Oh dear, today really hasn't been up to much. Hannah woke up just before 4am today, eventually drifting back off after some medised at about 5.30am. She managed her normal breastfeed and solid breakfast (yes, cheerios) OK and ate quite a bit, but after that it all went wrong.
Her feeds have been minimal, she's been unsettled and quite fractious, and she hasn't slept much either. She ignored the vegetable omelette I made for her at lunch, ate about half of the rusk, and threw her sippy cup on the floor. She did nick a bit of my white chocolate Thornton's snowman, though, little monkey. And liked it very much indeed!
I ended up giving her a bottle this afternoon as she was refusing to nurse, she did have a fair amount from that, and had her usual pre-bed bottle as normal. But she wasn't interested in any solid food, and had a dose of Calpol at 2pm, then Medised before bed.
I'm hoping that it's a combination of teething pain (definite bumps on her top gum have appeared) and the tail end of this cold she's had for weeks, rather than anything more serious. Hopefully tomorrow she'll be back to her usual sunny self, but today has been a bit of a write off really.
Monday, 31 December 2007
Sunday, 30 December 2007
Hungry Hannah
Hannah's been very hungry today, more so than usual. She had lots of cheerios for breakfast after a longer than normal breastfeed, and a largeish (~100ml) drink of water before her morning nap.
Her 11am BF was again quite long compared to normal, and she then ate some tomato and mozzerella filled pasta with tomato and mascarpone sauce, plus a clementine and some rice pudding. I've taken to breaking the top off the clementine segments as Hannah seems to find it difficult to break into them otherwise. She wasn't all that fussed with them today though, as there was rice pudding to be having a go with. She was very tidy with it today (but I still had to change her top after lunch!) and did very well with the spoon we were using, even placing it down on the tray next to me rather than flinging it over the side of her tray when it was empty.
The mid-afternoon feed was shorter than the earlier ones, and she followed it up with her first attempt at dipping breadsticks in hummus, with mixed success. As well as the breadsticks and hummus she had a corn thin, also with hummus, a banana, a pear, and some grapes cut in half.
She finished the day off with a HUGE feed before bed - of well over 200ml, blimey! I'm not all that surprised though, as she spent the bits of the day when she was awake either climbing over things, crawling round the living room, kitchen and hall, or practicing pulling herself up to standing (which she's getting far too good at for my peace of mind...) and standing up itself.
Her 11am BF was again quite long compared to normal, and she then ate some tomato and mozzerella filled pasta with tomato and mascarpone sauce, plus a clementine and some rice pudding. I've taken to breaking the top off the clementine segments as Hannah seems to find it difficult to break into them otherwise. She wasn't all that fussed with them today though, as there was rice pudding to be having a go with. She was very tidy with it today (but I still had to change her top after lunch!) and did very well with the spoon we were using, even placing it down on the tray next to me rather than flinging it over the side of her tray when it was empty.
The mid-afternoon feed was shorter than the earlier ones, and she followed it up with her first attempt at dipping breadsticks in hummus, with mixed success. As well as the breadsticks and hummus she had a corn thin, also with hummus, a banana, a pear, and some grapes cut in half.
She finished the day off with a HUGE feed before bed - of well over 200ml, blimey! I'm not all that surprised though, as she spent the bits of the day when she was awake either climbing over things, crawling round the living room, kitchen and hall, or practicing pulling herself up to standing (which she's getting far too good at for my peace of mind...) and standing up itself.
Saturday, 29 December 2007
Hannah banana
Hannah's eaten loads today, despite still having a cold - nothing seems to be shifting it :o(
For breakfast she had a huge bowl of cheerios, and did really well with them. She's developed a method of eating them where she picks up one or two in her hand, then does a kind of mexican wave with her fingers closed round them that sees them pushed up between her thumb and index finger with her hand still held in a fist. It sounds bizarre, but seems to be very effective, and I noticed her doing the same thing with other smaller pieces of food today too.
For lunch Hannah had two oat cakes and a corn thin, all with lentil pate on. She also had some cherry tomato halves, some emmental cheese, and a slice of melon. She ate pretty much all of the melon, sucked all the lentil pate off the oatcakes and corn thin, and even ate a bit of those too. She sucked the insides out of some of the tomato halves, but left some of them nearly untouched too.
Tea was mainly fruit, I cut up an apple into segments for her but it was mostly ignored - she gummed briefly at one or two pieces and left the rest. She had another go at a kiwi, and this time didn't shudder and throw it onto the floor - a big step forward! She didn't seem to like it very much, but once I'd nicked a segment of it off her plate and eaten it, she got a lot more interested and actually did eat some too. There were segments of clementine, and a banana too. The banana is easier than ever to prepare now, as I just cut it in half across the middle. Hannah seems to prefer it like this, it gives her more to grab and chomp on, rather than the thinner chip shapes I made before. As well as all the fruit there was some scrambled egg, the first time I've made it for her. She got on OK with the egg, but wasn't that keen on it today - I think she only ate it at all because it looked like the banana bits and she got them confused!
For breakfast she had a huge bowl of cheerios, and did really well with them. She's developed a method of eating them where she picks up one or two in her hand, then does a kind of mexican wave with her fingers closed round them that sees them pushed up between her thumb and index finger with her hand still held in a fist. It sounds bizarre, but seems to be very effective, and I noticed her doing the same thing with other smaller pieces of food today too.
For lunch Hannah had two oat cakes and a corn thin, all with lentil pate on. She also had some cherry tomato halves, some emmental cheese, and a slice of melon. She ate pretty much all of the melon, sucked all the lentil pate off the oatcakes and corn thin, and even ate a bit of those too. She sucked the insides out of some of the tomato halves, but left some of them nearly untouched too.
Tea was mainly fruit, I cut up an apple into segments for her but it was mostly ignored - she gummed briefly at one or two pieces and left the rest. She had another go at a kiwi, and this time didn't shudder and throw it onto the floor - a big step forward! She didn't seem to like it very much, but once I'd nicked a segment of it off her plate and eaten it, she got a lot more interested and actually did eat some too. There were segments of clementine, and a banana too. The banana is easier than ever to prepare now, as I just cut it in half across the middle. Hannah seems to prefer it like this, it gives her more to grab and chomp on, rather than the thinner chip shapes I made before. As well as all the fruit there was some scrambled egg, the first time I've made it for her. She got on OK with the egg, but wasn't that keen on it today - I think she only ate it at all because it looked like the banana bits and she got them confused!
Post-Christmas Update
Time has been flying by and I haven't managed to update the blog with what Hannah's been up to for the past couple of days, so here goes!
On Thursday she had her first taste of trifle at lunchtime, and about chomped our hands and arms off trying to race us to the spoon. A definite fan, it's just a shame I only make it about once a year. It wasn't only trifle for lunch though, don't worry - she also ate a breadstick, a rice cake with vache qui rit on, some grapes and cherry tomatoes that I cut in half, and some cucumber sticks. I can't remember what she ate for dinner though, sorry!
Here's a photo of Hannah and trifle - the trifle has been fighting back...
The quiche was quite crumbly, so she didn't do all that well with it, but the rest was fine and she managed nicely. Then after she'd finished I was eating trifle and she was trying to nab bits off me, so I shared it with her while she was sat on my knee. That was I think the first time I've actually tried to spoon feed her rather than have her feed herself, as she wasn't wearing a bib and we were sat on someone else's sofa! Hannah wasn't that impressed with being fed, and she kept on trying to take the spoon off me - I usually let her have it once the majority of trifle was safely in her mouth.
