Cooling Off (2/365)

Today was HOT. Here Pickle is, enjoying his mango-coconut "icecream".

His milk-protein allergy is still active, but I'm managing to find non-dairy and healthy treats, which he's clearly enjoying!

Fun & funky bibs (review & competition)

I had become disappointed with the bibs of a leading baby brand, that had stained with just a few uses, so had been looking to get Pickle some new, more durable, but still comfortable bibs.  Luckily, I stumbled upon Bibisili on Twitter.

Not only were these bibs functional with crumb-catchers, but the designs are just gorgeous.  On ordering my Pickle's first two, I discovered the silicone is also soft to the touch and he loves to wear them.  He delights in the comments he gets when wearing them, and his friends have even asked to borrow them!

Coupled with the bibs being eco-friendly and lead, BPA and phthalates free, there are now 13 adorable designs.  And quite frankly, I just love them.  They've been put through some workouts... scrolling through my photos of Pickle, I realise just how many there are of him eating(!), yet there's not a mark to be seen on them.

Bibisili is celebrating its 1st birthday this week, and to celebrate, they are giving away bibs for three lucky Little Ones.  Enter via the Rafflecopter tool below, there are multiple ways to enter and increase your chances.  But if you can't wait you can get 20% off orders until 10th December, using the discount code BIRTHDAY.

Disclaimer:  While Pickle has been gifted with two of the bibs in the new designs, my enthusiasm and words are my own, as were my earlier purchases.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Taste Adventures

Pickle has been having great explorations with food.  He started at 6 months by gnawing on a stick of broccoli, and never looked back.  With baby-led weaning, food is offered and Pickle has a go eating it - there are no purees.  He eats what we do - I've eliminated cooking with salt and have modified how much chilli we use, but pretty much anything else goes.  I'll warn you though, it is a little on the messy side!  But when he eats as well as he does, I can put up with a little mess.  The different textures not only help babies chew, but are also supposed to encourage speech development.

The main challenge I found was what to feed him when we were out during the day.  None of the traditional pre-prepared baby foods appealed - if you've tasted any of them, most are pretty bland with an uninteresting texture and homogenised flavours.

Then, a while ago, we were invited to the launch of Plum baby food's taste adventures.  The interesting international flavours and texture definitely appealed to Pickle.  Being healthy, organic and containing nothing artificial, combined with the addition of high protein quinoa, appealed to me.  There is South African sweet cape beef curry, a Greek aubergine and lamb moussaka, a Spanish salmon paella and a Moroccan chickpea and chicken tagine.  And they really are tasty.

The Stage 3 range is aged at 10+ months, though I suggest using the age as a guide - as Pickle has been baby-led weaned, he was used to the chunkier textures of "adult" food.

We've since tried a number of the Plum finger foods - savoury snacks and sweet biscuits - as well as the muesli and fruit pouches, all of which Pickle loves. None of the foods contain any added sugar or salt and are free from all additives, artificial flavourings, colours and preservatives. Most are dairy free - allergy information is clearly labelled for gluten etc. also.  They come in well-sized pots, and can be eaten at room temperature or heated; so great for when you're out, or for a quick-meal at home, safe in the knowledge that you are feeding your baby healthy food.

Cheers, KangaRue :)

Disclosure - we received samples of the four Taste Adventures pots; all other products were purchased.

74/366 - Coming to get you!

Pickle started crawling a few days ago.  He's been wriggling forward and rolling towards what he wants for a while, but now he's properly on all fours.  Here you can see him lunging for some hot cross bun... and believe me he's getting into everything he's not supposed to - there's no stopping him now!

74/366 - 14 Mar 2012

Cheers, KangaRue :)

67/366 - Swinging II

Another walk by the beach today, and after his morning nap, Pickle hit the swings.  There were two things that struck me since Pickle's last swinging photo a little over a month ago.  The first was that he has way less clothes on, a vest and shorts as opposed to vest, long sleeved top, jumper, jeans, jacket, socks and shoes.  The second is that he appears a little chubbier!  He has put on 435g (15oz) in the first three weeks that we've been away - baby-led weaning is definitely agreeing with him.

