Wean, baby, wean!
July 8, 2009
Owen tucks into carrot for the first time.
Have been swimming today, with mum. Owen seemed much happier in the water than he does in his lessons so I’m thinking of stopping them for now. They are so expensive, and he doesn’t seem to be enjoying them that much so its a no-brainer really. Other news… I am shattered, Owen is waking up a lot at night at the moment, three, sometimes four times and I am like a zombie. I can’t wait for the day he sleeps through!
The major thing at the moment is weaning. Its going well, one meal a day – lunch, because he’s always in a reasonably good mood around lunchtime, whereas at dinner time he can be a bit tired and cross. I’ll keep him on just lunches for a couple of weeks, then introduce breakfast and finally the evening meal when I feel he’s getting the hang of it. He’s doing brilliantly, considering he’s a bit young for baby-led weaning. He can pick up food and bring it to his mouth, he’s tasted loads of different things now and has even swallowed some of it (proof is in the poo if you know what I mean!!) Courgette is his favourite food at the moment, by a long way.
Baby led weaning is a messy business, though. I bought a shower curtain and cut it into four for mess mats, and I’m using old baby-gros put on him back-to-front as all over bibs, which works well. I did try him with a sheet with a hole cut in it, but it gets in the way of his arms so he got a bit frustrated. He also gets a bit cross when he can’t pick things up – like avocado and papaya. Actually, that’s an understatement. He goes mental. He tries to pick it up, it slips out of his hand. He tries again, it breaks and goes in his lap. He sort of barks, then looks at me in sheer disgust, then his face crumples, he shrieks at the top of his lungs and tries to launch himself backwards out of his bumbo chair. If he’s wearing the sheet, this gets in his way so he ends up chewing on a piece of sheet as opposed to avocado, which also doesn’t help his mood. So I am giving him a little help with picking things up at the moment, I know it’s sort of cheating but I can’t sit by and watch him struggle, it wouldn’t be fair really! You try picking up avocado – it aint easy even for a forty year old!
