Cheese Please!

Toast and ricotta is a hit. Banana is now a miss. The Wee One is just not interested in banana at all now, porridge and banana is now ignored.

To combat the lack of banana eating, which was always an easy breakfast, I finally gave into some toast and thought ricotta might be the way to go. I cut the spread toast into soldiers and each one was lock and suck and chewed on.

For dinner tonight, the wee one was on deconstructed fajitas again. A good chunk of red pepper was eaten, she definitely likes them. Loaded spoons of avocado were devoured.

We've also had a pooless day today. First time since she born! There's still an hour of the day left, no doubt the current smell of expulsions would rouse the Wee One from her deepest sleep. I've already decided, Him is totally on that one! Today at our baby group, I actually had to ensure those standing near knew that the vile smell engulfing their personal space had came from my daughter and not me.

Despite the awful stenches, I just adore this child of mine. She is bringing us such joy and meal times are just the best part of the day. Sharing food as a family is even better than I hoped it could ever be.

The Wide Awake Club

After the Wee One started sleeping through the at around 4 weeks, my own sleep pattern never really settled down. At first I think it was due to continuing to express during the night when we went through the Wee One refusing to breastfeed. I think this pattern (which to be fair was actually established during pregnancy during the nightly pee run!) just does not want to give up. I can lie awake for up to 3 hours during the night, more often it's just an hour. And I'll lie there awake and useless amongst a sleepy household trying to switch off again.

These days I've started to realise its all been a practice for the Wee One regressing to being a new born again! Last night we went back to 4 hourly feeds. To be honest I feel neither up nor down about it. I suppose it's a good thing that I'm still not back at work. I've not been tired in the morning but by the time 6pm hit, it starts to hit hard.

There is one massive difference between waking up randomly and waking up for a feed. The feeding apparently releases a sleepy hormone, which lulls you back to sleep after. Believe it or not, I'm starting to feel better being up with the Wee One during night compared to my previous night wakings.

It's just nice to have a purpose.

Al Fresco Baby

Tonight we enjoyed some al fresco dining with some suitably al fresco foods. Panzanella and gnocchi with roast veg. Lots of lovely food to savour and enjoy!

Today also seen the appearance of "proper" nappies. The kind that make you want to run to the bathroom and see your last meal in detail. These were proper poo's. There was also some form and everything. There was also a lot of it, twice.

And so to dinner, panzanella is one of my favourite summer salads, the Wee One seemed to enjoy the tomatoey bread.

Panzanella

Approx 20 Cherry Tomatoes
1/2 French Stick Baguette (stale)
2 Balls of Mozarella
2 tablespoons of Red Wine Vinegar
4 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
Handful of Basil Leaves
Black Pepper

1. Chop tomatoes roughly into around 1 inch cubes. Cover with oil and vinegar, grind some pepper to taste and set aside for 15-20 minutes.

2. If your bread is not stale already, cut into slices and dry in the oven. Slice the bread into around 1 inch slices.

3. Tear half the basil and add the the tomatoes and stir thoroughly. Slice the mozarella into fine slices and mix though the tomatoes. Leave at room temperature.

4. 10 minutes before you want to serve, tear up the bread and stir trough the tomato mixture. Tear up the rest of the basil and stir through. Put the panzanella in the fridge until you are ready to serve.

The Nightly Visitor

Since we started food we've had an extra waking between 11pm-12 midnight, eventually I discovered that it wasn't a need for milk that was fuelling this wake up, but the need to trump like a wee trumpety pants. My normally dummy refusing bambino will now take a cuddle, and then bear down on the dummy until she has expelled every last drop of wind and will then go back off to sleep.

It seems to be a common complaint among other Baby Led Weaners and particularily breast feeding Baby Led Weaners. The Wee One has been producing poops Him has been proud of since the day she was born, they are quite epic. I'm glad I figured it out though, offering milk every waking was getting exhausting. I had just assumed milk was wanted as the Wee One had never really woke up before after going to bed. I learned after an exhausting couple of days that the boob was not always in demand.

Brown rice made the wind effects much worse, and it broke my heart that the Wee One seemed in such pain.

I generally write these blogs during the night feed and I'm happy to confirm that some trumping commenced before we came up stairs. We'll see if the waking occurs or not this evening.

We gave breakfast, lunch and dinner again today, mostly because we had a full night's sleep last night and we're hoping for the same again tonight.

Breakfast was a blueberry pancake , lunch was hummous, breadstick and cheese and dinner was chicken, tomato, boiled egg, breadstick and some more cheese. The Wee One is getting an old hand now, she just grabs a bit of what's on offer and sticks it in her mouth and gives it a go.

Blueberry Pancakes

4 & 1/2 tablespoons of Self-Raising Flour
1/2 teaspoon of Baking Powder
150 ml of Whole Milk
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon of Sugar (optional)
2 handfuls of Blueberries

1. Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add milk and egg and beat well together. Your mixture should be quite thick. It should leave a ribbon trail when you remove your spoon.

2. Heat your pan and brush with a very small amount of oil. It's a touch and go area, just how hot it should be. Your pan shouldn't be smoking but not medium either. I always test a small amount of the batter in the pan. It should take around 30 seconds for bubbles to appear in the pancake, if it's less turn the heat down, more turn the heat up.

