Cooking up a storm...

As I write this I am splattered in pureed fruit and veg, my dishes are piled in the sink, every bowl in my kitchen has been used and discarded across the kitchen counter and I am feeling an immense sense of satisfaction.

I have spent the the best part of this stuffy summers day, along with my husband acting as glamorous assistant, cooking and pureeing up a storm to feed my very hungry baby boy Joel.
I get great satisfaction out of monitoring all the ingredients that I put together and carefully cook for his culinary delight!  I love the enjoyment he gets out of eating my creations, his humming eating noises and his arms flapping when I am not spooning fast enough.

Current guidelines state that babies should have a mixed diet from 6 months.  I was determined to follow this rule, Joel was not.  7lbs at birth, Joel quickly shot up the percentiles and at 19 weeks old the health visitor informed me he weighed 18lbs.  Biggest baby on the street!  Milk definitely was not sustaining him and he began to wake more often during the night as he was hungry.  At 21 weeks I got the baby rice out!

Having tried and failed at breast feeding I saw weaning as the platform where I could redeem myself.  I researched weaning food and recipes and ordered books at the library, including Annabel Karmel, to be the best informed 'weaner' ever!  Yet again the world of baby information provided conflicting advice and a fair amount of scare mongering!  Baby led weaning or traditional weaning? How dangerous are nitrates? Which foods are most likely to trigger an allergic reaction? When will his digestive system be ready for different types of food?
This was one of those moments where it was necessary to take a step back from the information overload and use a bit of common sense.  My health visitor visited at 19 weeks, made it clear that she suspected that Joel would be ready for food soon and said she would be in contact between 6-9months.  The only advice she offered was to make sure Joel wasn't too hungry when offering his first spoonful.  It would be a new experience for him and if he was too hungry he would be too distressed to try the food.   She offered no advice or documentation on weaning methods or foods to avoid or include.  No sample menu was offered.  My logic is, if there was any information that was super important some kind of medical professional would be providing it.  They are not - common sense it is!

Joel has steadily built his way up from a taste of vegetable puree in the late morning to 4 meals a day.  No, that isn't a misprint, 4 meals!  Its been a process I've really enjoyed, despite the mess!

During the first week Joel moved from tasting a few spoonfuls of carrot or pear in late morning to having  a good lunch of vegetable puree followed by a few ounces of bottle.  Joel then progressed to having lunch and dinner purees along with his bottle.  By 25/26 weeks Joel was a confident eater and was eating 3 meals a day.

8am - Porridge with fruit puree, followed by 5/6 ounces of stage 2 formula.

11.30 ish - Meat and Veg puree, yogurt

2pm ish - 7 oz bottle

5pm ish - Meat and veg/ veg puree, fruit pot

8pm - 8 oz bottle

Bed.

Despite getting this mound of food, featuring a healthy appearance from all the food groups Joel was still waking during the night for a night feed.  Between 2am and 3am he was starving and would devour a 7 oz bottle!

It was my next door neighbour Jenny and my mother in law who made the same suggestion within the same weekend, What about supper?  My mother in law said all her children had porridge before bed and Jenny said her daughter took 2 Weetabix followed by 6 ounces.
That was a week and a half ago and Joel has not needed a night feed since.  At 7-7.30pm Joel has another feed of porridge and bottle and that seems to be doing the trick!  And who would deny him a supper, long been my favourite meal of the day, theres nothing better then a slice of toast and a hot cup of tea in front of the tv before bedtime.
I am unsure if this is a common practice in other families but so far it seems to be working for Joel and after 6 months of broken sleep I am glad he seems to be settling at night. 4 meals seems an awful lot and I seem to spend my day dictated by his intense eating scedule but he is a growing boy learning lots of new skills so he must need it!

Today we wizzed up;

Apple puree
Pear puree
Melon, apricot and pear puree
Summer fruit puree
Sweet potato, apple and carrot puree
Vegetable stew
Leek and Potato puree
Salmon, leek, pea and potato puree
Salmon, sweet potato and carrot puree
Beef and sweet potato puree
Chicken, apple and carrot puree

BEFORE

AFTER

Believe it or not we are celebrating by ordering in chippie food for ourselves, in fact don't ask me the last time I had a vegetable.  The wee brute gets it all!