On Thursday she had her first taste of trifle at lunchtime, and about chomped our hands and arms off trying to race us to the spoon. A definite fan, it's just a shame I only make it about once a year. It wasn't only trifle for lunch though, don't worry - she also ate a breadstick, a rice cake with vache qui rit on, some grapes and cherry tomatoes that I cut in half, and some cucumber sticks. I can't remember what she ate for dinner though, sorry!
Here's a photo of Hannah and trifle - the trifle has been fighting back...
...but not as much as the beans fought back yesterday!
The quiche was quite crumbly, so she didn't do all that well with it, but the rest was fine and she managed nicely. Then after she'd finished I was eating trifle and she was trying to nab bits off me, so I shared it with her while she was sat on my knee. That was I think the first time I've actually tried to spoon feed her rather than have her feed herself, as she wasn't wearing a bib and we were sat on someone else's sofa! Hannah wasn't that impressed with being fed, and she kept on trying to take the spoon off me - I usually let her have it once the majority of trifle was safely in her mouth.
Thursday, 27 December 2007
Boxing Day food
Hannah had a funny day yesterday. She ate cheerios for breakfast as normal, and ate loads of them too.
For lunch she had beans on toast followed by rice pudding, and did pretty well with that. The beans she seems to pick up one or two at a time, and carefully squeeze them in her hand until they pop out of her palm onto the side between her thumb and index finger, where she carefully eats them from. Cheerios are dealt with in much the same way.
Dinner didn't go down very well really. It was left over Christmas dinner, but most of it ended up on the floor or generally spattered around. She was very tired - a result of not napping very well - and not in the mood for solid food much at all.
She's had a cold for what seems like weeks now, and is still suffering with a runny nose and a cough. I think this is making her less interested in her solid feeds, it's definitely making her naps shorter, as she can't self-settle by sucking her thumb on account of not being able to breathe at the same time. Medised is helping, but any other suggestions very welcome :o)
For lunch she had beans on toast followed by rice pudding, and did pretty well with that. The beans she seems to pick up one or two at a time, and carefully squeeze them in her hand until they pop out of her palm onto the side between her thumb and index finger, where she carefully eats them from. Cheerios are dealt with in much the same way.
Dinner didn't go down very well really. It was left over Christmas dinner, but most of it ended up on the floor or generally spattered around. She was very tired - a result of not napping very well - and not in the mood for solid food much at all.
She's had a cold for what seems like weeks now, and is still suffering with a runny nose and a cough. I think this is making her less interested in her solid feeds, it's definitely making her naps shorter, as she can't self-settle by sucking her thumb on account of not being able to breathe at the same time. Medised is helping, but any other suggestions very welcome :o)
Tuesday, 25 December 2007
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas everybody! A bit of a catch up today, on account of having been away for a few days and not posting. Hannah's enjoying her first Christmas, although she's had so many presents she hasn't actually finished opening them yet. Her favourite so far seems to be the small rocking horse she got from her Granny Sue. Keep an eye out for Christmas-themed bibs in our pictures in the next few days, she has one that looks like a Christmas tree from Aunty Jo and Uncle Matt, and one saying "My 1st Christmas", also from Granny Sue.
On Sunday, Hannah ate cooked breakfast, with veggie cumberland sausage, veggie bacon strips, and some fried mushrooms. She liked all of it, even the peppery cumberland sausage. Her lunch was tomato wedges, cucumber, some emmental cheese, followed by some halved grapes and a clementine. Ooh, and she ate a buttered crumpet, too - I nearly forgot that! In fact here's a picture of her enjoying it:
Dinner was eaten at her first ever cocktail party (she's ever so posh, you know!), and was basically cheese and biscuits with yet more grapes for pudding. Oh, and she also ate a strawberry cream flavour Quality Street chocolate during the day that her grandad and I fed her in tiny pieces. She definitely quite liked that, but won't be having any more as a) I don't think they're good for her and b) we've eaten them all!
Yesterday saw a return to cheerios for breakfast, then she ate some lunch at mum's, which was a vegetable omelette followed by halves of grapes, and no dinner at all as we were in the car travelling home - in fact we had to stop in a layby on the A34 so I could feed her. She had a dream feed yesterday too, on account of not having all three of her normal meals,. and took a full 200ml/7oz.
Today, Hannah's eaten cheerios again for breakfast, then she had tomato wedges, cucumber sticks, a couple of oatcakes with hummus on, and a breadstick, with rice pudding for afters. Her dinner today was of course Christmas dinner, including some Quorn roast, roast potato, roast parsnips, carrot, some stuffing and a bit of low salt gravy. She hadn't tasted stuffing before, but certainly seemed to like it. But not as much as she liked the bit of Christmas pudding that we gave her for pudding.
She's also drunk a lot of water out of her sippy cup today, and sucked the end of our champagne cork too (I don't think she got much champagne off it though!). Sadly she wasn't very impressed with her party hat, so it only lasted a few seconds before she had it off and in her mouth for a good chew.
On Sunday, Hannah ate cooked breakfast, with veggie cumberland sausage, veggie bacon strips, and some fried mushrooms. She liked all of it, even the peppery cumberland sausage. Her lunch was tomato wedges, cucumber, some emmental cheese, followed by some halved grapes and a clementine. Ooh, and she ate a buttered crumpet, too - I nearly forgot that! In fact here's a picture of her enjoying it:
Dinner was eaten at her first ever cocktail party (she's ever so posh, you know!), and was basically cheese and biscuits with yet more grapes for pudding. Oh, and she also ate a strawberry cream flavour Quality Street chocolate during the day that her grandad and I fed her in tiny pieces. She definitely quite liked that, but won't be having any more as a) I don't think they're good for her and b) we've eaten them all!
Yesterday saw a return to cheerios for breakfast, then she ate some lunch at mum's, which was a vegetable omelette followed by halves of grapes, and no dinner at all as we were in the car travelling home - in fact we had to stop in a layby on the A34 so I could feed her. She had a dream feed yesterday too, on account of not having all three of her normal meals,. and took a full 200ml/7oz.
Today, Hannah's eaten cheerios again for breakfast, then she had tomato wedges, cucumber sticks, a couple of oatcakes with hummus on, and a breadstick, with rice pudding for afters. Her dinner today was of course Christmas dinner, including some Quorn roast, roast potato, roast parsnips, carrot, some stuffing and a bit of low salt gravy. She hadn't tasted stuffing before, but certainly seemed to like it. But not as much as she liked the bit of Christmas pudding that we gave her for pudding.
She's also drunk a lot of water out of her sippy cup today, and sucked the end of our champagne cork too (I don't think she got much champagne off it though!). Sadly she wasn't very impressed with her party hat, so it only lasted a few seconds before she had it off and in her mouth for a good chew.
Saturday, 22 December 2007
Nice bit of crumpet
Hannah slept really well last night, she's back to going through from 7pm till around 7.30am, hurrah! She's still got a runny nose, but is basically over her cold and back on fine form.
Breakfast today was cheerios again, I had to do them with semi skimmed milk as mum didn't have any full fat in the house. Fortunately I only put a little milk on anyway then drain the excess off so that the cheerios don't go too soggy. Hopefully it won't be bad for her!