3. Make pancakes with around 2 tablespoons of batter, 1 tablespoon for a baby portion. Add 6-7 blueberries to each pancake as soon as it stops spreading in the pan. Once bubbles appear and pop, flip your pancake and cook on the other side for 1-2 minutes.

Makes 5 large pancakes and 1 baby sized.

Throw Another Prawn on the Barbie

Well not a prawn really, chicken and veg.

The Wee One had her first BBQ today at her auntie and uncles house, she's quite lucky, it was a lovely BBQ, chicken and vegetable kebabs. The Wee One's auntie also made her some broccoli and mushed carrot for a loaded spoon. She enjoyed it all.

We also had a big lunch of hummous, avocado and cucumber. It was eaten purely in a nappy and, my goodness me, it was messy!

Breakfast was also given today. Triple threat. Porridge with a few raspberries and banana mushed through.

The Wee One ate well today, despite another very hot day. She also drank quite a bit as well.

It's still warm, 19 degrees, so another warm night ahead.

I've started to wonder when the Wee One will sleep through the night again. We started getting more frequent wakings when food started, I'm hoping as more food is consumed, liess wakings will occur. However, she could just continue replacing missed milk feeds by getting up at night. To my mind, there has been no reduction in milk feeds at all so far, I would say the opposite has happened.

This situation requires patience. I'm glad that after all my time on earth, someone has arrived to teach me some.

Relinquishing Control

Today was still hot. We his out for most of the day and had a fun mummy and Wee One jammy day. It was lovely and relaxing.

Today for the first time, I used a few shop bought items for the little one to try. Namely wholemeal pitta bread and hummous. I could have made both, but a look at the salt content of the hummous made me happy enough, I would love to make every scrap of food from scratch, but let's face it, I'm lazy. My motivation has been lacking slightly as well during this week of sleep depravation.

Together, the Wee One and I sat and ate a lovely lunch and the hummous was a hilarious hit! I'm finding preparing for for myself and the Wee One the least time consuming part of the process as I need to eat as well. The best part is, because she is eating what I'm eating, it's forcing me to eat better and more regularly than I have been.

There was a lot of the lunch consumed, which has already been evident in the nappy, chunks of avocado and still some broccoli. Always broccoli. There is starting to be a change in consistency too. Hopefully this will be the starting signal to the end to the daily blowout. There has also been a multitude of methane clouds produced as well.

The Wee One has been a windy wee soul from day one. Her trumps literally (and for Radio 4 fans, I put the literally in there just to annoy Ed Byrne re this weeks News Quiz) trumps Him's, for which her is very proud of her. But the past couple of nights I've had to console some wind out of her when she's went to bed. It appears to be a common occurrence in BLW babes

I'm so happy hummous was such a great success, it's going to allow me to explore more dipping options.

Hot Hot Hot

Today was hot

Really hot.

Tomorrow with be hotter.

The Wee One proved today that she is indeed a winter baby. She was barely dressed and fell asleep around 5 times, most unusual.

Food wise, breakfast was skipped, I was too hot and she was happy with milk as she always is. I'm aware I'm making excuses for my laziness and I'm not even sorry. It's too hot to be sorry.

Dinner was a stirfry affair again. Ginger pork, broccoli, red pepper, spring onion and noodles. I removed the Wee One's portion again before adding any soy sauce. She had a good suck on the pork and the red pepper. The broccoli was decimated again. Stalk was left and the tops were swallowed. The noodles were played with.

We had to remind ourselves about what we're doing. It's about learning to eat not actually eating. Finding the mindset is difficult sometimes. But then you see the nappy and what she has actually eaten without persuasion or coaxing and you realise that the approach is working. Yes she may not be eating specific amounts at specific times, but I am learning to deal.

My poor Wee Lamb couldn't help falling asleep as soon as she was cuddled or exposed to any heat today, it's going to be hotter tomorrow, I'm considering getting a wee paddling pool tomorrow to let the Wee One splash around in it.

And so to bed, it's 11pm and still 18 degrees Celsius outside. As a dear friend would say, "Oy vey!".

Broccoli Features

It's been a week or so, and broccoli is back! Oh boy, this child loves broccoli! She nibbled off the trees and left the stalk of two florets. She has definite passion for the bric broc.

Breakfast was pretty much refused this morning, another aspect of Baby Led Weaning that is difficult to adjust to. If your baby doesn't want to eat, then that's just fine. Re-programming your brain to accept this is pretty hard. I'm getting there. I offered and offered and there was no interest. I ate the porridge with banana instead and thoroughly enjoyed it!

Brown rice poo is an experience. I'll warn you now. Windy, smelly and the grains of rice look like maggots. We'll be steering clear for a while. I can't deny my own tummy has been delicate with two days of brown rice too.

We're hoping that sleep continues to improve, last night we were only up for an hour, massive improvement!

As usual Wednesdays have been busy and I am looking forward to bed tonight, looking to dream up some more recipes for the rest of the week.

Sleepy Times

We have a tired household.

After the new "dream feed" which the Wee One has thrown into the mix, we're up for 2 hours trying to get her back to bed. It's quite frustrating for us all, and it's back to the drawing board as far as sleep training is concerned.

