Thank you to MoorMum Jenny from Menston for sharing her story.
Click to go straight to part 1, part 2, part 4 or part 5.
Day 7
Success at mixing up formula and Ready Brek: One
Time for cups of tea: Zero
Mess: Increasing
Giving Ready Brek another go and was eaten with real enthusiasm this time! Mummy loads spoon , munchkin takes spoon, pops it in his mouth and beams happily. What could be simpler?! Or more time consuming? One hour we sat with that bowl of porridge – I would try out the baby sign for finished… and he would hold out his hand for more! So no breakfast not even a cuppa for me before he settled down for his first nap. Having scraped the remains from his face before hand – the rest of the tidy up would have to wait this time.
Turns out last time that dad hadn’t read the instructions on mixing up formula – and had added a random and small amount of formula to the water – no wonder it had turned to concrete! Oops.
In the afternoon we had a lovely walk around a local village with friends… and settled back at theirs to enjoy some sun and a bit of a picnic. In a rare flash of organisation I’d made him a lovely tuna and pasta salad…and some steamed veg however the fresh air had just made him hungry/thirsty for milk and very tired… I paid attention this time – but a little sad that he didn’t eat the pasta.
As for the rest of the day – all I’ll say is that I really, really must go shopping!
Oh and as for the nappies, they really are changing now….
Day 9
Feeding frenzy: a first
Mango: a whole half eaten?
Up early, with a trip down to Windsor planned. Thinking it would be quick, I sliced up a mango. First off I squished some on to a rice cake – and the mango was promptly licked off. So then I left the skin on a couple of wedges of fruit – and no sooner turned around to pour my tea (shan’t be waiting til he finishes his breakfast again!) and all that was left were a couple of discarded skins – otherwise all gone. I then mushed up with yoghurt it went down just as well …. some of it from a spoon – and some of it by just sticking his head in the bowl.
We picked up some yummy picnic food from Waitrose – all pretty low in salt. (When it comes to mealtime I’m constantly busy calculating salt intake. I’ve never read so many labels in my life.. it’s quite illuminating!) Anyway -I’m getting distracted, on with the journey. We headed off down the M1. After a nerve jangling diversion as J’s hunger kicked in – and we temporarily got lost on the Derby ring road, we eventually found a pub car park for our picnic. He needed a good milk feed – and all the tears were long forgotten as he got stuck in to asparagus and parmesan frittata (looks just like an omelette to me!) and some small lamb pasties.
Later in the afternoon we stopped off again at another pub for a late lunch with Ally and Kas from Oxford. He didn’t eat very much bit did get to grips with my tasty lamb stew. To be honest even I would have turned my nose up at that particular side order of veg – and he barely touched them.
Since the morning – he has got a bit of a rash coming though on chin – not sure whether it’s related to large quantities of dribble or to something he’s eaten. If it is food – then working out what is going to be a bit of a lottery.
Day 10
Breakfast for three
Miles travelled: 250
Introductions to evil multinational food chains: 1
To the amazement (or was it horror/disapproval) of other diners in the hotel, munchkin tucked in to my egg and bacon on toast. He looked really pleased with himself.
The rash is looking a bit worse so I’m more convinced that it’s food related. Will cut back on dairy and eggs then reintroduce them and see how we get on. Suppose it may just be his system getting used to digesting solids.
The day was spent hopping back up the country. We stopped for a quick lunch with friends and their beautiful little baby – Laila – but really munchkin was just interested in snacking on the boob – it was very hot, so I suppose it’s not that surprising.
Then late afternoon after a few hours boiling in the car, we stopped for more food at the services. Dad and I decided to be evil and eat a KFC meal each – and paid an extortionate fee for J’s fruit pack. He picked up quite a few pieces that instantly slipped out of his hands and skidded on the floor – and we really, really didn’t want to be passing it back up to him. The solution was to stick a piece of melon on the end of a fork and let him nibble at it – which he did very happily. Having been determined not to allow him junk food – (not ever!) – I caved when he looked longingly at what we were guiltily munching (and enjoying a lot more than I’d like to admit). I picked out some chicken from the middle – which seemed like a good compromise - he loved it – but please don’t tell anyone else!
Day 14
Pub lunch with the lovely Izzy and mum Christine – also blw’ers.
I decided to be brave and order chilli and rice. Not so brave as to let him stick his hands in though – so experimented with letting him eat from my fork again. It worked a real treat and ended up being very civilised. I wasn’t sure at all how he’d take to the chilli but he seemed to really like it. I mixed it pretty well with the soured cream and that was that!
The rash is loads better – so have decided to start again with small amounts of dairy. Breakfasts of toast have been going down really well – but it’ll be good to vary them more again.
Click here for part 4.
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