For lunch, Hannah ate with us, which was really nice. She had some tomato and boursin tart, a stick of celery, some cucumber and tomato, some tomato and mozzerella ravioli, and a lightly cooked pear. The ravioli was taken apart so that she could eat the middle of it without bothering with the pasta itself. The tomato and boursin tart went down well, she hadn't had any for ages. I wasn't sure how she would receive the celery, her dad absolutely hates it, but it didn't bother her at all. Not that she made much progress with it, mind, not like the tomato where only the skin was discarded.
Tea was more a spectator sport than a family meal, Hannah was the only one eating but there were about half a dozen people in the room. And a spotty dog, which to be honest Hannah was more interested in than the food. For tea she had some more tomato and boursin tart, some sticks of emmental cheese, and some wedges of tomato, with a banana for her afters. Part way through the meal, we remembered that there was a crumpet put aside for her, so toasted it and spread it with butter before handing it over. Once she'd got her hands on the crumpet she ignored everything else on her plate and ate almost all of the crumpet (apart from the bit she dropped on the floor that Sophie the dalmation nicked). She ate virtually all the banana, too, so a really good meal all told.
And by the way, are they crumpets or pikelets? My dad maintains they're pikelets, I know them by both names but usually call them crumpets. What's the difference between them, why do they have two names, are the answers out there?
Oh, and I almost forgot. She ate about half a strawberry cream Quality Street before tea, too. Well, it is Christmas after all...just don't tell anyone!
Breakfast today was cheerios again, I had to do them with semi skimmed milk as mum didn't have any full fat in the house. Fortunately I only put a little milk on anyway then drain the excess off so that the cheerios don't go too soggy. Hopefully it won't be bad for her!
For lunch, Hannah ate with us, which was really nice. She had some tomato and boursin tart, a stick of celery, some cucumber and tomato, some tomato and mozzerella ravioli, and a lightly cooked pear. The ravioli was taken apart so that she could eat the middle of it without bothering with the pasta itself. The tomato and boursin tart went down well, she hadn't had any for ages. I wasn't sure how she would receive the celery, her dad absolutely hates it, but it didn't bother her at all. Not that she made much progress with it, mind, not like the tomato where only the skin was discarded.
Tea was more a spectator sport than a family meal, Hannah was the only one eating but there were about half a dozen people in the room. And a spotty dog, which to be honest Hannah was more interested in than the food. For tea she had some more tomato and boursin tart, some sticks of emmental cheese, and some wedges of tomato, with a banana for her afters. Part way through the meal, we remembered that there was a crumpet put aside for her, so toasted it and spread it with butter before handing it over. Once she'd got her hands on the crumpet she ignored everything else on her plate and ate almost all of the crumpet (apart from the bit she dropped on the floor that Sophie the dalmation nicked). She ate virtually all the banana, too, so a really good meal all told.
And by the way, are they crumpets or pikelets? My dad maintains they're pikelets, I know them by both names but usually call them crumpets. What's the difference between them, why do they have two names, are the answers out there?
Oh, and I almost forgot. She ate about half a strawberry cream Quality Street before tea, too. Well, it is Christmas after all...just don't tell anyone!
Friday, 21 December 2007
Out and about
We've all been out and about today, travelling to see my parents. So breakfast was a swift bowl of cheerios at home before departure. Hannah ate lunch at a motorway service station on the M40, fortunately we took a packed lunch with us so didn't have to search for something suitable. She ate three rice cakes, two with marmite and one with raspberry jam on, and a rusk. I was planning to give her a clementine too, but we left it in the car!
Hannah's dinner was our late lunch when we arrived chez the grandparents. She ate some sticks of cheddar cheese, a vache qui rit triangle (messy but tasty), and some veggie sausage plait. The pastry flaked off quite well, although she did manage to eat some of it. It made her cough a time or two as well. The sausage bit from the middle was received quite enthusiastically, but generally she was flagging over dinner due to not really napping all day. Let's hope she settles down OK this evening...
Hannah's dinner was our late lunch when we arrived chez the grandparents. She ate some sticks of cheddar cheese, a vache qui rit triangle (messy but tasty), and some veggie sausage plait. The pastry flaked off quite well, although she did manage to eat some of it. It made her cough a time or two as well. The sausage bit from the middle was received quite enthusiastically, but generally she was flagging over dinner due to not really napping all day. Let's hope she settles down OK this evening...
Thursday, 20 December 2007
A busy day!
Today has been very busy, with a coffee morning for some other mums from our playgroup, then a visit from family dropping off Christmas presents, but we still managed to get some food down Hannah eventually!
Breakfast (before the first visitors arrived) was cheerios again, she ate loads today. I think she's making up for the past couple of cold-filled days when she hasn't felt much like eating.
Lunch happened during the coffee morning, picnic style on the living room rug. So that it wasn't too messy, I gave her one rice cake with vache qui rit (or laughing cow as it's now known!) cheese on it, and another with lentil pate, plus a clementine. It was the first time she's tried the cheese, and she seemed to really like it - although she smeared quite a lot of it all round her face! And because we didn't use the highchair, I also found a bit of rice cake stuck to her tights with the cheese. Oh well, another item of clothing for the washing heap!
Tea was later than normal, after family had left and Hannah had her afternoon nap, and was a slice of eggy bread and a banana. She didn't seem at all phased by the delay, and tucked in quite happily.
She's also back to sort of sleeping through the night after her cold, which is a relief. She did wake up and want a feed last night just as we were going to bed, but didn't wake after that, which is a first this week I think. So hurrah!
We're off to my parents tomorrow morning, so will be on the move. Hopefully I'll manage to keep posting, but if I miss a day or two you'll know why! Back home on Monday.
Breakfast (before the first visitors arrived) was cheerios again, she ate loads today. I think she's making up for the past couple of cold-filled days when she hasn't felt much like eating.
Lunch happened during the coffee morning, picnic style on the living room rug. So that it wasn't too messy, I gave her one rice cake with vache qui rit (or laughing cow as it's now known!) cheese on it, and another with lentil pate, plus a clementine. It was the first time she's tried the cheese, and she seemed to really like it - although she smeared quite a lot of it all round her face! And because we didn't use the highchair, I also found a bit of rice cake stuck to her tights with the cheese. Oh well, another item of clothing for the washing heap!
Tea was later than normal, after family had left and Hannah had her afternoon nap, and was a slice of eggy bread and a banana. She didn't seem at all phased by the delay, and tucked in quite happily.
She's also back to sort of sleeping through the night after her cold, which is a relief. She did wake up and want a feed last night just as we were going to bed, but didn't wake after that, which is a first this week I think. So hurrah!
We're off to my parents tomorrow morning, so will be on the move. Hopefully I'll manage to keep posting, but if I miss a day or two you'll know why! Back home on Monday.
Wednesday, 19 December 2007
A repeat of yesterday
Poor Hannah had almost exactly the same food put in front of her today as she had yesterday. I blame the cold that the entire family now has, we all feel a bit manky, boo hiss. Hannah's Medised and our Lemsips do seem to be working though!
So anyway, breakfast was cheerios of course, lunch was sweet potato, carrot and parsnip, oatcakes and hummus, and tea was beans on toast followed by rice pudding. She definitely likes both beans and rice pudding, and I think she'd have eaten the entire (big) tin of rice pudding given half a chance. As you can see from the picture, she was firmly of the opinion that I hadn't given her enough, and she was forced to suck the leftovers off her bib...