We had more purple porridge this morning, however it was all lost after the Wee One rammed her fingers down her throat, twice. *sigh*

Dinner was a lovely affair, I made fried rice. Fried brown rice. Spring onions, peppers, peas, broccoli, chicken, prawns and eggs. Removed the wee ones portion before adding soy sauce. She had a good go at everything and sucked inquisitively on a prawn. Enjoyed a spoon of yoghurt afterwards, however, clearly signalled to Him that she was done by chucking every subsequent spoon as far as she could launch it. It was funny because it wasn't me covered in blueberry yoghurt. I'm allowed to enjoy someone else being covered in food. It's usually me.

The purple staining is quite intense despite a coverall bib and a bib on top. As I've said, stain remover is a god send, I reckon we'll become awfully good friends on this baby led weaning journey.

Monday is Brought to You by the Colour Purple

Sleep has been hellish for 5 days running, I reckoned the best we could do would be to make sure the Wee One ate some decent volumes of food that she would enjoy.

We started off today with porridge. Purple porridge. I heated some blueberries in a pan and added a couple of tablespoons of already cooked porridge. Purple porridge was fun, very messy too. Thank goodness for stain remover, the jammies she had on under her coverall bib were not spared lots of purple staining!

So to dinner. I cheated with mine and Him's dinner, we had chicken with a shop bought jar of sweet and sour sauce. We had brown rice though, which has become a staple in the house, we both adore it now. For the Wee One? Some rice, mixed with a tiny amount of blueberry purée, and some chicken removed from the sauce. The brown rice was a hit. Definitely enjoyed. Even better was the pudding! Two tablespoons of natural full fat yoghurt mixed with a teaspoon of blueberry purée. Two new textures introduced tonight by way of loaded spoon. No gagging. Victory. Small victories are just as sweet.

My blueberry purée was ridiculously simple, I plan on using it to flavour yoghurt and porridge for the next few days. I used 2 handfuls of blueberries in the bottom of a small frying pan, I half covered them with water and brought to the boil and squished and stirred for 5 minutes. Transferred to a sealable tub, and I'll keep and use it for a maximum of two days.

We're hoping for sleep tonight. We'll see...

Holy Nappy Filling, Batman!

The 2 o'clock poo has become a thing of legend. If there is going to be a massive blow out, it will generally happen between 2pm and 3pm. Today was no exception. It blew out the side, up the front and out the back. It even made its way under the nappy tabs. It was not fun to clean up. Slightly more solid than usual, so hopefully this signals the near ending of dealing with daily poo monstrosities.

Dinner was a breadstick tonight that was being num nummed at viciously. Two gaggings and vomits later, it was removed from the Wee One's grasp. She wasn't impressed.

Porridge in the morning, going to get some berries to try in yoghurt as well this week. Maybe some other kinds of cheese too, marscapone and ricotta. On the mummy and daddy menu this week? Who knows, shopping tomorrow might help this, some cookery books will be getting thumbed for inspiration too.

Sleep

As a family we've been incredibly lucky in the sleep stakes. By 4 weeks old the Wee One would sleep 5 straight hours and it built up from then. We were on 10-12 hours a night. No extra feeds. I won't deny it was blissful.

Recently, I'm playing a guessing game. I generally can tell the nights we'll be up, but she throws wild cards in there all the time. It has also gotten worse with the start of food. The past three nights we've been up at least once, it's strange because these nights correlate with the days where most food has been eaten so far. It seems the opposite of what everyone starts food early for. We're getting less sleep with two meals a day than we were with just milk.

These are the ramblings of a sleep deprived mind, so feel free to ignore me.

We were at an Auntie and Uncle's house this evening and you'll never guess what we had? Curry! Very mild curry. The Wee One consumed chunks of naan bread, some pieces of chicken and basmati rice with some sauce. The rice was given via a loaded spoon and the new texture caused a bit of gagging and initial sick and then was put back with gusto. Unfortunately, the spoon was shoved a little too far down the throat and we lost most of dinner. I'm not sure if I will ever not mourn the loss of a meal. As always, the Wee One was perfectly calm and seemed to enjoy not only her food, but the attention she received at the dinner table. I loved that she was truly a part of the family and ate what we were eating.

Can't wait to venture into curry territory again. I'll be keeping it mild and fragrant, coriander is a big favourite, as are ginger and lime. We'll see what I can come up with.

Curry

I cannot wait to share the wonders of curry with the Wee One, I sincerely hope she loves it as much as I do! Giving how much of it I ate when I was pregnant, and how it is continuing now, she's either going to love it or hate it.

We had porridge this morning, loaded on the spoon with a banana mashed through it. It was a massive hit! I'll need to remember to keep it thicker next time, I cooled it down with extra milk and it ended up making a huge mess! Lesson learned. Baby Led Weaning is all about lessons learned.

Re-affirming the Faith

Seeing your child vomit up the food they have managed to swallow is disheartening. Extremely disheartening. I was starting to feel like I was doing something wrong by the Wee One and then tonight, she cracks it!

This was of course after gagging and vomiting up a milk feed trying my cheese and courgette omelette during lunchtime.

Tonight I put out some avocado, a halved cherry tomato and the obligatory breadstick. I also loaded a spoon with smushed avocado. The spoon got it. Big time. She also squished the cherry tomato and sucked out the insides. There was one gag and no puke. It was great. I loved watching her eating and making lovely noises and enjoying her food. It's made all the mess and heartache worth it!

