Now we are back home and things have settled down, I have been making an effort to get Nicky eating some solids. I may still yet use baby led weaning, but for now purees are working for me (the carrot slither disintegrated in his hand).
I decided to go with Brenda’s suggestion of one food once a day at first.
So lunch time it is, then. I started with banana, which is easy to prepare, you just mash it.
The second week I did a butternut soup. I already had a whole lot done in the freezer before we had left, but it was a bit chunky. I used celery and onion as well. My dear mother in law gave me a kenwood hand mixer which is fantastic to make purees with. So I made the soup even softer, and that was perfect.
I’ve also landed up making milkshakes with this mixer, which are delicious. Last weekend I did a strawberry shake and now I was all set to do a blueberry one now, when I got a tummy bug again (sigh!), so I’ll do it when my stomach is feeling a bit less sensitive.
This week I’m doing puréed apple. I found out you first have to put it in the food processor (another gift from MIL) to make it smaller before the hand mixer can handle it.
Now you may be wondering what Nicky thinks of all this. For him, the distinction between toy and food is not really there. This is because pretty much every toy you give him goes straight to the mouth. It must be explored with all the senses, you know, which includes taste. I’ve noticed that lately he really is interested in toys, even if it is just chewing on them. He has a big thing for plastic water bottles and stares longingly at the one on my bedside table. Now I have two little ones (one in the bedroom and the other in the kitchen) for him to play with and he is happy.
But I digress. Back to food.
He started with a tolerant, amused expression as I fed him. Although I am spoon feeding him, I really don’t want to take away his power in this situation. My maid demonstrated how she did it (in mom’s arms with his arms pinned back) and I was determined not to do this. I put him in the box chair (the high chair is just to big for him as yet) and if he grabbed the spoon from me, I let him. I wiggled it out of his hands for another bite. Yes, most of the food is coming out, but I know that some is going in by looking at his stools. I work on giving him three ice blocks of food at a time, and often it is too much, so I eat a bit to try and demonstrate. I give him a nurse before and after, but as he gets better at this I will lesson that. However right now he is just enjoying playing with the mush and it is quite a clean up afterwards.
The funniest part was watching him reach over to Milo the dog, and let him clean the apple puréed hand. Don’t worry, I give him a good clean afterwards! The dogs are now learning to steer clear of those grabbing hands!
Great pics! My little one also feeds the dog during every single meal – it’s one of my favorite things in the entire world. So cute.
Thanks for stopping by my blog today – it’s great to meet you! Your son is beautiful 🙂
This is so gorgeous! So happy to see its all going well 🙂 xxx