Thank you to MoorMum Jenny from Menston for sharing her story.
Click to go straight to part 1, part 2, part 3, or part 5.
Day 16
Rash: under observation
Lessons learnt: the joy of giving – and receiving!
Time to breathe: not a lot at all
Great lunch today – munchkin grabbed handfuls of quiche and nibbled very happily on a baby leaf salad. So long as one of us preloads it for him – he’s getting pretty good at managing a spoon now. He hits his mouth most of the time – though sometimes it gets there via his chin or forehead. By all accounts he’s not the only one – his friend Isobel is doing very well too.
At one point he was munching on some potato salad from his dads spoon – when he suddenly lunged backwards and practically took Richard’s eye out. The second and third time it happened we realised that he was trying to share food. That’s got to be one of my favourite weaning moments so far!
The rash hasn’t gone altogether but hasn’t flared either and nothing in particular seems to be a trigger – so just keeping an eye on it for now.
As for the old time management issue – struggling to do much that isn’t food related – what with milk feeds, meal preparation and long slow mealtimes! Other than one nappy – I’m pretty sure I didn’t do anything else this morning. It’s fine cause J seems to really enjoy it – but I’m sure there has to be a bit of time I can squeeze from somewhere!
Day 17
Sharing the last banana
I know there isn’t anything in the cupboard today- so breakfast was quite simply a banana. Reckon he ate maybe half?? He was also sharing it with his dad again (so we weren’t imagining it yesterday!) – twice he leant back with a chunk of banana and have a suspicion he tired to lob another bit in my direction – I hope he was trying to feed me!
Day 18
Babies on the town: 3
Over-enthusiastic waitress: 1
Chicken wing: 20 minutes worth
Went in to Leeds with Kirsty, Lisa and their little ones. Fair to say I was nervous about whether he would nap or not (recently he’s been awful at getting off to sleep in his pram) but actually really confident that feeding would be easy. I took a few veg steamed as a plan b (try “zip n steam bags” from lakeland – 2 mins in the microwave and voila – a portion of cooked veg!) – but needn’t have bothered.
After getting all excited to see a poster of Kirsty’s Felix at the photographers!
We went with our little star to a Turkish restaurant near the station for the lunch. When we walked in it was like a sauna -and jampacked – I was sure they’d say there was no room for 3 push chairs – but it’s probably one of the warmest welcomes I’ve had anywhere since having J (and not just cause it was like a sauna). The very enthusiastic waitress (possibly the owner) – literally shoved bread in all their mouths and grabbed each baby to introduce to staff behind the furnace/cookers. 
Shoe-horned in to the table -we ordered the mixed kebab and a meze … a truly awesome plate of food and great for our little weaners. Under the watchful and amused eyes of the staff – all of them munched happily. J took a real liking to the chicken wing and was diligently gnawing away for at least 20 mins – and went on to try most of the different rices and salads on the plate.
What a come down for him when we got home! Tea was a selection of cold spuds, avocado and rice cake. He really wasn’t convinced by my attempts to pass it off as a meal… he’s becoming a bit of a demanding customer!
Day 21
We were at Grandma and Grandad’s today, Rich and I unfortunately had to go to a funeral in their village. It’s the first time we’ve left him for any length of time. Thinking I could save space – I cunningly packed just one serving of formula for whilst we were out – but all too late realised that it might well not be enough – so was relying on giving him a feed myself just before leaving the house. Of course he had a great nap which meant there wouldn’t have been enough time for him to eat – so had to quickly express off what I could to leave behind. Typically he woke just as we left the house but that was just the start of grandmas fun..! Throughout the day she had a field day feeding him blw style- some weetabix – some beef and veg from the day before… and so on. Grandma used to be a health visitor – so this is a big step from what she would have advised mums whilst she was working – but she’s been a real star. I think initially she may have been a little sceptical (though to her credit never showed it) – but having been on holiday with us when we first started out with weaning – she’s also a convert. The milk feeds were more than sufficient – which makes me think he may be taking less milk now.
Click here for part 5.
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