April 2009 - Chapter 5 - The one where no-one is allowed to feel guilty (except about all the chocolate...)

[Guimauve]

There will be chocolate fines for the guilty!

So didn't get the red shoes in the end as no one had them and I just couldn't bring myself to buy any others... so after all my searching for a dress...I wore some tan linen trousers and a pink top (I always end up doing this)

The reception was dreadfully loud (why do they always play music so loud?.) My eardrums were humming so had to keep Meg out of the main room (where everyone else was-even though you really couldn't hear anyone even with shouting). It was a little boring. Though everyone was very nice and the bride's dress was lovely. So glad that's over though.

So in 4ish weeks time when Moo can have real food...
Do I:
A) Plop her down in front of the TV with a roast dinner, a can of coke, some alco pops, and some lemon cake?
B) Sit her nicely in a high chair with some organic plum rice cereal, ebm, and some organic fairtrade banana
C)Hand her some toast and jam and see what she does as she sits on my lap?

Actually, what I really want to know is:
How do you know when the foods are soft enough and can you really just hand over bits of your own food (say I'm having a ham sandwich) to them....And are there any items which I will need to buy which will make the feeding process easier?

WFH will be along shortly...., but I'd go with C), though perhaps butter, not jam.

Are you hoping to do wholehearted BLW, or some purees and some finger foods?

Equipment-wise, my plans are:

Antilop highchair - check
Padded thing to bulk the chair out while he is still v.small - need to get
Bit of plastic sheet to go under general highchair area - check, have the shower curtain we got for the homebirth!
Pelican bib - need to get
Possibly long-sleeved vest/ bib things, though I may just try rolling up his sleeves and tucking a muslin in under the pelican bib.
Spoons for offering pre-loaded with stuff - check, but only because my Mom bought me some ages ago as they were cheap.

I think I want to stay away from purees from the stand point that I'm lazy disorganised have little patience for such things not sure if Moo will like them and dh is very much against them because he had trouble moving from purees to really food because of texture so wants to just introduce Moo to 'real' foods.
Finger foods seem ok to me, but it's not really clear from the things I'm reading what that means....
If I just steam some peas and carrots for my supper and they're bitesize can I hand them over? Or should I mash them a bit all the same?

and my plans are
move ds2 off booster
move Nia off her booster and onto ds1s old one.
Move Nias old booster down and find table attachment
forget to feed him as not in the habit

a pelican bib?

Yes we need something to bulk out the high chair too... it's WAY too big currently...though I do have one of those littler 'booster' seats with a tray too which means she's closer to the tray...though the last time she was in it (2months ago now!) she looked a bit floppy side to side with it.

Does anyone have any plans/ideas on what to do when you go out with them? For instance my PIL have a carpetted dining room...I can just imagine food landing on the carpet and staining and then complaints and off handed comments for the rest of my life...are there travel mats or something? I found one for us, but it's not very portable...

Finger foods basically anything they can pick up with their hands and eat. So, say, a bit of carrot that is long enough to hold in a little fist with some of it sticking out to poke in mouth, and soft enough to bite gum, but not so soft it turns to mush in a tight little fist (though they'll still get some in if it does mush, I suppose!). BLW is less concerned, I think, with 'specially created' finger foods - as long as they can grab it and steer it to their mouth, it's a go.

Careful with peas, as they can be a choking hazard.

I'd recommend having a look at Aitch's Blog, as reccd by WFH. There's loads of good stuff on there. There's also a big forum here and I'm reading The Book.

bronze lol Yeah I'm a little worried about forgetting to feed her...hell, as is obvious, I forget to feed myself!

Pelican bib = the plastic ones that have a little scoop at the bottom for catching the bits that get dropped!

Shower curtain again for visiting, I reckon. Restaurants I suppose you just don't worry about the floor?

Ah, if BLW, no need to worry about forgetting to feed, as you won't actually be depending on the food for calories for a while!

Oh Duh! shower curtain would be perfect wouldn't it! (I blame my lagging brain on lack of iron)

Sneaking away while DH spoonfeeds E and DS1 "makes tissue boxes"...

Thanks for good wishes. We go in to the ward tomorrow afternoon and then the op will be on Wednesday morning early - assuming all is well and there's room on the ward and E doesn't turn out to be anaemic etc. etc. etc.

Re long sleeved bibs and indeed any kind of attempt to protect the lower half with muslins, I find they are a mixed blessing. They have to fit properly and be well secured to be useful, otherwise they just spread the mess around further. For a small baby if it's relatively warm I'd just strip them to vest level. Actually what I generally do is rely on the washing machine to get whatever he's wearing clean afterwards. Usually works okay.

Eating out - if it's someone's home, choose less messy food (not too wet then you can use newspaper under the chair which you can throw away instead of having to put it back in your bag/boot all garmed up and foul). In a restaurant, apologise and tip well.

The subject of travelling highchairs is something I can bore on talk about at moderate length too. But I shall spare you.

You want a teatowel to protect the chair seat too if it's a fabric covered nice dining chair.

god, you lot are blasé. takes more than BFing a puppy to raise a reaction.

lol We have active imaginations Auld You would have got more reaction me thinks if you said put it in the tea
It just sounds too unreasonable to bf a pup.

You don't believe me?

That someone told the story? Yes that it actually happened? No. As I've heard on other forums...Means Nothing Without Pictures

Sorry Auld, I think I blanked it out, due to being horrified. Although, we drink cows' milk, goats' milk etc, just not straight from source. I believe horse milk is popular in your neck of the woods also, so why should we not share our milk with the rest of the animal kingdom?

Before H was born I had a dream about bfing a kitten. It had many sharp little kitten teeth. It was not fun.

I can't think why she'd have bothered making it up, though.

Was she a professor?

No, a very ordinary housewife married to a farmer.
I believed her. Maybe I need to get out more...

Well perhaps the telling of the tale would have made it more believable And Maybe as a farmer's wife you'd be into exploring such options? Personally I wouldn't want any teeth that sharp near my nips... but hey to each their own!

I believed you too. I don't imagine septuagenarian French farmers' wives have heard of Means Nothing Without Pictures I suppose it would make more sense if they already had a puppy in need of milk, rather than purchasing a puppy just for the purpose. Breast butter would have been a better use of resources I think.

sorry auld. also blanked it out slightly. tis an amazing tale but surely hand expressing better and coming from breast pump hating me that's something.