67/366 - 7 Mar 2012

Cheers, KangaRue :)

58/366 - Aussie Kids are Weet-Bix Kids

So after Pickle's debacle with cow's milk, we're now trying rice milk.  My lovely friend, chef Chaz, has been trying to get me to try it for years, but I hate soya milk, and thought it would be the same sort of thing so avoided it.  But after Pickle's reaction, trying something different wasn't an option, so this morning he had Weet-Bix with rice milk and he loved it (and the surprising SilverLining is I like the rice milk too!).

Baby-led weaning is, shall we say, a little messy - but he was using the spoon and his hands and wolfed it down.  Sure, a fair amount ended up over his face, up his arms, in his ears etc etc, but it makes a good photo!!

58/366 - 27 Feb 2012

Aussie kids are Weet-Bix kids after all!

Cheers, KangaRue :)

57/366 - Allergic Reaction?

Pickle is a breast-fed baby, so we've not had a lot of contact with formula, and when we did it wasn't particularly successful (rant warning!).  A week or so ago he had Weetbix mixed with formula.  We're doing baby-led weaning, which means he feeds himself the majority of the time, and some foods do tend to go every where.  Wherever it came into contact with his skin turned red within a couple of minutes after contact.  It didn't seem to disturb him particularly, and he hasn't seemed to have any gastro-intestinal issues, but I couldn't get him into the bath quick enough.  I wasn't sure if it was the wheat or the milk and was reluctant to try either again.

57/366 - 26 Feb 2012

So today we tried the teeny pots of fromage frais that seem to be loved by babies, and while he seemed to enjoy it well enough, again within a couple of minutes his skin turned very red.  Unfortunately it also got into his eyes (he rubbed his hands into them), so I rushed him into the bath.  The below photo is after his bath, and the red in the photo doesn't show up as bright as it did in real life.  It soon settled down, but until we get home to the UK and can try to get him some allergy testing we're avoiding milk.  I'd love to hear if anyone has had a similar experience?

Cheers, KangaRue :)

34/366 - New Tastes

I am in stitches every time Pickle tries something new to eat.  He screws up his little face and looks like he hates it, but keeps trying and starts enjoying it.  He has done this with everything he has tried!  He looks so cute, but I can't help feeling mean for laughing at him.  He ended up wolfing down this piece of kiwi fruit and then some watermelon.

34/366 - 3 Feb 2012

I think he takes after BoyWonder, who to this day hates mushrooms, aubergine (eggplant for the Aussies) and goats' cheese, but will keep trying them, just in case!  Because of his tenacity, we discovered that BoyWonder actually likes duck, just not the skin (more for me!).

Cheers, KangaRue :)

29/366 - Brunch with Friends

My lovely friend Cathy (who I originally met through Twitter) came over from Sweden this weekend, on one of her regular trips to her beloved London.  I was lucky enough to catch up with her over brunch with some other girlie friends at The Swan at Shakespeare's Globe - a surprisingly elegant venue with a tasty brunch.  Pickle tagged along of course.  But this photo isn't of Cathy and Pickle (he fell asleep before I thought to get a photo of the two of them together), instead it is of Pickle and Lulah enjoying their food.  It's not the first time they've brunched together, but the first they've been seated together in high chairs, and it was a delight to watch.

29/366

Brunch was delicious - a perfectly executed Eggs Benedict for me, though I prefer creamed spinach as an addition.  A great Virgin Mary though - loved that it was called a Bloody Shame!  Pickle enjoyed some bread, spinach and ham.  I would definitely go back here for brunch again, and the Sunday roast looked superb.

Cheers, KangaRue :)

27/366 - First Bites

Pickle has been increasingly interested in trying food (i.e. he has a complete hissy-fit if I'm eating something and he doesn't get to try it).  Technically, Baby-led Weaning is not supposed to start until 6 months, but we're only a couple of weeks away, and his cues are kind of obvious!

His first go was on a bit of rusk.  No I didn't mush it down with milk (mine or formula), but gave him a hunk to gnaw on and he loved it.  He's tried a green bean (not a fan first time around), broccoli (which he had great fun sucking the florets from then gnawing on to help his teething), crusts of bread (he loved the onion bread from our meal out), and while avocado and egg white were tried, they were a little slippery and promptly ended up on the floor.  His favourite food so far is chicken, as you can see from his expression in this photo.

