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.

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!