Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Mimi Pixie Stix Bunny Princess Poopy Pants is 6 months old today. By now, I expected to be finished breastfeeding, but I'm not. I thought she'd be in her own room by now, but she's not. I was sure she'd be established on solid foods at six months, but she still thinks they're fun toys to gum. She has only just started wearing 3-6 month clothes, which means the adorable 6-9 month Christmas clothes I bought for her way back when are far too big. She coos and aahhhs instead of the bababadadadamamama noises Jack made at this age. She has huge blue eyes (hair colour TBD.) Ever since (and including) her arrival, she surprises me in millions of wonderful, beautiful ways.
And that's all I'm going to say because she's in my lap right now, and I'd much rather be cuddling and adoring her than typing.
I love you so, so much. Happy 6 months, my precious baby girl. xxx
Thursday, December 13, 2007
...and the banana made it into the mouth and down the throat! Wooooooo! This was our third experience with food (I'm not feeding her every day at the moment) and Mia seemed to enjoy it. I still think that she's at the "Oooh that's an interesting looking toy. GAH! It comes apart in my mouth!!" stage, though. But still, fun!
Sunday, December 09, 2007
As I was saying, Mia has been introduced to the world of solid food via the interesting (this is your cue to say: "Oh off she goes on that mad hippy nonsense again") concept of Baby Led Weaning. I first learned about it when Jack was a baby (thanks to LisaS, who is another mad hippy) but for reasons that I can no longer remember, only made a half ass attempt at it.
The idea is to let babies feed themselves - no spoon feeding, no purees. "Oh my good lord, but your baby will choke!" you may cry. Well look, it's not like I'm giving Mia a turkey drumstick to gnaw on this Christmas. Although come to think of it, Paul's Uncle Mike recently told me that he gave drumsticks to both kids when they were babies, and they turned out just fine. All joking aside, I freely admit that it did make my heart jump when Mia gagged and sputtered a bit when she tried the rice cakes. We are so accustomed to the idea that babies get purees, that it's very difficult for our brains to accept anything else. Anyway, the idea is to let babies feed themselves...safely. For example, instead of spoon feeding Mia carrot puree, I will give her cooked carrot sticks that are still mushy enough to be safe to eat, but in a form that allows her to feed it to herself.
I think it's easiest to understand if I put it in terms of more "conventional" weaning. At 4 months, you offer purees because babies cannot physically ingest anything else. At 5 months, you introduce lumpier foods, and at 6 months, you start with finger foods. Since Baby Led Weaning is done at 6 months onwards, we're simply skipping the two former stages.
Why am I doing this? Do I want to spend mealtimes sticking a spoon in my baby's face with no hands free, or would I rather sit back, stuff my own face, and be entertained watching my baby attempting to pick up slices of avocado? I rest my case. Okay seriously, I'm doing this because I've always been an advocate of letting kids play with and explore food. I'm still that way with Jack. I think it's important to let kids be in control of what goes in their mouths. Except if it happens to be a clump of dirt, dog toy, or something unidentifiable from the garden, obviously.
So far, Mia's not actually eaten anything, but I've only given her food twice this week. I first gave her slices of avocado (too slippery) followed by rice cakes (easier to pick up, but anything that went in came right back out again), and cooked carrot sticks (interesting to lick, but again, anything that went in came back out again.) She doesn't have to get any food in her belly - breast milk gives her all the nutrition and calories she needs for now - so this is all for fun and practice.
And I am in no rush to get her established on solids. I am enjoying the relatively inoffensive nappies while I can.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
At 24 weeks, Mia had her first taste of solid food yesterday - avocadoes (too slippery to get from hand to mouth) and rice cakes (made it into the mouth, then came right back out again.) I'll blog more about this later, but in summary, I don't think she's quite ready for solids yet. I'll still give her food to "play" with, though. Coming up next: boiled carrot sticks. Oooooh. Aaaaaah.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
spot the difference #2
Jack at 4 months, exactly:
Mia at 5 1/2 months:
I looked at Jack's "red book" (the Official Book of Baby Things given to all babies for healthcare workers to record immunisations, weight, etc.) and at 3 months he weighed 13 lbs. At 5 months, Mia weighed just over 12 lbs. She's such a wee peanut.