Maiden restaurant voyage!

We went out for our first official family dinner on the weekend. Pizza Bellaroma in Fremantle - one of Josh's favourite eateries! Ethan looked proud as punch in his high chair, bright red bib and all - which I might add, matched his high chair perfectly! We ordered a kids pasta for them to share, being quite large servings, and also a pasta and a pizza. The kids pasta came out first, and we shared it between the plates. No sooner had I dished it out did Ethan reach out to grab the plate and pull it towards himself! Talk about eager! He did have a bit of a problem keeping the pasta in his hand due to the amount of sauce, and a fair bit ended up on the floor. Oops!!! 

Tonight we had a bacon and sweet potato frittata for dinner. Ethan ate almost his whole bowl! He ate even more than his brother did. His eating is now getting a lot less messy that it used to be. There isn't quite as much hiding in between his legs and under his thunder thighs as there was! Which of course means that whatever is left in his bowl must be ending up in his tummy!

His pincer grip seems to be improving now as well. Instead of grabbing bits of food with his fist and mushing it up, he uses the ends of his fingers and tries to pick it up with his thumb and index finger. He still has a bit of trouble, but is definitely getting there! He even managed to eat quite a few quartered grapes!

Ethan gets so excited about his food these days too. If I sit him in his high chair and come towards him with his food he starts bouncing up and down eagerly, kicking his legs around and reaching for it straight away.  He had just had his breakfast the other day, and I was having my morning tea, complete with a piece of banana cake. Ethan was playing with his toys at that stage, but when he saw me coming towards him with a piece of cake, well I have never seen him get so excited!

Savour the flavour

So now that Ethan is really getting into eating, he is very willing to try anything, and usually loves it! The other day he had Butter Chicken, steamed rice and steamed veges. He actually ate more than his brother, who seems to be going through a fussy stage at dinner time. Josh tends to eat more during the day at the moment and at dinner will take it or leave it.

Last night Ethan tucked into Tuscan Meatballs and rigatoni pasta. He ate almost every scrap off his tray, and for once there wasn't a huge amount on his lap when I pulled the tray off.

He is also just starting to commando crawl, but of course does it in his own special way - backwards! I am sure all this extra movement will make him even more hungry!

We had his 8 month check up at the Child Health Nurse (CHN) yesterday. He is going great guns - weighing in at 11.4kg (off the charts) and his length is now 76cm (97th percentile). The CHN was telling me that I should start introducing finger foods now, and cut back on purees. I told her Ethan has never had purees, and she said that she wished more people would do that! She can't believe the number of people who are still trying to stop their babies eating purees well into their first year.

Its so easy doing BLW - I love that i can get 4 plates or bowls out and we all eat the same thing! I just wish I had done it 2 years ago with Josh!

Gourmet Baby

I don't have much news to add since yesterday, I know its not often I post more than once a week! But i just wanted to share what Ethan had for dinner tonight! Pasta spirals with Italian sausage, fennel and rocket! He really loved it!

I am currently following Weight Watchers, but have to try to make meals that are not too "weight-watchery" for the sake of the boys. At their age I know that they still need their full fat dairy and healthy fats for good health. However we do try to eat as well as we can and I like to stick to my daily allowance. I got the recipe for tonight's dinner out of the current Weight Watchers magazine.

To tell the honest truth, I am not usually a big fan of fennel. My only real experience with it was when I was about 14 and went to my Italian friend's house for dinner and they served a fennel salad. All I remember is that really strong aniseed taste, and it was a bit much for me being used to English cooking! Ever since then I have avoided anything with fennel in it.

I was motivated to cook the dish however, while reading the Weight Watchers recipe boards and seeing someone else was trying it. I do like to try out new recipes and also if I can, try out new ingredients. And knowing that tastes can change throughout your life, I thought I would give it a go. I was dicing the fennel to cook in the recipe and was not convinced I was going to like it. However I found that once cooked the fennel wasn't too overbearing! Plus with the extra herbs I added and the Italian pork sausage, the flavour of the fennel was not too strong, and actually quite nice. And Ethan ate some, so it can't have been that bad! Plus Steve went back for thirds!

Fritter away!