My courgette omelette was disappointing, so I'm not going to bother posting a recipe for it. It needs tweaked considerably!

We're going to try porridge loaded on a spoon tomorrow morning and see how we get on, after tonight, I'm so excited! Let's hope it's not one step forward and two steps back.

Busy Days

Wednesday's have become extremely busy days!

We have Happy Tots first thing, then Gran takes the Wee One for a stroll whilst I went knitting, then lunch with Gran, take Gran home then getting dinner ready. Today was no exception, however to make it even busier, Him suggested we grab some dinner alone!

So it was lucky that I did do lunch today! Breadstick, attacked as usual. Cucumber sticks gnawed and sucked on. A cherry tomato cut in half? The Wee One took one squishy feel and that was the end of it. No interest whatsoever in putting it near her mouth. From what I understand that, it can take up to 12 times offering a food, whole or in purée form, for a baby to decide if they like it or not. I'm also quite confident that the messed up crazy face we got at the beginning is a reaction out with the control of my little darling, and not necessarily and indictment on my cooking skills!

I have to say, I'm delighted with the success of the breadstick, but I feel I missed a trick making them! The next time I make them, it's going to be with wholemeal flour. I might even experiment with a few herbs the next time too in half the dough. I'm halfway through my jar already and I only made them last week! I have a feeling the next batch will be getting baked next Wednesday. It's definitely not too much effort to be doing fortnightly.

I was disappointed with the lack of frittata today, but it seemed I had forgotten about busy Wednesday's. Thursday is more of a frittata day anyway.

Testing Times

Every day, more and more poo seems to arrive. It's been constant. I'm putting it down to one of three things. Something in my diet has came through my milk, something in The Wee One's new diet is taking some adjusting to or teething. As I'm not going to eliminate milk or food and have no control over the teeth, I guess we'll never know. There has been definite evidence of more food reaching the other end too.

Lunch is now needed. So tomorrow we will have a lunch time. Both of us. Haven't decided what will be served yet, but I have some courgettes and cheese and a few eggs, I'm thinking frittata?

The humble breadstick continues to be a huge hit, as does meat whenever it is served, tonight I pulled the filling out of my chicken parcel and it all got the once over. I'm quite positive some chicken was swallowed. I guess we'll find out.

I'm including a a picture of typical
Baby Led Weaning mess, well typical for us anyway. The Wee One laughed at me tonight whilst I was down on my hands and knees cleaning it up. My hair was pulled, but I had cleaned her hands already, that lesson was well learned.

Chicken & Spinach Parcels

2 Breasts of Chicken
4 handfuls of Baby Spinach
1 packet of Ready to Roll Puff Pastry
5 tbsps Cremè Fraiche
1 large handful of grated Chedder

1. Slice chicken into small strips and brown in a small pan. Once browned turn heat down and add spinach and leave to wilt.

2. Roll out and cut puff pastry to make two long rectangles around 30cm by 15cm.

3. Add 4 tablespoons of the cremè fraiche to your pain and mix through. You will be folding the pastry over to close the parcel. With this in mind divide your chicken mixture between to pastry rectangles. Place half of the cheese on top of each chicken mixture. Do not use all of the liquid in the pan, if you do, your parcels may leak.

4. Fold the pastry over and crimp the three edges you have. I used a fold and pinch method and had no leakage. Make some holes in the top of your parcels with a sharp knife. Brush the parcels with the remaining cremè fraiche.

5. Bake in an oven at 180 degrees centigrade for 45 minutes. Serve with potatoes of your choice. Can also be enjoyed cold. A perfect picnic pasty!

The Swedes Know

We have a clip on high chair, which I totally adore. The Wee One is right there in the action with us and there's not a gazillion attachments. It, however, does not like Baby Led Weaning. It is not wipe clean and has awkward grooves in it too. It's a real shame! We're hoping that once the messy stage is over (will it ever be over?) we'll hop right on back to it, but in the interim we needed a replacement. Something compact, easily cleaned and sturdy. Take a bow you lovely Swedish people! Ikea triumphs again. We purchased the antilop high chair and tray for half the price of the cheapest alternative. I love Ikea.

The wee one munched happily on a bread stick and half a banana and a bread stick in her new high chair this evening. The bread stick was ferociously attacked, it surrendered to gums and saliva, I'm quite positive a decent amount of it was actually consumed. The banana? Well tomorrows nappies will tell all. Today's nappies have been just awful. We had a proper poo-magedon. Poo all the way up the Wee One's back all the way to her neck. I was somewhat grossly impressed.

We have the added bonus that the new highchair fits under the table without the tray, meaning we can keep meals on the table too. Even after one meal, I know it was definitely the best we could of purchased for our needs.

The other purchase was coverall bibs. What on earth did we do without them? No more clothes will be sacrificed to the banana Gods in this house! It also stopped food falling on the floor. Did I mention I love Ikea? I'll say it again, I love Ikea!

I've got some baby spinach left from the salad on Saturday night and some puff pastry defrosting, so tomorrow's dinner is looking like spinach, ricotta and chicken parcels. Recipe to follow! I'm sure the Wee One will be able to nibble away at the inside of a parcel no bother!