She's been extra tired today, because of her cold, so hasn't eaten a huge amount but - to my surprise - has still been interested in her food. The breastfeeds have been much longer than in the past week or two, presumably to make up the calories she's not getting from her solid food at the moment. Feeds today were lasting around 15-20 minutes, rather than the 6 or 7 minutes that's become normal during the day. At least I got a chance to sit down for a bit longer than normal! :o)
Tuesday, 18 December 2007
A fruitful day
Not bad today. Despite her cold, Hannah tucked into her cheerios this morning, and got on fairly well with her lunch which was sweet potato, carrot, parsnip and peas followed by a clementine.
It was the first time she'd tried peas, and she was quite nonplussed to start with. Turns out peas are quite wily, and they kept running around the tray while Hannah chased them down. She did eventually manage to pick them up, and seemed to like them once they made it into her mouth. Everything else on the menu was an old favourite, and she tucked in, although not with quite as much gusto as normal, I guess because of her cold.
For tea (after our Christmas shopping expedition) she had a quick slice of beans on toast, and a rice cake with unsalted butter and marmite on. She really went for the marmite this time, and the beans too. Still not much progress with the toast, it's basically a disposable plate as far as Hannah's concerned. Having said that, she did actually bite a small piece off the toast today, but spat it out after a couple of chews. The beans were a different variety today, too. We bought Branston 50% bigger beans, which I thought might be easier for her to pick up. To be honest they didn't seem much bigger, so if they weren't the same price anyway it wouldn't be worth it I don't think.
Here's a pic of Hannah chasing her peas at lunchtime:
Monday, 17 December 2007
Hannah sniffles
Oh dear, Hannah's got a sniffle. Not sure it's quite a cold yet, but she had me up four times last night, after doing so well with no dream feed too. So she's back on the dream feed for the moment, as it's a good way to get Calpol down her (mix it with the milk).
She's still managed well with her food today despite the sniffle, and had more cheerios than ever for breakfast. Lunch was rice cakes with hummus, a steamed carrot, about 10 grapes cut in half, and a rusk. The hummus all got sucked off the rice cakes (as plates go, they're expensive as you can't reuse them!), the carrot was largely ignored, and the innards were sucked out of the grapes. The rusk was the only item that all got eaten, but I think that's because it mostly dissolves while she gums at it.
For tea I did her a mushroom omelette, three sliced mushrooms, one egg, and a bit of milk. I cooked the mushrooms a bit before adding the egg, and it worked very well. Hannah seemed to really like it, and at least half got eaten - the rest was shredded into very small bits and scattered all over the place. I gave her a pear for afters, but it was less ripe than I thought so she didn't make all that much headway with it. She still seemed to enjoy it though, and there were lots of little teeth marks left on the flesh.
Here's Hannah eating her omelette:
Sunday, 16 December 2007
Vegeballs and other things
Breakfast: cheerios
Lunch: vegeballs in tomato sauce and half a rusk
Lunch: vegeballs in tomato sauce and half a rusk
Tea: lincolnshire sausage, avocado, rice cake with boursin, half a rusk and some grapes
Verdict:
Breakfast went down fairly well as usual. Lunch was a success too, which was good as it was the first time Hannah had tried vegeballs (and the first time I'd tried making them, I've put the recipe here). They didn't hold up too well to pressure as she picked them up, and disintegrated more than I thought they would, but most still got eaten. The tomato sauce wasn't too messy either, probably because we didn't actually give her most of it, just the bit that the vegeballs were coated with.
Her tea went down well too, she seemed to prefer the sausage but happily munched away at everything she had. She also managed the grapes really well too, and seemed much more confident picking them up than even yesterday. Some pieces she managed to suck the innards out of (I had cut them in half for her), leaving the skin.
We've noticed in the past few days that she doesn't really chuck food over the side of her high chair any more. Not sure when this started, but we're definitely not having to pick so much up. There's still the food that goes down onto her lap, along her legs, and onto the floor, but not nearly so much.
And no dream feed again last night, but she woke up at 6.10am today wanting a feed. I fed her one side, then put her back to bed. She slept until 8am when she woke wanting her breakfast, but when I fed her she only wanted one side, so her early feed was spread out over two hours! Hopefully we've managed to get enough down her today that she'll sleep longer tonight, but at least I got a bit of a Sunday lie in... :oD
Saturday, 15 December 2007
Sleepyhead Hannah
Yay! Hannah slept for a whole 13 or so hours last night! We (OK, I) have been dithering about dream feeds, whether we were just going to drop it or gradually phase it out, how to do it, and so on. Last night we were distracted (ie watching QI on the telly) and completely forgot to go upstairs to get Hannah and feed her. When we realised, it had gone 11pm, so we decided that we'd not make her feed up and instead just suffer the consequences if she woke us at silly o'clock. But she didn't! We'll see whether she carries on in the same vein, but I think/hope that's the end of the dream feed. Now to find something to do with the tag end of a box of formula...any ideas?
No exciting outings this morning (well, apart from a trip to Asda, does that count?) meant that Hannah had time to sit and enjoy her breakfast. Obviously we gave her Cheerios again so she could fully appreciate them. She mainly did this by hiding them in her bib, and I found hundreds of them when I was cleaning it in preparation for lunch. I'm sure she did eat some though.
Speaking of lunch, today she tried some new foods. There was some cottage cheese - served on a small spoon - which after flinging around a bit, Hannah decided that she liked. There were two rice cakes with hummus on, too. Hummus hasn't made an appearance for a while, and she really seemed to like it. No hesitation as there usually is with new foods, so I presume she remembered the flavour. Then there was a breadstick, followed by a clementine and some grapes that I cut in half. Since she hadn't tried either of these before, I wasn't sure how she'd get on, but she was fine. She ate the grape halves, and sucked the innards out of all the clementine segments, without pulling any strange faces!
Here she is showing how she eats clementines:
For tea Hannah tried a slice of quiche that I saved from our lunch, plus a banana and a (local) apple, I can't remember what kind but possibly a russet. She enjoyed the quiche but found that it disintegrated rather quickly, went for the banana more than the apple, but when eating the apple actually sounded like she was eating it - we could hear her crunching away at it with her two little teeth.
Friday, 14 December 2007
Out to lunch again
We were out to lunch again today, this time visiting friends. So after her breakfast of cheerios, Hannah ate a biscuit when we arrived (a rusk type thing, not sure exactly what it was), then a plain rice cake, a breadstick, and half a pear. She did really well with the pear, and ate all of it - I felt rather guilty for having eaten the other half before she finished!
For tea she had beans on toast, the first time she's tried that combination, and got on surprisingly well. I did just one slice of toast, buttered and cut into six pieces, with abotu 1/3 of a small tin of beans on it. Judging by the "num num" noises she was making, she liked it. She didn't eat much of the toast, but the bean juice had soaked into it quite well so she did give it ore attention than normal. She managed to pincer grip the beans too, and is becoming very delicate picking things up, using just the tips of her fingers and thumbs.
I meant to mention a few days ago that we've decided to use the Baby Whisperer method of eliminating the "dream" feed, and have slowly been cutting down on the amount of milk she's offered. Last night it dropped to 5oz, having started at 7oz, and tomorrow night it'll go down again to 4oz. So far so good, but we'll see what happens when we try dropping it completely.
