it... she will get there soon enough... In her own time.

Acron, you are precisely describing my ds, a few weeks ago. He is now OK with spoon, with lumpy food and with different textures. rather too interested!! Refluxy babies are more difficult and slower to wean, but they'll get there soon enough...

P.S. Tonight he didn't want his sweet potato (which I put in freezer for him when I started weaning) but was interested in my meal so had to give him some... Almost time to give up on only baby foods and buy a masher to mash our food it seems. He is 30 weeks and we have been weaning for 6 weeks.

Apples - butternut squash.

I have made a selection of meat based mashed up things for freezer. Quite excited :-)

What type of meat things have you made holls? Could do with some inspiration!

Team, love what your DH said. I'd listen to him more whenever you're feeling a bit rubbishy

Holls, I thought bns was bananas shortened ( no idea why!!) and not butternut squash ( or nutter butt squash as DH and I usually call it) DD has tried most of those veg (apart from swede,and that's my fault as I cannot stand the stuff, it's seems so pointless)and likes all apart from the bns but she's getting used to that.

Tonight I've done her a proper meal of rice (spiced mildly with cumin, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves) with lentils and orange pepper. All will be blitzed together for her first mixed meal; hope she likes.

Any inspiration for adding meats in will be welcomed here though. Going to struggle as we both have a rather spicy palate so can't really give her our food just yet ( maybe after 1, as my mum did with myself and siblings - chapattis with various curries!!)

Tried for another upstairs nap this morning , she lasted all of 30 minutes and then barely slept all day,but thankfully she's almost over her cold

My DD is just coming to the end of her cold as well, sleep has finally improved - thank god!

It's Daddy & Daughter day tomorrow. I am off to a spa day with my Mum.

I started with chicken legs; cooked with veggies (broccoli and carrots) with garlic , onion and Kalo chicken cubes - it went down a treat. You could add rice, baby rice or potato so it is a full meal.

I then moved to salmon, cooked very simply with a bit of red pepper; added a bit of rice separately. He was very keen on that too. I then introduced red meat (lamb so it is softer) cooked with celery and herbs (and onion and garlic ofcourse and some mild spices) - this one was so good he had both two portions I left for him in one go! For this one you need to cook for quite some time so it is all soft and nice. In nursery he had pasta tuna baked which he loved and sweet and sour chicken with rice.

Oh and lentil is really good for them and one of ds favourites. It is so simple to cook, you could effectively just put lentil in water and leave it for 20 min or so then puree or make it more exciting with adding meat stock, onion, some veggies and a bit of potato or rice. It is full of protein and a meat replacement for vegetarians.
Ds prefers brown/green lentil but red ones are quicker too cook, just not as tasty!

Fate that's lovely

Can babies have nightmares? Ds woke up screaming blue murder; didn't calm down with mummy, looked at me & cry; did calm down with daddy though. Strange! First time of nightmare here

Team Your husband sounds lovely, and I think his definition of the perfect mum sounds spot on.

Re: Weaning - Am I the only one noy weaning yet ? J is one of the youngest September babies and I am holding out for 6 months exactly. It's been great reading all your posts though and has given me lots of ideas for when I start. We have bought J a highchair and he sits up at the table with us for meals.

I went to look round a nursery the other day and surprisingly I loved it. It is attached to my workplace for both staff and students' children and the facilities and care were amazing. Even J's face lit up. I only work 3 days so he will only be going to nursery for two mornings and the rest of the time my Mum will have him. I just feel he needs interaction with other young children as he is surrounded by older people and is a bit of a little prince to both sides of the family.

I am coming to terms with the fact that my work return is looming so to motivate myself I bought a whole new work wardrobe. And a whole new summer wardrobe. And new jeans. I have not bought any clothes apart from maternity ones (and they don't count - more functional than fashion) for ages as I wanted to wait until I was my normal size again. I saved all my Xmas and birthday money so was nice to have a big spend up.

I'm also loving the bright weather - managing to get lots of walks in and have been feeling really sociable . I can't wait for summer, I was so uncomfortable last summer that I didn't enjoy it. This year will be different !

Jay - I've not started yet, but will be starting this weekend! I've been slowly building up a range of puréed veg in my freezer, so I'm quite excited to get started. I think we will be starting on sweet potato.

