Wednesday 10 August 2011

New chair

Wow, it's ages since my last blog.  Though what I can say about blw hasn't already been said.

It's still going really strong and Anya is just loving her grub!  She has such a love of food that she would like to pass across to everyone else, including the dog, Bobby.  She keeps going in his cupboard, grabbing his biscuits and chasing him around the room until he eats them.  Today she emptied his whole bag of food over the kitchen floor just so she could put some in his bowl!

I've put her highchair away today.  It was getting in the way a bit so she's progressed to a 'booster' seat, or big girl's seat as Mia says.  The only trouble is that there is no tray so she sat with us at the kitchen table.

It was lovely to sit together, all 3 of us girls in a row, but she was tired and her veggie cottage pie ended up all over the place.  None on the floor now though as Bobby ate it.  I had some on my arm, face, shoulder, pants (trousers for the posh people, not knickers) and she had it all over her face.  Though when you look at the amount she actually ate she did quite well.  I would've taken a photo but my camera on my phone died ages ago and I daren't touch Archie's cameras, especially at tea-time with the kids. He'd kill me!

We'll see how the booster chair goes but if she carries on making such a mess I may have to bring the highchair back.


Wednesday 8 June 2011

Mucky Mucky stuff

Letting your baby feed themselves is very very mucky.

Though I think I may have made it muckier today.

I'd made vegetable stew and dumplings.  This is one of my favourite meals and when I like something I make sure the bowl is totally emptied I've finished.  I think this is a very northern working class thing but at the end of my meal I licked my plate!

If you haven't done it before you really should try it, especially if you've had chips and gravy!

Anyway, as I finished licking the plate I turned around to see Anya doing exactly the same thing.  She was covered in stew but she had a huge smile on her face.  Oh well, food is fun.

P.S. I must add, after looking at my previous posts, that Anya is still breastfed and we managed to overcome the little blip that she went through a while ago.  She had a morning and evening feed and two daytime feeds just before she has a nap if she wants.  If we're out she sometimes skips the daytime feeds but she doesn't seem fazed by it.  And since she's been in her own room she sleeps through (mainly, touch wood!) which is GREAT.  I still don't want to stop feeding her yet so I'm very happy with how things are going.  Let's hope the weaning process can be a joint decision.

Sunday 29 May 2011

Does blw work?

Sometimes I wonder if babyled weaning works.

I didn't do it with my eldest daughter and she eats well, though she is going through a fussy stage.

As for my youngest daughter who was babyled weaned - she eats anything and everything!  She knows her dislikes and likes but if she sees anyone else eating she wants it.

Perhaps it's just a phase where she wants to copy everyone but boy does she have an appetite.

I'll see what she's like when she gets to 3 so I can compare her to her older sister, but for now...

YES IT WORKS.

Wednesday 4 May 2011

Fast Food Baby

Did anyone see the fast food baby programme on BBC 3 last night?

It was very interesting although quite unbelievable in parts.  Like the 19 year old who only ever gave her son junk food as that's all she ate.  She smoked, ate junk food and drank and had recently suffered a heart attack.  Er, do people think they're invincible?

But it was good to see her attempting to cook healthy meals at home.

It's interesting to see that we sometimes still hold old fashioned values when it comes to feeding.  Don't play with your food, be quiet and eat up, use a knife and fork.

Tonight we had veggie stew and dumplings with new potatoes.  Anya loves it and so does Mia but I think she was tired by 5pm and a bit bored with it, so I bet her that she couldn't eat all her tea using only her hands!  Very messy but a challenge.  The dumplings were great to eat with hands, as were the new potatoes, but the veg stew was definitely trickier.  She did a really good job and in the end her plate had a lot less food on it than if I'd have made her eat it with a knife and fork.

Food really should be enjoyable.  It should be healthy (not all of the times, don't forget the treats!) and excite all our senses.

I love halloumi cheese, especially as you can grill and fry it, but mainly for the texture.  I love the fact that you can have a good old chew.  My mum doesn't like the squeak but it doesn't bother me.  I once had veggie fish and chips in a restaurant and the 'veggie fish' was deep fried halloumi - it was absolutely gorgeous. So much so that it we go back to that restaurant, I know exactly what I'm having.

There's no denying I love my grub but food to me is a pleasure.  Yes there are times when I get fed up of cooking and we may resort to a chippy tea but healthy food doesn't have to be boring.  As a veggie I'm often getting asked if I only eat salad (still can't believe people as me this in 2011) but the thing is I really don't like salad.  Unless it's got loads of olives, cheese, dressing etc otherwise I think salad's really boring.  But I can still eat healthily without eating salad all the time!

Let's just relax at meal times, remember that fresh, home cooked food tastes so much better than convenient food and is a dam sight cheaper, and let's lead by example to our kids.

But also let's lead by example to other adults.

Thursday 14 April 2011

Hurray - my book has arrived

I got a text off the library today to say my book has arrived.  You know, the one I reserved months ago, over 6 months in fact.

The one by Gill Ripley - baby led weaning.

Thank goodness it has arrived otherwise I wouldn't have a clue what I'm doing!!!

Saturday 9 April 2011

Oh wait a minute - she might be back on the breast feeding

Perhaps my hard work is paying off.

Anya is feeding during the night and waking up to a morning feed and she even fed during the day twice this week.

And for the first time in about a week she had a feed before bedtime.

I'm loving it so I'll make the most of it while I can.  Let's hope she continues.