For tea she had beans on toast, the first time she's tried that combination, and got on surprisingly well. I did just one slice of toast, buttered and cut into six pieces, with abotu 1/3 of a small tin of beans on it. Judging by the "num num" noises she was making, she liked it. She didn't eat much of the toast, but the bean juice had soaked into it quite well so she did give it ore attention than normal. She managed to pincer grip the beans too, and is becoming very delicate picking things up, using just the tips of her fingers and thumbs.
I meant to mention a few days ago that we've decided to use the Baby Whisperer method of eliminating the "dream" feed, and have slowly been cutting down on the amount of milk she's offered. Last night it dropped to 5oz, having started at 7oz, and tomorrow night it'll go down again to 4oz. So far so good, but we'll see what happens when we try dropping it completely.
Thursday, 13 December 2007
Hannah's first party food
Today Hannah went to her first ever Christmas party, at our local playgroup. She met Santa, who gave her a present, and joined in with the party food on offer. So for lunch she ate (or at least tried) some wotsits, some other crisps - I don't know what they were - a small cheese and onion roll, a bit of veggie sausage, a small sandwich with the crust cut off - again I don't know what was in it - and a chocolate cornflake biscuit. Oh, and a bit of my mince pie too! She got in quite a mess, but did enjoy herself.
I caught her first ever taste of chocolate on camera, too - note that she seems to be leaning forward to fit more of it in her mouth,,,
Breakfast was, of course, cheerios. We were in a rush to get to the party, and they are relatively mess-free, quick and easy to serve, and generally fab. I have noticed the lightest coloured ones (I think they're rice?) go soggy very quickly, so have taken to splashing on a bit of milk then draining it off into the sink so the cereal isn't sat in the milk while Hannah's eating. I think it helps a bit, but they still go soggy.
Tea was some broccoli and parsnip with an oatcake, followed by some melon. I thought we should make some attempt to have healthy food today, despite the earliuer goings on! She basically ignored the broccoli again, but ate some of the parsnip and most of the oatcake. The melon mostly disappeared too - it was chunks of pre-prepared melon today, which I picked up while we were out earlier, as I thought we'd be pushed for time. Not having the rind on made it more difficult to pick up, but she battled on and managed pretty well anyway. It included different melon, too, there was green melon, orange melon, and watermelon, and all was well received.
Wednesday, 12 December 2007
BLW Picnic Lunch
We're all over the place today, as I had an appointment this morning. Breakfast was a rushed bowl of cheerios, in a race against time to get the bus, and lunch was taken in a waiting room sat on my knee. I used a muslin tied round Hannah's neck as a bib, and gave her two rice cakes with lentil pate, a breadstick and a rusk. She wasn't overly interested in any of it as she was so tired (no morning nap due to us being on the move all morning). For the first time she even left half the rusk, so not a particular success.
Despite not eating much lunch, her breastfeed prior to tea was no longer than usual, a short affair no longer than 10 minutes in total.
Hannah is currently tucking into her tea, of some four cheese tortellini with stir through olive sauce, and an apple - a cox's something or other, not an orange pippin though. Can't remember what I picked up at the greengrocers, sorry, but I do know that they're local, keeping our food miles down. The tortellini are going down very well, I can tell from the num num num noises she's making - not heard those for a while!
She seems to be rather fascinated by the apple, she's scraping it against her teeth. Well, the two that she's got anyway. I left the skin on and the apple uncooked this time, the skin is carefully being spat out much like the pear skin yesterday. The uncooked state doesn't seem to be causing any particular problems so I'll probably not bother cooking it in future, unless there's a particular reason to.
Despite not eating much lunch, her breastfeed prior to tea was no longer than usual, a short affair no longer than 10 minutes in total.
Hannah is currently tucking into her tea, of some four cheese tortellini with stir through olive sauce, and an apple - a cox's something or other, not an orange pippin though. Can't remember what I picked up at the greengrocers, sorry, but I do know that they're local, keeping our food miles down. The tortellini are going down very well, I can tell from the num num num noises she's making - not heard those for a while!
She seems to be rather fascinated by the apple, she's scraping it against her teeth. Well, the two that she's got anyway. I left the skin on and the apple uncooked this time, the skin is carefully being spat out much like the pear skin yesterday. The uncooked state doesn't seem to be causing any particular problems so I'll probably not bother cooking it in future, unless there's a particular reason to.
Tuesday, 11 December 2007
Today she smells of Shepherd's Pie
Yes, today Hannah has managed to get Shepherd's Pie all over herself, including in her hair. I think I've just about managed to get it all out now (thank goodness!). This was her lunch, and she did seem to enjoy it rather a lot, despite being on the messy side with it. She ate a pear too. Half of it was uncooked, and half was gently cooked just to soften it up a bit. She ate the lot, apart from the skin which she spat out, having eaten all the flesh off it.
It was funny watching her deal with the pear skin, I've always peeled fruit for her in the past. She put it in her mouth as normal, chewed the lump a bit, then without fail out came the skin again. I'm not sure I could do that myself, I was very impressed!
For tea there were rice cakes with lentil pate, some emmental cheese, and a breadstick, with pineapple to follow. She's still pulling the odd face at the pineapple, but it doesn't seem to stop her actually eating most of it when it's offered. The lentil pate was all sucked off the rice cakes, and the cheese and breadstick both had a good going over too.
Breakfast, it almost goes without saying, was cheerios again. She didn't seem very interested in eating at all when I first sat her down for breakfast, it took a good 6 or 7 minutes for her to get going. Once she'd started though, she ate a similar amount to normal, so I don't know what the delay was all about.
I said yesterday that babies need about 700 calories a day, further research suggests that from 6-12 months they actually need about 45 calories per pound of bodyweight. From birth to 4 months, it's about 52 calories per pound (thanks to AQA 63336 for providing the answer to that one!). So Hannah actually needs about 720-750 cals a day at the moment. Aren't they clever things, eating just the right amount to grow and stuff?
Monday, 10 December 2007
Stinky Baby
Cheerios for breakfast again today - 5 grams of them to be exact. I weighed them because I was interested in how much Hannah is eating and how many calories she's getting from food, Neil read recently that a baby needs about 700 calories a day, which is more than I thought she'd need.
Lunch was a smelly affair as I gave her a rice cake with boursin on. She wasn't sure at first, but after a couple of tastes really went for it and ate the lot. There was another rice cake, too, this one with sweet potato mash on it, plus some carrot and parsnip fingers and the rest of yesterday's rice pudding. Hannah loved the rice pudding again, I was trying to give her the spoon to feed herself but I obviously wasn't quick enough as she dived for the spoon with her mouth rather than hands. Unfortunately the boursin did make her smell rather garlicky for the afternoon, despite plenty of wiping down. I think she's stashed some behind her ear or somewhere...
For tea there was a mix of broccoli and breadsticks for main, and for pudding a first taste of kiwi fruit with a rusk. She wasn't that interested in the broccoli, although she did break some off and chew it. The kiwi fruit reaction was possibly the most extreme yet - even more of a shudder than with the raspberries a few weeks back. I'd even cooked it gently so it wasn't as tart, ho hum. She focused mainly on the rusk after the first taste, I think we'll try the kiwi again once they've (over)ripened a bit so they taste sweeter for her.
For milk feeds, we've decided that this coming weekend we're going to try dropping the dream feed (10.30pm or thereabouts). For most of the past week we've been getting her up for it, she's not been waking for food at all. And she's not finishing the feed either, normally leaving 1-2oz. We'll see how that goes, and I'll report back.
