Feed Me

Now although we follow a Pagan path in our household, we enjoy Christmas dinner as much as the next person, and presents, and lights, and decorations etc. So we were obviously excited about Freya’s first Christmas. We had bought her a few present, but didn’t go overboard as at 9 months I don’t think she was really aware of anything except that there were all these boxes that she wasn’t allowed to touch. Dinner was going to be a simple affair as we were having Christmas day alone and then seeing family on Boxing day. I got a large chicken breast joint thing from Sainsbury and did mashed potato, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. Tony isn’t that keen on roast potato so I didn’t see the point and I don’t mind mashed potato. The idea was to have this at lunch time but we didn’t dressed until late so by the time I was ready to cook Freya was already begging for food so instead we put her out of her agony with some lunch and did it for the evening meal. It was almost perfect. The mashed potato was creamy and smooth and the chicken well cooked, but I couldn’t help thinking that there was something missing. It wasn’t until three days later, when we had come back from visiting relatives, I realised that in the oven lay some roast sweet potatoes now all cold and shrivelled. Never mind. Freya really enjoyed what we gave her anyway.

Boxing Day we went to my sister’s house for a party. I had to be more careful about what she ate there as it was mostly processed snacks and crisps. She was a little tired and overwhelmed to eat properly anyway, but I think she had a mini sausage, some bread and some pineapple and cheese on sticks. My sister in law was very impressed that she was drinking from a cup, but remained sceptical about baby led weaning even though Freya did demonstrate that it was perfectly safe. She even showed her a little gag and was very surprised to find herself being patted on the back.

That night we stayed with Freya’s great grandparents and she decided that this was so exciting that she couldn’t possibly go to sleep before 11.30pm and even then she tried to put up a fight when I realised she was getting grumpy. I had packed a small selection of foodstuff so that if she got hungry I had something for her. A banana, some plums and a rice cake. As she hadn’t eaten much at my sister’s, she ate the plum before bed and I think I gave her the banana in the morning. The poor old rice cake didn’t get a look in.

Although I’m glad I took the extra snacks, it was really liberating to have her just eat what was available and enjoy it. She really isn’t that fussy and will eat whatever is put in front of her with minimal fuss. We had taken the Bumbo with us so wherever we were we could sit on the floor with her. She certainly doesn’t mind sitting at the table but until I can get hold of one of those seats that you can strap to the dining chairs it’s the floor I’m afraid.

The only other thing to report is that Freya is now showing signs of preferring certain foods (pasta) over others and we are also getting to the stage of her eating things one day and then not touching them the next. I’m not worried. All I can do is offer it and, if she doesn’t want it, I eat it or it goes in the bin. It’s not like I’ve gone to any extra effort making food just for her. That’s the beauty of baby led weaning.

There are two items which seems to be considered ‘must try’ food for baby led weaning and I confess that, up to now, we hadn’t.  These are broccoli and bananas. Well we have now.

The broccoli I wanted to try as it is supposed to be very healthy and easy for babies to grasp. Freya didn’t seem to mind it and, considering it takes moments in the microwave, it will probably be something I will do now and again. She wouldn’t use the handles on the trees though. She did it her own way.

Today at lunch time the bananas I bought a week ago finally looked ripe. I don’t know where I got this tip but it worked wonders. Cut the banana in half or thirds and gently separate into sticks. Bananas naturally divide into three. You get three really nice fingers that stay together really well when grabbed by little fingers, but are soft enough to be gummed. No slippy mess. As we hadn’t tried banana before I gave her it first and I had pita bread on standby in case it wasn’t liked. With baby led weaning it really doesn’t matter so much about savoury/sweet. She ate most of the banana but then wanted her tray taken away. She still seemed to be interested in food though so I then gave her the pita which she ate without the Bumbo tray. There was very little mess. A few blobs of banana and that was about it. I made sure that there wasn’t a huge amount of hummus in the pita so it would squish out.

Yesterday dinner was a disaster for us adults so I won’t even bother to mention it, but at lunch time we were out and I took rice cakes with us. I tried them with hummus this time and although I didn’t think the hummus travelled well, very dry, Freya ate practically a whole cake. The most I’ve seen until now was half. I need to think of other things to take out with us though. I don’t want to bore her.