Confusing aspects of parenthood

Babies are confusing creatures. Many a time do I wonder the same thing, to the tune of:

1) why do babies cry inconsolably when they need to sleep? Why not just sleep?

2) how do babies sense when you are about to snooze/have lunch/do anything non-baby and immediately require attention?

3) how can three babies from the same parents be so completely and utterly different?

4) why is throwing things on the floor so exciting to a baby? And how can six year olds perpetually pick them up without tiring?

5) what do people do if they don't have children? What did I do before I had them?

6) why is the world so buggy unfriendly? Shouldn't everything be accessible for wheelchairs and therefore also suitable for buggies? How can they not be?

7) do lazy buggers, who have no children with them but who take the last parent and child space, not think about it? Do they think parents don't really need the space and they have as much right to a generous space? Or do they fully understand why we need the spaces but just figure we can wait until they're gone because for whatever reason, their need is greater?

Baby dictated weaning!

And weaning progresses...

I was pleased to note this article from the Guardian which pretty much confirms my understanding of it all. The most important thing for mothers to know, which seems to be missing from most literature, is that babies are individual and they make it very obvious when they need more than milk.

I personally believe baby led weaning, where at six months you offer finger food, is harmful both from the point of view of waiting until the baby can pick things up accurately and from a potential choking hazard.

I haven't tried it however and many others have successfully. Some babies need solids later than others, maybe if they don't demand it until after six months they can cope with chunks of finger foods, I don't know.

Miss E is not yet six months and seems to want to eat real food. She had some homemade veg soup which I had made with no nasties in and puréed a spot for her. Loved it, unlike any of the ready made jars I've offered.
Sigh. I guess it's down to my cooking and Plum Baby as back up (she liked their parsnip and pea) again.

But she seems to have a favourite. Lunchtime arrived and E was making it very clear she was hungry. Milk: no. Bean purée: absolutely no. Apple and pear: look mummy, I'm hungry, not peckish. Ok. Rusk in milk: oh yeah! That's the stuff! And I'll take my milk now too thanks.

Uh oh. She's not really meant to have rusks, and that makes 3/3 of them weaned on rusks. Oh dear. Bad mummy.

Weaning

I touched on weaning in my last post, now I shall expand.

Incidentally probably literally expanding as we speak, as I am making up for weight not gained during my pregnancy and gaining pounds almost daily. Can't stop eating, won't stop eating. Weight gained in pregnancy: 4lb. Weight gained since: another 17lb. Not good, but I just can't stop the hunger.

But that is me and I am fully weaned.

E has had a passionate interest in food since she was first able to focus her eyes. So she was delighted at the age of about 20 weeks to be offered some form of food. We started with baby banana porridge which bears no similarity to real porridge as it is made from baby rice not oats. But it tastes kinda like Angel Delight and unsurprisingly E was impressed. So we tried some fruit purée. E was unsure, but willing to eat. Spurred on by the memory of the virtuous home made purées that the twins had, I made some sweet potato purée, which was spat back at me. Plum Baby's parsnip, apple and pea purée went down a little better, but not much.

Now E turned her nose up at the baby cereal having tasted real food. I tried a couple of baby breakfast sachets and she was somewhat meh. So we tried yoghurt, which goes against the "no dairy products till 6 months" doctrine, but I'm believing Danone in a ludicrously idiotic manner because it suits me and the advice doesn't really make sense. So we go with "suitable from 4 months". Likewise with rusks which are heavily frowned upon but which certain twins had as first foods and which young E devours with enthusiasm. Mixed with formula into a paste I may add, not given as a finger food.

So I'm bad.

I did purchase some broccoli to make my speciality of green speckled potato however. Whether E takes it is to be seen, but that's tomorrow's tea. I also have some pear purée for the potential of pear and everything, which I had to resort to with baby R.

It's going fine. Could do better but I am acutely aware that she is advised not to start at all until six months, so she's fine until then if not getting a full and varied diet. I shall probably not try baby led weaning but we'll see. I have been known to change my mind on major parenting issues when confronted with actual facts.

Almost six months

I haven't been exactly keeping up with this.

There is a reason for this and that is the need to remove one's thoughts from baby world. In pregnancy it is hard to think of anything else; post pregnancy it is essential to be distracted.

And so we are now at over 5 months. E is a giggling, almost sitting/crawling/eating chubby bundle of joy. She smiles and laughs a lot and is in a fair representation of a routine.

She can now turn over onto her front (but not back) which she then finds immensely frustrating as she can't immediately crawl. This doesn't look like it's far away, so I am busy just now with making sure the house is baby friendly. It isn't, yet.

Eating: we are doing "tastes". So far we like yoghurt and rusks very much, both of which I am sure are no-no until 6 months, but then again all food is sort of no-no until then. Manufacturers of both say "suitable from weaning" so I'm going with it.

She also likes fruit and isn't wild about any veg she's tried. I have cooked one portion of sweet potato (which was rejected) and so far anything else veggie was bought ready puréed, because Plum Baby and the likes do baby food that looks like food.

I was so smug with the twins, they were weaned on all home cooked meals. But as they still want meals, I simply don't have the chance to make it for E. I guess I need to create at lunchtime. We'll see.

And that's about it. She's gorgeous and perfect and getting big!