Lunch was a smelly affair as I gave her a rice cake with boursin on. She wasn't sure at first, but after a couple of tastes really went for it and ate the lot. There was another rice cake, too, this one with sweet potato mash on it, plus some carrot and parsnip fingers and the rest of yesterday's rice pudding. Hannah loved the rice pudding again, I was trying to give her the spoon to feed herself but I obviously wasn't quick enough as she dived for the spoon with her mouth rather than hands. Unfortunately the boursin did make her smell rather garlicky for the afternoon, despite plenty of wiping down. I think she's stashed some behind her ear or somewhere...
For tea there was a mix of broccoli and breadsticks for main, and for pudding a first taste of kiwi fruit with a rusk. She wasn't that interested in the broccoli, although she did break some off and chew it. The kiwi fruit reaction was possibly the most extreme yet - even more of a shudder than with the raspberries a few weeks back. I'd even cooked it gently so it wasn't as tart, ho hum. She focused mainly on the rusk after the first taste, I think we'll try the kiwi again once they've (over)ripened a bit so they taste sweeter for her.
For milk feeds, we've decided that this coming weekend we're going to try dropping the dream feed (10.30pm or thereabouts). For most of the past week we've been getting her up for it, she's not been waking for food at all. And she's not finishing the feed either, normally leaving 1-2oz. We'll see how that goes, and I'll report back.
Sunday, 9 December 2007
Shepherds Pie and Rice Pudding
Ooh, today has been a day of New Things again, Hannah seemed to think it was fun.
Breakfast was cheerios again, the box is so big and Hannah's so little it's going to take weeks to get through them all, very good value for money! I'll have to give her some variety sometimes though, maybe she can have toast or fruit tomorrow.
Lunch was a breadstick and some steamed carrot, parsnip and cauliflower, with rice pudding for pudding. She picked up and had a good chew of the cauliflower for the first time today. The stalks definitely help and give her something to pick it up with. The rice pudding went down well too, she'd not tried it before and she managed it very well, especially considering it's served on a spoon that's given to her to use.
Today's dinner was a veggie shepherd's pie made with soya mince followed by melon and a bit more rice pudding. Again, she did surprisingly well with the shepherd's pie, although again we used a spoon to serve it as the mince was too small for her to pick up just yet. Pretty much an entire slice of melon got eaten again, and the rice pudding all disappeared too - she takes after her Auntie Jo in that respect. Especially since she had seconds of it, too.
Breakfast was cheerios again, the box is so big and Hannah's so little it's going to take weeks to get through them all, very good value for money! I'll have to give her some variety sometimes though, maybe she can have toast or fruit tomorrow.
Lunch was a breadstick and some steamed carrot, parsnip and cauliflower, with rice pudding for pudding. She picked up and had a good chew of the cauliflower for the first time today. The stalks definitely help and give her something to pick it up with. The rice pudding went down well too, she'd not tried it before and she managed it very well, especially considering it's served on a spoon that's given to her to use.
Today's dinner was a veggie shepherd's pie made with soya mince followed by melon and a bit more rice pudding. Again, she did surprisingly well with the shepherd's pie, although again we used a spoon to serve it as the mince was too small for her to pick up just yet. Pretty much an entire slice of melon got eaten again, and the rice pudding all disappeared too - she takes after her Auntie Jo in that respect. Especially since she had seconds of it, too.
It was interesting trying to give her the rice pudding on a spoon though, she was so keen on it she went for the spoon with her hands and leant towards it with her mouth wide open at the same time - so in some respects she was fed food for the first time, rather than feeding it to herself, but I'm not sure this really counts!
We're considering starting to drop the "dream" feed (the one she's only ever slept through once!), as she never finishes the full bottle now anyway, so I think she's ready for it anyway. And two of the four daytime feeds are only ever about 6 or 7 minutes long, so she's clearly only having a drink rather than anything more.Saturday, 8 December 2007
Better late than never!
Not much to report apart from the fact that Hannah seems to like slightly spicy food, and only had two naps today for the first time.
Breakfast was cheerios, lunch was rice cakes with lentil pate and sweet potato mash, emmental cheese fingers, half an avocado and a slice of melon. Dinner was mezze lune arrabiata pasta things, with a version of tomato and mascarpone sauce on them.
I was surprised that Hannah went for the pasta, as there was a little kick to it and I thought she might find it too spicy, but she enjoys proving me wrong :oD The tomato and mascarpone sauce was a very quick homemade (improvised) version, which was a couple of teaspoons of mascarpone cheese, a squirt of tomato puree, and a little milk to mix it all with. Worked like a charm, although it wasn't very authentic!
Here's a pic of Hannah enjoying her pasta:
And here's a completely gratuitous pic that I'm uploading just because she looks cute in her fleece with ears (tm):
Breakfast was cheerios, lunch was rice cakes with lentil pate and sweet potato mash, emmental cheese fingers, half an avocado and a slice of melon. Dinner was mezze lune arrabiata pasta things, with a version of tomato and mascarpone sauce on them.
I was surprised that Hannah went for the pasta, as there was a little kick to it and I thought she might find it too spicy, but she enjoys proving me wrong :oD The tomato and mascarpone sauce was a very quick homemade (improvised) version, which was a couple of teaspoons of mascarpone cheese, a squirt of tomato puree, and a little milk to mix it all with. Worked like a charm, although it wasn't very authentic!
Here's a pic of Hannah enjoying her pasta:
And here's a completely gratuitous pic that I'm uploading just because she looks cute in her fleece with ears (tm):See you tomorrow...
Friday, 7 December 2007
Malt loaf and cheerios
Hannah tried cheerios for breakfast today. They turned out to be smaller than I expected, but she did better than I thouht she would considering the size. Lots of pincer grip practice! She seemed to eat most of the serving I gave her too, which is always nice to see.
Lunch was two rice cakes spread with sweet potato mash, some swede mash, a slice of melon, and two sticks of malt loaf with a bit of butter spread on them. The rice cakes were brought into play because the sweet potato mash was too soft and difficult for Hannah to handle. It worked quite well, and I can see various mashed thins being served on rice cakes in future. She didn't pay much attention to the swede mash other than to smear it over the high chair tray, but the malt loaf and the melon were both well received. The malt loaf in particular was given a severe beating, she went at it relentlessly for a good ten minutes or so.
For tea I cooked her some pasta and served it in a veggie carbonara type sauce. The sauce was double cream, parmesan cheese, and some baco bits out of the cupboard. Mostly she sucked the sauce off the pasta (again) but I think some did go down this time too. The sauce tasted lovely, so it might make an appearance on the adult menu soon, yum (I'm sure Hannah didn't mind me pinching some of her tea to taste it...).
Still no pics, but the house should get put back to normal tonight or tomorrow so hopefully normal service will be resumed shortly!
Lunch was two rice cakes spread with sweet potato mash, some swede mash, a slice of melon, and two sticks of malt loaf with a bit of butter spread on them. The rice cakes were brought into play because the sweet potato mash was too soft and difficult for Hannah to handle. It worked quite well, and I can see various mashed thins being served on rice cakes in future. She didn't pay much attention to the swede mash other than to smear it over the high chair tray, but the malt loaf and the melon were both well received. The malt loaf in particular was given a severe beating, she went at it relentlessly for a good ten minutes or so.