Boo for the End of the Weekend

We had a lovely time at Gran and Papa's house, along with her pre-prepared snacks, the Wee One properly scoffed some roast chicken too. I tore off a strip for her and she sucked and gummed it for ages. That and the baby corn were given the most attention and that's what I expect to see in tomorrow's ablutions.

Eating at someone else's house threw up some question and funny looks. I know from the outside (especially to the older generation) I must look like a hippy earth mother. I can assure you I am not. I love my bras and I don't tie dye my clothes. I breastfeed my baby and Him and I are agreed that along with breast milk, Baby Led Weaning is the way forward for our family. Trying to coax others round to our ideas isn't what we want to spend our time doing. The only audible concern tonight was choking, a valid point, quickly quashed by the Wee One expertly gumming and sucking on everything offered to her.

I read something interesting last night on the Kelly Mom website about weaning about how the best way to get through weaning discussions was to lie and say everything with you and your baby is just hunky dory, even if you're having a horrifying time. I appreciated the sentiment. Yes, it would be easier to sit back and smile and nod along. I'm not usually for the easy way out though. I want to be able to illustrate my decisions with evidence to support them. I feel it's important for people to realise they have free will and to use that free will responsibly. There are ridiculous numbers of people who would never even challenge anything a professional tells them. I'm not suggesting entering into arguments, I'm suggesting engaging in the decisions you make for another human being that you are entirely responsible for.

Heavy discussion for a Sunday evening, I apologise if I've made you brain fuzzy/angry/confused.

Ahhhh Sunday. Returning to the week tomorrow, Him back at work and it all goes round again. I'm thinking it's time to start offering lunch everyday now. It would be so much easier to do with someone else floating around.

Roll on next weekend.

Out and About

We're heading to see Gran and Papa today for Sunday Dinner. Not knowing what's going to be on the menu, I've taken the initiative to pack the Wee One's dinner to take with us.

It took less than 5 minutes to prepare, pack and put back in the fridge. We have some cucumber sticks, some cheese sticks, baby corn (which I'll zing in the microwave for 1 minute before serving) and of course bread sticks. It's given me some confidence in getting things together for going out.

We've not went to the Highland Games today, it's miserable, windy and cold. I'm sure there will be plenty of time to let the Wee One hear some bagpipes. Do I hear the Highland Show calling??

We Are Family

I always used to love a Saturday. Wake late, pub early, football, return to the pub, stumble home. Him and I have had some blooming marvellous Saturdays spent like this, our relationship has been built on these kinds of days. I'm not quite sure of my feelings of them having been non-existent for more than a year now.

Now the Wee One is with us, I'm determined Saturdays are going to be just as much fun, albeit a lot less boozy. Today we headed to the library, all three of us for a song and rhyme time run by the Scottish Book trust. We had a lot of fun and the Wee One was very vocal. We sneaked off for a wonderful lunch and then strolled a out in the sunshine before returning home to relax.

Now that's what I'm talking about, a proper good Saturday! And it didn't end there, we still had dinner to think about. Following on from last nights deconstructed fajitas, I reckoned I could continue the theme. The Wee One loved it! She munched happily on some griddled chicken, slices of avocado and roasted sweet potato wedge. We were sans high chair this evening because it was getting washed and dried, so she was between two laps. It might be my addled baby brain, but I truly think there was less mess tonight. Deconstructed food works well, and I think it embodies Baby Led Weaning. Obviously at nearly 3 weeks in, I'm not expecting my 6 month old to be eating a full dinner like us yet, but taking out elements of our meal is making it very easy on me. Our aim, of course, is that eventually she will be eating what we do, whether that's a salad, soup or a homemade curry.

All three of us thoroughly enjoyed our dinner tonight. The chicken and avocado were given the most attention by the Wee One. Him even gave the dish glowing praise.

Here's to more Saturdays like this.

Chicken, Bacon & Avocado Salad

1 packet of Baby Spinach Leaves
1 punnett of Plum Cherry Tomatoes
2 Chicken Breasts
3 slices of Smoked Bacon
1 Avocado
Dressing of your choice (We had Paul Newman's ranch)

1. Wash spinach and tomatoes and set aside. Peel, stone and slice avocado. Cover with a little lemon juice and set aside.

2. In a hot griddle pan fry the bacon, with no oil, until crispy. Remove from the pan and leave to one side.

3. Butterfly the chicken breasts. After your griddle pan is clean again, heat until just before smoking stage, usually 1 minute to 2 minutes. Cook chicken in the griddle pan until cooked through. This should only take around 5 minutes if you have butterflied the chicken thinly enough.

4. Arrange spinach and tomatoes on two plates. Slice the cooked chicken and bacon thinly and sprinkle on top. Arrange the avocado on top as well. Serve with dressing as you like it and a bowl of roasted sweet potato wedges.

To Meat or Not to Meat?

I had a conversation with the mum of a dear friend recently who said she felt immense responsibility when deciding to feed my friend meat or not when she was a baby. I filed the conversation away, knowing in the future I would refer back to it. It wasn't something we had really discussed at all as the parents of a new child. The choice of pram was given more consideration. It stopped us in our tracks tonight.

