Thank you to MoorMum Jenny from Menston for sharing her story.
Click to go straight to part 1, part 3, part 4 or part 5.
6 month birthday – official Day 1
This should have been the big day of big food but at breakfast he was more interested in splatting the Weetabix on the table than in eating it. And apparently Weetabix sets like concrete if you don’t rinse it out of bibs, hair or clothes straight away!
During lunch and dinner he only dabbled with food offered.
Maybe he’s quite tired – we are having a bad nights at the moment - but after the early success, the last two days have been a bit of an anti climax. But the book is clear that there will be days – weeks even when they are not interested – so I am remaining optimistic! Besides I know he’s still getting all he needs from the milk so have no worries that he needs to eat any more.
Almost forgot – he did have a bit of a nibble/chunk of my carrot cake – suspiciously that went down very well!
Day 2
Breakfast: omlette, bacon with a side order of rice cake.
Lunch: a bit of everything from everyone’s plates.
Having been joined by Grandma and Grandad on our holidays in the lakes – lunch today was a real treat for all… including the surrounding tables. He sat on the high chair, pleased as punch whilst he gnawed, chewed and gummed at everything we passed to him and managed a little bit of everyone’s meal.
Day 3
Bad habits started: 2
Lessons learnt: 1
Bad habit number 1 – we skipped breakfast as check out of the lodge was just too early and would have left no time to clear up after. Apparently this is another advantage of blw – the book explains that at this stage and for some time yet, it’s OK to have less than three meals each and every day – though obviously the aim is to start getting in to that routine.
Bad habit number 2 – chips. Stopped off at a pub to meet family and ordered a few bowls of chips to keep us going for lunch an hour or two later. Needless to say – they went down very well!
Lesson of the day – eating together sounds all well and good on paper but doesn’t always work out well in practise. Aforementioned lunch took a little longer to prepare than expected and one little boy got more and more tired in front of our eyes! Instead of acting on that, we plodded on with a communal lunch – and though he did gather enough energy to eat a bit of chicken and potato – not to mention wowing his 10 year old cousin by munching on asparagus willingly – we ended up with meltdown. So rather than spending time with my brother and family we enjoyed a 2 hour shout-fest as we tried and repeatedly failed to put our overtired munchkin down for a sleep.
Day 4
Lessons previously learnt but ignored: 1
Another family gathering – this time a bbq and eating al fresco. Again – food was late, again munchkin was tired and again we ploughed on with lunch plans. I just didn’t want him or either mum or dad to miss out on the food… ! After a valiant start – in which he got quite industrious with some steak, salad and red pepper – I did decide to take him up for a nap. By the time I came back down - my own steak was ruined and most of the salads had been eaten! Need to get better at the whole business of planning ahead – which is not really a strength of mine or his dad…
Day 5
Alfresco eating successes: 1
Success at mixing up formula and Ready Brek: nil
Today’ was a bank holiday and munckin’s dad did the first shift giving me a lie in and giving the pair a chance to do some breakfast bonding. Ready brek was on the menu – but failed to impress our little foodie. Dad explained how he could understand the little ones attitude – as it had been like concrete. I’m thinking that dad brought his own prejudices to the table and unwittingly influenced J’s young mind! All would come clear in a few days time…
Meanwhile, at lunchtime dad more than redeemed himself by pulling together a super last minute picnic – complete with all the gadgets. Carrots, cucumbers, baby corn, falafel and sunshade. We joined friends at a local park and sat back in the sunshine whilst the little ones’ shared their food.
Day 6
Housewife shopping skills: very poor
Time management: definite room for improvement
Poo: lumpy with evidence of baby corn making it through his system! Exciting – yet sad to see our breast milk poos about to become a thing of the past.
At breakfast time it suddenly became clear that there was practically nothing left in the house to eat – much less that was suitable for a weaning baby – even a blw’er. All that I could get my hands on was a pack of croissants leftover from the holidays. Needless to say he enjoyed the naughty indulgence! (In retrospect, I forgot that I could have mixed up some formula to have with his cereal – how obvious was that – ah well – I just don’t have the answers at my finger tips yet!)
Lunchtime came and still no shopping – but after some head scratching we didn’t do too badly. We all had some home-made burgers that were left in the freezer which, with some carrots and mange tout on the side for munchkin, managed to keep him entertained for a good while.
Dinner was late again and there was no time for us to sit down together. I still haven’t been shopping so I really was digging around in the back of the fridge! This time you could really tell with a selection of omelette, rice cake and carrots… hmmm…not exactly a dish of the day but it did the job.
Click here for part 3.
What next?
To find out more about weaning, read our weaning top tips.
Or, you could chat on-line to other mums about weaning in our baby chat section.