For tea I cooked her some pasta and served it in a veggie carbonara type sauce. The sauce was double cream, parmesan cheese, and some baco bits out of the cupboard. Mostly she sucked the sauce off the pasta (again) but I think some did go down this time too. The sauce tasted lovely, so it might make an appearance on the adult menu soon, yum (I'm sure Hannah didn't mind me pinching some of her tea to taste it...).
Still no pics, but the house should get put back to normal tonight or tomorrow so hopefully normal service will be resumed shortly!
Thursday, 6 December 2007
Mashed banana more popular than melon shocker
Considering the upheavals of the day, Hannah's done really well today. For breakfast she had a very rushed two slices of toast, half a slice had marmite on and the other slice and a half had blackcurrant jam on. Obviously she sucked off the topping and left the toast again it's like she hasn't figured out that toast is actuallly food too, not just a way of getting jam to the table.
After we got back from playgroup and the doctors (no sign of an ear infection, hurrah! She's just tugging at her ears to wind me up...) Hannah had a swift lunch before her very overdue nap. She ate a rice cake with lentil pate, a breadstick, some red leicester cheese sticks, there might have been something else as well but I;ve forgotton, sorry!
Tea is the only more or less normall meal that today has seen, Hannah ate another rice cake, this time with mashed banana spread on it, half a slice of melon, and a rusk. She really went for the rice cake and banana today, and ignored the melon until it had all gone. A real change from normal, she's generally a big fan of melon.
Hannah is continuing to cut down on her milk feeds, too. Last night for the first time ever she failed to finish the 200mls of expressed milk she normally has before bed. And as normal she left some of her final feed (the 10.30ish one) again too. Combined with ever-shorter breastfeeds, I wonder how long it will be until she completely drops one of them. She doesn't really ask for them as it is, I just offer at regular times and leave it up to her to decide how much to have. The morning BF is the only one that's still "normal", whatever that might mean!
After we got back from playgroup and the doctors (no sign of an ear infection, hurrah! She's just tugging at her ears to wind me up...) Hannah had a swift lunch before her very overdue nap. She ate a rice cake with lentil pate, a breadstick, some red leicester cheese sticks, there might have been something else as well but I;ve forgotton, sorry!
Tea is the only more or less normall meal that today has seen, Hannah ate another rice cake, this time with mashed banana spread on it, half a slice of melon, and a rusk. She really went for the rice cake and banana today, and ignored the melon until it had all gone. A real change from normal, she's generally a big fan of melon.
Hannah is continuing to cut down on her milk feeds, too. Last night for the first time ever she failed to finish the 200mls of expressed milk she normally has before bed. And as normal she left some of her final feed (the 10.30ish one) again too. Combined with ever-shorter breastfeeds, I wonder how long it will be until she completely drops one of them. She doesn't really ask for them as it is, I just offer at regular times and leave it up to her to decide how much to have. The morning BF is the only one that's still "normal", whatever that might mean!
Wednesday, 5 December 2007
She had seconds!
Hannah ate loads today, I can't believe it!
Breakfast was two slices of toast, one with raspberry jam and one with blackcurrant jam. Once again Hannah ate none of the toast but the butter and jam was entirely sucked off. I'm not sure that it's good for anyone to survive on butter and jam but Hannah seems to be doing OK so far.
For lunch she had a couple of rice cakes with lentil pate, plus half an avocado cut into fingers, and some emmental cheese. She did really well with the rice cakes today, and the cheese, but the avocado wasn't as ripe as I thought it was so she didn't eat as much of that. Pudding was a rusk and some mandarin segments. Perhaps unsurprisingly after her first try of them, Hannah ignored the mandarin completely other than throwing one or two bits onto the floor. The rusk, however, was completely eaten, for the first time ever! I felt so proud of her it was ridiculous :o) And I gave her another half a rusk, and that all got eaten too!
I was expecting her breastfeed before tea to be on the short side, but it wasn't noticeably different from normal, which surprised me. Tea itself was a breadstick, some swede mash, and some sweet potato mashed up. She liked all of it but had some difficulties with the mash, I think it wasn't solid enough for her really.
There are no photos today, as we've had workmen in fixing a leaky pipe so it's all been a bit chaotic. The good news is that the pipe is fixed and the water is back on though, hurrah!
I was wondering, by the way, about this whole baby led weaning thing. It seems that people doing BLW are more likely than other people to be using cloth nappies. I don't know how true that is, it's just an impression from talking to other people doing something similar - do let me know if it's true or not, leave a comment below.
For the record, we currently favour Tots Bots Bamboozles and Original cotton, with Motherease Airflow wraps in the day and Tots fleece wraps overnight. I can tell that this weaning lark is working, we've had to move Hannah up into the size 2s in the past few weeks, so her cousin George will be borrowing the size 1 nappies and wraps.
Breakfast was two slices of toast, one with raspberry jam and one with blackcurrant jam. Once again Hannah ate none of the toast but the butter and jam was entirely sucked off. I'm not sure that it's good for anyone to survive on butter and jam but Hannah seems to be doing OK so far.
For lunch she had a couple of rice cakes with lentil pate, plus half an avocado cut into fingers, and some emmental cheese. She did really well with the rice cakes today, and the cheese, but the avocado wasn't as ripe as I thought it was so she didn't eat as much of that. Pudding was a rusk and some mandarin segments. Perhaps unsurprisingly after her first try of them, Hannah ignored the mandarin completely other than throwing one or two bits onto the floor. The rusk, however, was completely eaten, for the first time ever! I felt so proud of her it was ridiculous :o) And I gave her another half a rusk, and that all got eaten too!
I was expecting her breastfeed before tea to be on the short side, but it wasn't noticeably different from normal, which surprised me. Tea itself was a breadstick, some swede mash, and some sweet potato mashed up. She liked all of it but had some difficulties with the mash, I think it wasn't solid enough for her really.
There are no photos today, as we've had workmen in fixing a leaky pipe so it's all been a bit chaotic. The good news is that the pipe is fixed and the water is back on though, hurrah!
I was wondering, by the way, about this whole baby led weaning thing. It seems that people doing BLW are more likely than other people to be using cloth nappies. I don't know how true that is, it's just an impression from talking to other people doing something similar - do let me know if it's true or not, leave a comment below.
For the record, we currently favour Tots Bots Bamboozles and Original cotton, with Motherease Airflow wraps in the day and Tots fleece wraps overnight. I can tell that this weaning lark is working, we've had to move Hannah up into the size 2s in the past few weeks, so her cousin George will be borrowing the size 1 nappies and wraps.
Tuesday, 4 December 2007
First refusal
Breakfast today was fruit, on account of us having forgotton to buy any cereal at the supermarket, d'oh! So Hannah had some pineapple and a banana for her breakfast, which seemed to go down very well. She's definitely eating more and more of the items she's offered.
For pudding I gave Hannah some Bramley apple, which I peeled and cut into pieces and cooked with a bit of water, some butter, cinnamon and a tiny bit of sugar. As a result, we had our first ever refusal - she really wasn't interested at all. At first she looked at the apple, eventually she picked it up and got it to her mouth, but pulled a face and spat it out. When she's done that with other food she's gone back and had another go before deciding to eat it. Not this time. After that the only time she bothered picking it up was to throw it straight over the side of the high chair: definitely not a winner!