For dinner tonight I was facing the dilemma. Him and I were having having steak fajitas tonight, so tortilla, raw peppers and cheese were already on the menu. Should I offer her steak though? We did, and the decision was based on the Baby Led Weaning philosophy that the Wee One will eat what we eat. I wimped out of the moral questions of meat, but I know I'll be trying my best to source more meat now that is from animals who have lived to high welfare standards. I've promised myself this many times, maybe I'll start listening now though.

The peppers were a huge hit. The yellow one in particular. I'm looking forward to roasting some vegetable for the Wee One to see how she reacts to them, peppers will be great for that. And the 2cm by 5cm slice of steak? Chewed and sucked on with relish. Left hanging out the side of her mouth on occasion when she decided to shove a breadstick on in there as well.

We decided to meat. Maybe I'm making a big deal out of a decision that most people take for granted. I'm glad we took a minute to think about it and the implications it has on the Wee One's own life. I hope I don't ever need to explain our decision to her, however I am glad we have reasons to give her. Whether our reasons are correct will be for her to decide in the future.

There's Banana in the Poo!!

I had to wake up the Wee One this morning. She went down with a bottle from Him and was still asleep at 9.30am.

We had a wet nappy. And then another wet nappy. I knew it was coming. It was inevitable. I heard a distant rumble while she was on Gran's knee. I'd had some premonition that had made me remove the dress only moments before! And it appeared, almost as instantly as the noise. It was dripping through the vest horizontally. I was rewarded though when the nappy was removed. There was evidence of yesterday's banana!!!! My clever wee monkey had actually swallowed some banana!!!

So after the excitement of nappy investigations, there was a bath. The Wee One loves a bath. She was enjoying her bath, eating her toes as she went and I noticed a wee bubble issuing from her posterior. It doesn't take much to amuse me, so I had a wee giggle to myself. I had just made up my mind to remove her from the bath and I noticed a much larger bubble, I was about to giggle again when I realised a yellow cloud followed the bubble. First time in 6 months and 1 week that we've had poo in the bath! Unbelievable.

It's Friday! Looking forward to having a nice calm weekend with lots of food and fun. Possible visit to the Highland Games at the weekend? We'll keep an eye on the weather for that one. Can't wait to see how the Wee One would respond to her first hearing of bagpipes!

Routine?

I'm thinking today that I'm a bad mummy!! We had a bread stick after morning milk. A banana for lunch and then some cheese and baby corn for tea. Only one puke. And don't kid yourself that any of that food actually got consumed. It's was gnawed and sucked on as usual. Great progress I feel just making the most hilarious faces when food touched her lips!

I know we've not been doing it long, but my consistency hasn't been great in doing more than one meal a day. Today was an exception. We only have one routine and that's bed time. Changed into jammies, into sleeping bag and then feed in a dark room. We don't have set times for going to bed, having naps or having milk, I always go with the flow. This go with the flow attitude is making settling to set meal times a little bit awkward to get into. I'm probably worrying myself over an issue that doesn't really exist. I've not felt ridiculously guilty for something for around 12 hours, so I suppose this will fill the void.

The other issue we had today was a wee sore tummy. A milk feed helped it "pass" so to speak, and that poor vest the Wee One was wearing will never be the same again. One plus for Baby Led Weaning, or food in general I suppose, less blow outs! We usually have one a day which results in a full change of clothes.

I'm think as well I want to buy some coverall bibs. We're going through clothes everyday at an exponential rate. I'd rather spend time with the wee one than spend all day doing washings. Thank goodness for Him, he really does more than his share to make things easy on me.

So the point of this ramble? I'm not sure if not establishing a routine with sleeps and feeds etc is going to help or hinder our foray into food. Today is a day for being unsure mostly. There's nothing worse than the days that you doubt every decision you make.

On the plus side, I finally finished a sock for the Wee One and have the other cast on! I'm pleased, halfway there, a nearly finished project.

Bread of Life

I like making bread. Pre-baby I would usually make it around once a month. Post baby, it just wasn't happening. So many other things took priority. With Baby Led Weaning, I wanted to start making my own bread products for the Wee One to enjoy. So today I finally was able to, thanks to my mother in law who came over and kept the Wee One occupied whilst I cooked!

I made some bread sticks, mainly because whenever I've had a shop bought breadstick, I have found them pretty salty on my palate, goodness knows what a baby would taste. By making them myself I was able to control just how much salt went in, as well as sugar, and no nasty hidden things either.

I was rewarded mightily for my efforts. Bread sticks are highly favoured and were chewed and sucked on for lengthy periods. Also popular today was cucumber and cheese. We had two gagging incidents over two mealtimes and I could actually see food being consumed. I'm an extremely proud mummy this evening. The Wee One is getting the hang of it and she also looks like she's enjoying what she's doing!

She was weighed today, and at just over 6 months, she's weighing in at 20lbs dead. No wonder I can't dance about with her for very long of time and I'm really glad I didn't invest in a baby carrier either!

But back to the bread. I was extremely overwhelmed when I realised the Wee One was actually eating bread I made and it was also the first bread she had ever held and tasted. Bread is just such a staple to life and I really felt the transition today between milk and food. The added bonus was that the Wee One seemed to love it!