Yes, babies can have nightmares! DD has them about once a fortnight, and when she does it takes a while to calm her down with lots of cuddles.

I'm feeling so much better and much more positive today! Yes, I'm very lucky to have such a perceptive and supportive DH. Think he's a keeper

Does everyone have something lovely planned for mummy's day? For many of us it is going to be our first ever!

Oh, I did have a couple of weaning questions...

Is anyone else having to wean dairy free?

How strictly are people sticking to the suggestion to only introduce a new food every three days in case of allergies? Seems like it will take forever to build up a good mix of foods doing it that way!

Team I haven't waited 3 days to introduce new foods. My HV says in reality it's only really necessary if you have a history of lots of allergies. Regardless most people start weaning on things like baby rice / pureed veg and it's very unusual that people are allergic to these things. More likely to be with wheat / dairy products so may be worth being more cautious with those but I still didn't wait 3 days between those either.

Nazly I am in awe of the meals you are cooking for your lo. They sound delicious - can you feed me too? Haha. J loves dishes with lentils in, but I'm far too lazy to cook then myself. Ella's pouches here!

I'm worried I'm not giving her a rounded dit sometimes.... I mean I probably am but because I'm not actually planning meals much I don't feel in control of it. I grab a pouch out the cupboard and see if she likes it. I get a variety of pouches with different meats and veg in so hopefully it's ok. I have cooked Annabel Karmel's salmon with carrots and peas but J has wasted 2 servings of that so far!

Nazly what is your chicken with red pepper recipe? J loves red pepper.

diet* not dit

I didn't wait three days! Think I am very impatient lol. Also it only took me a few days to work up to three meals a day. He was eating so little I didn't see the harm in trying thhree times a day and to be honest he's picked it up really quickly. He knows that his bib means food is coming and depending on his mood he will sit there with his mouth wide open waiting for it

Team - I did the 3 day thing for the first few veg. I stupidly gave him baby fruit porridge mixed with new formula and he now has eczema all over his legs and of course I don't know if it was caused by formula, strawberry or the porridge itself . Wish I'd stuck to one thing at a time as recommended! I've been trying blw which makes it very difficult. Not sure what to do for the best now.

Thanks all! Given that DD has cmpa I think that there is a small chance of some allergies, but I would have thought anything would happen within 24 hours? I might compromise and go for every two days introducing something new

Right have decided since yesterday to try a new approach - BLW. Jessica hates me trying to put a spoon in her mouth but conversely is fascinated watching me and DH eat, so have decided each mealtime to just stick her with me and / or DH and offer her some of whatever we are having while she watches (and hopefully copies)! She hasn't eaten much though so hoping I'm not doing the wrong thing. She has tried a few things though. Yesterday at lunch she tried / sucked some houmous off a pitta bread, ate some of my yogurt and tasted a bit of fruit. At dinner she sucked some guacamole off my fingers, and sucked a bit at a bit of red pepper and a fajita wrap. Oh and she sucked a bit at a breadstick between meals. The actual quantity she has eaten though has been very small - pretty much only a lick of each thing. And she hasn't quite got the 'hand to mouth' thing down yet so we are holding food to her mouth and letting her taste it if she wants to. Oh and she pretty much ate nothing at breakfast this morning, she preferred just to play with what I offered her. I'm just worried she's going to be really hungry but felt I had to switch as she was getting really upset at having food put in her mouth and I didn't want her to get upset every meal-time and build really unhealthy food associations.

KitKat we do a mix of ff and puree because that what works for us. E use to completely ignore finger food but is getting better now, he really likes bread sticks and will hold them but other things I have to hold to his mouth

Has anybody succeeded in getting a cat-napper to sleep for longer during the day? DD is a 40 mins on-the-dot type of girl and when poss I re-settle her after the first 40 mins but she still shows no sign of sleeping longer without my intervention!?

holls oh my goodness, so dim, of course butternut squash!

zana I am so in awe of your 10k. I was running until 3 weeks before DD arrived but haven't got back to it since. I walk the dog daily and am weirdly lighter than pre-pregnancy (think it's all the lifting DD!) but feel so unfit Me and DH LOVE spicey food too... it's hard to think of more bland dishes to share with DD!