I made Ethan some vegetable fritters for dinner this afternoon, and they went down a treat! I did grated carrot, zucchini, onion and cheese. He ate more than he has ever eaten before, finishing off almost 2 fritters! On top of that he also had some salad vegetable sticks and some cheese. He is really getting into his food now! And as an added bonus, Josh also got into some of the fritters, wanting to be like his little brother! It seems I have found a good way to increase Josh's vegetable intake!

Until the last few days I have only been offering Ethan 2 meals each day, but now that he seems happy to eat a bit more i have added lunch as well. Usually he enjoys a piece of fruit or a few finger sandwiches with vegemite and cheese or avocado.

Ethan has developed a rather annoying noise - a high pitched squealing, and he knows how to use it! If i put him in his high chair then walk back to the kitchen to get his meal or a forgotten spoon - "ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!". How on earth such a noise comes out of such a little human being I do not know! He also does it if i disappear from his sight for a few seconds. He must have figured out that its quite effective at getting me to come back asap!!!

Get your tooth into it!!

Well I am very proud to announce that Ethan cut his first tooth yesterday! He did it with such grace too - not even a peep from him about it, he just sat there smiling during all his awake time the days previous, and night sleeping was not interrupted at all! So you can imagine my surprise when I did my daily inspection of his gums to find a little clear tip of a tooth on his bottom gum! My little man is growing up :(

Onto eating - he is really improving his motor skills now. He often passes food from one hand to another. He is also developing his grip - learning how tight he needs to hold soft foods so he doesn't squash them. i had cut up some very ripe pear for him and as I passed him the first piece he took it so carefully and gently from me. Even when he picked the other bits off the high chair tray he was very gentle with it. Another thing I have seen him do is while holding a bit of food in his fist he will use his thumb on his other hand and poke it into the bottom of his fist so the bit of food comes further out the top of his fist! Now that was quite amazing!

Occasionally he gets a little over-excited with a bit of food, and either sticks too much in his mouth, or not chewing enough before he swallows it. So today while he was having lunch i was sitting in front of him, and put a bit of pear in my mouth and showed him how i was chewing slowly and then swallowing. He sat there copying my chewing movements! It was quite comical. Then he had a little giggle. Funny little dude!

Pasta Pasta Pasta

I cooked up a simple tomato based sauce for Ethan to have with pasta. It was another recipe from the BLW cookbook, and I must say it was quite tasty! It might actually be the recipe I use from now on! The reason I made the pasta sauce was because we were having prawns for our dinner, and didn't want to risk giving Ethan shellfish. So i whipped up the yummy tomato based sauce, and froze a few little containers of it as well to use another time. The pasta was definitely a big hit! I am not sure if it was just improved motor skills, or the fact that he liked the sauce, but there was definitely a large amount of pasta ingested! A few weeks prior he was having trouble getting the pasta spirals into his mouth. Oh and of course there was a lot of mess involved, but its all good fun, and nothing a few wet wipes couldn't fix. Aside from the plastic covered seat of the high chair, which now has a slight orange tinge - if anyone could tell me what to get that off with I would be grateful!

I also whipped up some rice pudding from the BLW cookbook - minus sugar, insert stewed fruit for sweetness. I also added a bit of cinnamon for extra flavour. It was actually quite tasty, and Josh thought so too, polishing off a big bowl of it. Ethan quite enjoyed it, although it didn't really stick to a spoon very well, so I put it on his high chair tray and let him get his hands in there.

Toast is still a big hit, and this morning he had his first ever taste of vegemite. He seemed to like it - yep he is defintely an Aussie!

The Muffin Man

I decided it was about time I cooked something for Ethan. So I had a look through my copy of the BLW Cookbook and decided to try some of the carrot muffins. Josh had a great time helping me make them, which was an added bonus! He is a little Masterchef, after all! Ethan sat in his high chair while we mixed up the batter, but by the time they were in the oven it was time for his next nap. So when the muffins came out of the oven and had cooled enough to be picked up, of course I had my own little food critic Josh waiting to try one! He liked them so much he pinched another one when i wasn't looking!

When Ethan finally rose from his slumber, he had his lunchtime milk, and a while after that I sat him in his chair and let him at the muffin. He loved it! It's a great feeling when something made especially for him is received well! All that was left at the end of the expedition were a few crumbs on the tray and bits and pieces on his chair. The remaining muffins have been frozen, ready to take out whenever we need. They should be good little morsels to take out and about with us when required.