I noticed something new today during dinner, for the first time Hannah was trying to fish out bits of food that she'd dropped onto her lap. Normally I get them out for her and give them back for another go, this time she watched what I did - really concentrated on it - then next time she dropped something, wiggled around in the high chair and had a go at getting it out herself. What's more, it even worked, at least some of the time! Now we just have to get her to stop dropping stuff on the floor and we're there!
For lunch I roasted some veggies, there was sweet potato, normal potato, carrot, and parsnip. Today the carrot went down quite well perhaps she preferred the flavour of the roasted version to the steamed one she was fobbed off with yesterday.
Dinner was more roast veg, this time accompanied by an Asda meat free Southern Fried Chicken style thing. We'd never tried these before, Neil and I had them for lunch and they were spicier than I was expecting so I wasn't sure how Hannah would react. Obviously she loved them.
For pudding I gave Hannah some Bramley apple, which I peeled and cut into pieces and cooked with a bit of water, some butter, cinnamon and a tiny bit of sugar. As a result, we had our first ever refusal - she really wasn't interested at all. At first she looked at the apple, eventually she picked it up and got it to her mouth, but pulled a face and spat it out. When she's done that with other food she's gone back and had another go before deciding to eat it. Not this time. After that the only time she bothered picking it up was to throw it straight over the side of the high chair: definitely not a winner!
I noticed something new today during dinner, for the first time Hannah was trying to fish out bits of food that she'd dropped onto her lap. Normally I get them out for her and give them back for another go, this time she watched what I did - really concentrated on it - then next time she dropped something, wiggled around in the high chair and had a go at getting it out herself. What's more, it even worked, at least some of the time! Now we just have to get her to stop dropping stuff on the floor and we're there!
Monday, 3 December 2007
Cauliflower and mandarin segments
Hannah had lots of new things to try today - but not at breakfast, which was the last of the Raisin Wheats with a dash of whole milk.
Lunch was the first of the new tastes, as well as some old favourites. She had a rice cake with lentil pate on - a thin rice cake, which it turns out are much easier to cut up than the normal thicker ones. This was followed by a steamed carrot and a couple of cauliflower florets, and finally there were some mandarin segments for pudding.
I don't know if you've noticed, but Hannah usually has a combination of hot and cold food at meals. This is because I'm usually in a rush to get something served and in front of her, and she doesn't have much patience with sitting in the high chair waiting for stuff to cool down. So a cunning trick is to offer something cold to keep her occupied while the hot food gets to the right temperature. I have in the past just run things under the cold tap, but I don't find it works quite as well.
Anyway, the cauliflower was dumped straight on the floor after the first taste, and generally greeted with suspicion. After another few attempts she changed her mind and decided to give it the benefit of the doubt - still not the most popular item ever served though. She also didn't pay that much attention to the carrot, in the past this has been a favourite so I'm not sure what was going on there.
Mandarin segments, it turns out, are a lot more sour than I remembered. Oops. To her credit, once Hannah had got over the first taste (see picture), she warmed to them and went back for more. She ate most of them in the end and seemed to enjoy it.
Tea today was tomato, basil and mozzarella tortellini, which I was expecting her to really go for. She did sort of go for it, but I spent the first five minutes of the meal picking pasta up off the floor. Normally stuff is thrown mainly to one side of the high chair or the other, but in a new attack of being perverse, Hannah developed a decent shot put action to alternate sides, so I think I ran the 1500m over the course of the meal. To be fair she didn't throw the apricot halves around quite so much, which was a relief.
To drink today, Hannah had her first taste of juice. We diluted a small amount of fresh fruit juice with a rather larger amount of cooled boiled water. For the first time I had to refill the sippy cup before the last meal of the day, as she'd managed to drink more of it than I was expecting.
In summary then, an interesting day!
Sunday, 2 December 2007
Pancakes
Raisin wheats again for breakfast, today with slightly less milk to see if it helped the wheats stay together - it did. They didn't break apart as quickly which meant that she seemed to eat more of them.
Lunch was batons of courgette fried in butter, oatcakes with lentil pate and finally baby plum tomatoes cut in half. She enjoyed the tomatoes, as well as sucking out the innards she also gave the flesh a good chomping and seemed to make some headway eating it. The oatcakes, or at least the lentil pate, were as popular as usual, but she rejected the courgette - several times she picked it up but threw it down as soon as she tasted it, so we took it away and left her with the tomato and oatcakes.
For pudding she had rusk and apricot halves, both of which were a hit. She ate most of the rusk and a fair bit of the apricot.
Dinner saw a new food on the menu: pancakes! Hannah had one half filled with cream cheese, the other half filled with a mix of cream cheese and blackcurrant jam. The pancake was rolled up then sliced into lengths of about 1 1/2 inches. Hannah really enjoyed them both but the cream cheese on its own actually worked a lot better: it tended to glue the rolled up pieces together quite well, so it stayed more intact. The jam made the pieces slide apart so had the opposite effect.
She really enjoyed the pancakes and polished off a large amount, so that's definitely a success and will be appearing again, which is no bad thing because we all enjoyed tucking into pancakes together! We had lemon and sugar on ours, maybe Hannah can have a little of that next time.
Here she is with a roll of pancake:
Lunch was batons of courgette fried in butter, oatcakes with lentil pate and finally baby plum tomatoes cut in half. She enjoyed the tomatoes, as well as sucking out the innards she also gave the flesh a good chomping and seemed to make some headway eating it. The oatcakes, or at least the lentil pate, were as popular as usual, but she rejected the courgette - several times she picked it up but threw it down as soon as she tasted it, so we took it away and left her with the tomato and oatcakes.
For pudding she had rusk and apricot halves, both of which were a hit. She ate most of the rusk and a fair bit of the apricot.
Dinner saw a new food on the menu: pancakes! Hannah had one half filled with cream cheese, the other half filled with a mix of cream cheese and blackcurrant jam. The pancake was rolled up then sliced into lengths of about 1 1/2 inches. Hannah really enjoyed them both but the cream cheese on its own actually worked a lot better: it tended to glue the rolled up pieces together quite well, so it stayed more intact. The jam made the pieces slide apart so had the opposite effect.
She really enjoyed the pancakes and polished off a large amount, so that's definitely a success and will be appearing again, which is no bad thing because we all enjoyed tucking into pancakes together! We had lemon and sugar on ours, maybe Hannah can have a little of that next time.
Here she is with a roll of pancake:
Saturday, 1 December 2007
Return of The Sausage
Breakfast was again raisin wheats with full fat milk. Similar amount of mess to yesterday, but I think she may have eaten a little more today.
Lunch saw the return of sausage and mashed potato, this time with apple & rosemary veggie sausages. Hannah seemed to like these just as much as her first taste of sausage, as seen in the photo. She did a better job of chewing up the sausage this time, possibly helped by her teeth, and because she was able to chew it into smaller pieces I think she also ate more. Quite a lot of potato also disappeared.
For pudding she had a rusk. She started with it whole, but then we broke it in half which she found a lot easier, she ended up eating quite a lot of rusk actually.
Also in the photo you can see the hairbands around the cut-off wrists of her bib, we've been using those for a few days since we cut off the arms and that's working well - a lot easier than rolling up the sleeves every time.
Dinner was cut short because it started late and she was getting a little tired, but she still had a determined go at half a dozen eggy bread soldiers, including a few games of throw it over the side then peer after it. The late start was due to an emergency post-nappy change bath...least said soonest mended.
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