Having a baby is bizarre. You begin to realise just how much of a blank canvas you are when you’re born and how much we have to learn, just to function in every day life. Parents and non-parents alike all think of the milestones such as first steps and first words, but what about all the little things: grabbing things with two hands; smiling when you smile; following your voice; puppy dog eyes for attention; cutting his first tooth (although now, teeth!)? Byron has done so much already in 5 short months, a lot of which is probably a little less exciting and only noteworthy to us as his mum and dad, who watch over him eagerly.
The latest installment of B’s milestones, is food. Food, food and more food. It got to the point a few months ago, that he was feeding every 2 hours. Obviously all babies are different, but the guidelines for his weight/age showed that he should have been having 5 feeds of 210ml formula in every 24hrs— except our greedy piggy was having eight of them. EIGHT! I didn’t mind too much though, as he was a complete angel (and still is— touch wood!) and was sleeping through the night. I think we can safely say, boy was hungry!
There’s so much conflicting advice when it comes to introducing solids to your baby— some books, health visitors, midwives and breast-feeding experts tell you not to start before 6 months, where others say 4 months is fine. Even a lot of the off-the-shelf baby food is designed for babies 4+ months. And then there’s the style of weaning to think about too— do you go for weaning as most people know it— purees and mushy food delivered to them on a spoon (airplane and train noises added to your preference!) or baby-led weaning— giving baby chunks of food to discover textures and tastes for themselves? They say baby-led weaning encourages independance, but I think that’s a bit of mumbo jumbo.
As with everything, I went with my maternal instinct— a mix of the two sounded like a good balance, for us. We introduced Byron to some Heinz creamy porridge, when he was just a few days shy of 4 months, bearing in mind that if he didn’t get on with it after a few attempts, we’d try again in a few weeks. We needn’t have worried though, as he LOVED it! It was a bit of a strange sensation for him at first, but he certainly knew how to chew and was just fine with a spoon. In a month he’s gone from having 1 teaspoon of porridge mixed with 3 water every other day, to 6 teaspoons of porridge to 9 water! He even has some mashed pear and apple, too. It keeps him fuller for longer and he’s now on just 4 bottles a day. Now that he’s used to having something other than milk, the next hurdle will be finger foods to chew on, particularly as he’s teething and water— he is NOT a fan of drinking anything that isn’t milk, right now! I’m being stubborn though and still trying it every day, until he gives in.
I can’t even imagine what life would be like if we hadn’t weaned him ‘early’! He’ll definitely be having turkey and spuds this Christmas.