Breadsticks

250g Strong Flour (I like tipo 00 flour)
250g Semolina (you can substitute for more strong flour if you wish)
1/2 Pint Tepid Water
1 1/2 7g Sachets of Instant Yeast
1 Heaped tsp of Sugar (cannot be omitted as is needed to feed the yeast and allow the bread to prove)
1 level teaspoon of salt (this can be omitted if you wish)

1. Combine both types of flour in a very large mixing bowl. Sprinkle over the yeast, sugar and salt and combine also.

2. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add half the water, mixing everything together with the fingertips of one hand. Gradually add the rest of the water until a dough forms. If you feel it is getting too sticky add more flour, if too dry you can try small amounts of water.

3. Kneed your dough well on a lightly floured surface for around 5 minutes (all of these steps can be performed using a food mixer with a dough hook if you prefer).

4. Form your dough into a a ball and then flatten slightly. Place on a baking tray and flour the top of your dough. Cover a leave to prove in a warmish place for around 30-40 mins.

5. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees celcius. Once risen, knock the dough back slightly and roll out to around a 1cm thickness.

6. Slice into long 1-2cm wide strips and place on a baking tray that has been dusted with semolina. Dust each strip with semolina as well.

7. Leave to prove for 10-15 minutes and then back in the oven for 10-15 minute until golden brown.

8. Once cooled break the breadsticks into 10cm lengths and put in an air tight container or freezer bag. They should keep well for a few weeks in the air tight contained or a few months in the freezer.

Where There is a Will, There Will be Puke!

Tonight was interesting on many counts. We had some baby corn on the cob, some cucumber sticks and some cheese too. All were touched and tasted, but the most amazing thing was the corn!!

The corn was surveyed with suspicion and then gnawed on. A few gags but nothing serious. Then the Wee One got brave and started shoving the whole thing in her mouth, engaging her gag reflex with gusto. She's sitting retching, Him and I poised ready for action to collect any puke, and instead of removing the corn, she proceeds to try and stick it further down her throat!! The resultant puke was abundant.

Still, she plodded on, not one bit fazed or upset about losing a large portion of her last milk feed. In fact, she continued with the corn and retched and puked again and them repeated the exercise with the cucumber and the cheese.

If you measure the success of the meal on what remained in her stomach it was a catastrophic failure. If you measure it on how much food was put into the mouth and chewed on and sucked, we had a fabulous night!

The other thing I tried tonight was offering food from my own plate. Once we've established enough food going into her with less mess, we plan on giving the Wee One the exact same as we're eating (also a great excuse for the menu to improve in healthiness!). So tonight I had made some meatballs and pasta. In future I'll be making the meatballs myself. Also have made a mental note to lay off the ricotta until the gagging/puking stage is done. The finished article was a little reminiscent of milky puke.

Meatball Bake

12 Meatballs of your choice
1 Courgette, sliced in 1cm slices
1 Onion, roughly chopped
1 or 2 Cloves of Garlic, crushed
2 Tins of Chopped Tomatoes
1 tbsp of Tomato Purée
1 tub of ricotta
1 handful of Hard Cheese, grated

1. Brown the meatballs in a pan, add the garlic, onion and courgettes and stir fry for around 3 minutes.

2. Add the tomatoes and tomato purée and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius.

3. Transfer to a casserole dish and spread the ricotta on top and the sprinkle the hard cheese on top of that. Cover and cook in the oven for 15 minutes. Uncover and cook for a further 5-10 minutes, until the cheese is browned. Serve with pasta of your choice.

Gagging on Change

I went out last night.

Yes! I did. 6 months on, first time leaving the Wee One for any extended period of time. It went well. Him looked after the Wee One and she went to sleep with no hassle. I've found out that the realisation that the Wee One doesn't need only me is quite devastating. I'll get over it! I'm very proud of her, made the night easy on Him, because she's an actual angel.

I wasn't in charge of dinner last night, and haven't had a proper chance to speak to Him about it because I arrived home so late everyone was tucked up in bed. I've decided, therefore, to dedicate this entry to the most controversial aspect of Baby Led Weaning:- Gagging.

The first time I experienced the Wee One gagging, it was nothing to do with food. She had discovered just how awesome her own hands were and was shoving them down her throat with glee and relish. That reddish face, and the retching motion, not fun to see and induced instant panic in the onlooker. Within a few days, I realised that rushing her to the sink and rubbing her back were making it worse. Paying close attention to her, the moment would pass relatively quickly, without her losing her breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack. I also noticed she was never ever upset during these instances. It was only me flapping!

It's been around 2 months since the first round of gagging, and it passed, the Wee One obviously realising her limit of where she could put her fingers in to. But when starting food, I'd obviously forgotten what I'd already found out. Of course there is also the other added issue of choking getting added into the mix. Being very lucky to be involved with Inverclyde Happytots, I was able to take a short First Aid course run by the British Red Cross prior to any food passing the Wee Ones lips. It definitely eased my mind knowing what I would need to do if the worst happened. I would highly recommend seeking out a course like this if you are interested in trying Baby Led Weaning, however, I've no doubt that no matter what path you choose a course like this would be invaluable. I hope I never have to use anything that I learned.