27/366

Eating food isn't about nutrition for Pickle at this stage, instead it's about experiencing tastes and textures.  He's still getting Mummy-Milk, so it's not important how much ends up on the floor!

Cheers, KangaRue :)

Fattening up babies?

I'll apologise now, as I think this might turn into a bit of a rant!

I was asked if Pickle was lethargic.
I laughed - it's the one word you
could never use to describe him.

We have a standing appointment at the weekly Child Health Clinic for Pickle to get weighed.  He was a small baby to start with (2.855kg), but other than losing a small amount of weight the first week (which is perfectly normal while my milk came in), he has gained weight every single week.  Despite this, the Health Visitors have been concerned at his level of weight gain, hence the weekly visits.  He has been a purely breast-fed baby, which generally have lower weights; I expect this is somewhat due to formula being higher in calories and/or because it may be easier to over-feed with formula.  I have no issues with anyone who chooses, for whatever reason, to formula feed their baby - I believe each Mummy needs to do what is best for her and her child.

I've seen other health professionals, including the nurse who has given Pickle his immunisations, who have said he is happy, alert and healthy and there is nothing to worry about.  While I know this in my heart, it can be very disconcerting to be questioned every single week.  I feel like I'm being scrutinised for under-nourishing my child.  Pickle is demand fed - generally around every two and a half hours... but if he's sleeping, there can be a four hour gap between feeds.  And if he's hungry, I'll feed him, even if he just ate half an hour beforehand.

He's hardly scrawny

I have asked three times now, for the breast-feeding only weight chart.  The first time I was told it didn't exist.  The same person went away on the second date of requesting to find out there is a separate chart, but they would have to get it in for me, to which I said "great, yes please"... the third time it was too busy being the first session since Christmas and New Year...

But then they wanted me to start him on a top-up feed with formula once a day.  I decided I was happy to do this, so off I trotted to the supermarket.  But after I picked up the cartons of formula, I really felt like I'd failed somehow.  It was a really horrible feeling.  I want to do the best for Pickle, and felt I'd faulted at such an early hurdle.  I didn't have the birth I'd wanted, but was happy that I was able to breastfeed him, as it was something I really wanted to do; and now I'd fallen short.  Not a logical reaction I realise, but it didn't hurt any less because of it.

I was told to top up his early evening feed, as Pickle seems hungriest at night. "He'll probably wolf down 150ml" they said.  Cue two hours of screaming while we forced 30mls (1oz) down him.  It wasn't good for any of us.

I tried a doidy cup the next night, and got - I think, as a fair amount went down his front - about 50mls down him.  Spooning went well, though was a slow process.  We tried a few different bottles and cups at my friend Caroline's house, and have bought the cup that he seemed to get on with the best - it's in the steriliser now, so hopefully we'll have better results tonight.

Pickle did put on 180g (7oz) this week, and is now 5.18kg.  So you think the Child Health Clinic would have been happy, right?  Nope, we have to go back again next week.  I was less passive this time though, as I pointed out that I'm 5'2", BoyWonder is skinny with a very fast metabolism, Pickle will be starting Baby-Led Weaning in just over a month and he also does 2 poos every single day (which is a lot for a breastfed baby, so he's obviously getting enough in him to produce waste), so I didn't see the point of talking to the Health Visitor when he'd had a good weight gain.  They didn't push it.  But no, I haven't seen the requested chart; though it's a moot point now I suppose.

All these photos were taken in the past month
- before his latest, big weight-gain

Since then, I've discovered that babies weight-gain tends to slow around 4-months, especially in breast-fed only babies (World Health Organisation, 2002; cited in Rapley & Murkett, 2008).  There seems to be an trend to fattening babies up to see them as "healthy", yet we have a growing obesity epidemic... surely not unrelated?  And making a new, and first-time Mummy feel this bad, isn't supportive and could lead to Post-Natal Depression; Mum's tend to judge themselves the most harshly, and need consistent knowledge provision, not unfounded criticism.

*rant over*

Has anyone else experienced similar with their child's weigh-ins?  What did you do?

Cheers, KangaRue :)

References
Rapley, G. & Murkett, T. (2008).  Baby-led Weaning: helping your baby to love good food.  Random House Group: Chatham, UK.
WHO/UNICEF (2002).  Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding.  WHO: Geneva, Switzerland.