Thursday 14th April 2011

Whoops. Missed a few days again. Where do the days go?? This is why I need an iphone!  I can't even remember what we had for breakfast or lunch today!

Dinner was meatloaf with steamed veges - kumara, broccoli, and carrot. Ollie seemed to eat quite a bit. As usual, loved the broccoli. Veges were really soft so he was easily able to eat heaps. Meatloaf was quite crumbly so it was hard to see how much went down, but there was a heck of a mess to clean up afterward!

One of our current challenges is Ollie "losing" his food down the side of his highchair. We used to lock him in with rolled up towels, but there isn't a need anymore, but his seat gets covered in food. (and so does his clothes!) He likes to put his sippy cup next to him on the seat - that's how much room there is! Not sure how we are going to solve this one.

Sunday 10th April 2011

Great food day today! Daddy did breakfast (mummy had a sleep in!) which was mini wheats and pear. According to David, Oliver ate at least half a mini wheat and a bit of pear (which sounds like nothing, but in the early days of BLW that is pretty good I think!)

Lunch we had at a cafe with his beautiful aunties Kate & Scone. Cheese toastie, rusk with cream cheese, and banana. Banana went pretty much straight on the floor (and I wasn't giving it back). Cream cheese was sucked off rusk (as usual). Toastie was interesting.. I cut it into short soliders and he sucked on them for most of the time we were eating. White bread, so hard to chew up, but bits definitely went down with all the sucking!

Dinner was Lamb Kofta (recipe provided by university study resources). And wow, it was a hit. Kofta straight to mouth, lots of chewing and sucking. Also had steamed kumara, carrot, and broccoli which he really got into, it was nice and mushy so easy for him to pass around his mouth. Definitely got kofta and veges down. He was really funny, cracking up towards the end of the meal, with a beautiful smile on his face.

I've decided to post any pics over on our main blog and just use this as a food diary. Saves posting them twice, and I figure no one actually reads this anyway (except maybe mum).  Main blog here .

Friday 1st April 2011

Lunch... cream cheese with baby rice, using capsicum, carrot -raw, cucumber, pita pocket as dippers.
Dinner ... cottage pie with steamed kumara and carrot. Didn't get into the cottage pie - a bit difficult I think. If we keep offering eventually he'll be able to pick it up! :) Or use cutlery!

Ollie had a few days where he didn't eat so much.. but we have a tooth coming! It has started to cut, which has made for a very unhappy boy. I need to remind myself it isn't about the volume and is quite normal to have a few off days!  I've done a meal plan that loosely includes lunch and breakfast to try and make me more organised so we don't have toast everyday! I've got lots of muffin recipes so we'll see how it goes.

He has definitely come along with his fine motor skills! Not quite managing the pincer grip, but getting there - using two fingers and thumb to pick up smaller bits of food.

Saturday 26th March 2011

We had a strange day today!

Lunch was steamed veges, pate on rusks, and a wee bit of my fish (Scone and I had fish and chips!). Still not a fan of the fish. Straight into the pate though! Kumara was a bit firm, but he had a good go along with a good munch on the capsicum. Didn't eat that much, (other than pate) but it was pretty exciting having Aunty Scone with us.
Dinner was supposed to be dahl, but David had some kind of disaster in the kitchen. I'm going to try and revive the dahl as soup tonight. So we ended up having pasta and steamed vege! What a boring dinner! Broccoli got mushed, and nothing really eaten! He didn't eat any pasta, despite loving it the last few times. He did munch on the red capsicum but nothing went down I don't think. Too busy looking at his pretty Aunty Scone I think.

Monday 21st March

Pasta with cream cheese for lunch today, along with cucumber wedges cold from the fridge. Cucumber was a hit! Not sure he bit any off, but he really enjoyed sucking on it. I think he has pretty sore teeth!

Dinner was pork steak with steamed cauli, kumara, and capsicum.  He had a good go at the pork, and showed the most interest in the capsicum than he ever has - chewing on it for a while. Kumara was a bit over cooked, so very mushy and just got mashed around. He is still biting off huge chunks, like tonight with the pork, and he doesn't have the molars to grind it up in his mouth!

sunday 20th March

Another busy day today! We didn't get to bed til 2am after traveling back from Martinborough! So another slow morning! Ollie was obviously feeling the effects as he let us sleep in! We had a BBQ at a friends for lunch which we didn't make in time for food, and then dinner at our (Davids) parents. Yummy roast turkey! Ollie proved once again that he doesn't like pumpkin or red kumara (which tastes like pumpkin!) Preferring the turkey, or the white kumara. He didn't eat a huge amount and gagged on a piece of turkey that was rather too large! We seem to have an issue with Ollie biting off HUGE chunks and then gagging. I guess he'll learn, as we can't really stop him! Ollie was pretty distracted by the different enviroment but I'm trying to get him used to different enviroments so he doesn't have trouble eating when we are out. And of course it is nice for Ollie to eat with his grandparents!