When food has eventually made its way into the Wee One's mouth, there have been gags. I think if you can try to distinguish between gagging and choking, it will make life easier. I know what my Wee One gagging looks like, I've been lucky so far that choking is not something I've had to identify. We've only had one full on puking incident, and I truly believe it's been down to over reaction on my part. Loosening up again has resulted in the offending object being brought forward and expelled from the mouth.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that Baby Led Weaning requires you to trust you baby and to trust their natural instincts. I've read in various places that the gag reflex in babies is much further forward in babies than in adults, and it makes perfect sense why! It's a pre-choking mechanism, and boy does it work! This first week has been wonderful, and I cannot believe just how much there is to learn all over again. I suppose I thought the education was over after the bringing the baby home and surviving the first few weeks! But no! New curve balls ever coming in to surprise you and make you second guess your abilities and decisions.

I'm coming to realise it'll never stop.

Try not to get too big too quickly my angel.

What on Earth?

The rest of our first week of eating went quite well. I suppose "quite well" could be a matter of opinion though. Did the Wee One continue to put food to food near her mouth? Yes! Did we have to spend 20 minutes picking broccoli out of carpet, highchair, hair, ears, noses and fingers? Yes!

Here is what I've learned so far:-

1. Plates don't work. Even plastic plates. Plates are an invitation for disaster. It's like "ooooo look at this mushy stuff, it feels nice in my fingers... Oooo wait a minute, this is solid and I can get a good hold of it and *chuck* launch it!". So for now, back to using an anti-bac spray on the table and putting the food directly there.

2. Size is key! For banana, the bigger the better! Broccoli works best in small tree form, a floret ripped up lengthways. Sweet potato in pinkie sized sticks.

3. On no account say amount! In high school I had a biology teacher who had this phrase all over the lab, it has remained engrained, no sanding over seemingly useless phrases for me. It would appear how much you present is key. Too much is apparently overwhelming and results in more deposits on the floor that near the mouth.

4. Baby Led Weaning is hard!!! And yes, I used a triple exclamation mark there, but it was needed. It's hard in the same way that breastfeeding was hard in the beginning. The constant worry about how much your baby is actually consuming and doubting if you are a fit and proper mother. I'm hoping the edge comes off of these feelings again, just in the same way they did with breastfeeding.

5. When feeding on your own, clean table, hands and then floor. If you miss out hands, when you're on the floor, little hand pulls and mess in your hair and leave little broccoli shaped presents in there for you. Thanks.

6. My life has been reduced quite literally to crap. Every nappy is inspected for remnants of food. Yes, I admit it, I am gross. In fact I can report that I will be going to inspect another nappy as soon as I post this. Broccoli is easy to spot, broccoli is your friend. Sweet potato tries to hide, but it's orange and you can track it down. Banana? I'm not sure enough has been consumed yet, but I've been well warned not to freak when I find "black worms".

I've learned quite a lot in the last week, it's been quite the adventure. It's also been one of the most fun times ever in my life. I used to look forward to a Saturday for going to the pub, spending all day drinking and having fun with Him and then stumbling home at some ungodly hour with a pizza box and some chips. I genuinely looked forward to Saturday there to give 2 lots of dinner to the Wee One. Life changes, and I've come to see at not necessarily that bad a thing.

The First Meal!

So on Monday 30th April, Him came home with our shiny new steamer!

I was ridiculously excited. Kitchen gadgets do often have that buzzy effect on me, however it often ends quickly after I see how un-useful it really is and how difficult it is to clean. The steamer is not so though. 4 main large parts, easy to clean, easy to steam!

Dinner time was fast approaching, and my choice was, wait until Friday when she's officially 6 months? Nah, steam some sweet potato and see how we get on!!

So I did. I peeled a sweet potato, cut it into fingers and steamed them for 15 minutes. I set them on a lovely plastic ikea plate, set up the Wee One in her high chair that attaches to the table and Him and I sat down, laid the plate in front of her and waited.

We weren't let down....

Classic, but wonderful and most important thing about it? The clever girl put the food to her mouth, just exactly the way she was supposed to! Well done that baby girl.

Some Background

So now that the Wee One has turned 6 months, it was time to start feeding her some actual food. She's been breastfed on demand up to now after a wee hiccup at the beginnging and she's thrived on it. The more I looked into weaning the more suspicious I became of perceived wisdom. Feeding rice cereal for instance, it's rank and has no nutrional value, why would I want to put it in my child? Furthermore, why would I want to feed her something that I would be most unwilling to eat myself?

I've been fortunate to be in weekly contact with volunteers from the Breastfeeding Network who let me know about something called Baby Led Weaning. It's exactly what it says it is. You let your baby lead the weaning. Why not? She controls when and how she eats just now, why not continue? So after a read of a book called Baby Led Weaning by Gill Rapley and discussing it at length with Him, we decided it would be the best way forward for our Wee One.

So the point of this blog is going to be how we're getting on with Baby Led Weaning, how the Wee One copes, how me and Him cope with the clean ups and the gagging and most importantly how excited we get when we realise there is broccoli in the poo!!!

Onward!!

Intro...

There's three of us.

Me, dougalsgirl, mummy of one, wife to one and friend to a few.

Him, daddy of one, husband of one and the bringer of laughs and biscuits.

The Wee One, adored by all and has mummy and daddy wrapped round her stunningly gorgeous little fingers.

We're going to to use this blog to talk about our new adventures with food and let me record all of our progresses! So here we are at the beginning....

And look at how she's grown in 6 short months!

We love her so!