This morning at breakfast time I thought I would try something a bit different to his usual weetbix or porridge. He hadn't had toast at breakfast for a while, so instead of spreading on some avocado, I decided to give french toast a whirl! The crusts were nice and soft and didn't need to be cut off, so it was quite a large serve. I cut it into 4 soldiers and at the end of his meal there was only one soldier left! Another hit with the little munchkin.

Green Capsicums, Red Tomatoes

Sounds like an episode of Ready, Steady, Cook!, but it was actually what Ethan enjoyed for dinner last night. We were having soft shell tacos, and Ethan had a selection of the salad for his dinner. We gave him wedges of tomato (with the seeds and watery bits removed), strips of capsicum, cucumber and some grated carrot. The big hit of the night was the tomato, he finished off almost 2 wedges. He chewed on it and left behind the skin, swallowing most of the flesh. 

He is really getting into his Weetbix for breakfast too. I have figured out just the right amount of milk needed to make them soft enough that he can pick it up and take bites out. He has also tried traditional oats, made quite thick. I tried to give it to him on a pre-loaded spoon, but it kept falling off - it didn't seem to have enough sticking power! I knew what would happen if I gave him the bowl on his tray, so I saved that step and just tipped the whole lot on there and let him go for gold! He got his hands right in there, mushed it around for a while, then started eating it!

One of the things I remember reading about in the BLW book is how BLW babies tend to keep bits of food in their mouths occasionally - stored between their gums and cheeks, in the roof of their mouth, under their tongue. Mostly because they are still learning how to get their tongues into the right spot to dislodge it. So it is a good idea to do a spot check after a meal just to make sure there isn't anything lurking about in there! After dinner last night Steve thought he saw a flash of something in his mouth, but couldn't see it again when he had a quick look. I proceeded to start Ethan's top and tail (we only give him a full bath every second night) and as he was lying on his change table laughing at his brother i spied a little square of capsicum right up in the roof of his mouth. It was quite an effort to get it out! It seemed that offending piece of capsicum was bitten into the exact size and shape of the roof of his mouth, so it was sort of wedged in there. I managed to get it out in the end though!

Something to chew on...

Ethan is definitely getting better at chewing already! He uses his gums quite well, and we can see him moving the food around his mouth with his tongue very effectively. He really gets a serious look on his face and concentrates on what he is doing. Its very cute to watch! I might be a bit biased, but he is a very clever little man!

New foods that Ethan has tried since last week include corn on the cob, plum, peach, drop scones (small pancakes) with spreadable cheese and pasta with bolognaise sauce.

I cut the plum and peach in half (removing the stone) to make it easier for him to manage. He sucked and chewed on them for ages, swallowing most of the pulp (the rest ended up on the bib). At the end of it all that was left was the skin! I did find out afterwards just how much plum juice stains though, we definitely won't be using those bibs outside the house!

The first time he tried pasta I put a little pile of spaghetti bolognaise on his tray. he picked the pile up in his fist and got a few bits in his mouth. He seemed to like it - I was quite impressed that he managed the lumps of minced beef easily enough. I remember Josh (who was weaned with purees and spoonfeeding) struggled with swallowing it until he was about 12 months, gagging on it every time! 

Later in the week we had pasta spirals and bolognaise. He found the spirals a lot easier to pick up than the spaghetti, which I guess was obvious, but keeping with the BLW theory we were just giving him what we were having that night!

Oh, Brother!

Ethan tried Weetbix this week. I mixed up a little bit of formula and drizzled a tablespoon or so onto one in a bowl and let it soak in for a while. It softened the Weetbix up enough so that Ethan would be able to pick it up with his hands to eat it. I popped it on his tray and he poked it for a little while, then had a taste. He also mushed a fair bit up and rubbed it well into the tray! It was a whole new kind of mess! He seemed to enjoy it though! Of course, his brother Josh was watching him do this, and being a Weetbix Kid himself, the next day while he was eating his breakfast he decided to do it Ethan style!

Josh finds it quite interesting to observe Ethan eating. He must have been watching closely, because I have caught him imitating his little brother on more than one occasion! He will chew his mouthful of food and then dribble it down his chin!