Friday 18th March

Lunch was on the go - Ollie had a bit of my bagel with cream cheese on it. He really enjoyed chewing and sucking on the bagel, but I think bagels have a fair amount of salt, so probably not a regular food!

David was out for dinner, so Ollie and I had polenta with steamed broccoli and kumara. I didn't grill the polenta slices long enough so they fell apart and Ollie had trouble holding them. Made them with chicken stock I made myself and bought stuff has too much salt. It was pretty bland, I added salt and pepper to mine! Ollie not really into it -more interested in his water bottle!

Thursday 17th March

Lunch... banana,  pear, and cheese on toast. Ollie still not really interested in pear... I might stew some up. Really good munch on the banana today. I left half the skin on, and he knew which end to pick it up straightaway. Still got very slippery.. mainly I think to the drool coming out his mouth and getting everywere!

Dinner... Chickpea patties, steamed broccolli, and kumara. Woohoo pattie success! I was starting to think Ollie was anti food in the shape of patties (after no interest in chickpea, lamb, or beef patties!).

We've realised it takes Ollie a bit longer to get into the meal, and often we are nearly done before anything makes it to his mouth. I think I'll try putting him in his highchair a bit earlier so he can understand what is happening.

Also - sippy cup success! He can drink out of it all by himself. Of course, he often spits it out straight after, but still!?!

No poop for a few days, I'm worried about potential explosion....

Monday 14th March

Lunch was last night's roast dinner! Chicken and roast veges. Ollie wasn't really interested in the chicken at all, but really enjoyed the kumara - munching and swallowing quite a bit! It was amazing to watch him move the food around his mouth and then intentionally swallow it. Pretty cool!

Dinner was pork steak with steamed green beans and broccoli, and mashed potato. Ollie wasn't too interested, but he had a really good go at the pork - actually biting chunks off, chewing and swallowing. Definitely a meat eater, our boy.

We are still having the problem of Ollie throwing himself backwards during food time, which is unsafe, and can cause him to gag. I'm not sure how to solve the problem!

Timing is also a challenge, though I think this is probably less of a BabyLed issue, and more about introducing food of any kind. It is definitely harder when David is home (hopefully he doesn't get offended by that... though I don't thinks he even reads this... or anyone for that matter) because during the week, Ollie and I have a different rhythm.

Thursday 10th March

Great food day today!! Another beautiful day in Wellington - I'm not looking forward to winter! We had lunch again in the park today with a different coffee group. Ollie had banana and baby corn, and ate a wee bit - had quite a good meal considering there were four other babies and mummies there.

Dinner was a bit random, we thought we were having dinner with a friend but sadly that fell through so we just threw something together. Pasta, steamed kumara, broccoli, capscium, and a carrot muffin! I made the muffins today (sugar free of course) from the Baby Led Weaning cookbook. I definitely recommend the cookbook - great for getting baby led ideas! I think tonight was our most successful dinner yet! Ollie had a really good go at everything! He loved it all! He took a HUGE bite of his muffin and definitely chowed down some kumara. And the pasta was a total hit. I used a mix of small and large spiral pasta (cold) so it kind of clumped together. He had no trouble picking up handfuls! His finger skills have come so far!

We also had an interesting nappy today.... *warning poop conversation follows*

We are definitely consuming food now... today's nappy confirmed Ollie can eat quite a lot! It had been a couple of days since his last nappy and I was dreading it! There was a lot of it - all kinds of chunks, plus some obviously digested food! I think the banana may have blocked him up a bit, but he didn't seem to have too much trouble! I saw definite bit of meat, baby corn, and banana! Go Ollie!

I also have to confess to googling the interesting sight in his nappy which turned out to be related to banana...... *blurgh*

Sunday 6th March

For lunch today, we were out at family's house. Ollie was still sleeping when everyone else ate, which was a pity - I think he would have really enjoyed eating with everyone. Ollie and I had some food when he woke up, and he had a wee munch, but was too distracted! Peas, roast pork, roast chicken, kumara, pumpkin, and potato. 

We were also home a bit late for dinner, we had beef patties, mash pot, steamed cauli. Ollie wasn't hugely interested in eating, but did play with it a bit.

Day Ten - Monday 28th February 2011

So I've been reading the "Baby Led Weaning" book by Gill Rapley - and the approach is quite different to the one proposed by the study we're participating. The book suggests including baby in family life from the get go, and including them in every meal. So on that note, we've changed Ollie's bedtime routine, and our dinner time to include him at dinner!

