Little E has come on in leaps and bounds this week! She is already developing likes and dislikes regarding food and methods of feeding. Some days she has eaten everything she has been offered and other days she has chosen what she wants to eat and what she does not. On Monday she ate carrot and potato for dinner followed by baby rice. For supper she are chicken and rice followed by apple and blueberry compote. On Tuesday she ate cottage pie and enjoyed it followed pear puree for dessert. For supper she was given potato and parsnip – of which she ate some followed by chocolate pudding puree – all organic. The advice is that babies should be given the same food three times before introducing a new food however, I have found that E becomes bored of food offered three times and then begins to refuse it. So, I try not to give her the same food every day – I freeze the rest of the jar or the excess food that I make and give it to her on another day.
Today, I decided to try some baby led weaning after I noticed that she has been very interested in food that I was eating – which is not much these days- as well as a desire to feed herself with a spoon but, also with her hands! This morning I gave her toast soldiers after she refused banana and yoghurt puree for breakfast – she became frustrated by not being able to get these into her mouth and then grabbed a slice of toast that I was eating! I then offered her a rice cake which she sucked on for a while – I did not expect her to eat this – however, she did enjoy the new texture. When I sat down to eat a banana, thinking that she had finished feeding she grabbed the banana and placed it in her mouth! At tea time I managed to toast some crumpets for myself after feeding my son and E – which I was looking forward to – however, E (the monster eating machine!) also decided that she wanted to eat this also and she chewed the end of a crumpet.
As you can see it has been quite an interesting day food wise and I am amazed at her willingness to try new foods as well as, her hand-eye and mouth co-ordination! I am not sure if she is displaying advanced skills in feeding or whether it is due to weaning an acid reflux child and dealing with the issues that they have with various textured foods – I am completely entralled by her eating! I am also in wonder at how little she has gagged or indeed vomited – not that I am complaining. Tomorrow I intend to offer her eggy bread for breakfast – I wanted to offer her avocado on toast however, due to the tropical temperatures that we in southern England have experienced the avocado decided to give up the ghost! I have yet to decide what to offer her for lunch or supper but, I do intend to offer her some strips of cooked chicken over the weekend – I will keep you posted.
mummymootwo 