Feed Me

As money is tight I’ve been trying new recipes instead of relying on old favourites that may cost more, but one I had wanted to try for a while was risotto. It’s fairly labour intensive or rather it is kitchen intensive so it had to wait for a time when Tony was home and could stop Freya wrecking the place. It turned out really well. We had to use the loaded spoon technique, but she could pick out the chicken bits herself and I cooked some veg to go with it. It wasn’t actually any cheaper to make than some of the other things we have but it was so nice that we may have it again.

On the cooking front I have also been making soups. I haven’t tried the bread soaked in soup for weaning yet and there’s no way Freya is steady enough for loaded spoons of it so she had the chunks of meat and veg with a rice cake which went down very well. It was Thai chicken noodle soup so I dread to think how much salt ended up in it, but I didn’t add any extra salt (even though the recipe said to) and since she didn’t drink the soup itself I think it was ok. Besides, when you look at it over the course of the week, or even the day, I think it all evens out.

We are having a little trouble with our carpets. I have been sitting Freya on the floor for lunch as she has been pretty good at not making much mess, but unfortunately all those little bits of mess have added up and now our carpet is in a terrible state. Blame the lazy woman who can only wash up once a day and so the Bumbo is never clean for the lunch times. The worst culprit by far has been plum. It’s not helped by the fact that Freya often drops it and then skilfully sits in it. Really, her bum shifting accuracy scares me sometimes.

On the teething front we have two bottom front teeth and definitely something going on at the top. At the weekend we were woken up by screaming at 3am on both Friday and Saturday nights and it took much rocking, feeding and finally firmness to get her to go back to sleep. I know we are really lucky in that Freya has always slept through from an early age and so I never feel too bad about it. I know there are many unlucky parents out there with very wakeful babies.

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.

Suddenly we think Freya has got it. No longer is this about play. Freya now eats and eats and takes a good long time over it too.

Tony cooked for the first time that we have been weaning Freya on Sunday and we had sausage pasta. We have given up just now with the pasta so Freya gets a slice of toast instead with the sauce, but this was the first time she didn’t seem to want to get out of her Bumbo. She carried on exploring and eating long past us finishing our dinners. It was especially amusing to see her examining the toast towards the end. It looked as if she was considering the quality and vintage – turning it over and over, having a little nibble, feeling it. It was great fun to watch.

I have been a little more adventurous with what I take out with me now. On Wednesday I took melon, chicken and rice cake. I think bringing breakfast into the equation has led to a decline in lunch so she just has a nibble now.

Breakfasts… Well, she has always enjoyed toast and bagels so that stays on the menu but we do get a bit fed up of the crumbs and sharing our breakfast so I bought some fruit and custard pots from Heinz I think they were. I do like the idea of her eating more fruit and since she finds it easier to spoon feed herself rather than pick up slimy fruit I thought we could give it a go even though it may count as goop. They are just fruit and milk, nothing extra, no added sugar or anything. We tried a little for breakfast Wednesday morning and she seemed to like it although we decanted half a pot and she had maybe half of that. However, that was the morning come the evening…

Tuesday evening was very unusual. I was planning cottage pie but in the end did jacket potato with a mince topping. Freya had scooped out potato mixed with the mince and baked bean mix. Since we hadn’t had too much luck with mince so far I didn’t expect her to eat much. We loaded the spoon and wondered what would happen and whether I would be going back to the toaster for our reliable back up. No need. She loved it. Spoon after spoon went in. She still hasn’t grasped the idea of filling the spoon herself but after it’s loaded and handed to her it goes straight in. She ate more that night than I had ever seen her eat.

Wednesday the same thing happened (even though i can’t remember what it was we had). This time she still seemed hungry after having nommed on everything we had given her. I ran to the fridge and cut some melon, but she’s actually not too fussed about melon. Then I remembered the half a pot of fruit custard. She finished it completely. Admittedly there was quite a lot on the bib afterwards but again I was amazed at the quantity that she managed. She was still looking round for more food after so back to the kitchen again for some rice cake. After a brief feed on the rice cake she was finally done and went for a much needed bath.

Last night we had the evil burger and chips. I had bought some veggie burgers as I thought they might be lower in salt as the veggie sausages were. How wrong can you be? The veggie burger had twice the amount of salt that the beef burger had! I cut just a sliver of each off for Freya and gave her some chips which have practically no salt at all unless you cover them in it yourself. Ugh! She loved it all although we didn’t share our burger bun this time. She was again hungry after so I got a whole pot of fruit custard for her and some melon. She had a quick suck on the melon before going back to the discarded chips, but the fruit pot… She ate the whole thing and I suspect could have managed another one if we’d let her.