For lunch we had broccoli, kumara, pear, nectarine, cooked carrot, and raw carrot with hummus. The carrot was a good dipping tool, but he wasn't keen on the hummus! I wish I'd captured his face!
 

 At dinner, we had our usual meal of stirfry (will have to vary things up a bit now that Ollie is joining us). Ollie had broccoli, carrot, and strips of beef. He loved being at the dinner table with us, and LOVED the beef! He really got into it, and didn't really given anything else a second chance!

Whoops a bit behind in posting these!

Day six - Wednesday 23rd Feb 2011

Feeling a little shellshocked and really upset about the earthquake. Ollie didn't eat a huge amount.. I didn't introduce anything new. He, as always, had fun smooshing it up.

Day Five - Tuesday 22nd February - 11am & 2pm

Well we tried solids twice today!! Ollie still teething and not so interested. Don't think he really ingested anything today - and mainly only interested in toast! Fruit was too slippery and I just don't think he was in the mood today. Broccoli will be good I think - the stalk is a fantastic handle. I don't think he is a big fan of the taste though! haha. He did enjoy mashing it about though.

We took the foot rest off his highchair to try and get him to sit still a bit more, but no luck, he just swings his legs around!

I have to keep reminding myself he isn't meant to eat anything much yet! Its all about the playing....

Day Three - Sunday 20th February - 3pm

Toast was a roaring success! I made crunchy toast fingers in the oven - they were really hard which gave Ollie a good handle! I spread avocado on the toast and he sucked it off, and also bit into the toast as it got softer. It was as messy as day one! Ollie was very happy the whole time and loved having Daddy home. Ollie's right hand banged the high chair (in time with his feet!) and his left hand held the food. We may have a lefty! Ollie bounced most of the time - pushing off with his feet up and down. This wasn't so helpful to avoid gagging, as it meant the toast finger got shoved further into his mouth!

Ollie did have a couple of gagging sessions on a piece of toast too big, which resulted in vomit! It was surprising how many chunks of food (mainly toast) were regurgitated! He was clearly swallowing! I think we might have had solids too soon after mama milk because there was a fair bit of milk too! (Though, he has vomited a lot over the last few days... I'm hoping it is just the teething!)

Ollie preferred to pick the food up himself rather than us hand it to him. He had fingers of toast with avocado, fingers of purple kumara, and a slice of avocado. He was much more receptive to food this time, picking up the kumara finger before I'd even put the toast on his highchair. I got some photos of his great facials, but sadly my camera is just not fast enough and there was too much blur. I also got a video of the first gag (and vomit) but I'm not really sure people want to see that....

 

messy boy! note the green sleeves!!

Learnings:

* Roll up sleeves of white bodysuit before applying avocado to baby

* Purple kumara is far superior to orange

* Wait longer after breastmilk before solids...

Day Two - Friday 18th Feb 2011 - 11:45am
Ollie was much less interested in his food today. I gave him orange kumara and avocado again, and had intended to try toast fingers, but he wasn't really interested. I think I waited too long (40min after breastfeed - should have been more like 20). He did purposefully pick up a piece of kumara and take it to his mouth, resulting in a chunk sticking to his lip, but otherwise distinterested. It ended in a bit of a meltdown and I quickly realised he was tired, so off to bed!
I have been reading online that a less structured approach is good - rather than one set meal a day - offer them when you eat! Might give him another go this afternoon....

 Day One - Thursday 17th Feb 2011- 2:30pm

Food is fun, til you're one! That seems to be the motto of baby led purists and I can see why. Today was our first day of "real" food! On the menu was orange kumara (steamed), and a wee bit of avocado. I don't know that Ollie actually ingested anything, but he had a LOT of fun smooshing (and banging on his highchair!). Ollie normally puts things to his mouth very quickly, but he didn't seem to be in the mood to at food time. I think this was partly because I made the kumara too soft and it squished when he tried to pick it up. (Or it could have been his superbaby strength?). He did seem to suck a little off his/my fingers towards the end, and pulled a funny face (camera too slow to capture) but not his "sour" face that he gets when it is something that he doesn't like! I then saw some sucky/tongue actions... so maybe it was swallowed! By the end, his hands were coated and he had a bit of a food moustache. He was VERY VERY happy the whole time, and thought it was hilarious when I washed his hands with a flannel at the end. I also spoke to our contact at the university today, who gave me a few tips! 

Things I learnt/need to do:

* Buy a tarp to go under highchair (to protect carpet and allow food retreival)

* Cook kumara a little less to give him a better grip

* Try crusty toast with spread - better handle

* Make some pate and hummus

* buy some kind of sippy cup so Ollie can experiment with water

Rock on tomorrow!