Damn you Heinz! Making it so easy for me to give my child fruit in the form of mush. Still, since she feeds herself I think it can still count…

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.

Yes, we decided to go with Thai green curry and rice.

As has always been our way, we decided to give Freya whatever we were eating.  In this case, a green Thai chicken curry.  We tried giving it her with a rice-cake, as we were not sure how she would take to normal basmati rice, but then decided to load some sauce-laden rice onto her spoon and see what she did.

We started by giving her the chicken, just to see what would happen.  We tend to eat it fairly spicy, but we have learnt not to assume anything with our daughter.  Instead of spitting it out or crying, she chewed quite thoroughly and happily on the chicken.  I think this may even be the first time she has had chicken, since we worried about the way chicken can fray and crumble.  We needn’t have worried, since both spice and fraying were received with little more than a naughty smile, the one she usually saves for when she has managed to stick her hands (or face) in someone else’s dinner.

The rice came next, on her baby-sized spoon.  We put it to her mouth, since rice is prone to spilling, and she took some.  I think it tends to be slick enough to slide down your throat, so she did not gag or spit.  She was not very excited by it, I don’t think.  She was content to be fed rice, but not to actively feed herself rice; if we wanted her to eat, the chicken was the answer.

We decided to finish with rice-cake, which she licked the sauce from, but was too tired and thirsty to eat it.  She lolled over the edge of her bumbo instead and waited to be lifted free.  She was drooling quite a bit, perhaps due to the spice, and making little or no effort to stand when I held her up.  I ended up holding her while I brushed down her clothes, then watching her sit down heavily right on the pile of dislodged food.

Like most days, this finished with milk and a bath, then more milk and straight to bed.

The problem comes when we have pasta for dinner. Since it is cheap, this happens a lot. Freya can’t deal with pasta just yet although I have found advice on what shapes are easier on www.babyledweaning.com so next time I’m buying pasta I’ll be getting conchiglie or farfalle. Apparently these are easier for little hands to grasp. We had sausage pasta (left overs from yesterday) with red peppers and red pesto. I didn’t even know you could get red pesto and I have to say I wasn’t impressed. I will be sticking to the green in future.

Freya found the piece of red pepper the most easy thing to deal with as the other components were just a little too small. We did try sticking her baby fork into a piece of sausage and then some pasta, but this only really worked for one or two sucks before falling off. At the end she happily sucked on just a rice cake for a while. When all else fails the rice cakes are champion… even though they smell foul.

We signed up for Jo Jingles today. Maybe handling bells and shakers will help with her spoon skills. Time will tell.

No photo this time (sorry, it was over too soon), but you’re not missing much.

Our latest idea was pesto and crème fraîche on a rice-cake.  We were having the same (with bacon and onions in our case) on pasta, so it was easy enough to put some on a rice-cake.  She tried it, didn’t take to it, then dropped it.  She was happy to suck the pesto mix off her fingers and to lick the rice-cake, but I suppose she just wasn’t in a mood for rice-cakes.

Now she is happily drinking milk in a clean sleep-suit, while occasionally whinging about something.  Wind, perhaps.

Better luck next time…

So over the last two weeks we have mainly been feeding Freya at evening dinner. It’s nice to both be able to sit down with her and share our evening meal. However, today was Sunday and, although we didn’t have Sunday Roast for lunch, we decided that she would like to join us anyway.

Thinking that mini Cornish pasties were a little bit… er… wrong? for baby led weaning we gave her a rice cake. We know she likes rice cakes so we decided to try adding cream cheese. We didn’t buy the baby ones, just the no added salt adult ones. I resent paying twice as much for half the amount when they appear to be identical. She can’t quite handle a whole one yet, but breaking it in half worked very well.

It all went well, albeit messily, until she noticed that we weren’t eating rice cakes. We were in fact eating mini Cornish pasties. Freya decided she wanted Daddy’s pasty. So now we know that Freya likes pastry. The blob of filling was a little solid for her tastes so she pulled the pasty apart and concentrated on the pastry. Yes, yes, I know, I know. No wheat before 6 months, but she liked it. A lot. When the pasty was destroyed she went back to the rice cake.

Maybe less cream cheese next time…