Ethan has also had his first couple of tastes of meat. We cooked a nice, juicy steak last week, and gave him a strip. He tried that first out of what he was offered on his tray, chewing and sucking on it for quite some time, until it was completely flattened and looking pretty grey. That is a good sign - while he didn't break any bits off and swallow it, the meat juices contain a good amount of nutrients, in particular iron.

Over the weekend I did a roast chicken in the slow cooker, which is always a favourite in our house! I pulled strips of the breast meat off along the grain, so that it wouldn't fall apart when he chewed it. He didn't seem to enjoy it quite as much as the steak, but he did give it a good enough go. We will try again next time!

We have had a bit of a heatwave the last few days, so have been eating a few salads and stir fries. We had 3 different coloured capsicums (peppers) so we let Ethan try a few strips of each. And from that we have discovered that the red one is his favourite! Nigella Lawson would be pleased!

Motoring along

Happy Australia Day everyone!

We have tried a few new foods this week, each of them being a big hit with Ethan. First was toast for breakfast. I decided that I would spread a bit of avocado on it, since he has been having a bit of trouble picking that up on its own - slippery little suckers they are! So I toasted a slice of wholemeal bread, spread a thin layer of lovely ripe avocado on it, de-crusted it, and sliced into soldiers. Before I had even placed it on his high chair tray he grabbed it out of my hand! I was a bit concerned he might bite a chunk off and swallow it without chewing it, but he sucked on it for a while, got the avocado off, and then a few bits started to come off. He was a little startled when it got stuck to the roof of his mouth at one stage, and I had to help him out a bit, but he seemed to get the hang of it pretty quickly!

The next new food was yogurt. I make my own yogurt, using an Easiyo yogurt maker. According to the manufacturer of this yogurt maker, freshly made yogurt has around a billion healthy bacteria per spoonful on the first day it is made. The bacteria will diminish as each day passes, which makes homemade yogurt a lot more beneficial than shop bought. Also the yogurts don't contain any artificial flavours, colours or preservatives. So I decided that since Ethan officially hit 6 months last Saturday (the 22nd), I would let him have a taste of yogurt, and rather than go out and buy him the "Baby Yogurt" variety he could have some of the delicious home made stuff! So i popped a bit into one of his little bowls (well his brother's bowls - hand me downs from the puree days 2 years ago!) and dipped a rusk into it and he put it straight into his mouth. The look on his face pretty much said it all - he loved it! He didn't really understand the dipping concept, so I helped him out with that, but he definitely understood the sucking it off the rusk part! By the end of the meal he looked chuffed with himself, and happy with his achievements!

Aside from the nutritional benefits down the track with BLW, I have already noticed another benefit - it is helpful in developing motor skills. Last night for dinner I made him some chip-shaped roasted potatoes. I placed them in front of him, and straight away he picked them up and started chomping on them! Then he did an amazing thing and used his thumb and tips of his index finger and middle finger to pick up one of the 'chips' and take it to his mouth! Already we have evidence of him developing the pincer grip! Pretty good for a 6 month old! At lunch time I had offered him half a banana with a bit of the skin peeled back and cut off so he could eat the top of it like a lollipop. Just a couple of weeks ago I had tried this and he was having difficulty holding onto it. Yesterday he had no problem at all!

He is also getting a lot better at chewing and swallowing. He was gagging quite a bit last week, but just in the last few days he has been chewing for a little while before I can visibly see him make purposeful swallowing movements (and usually i can hear him swallowing too - very cute!) After his meal he always gives me a huge grin, as if to say "Thanks Mum!".

Lucky Dog

Baby-Led Weaning is a messy business. Mess on the high chair. Mess on the floor. Mess on the baby. Mess on me! As we are experimenting with different foods, Ethan is deciding what he likes and dislikes. If he likes something, his eyes will widen and he will stuff it in his mouth - then of course gag on it because he hasn't quite figured out how to deal with all that food just yet. He is slowly getting better though!

On the other hand, when he dislikes something there are a few different ways he will show us. One of these is releasing his grip on the item of food in his hand and it will fall into his lap, only for us to find a pile of food on his seat when we remove his tray. Another is that he will put it in his mouth, take it out, and then scream very loudly. And finally he will shoot his arm out over the side of the high chair and throw the food away! This very final method means that piece of food is gone forever - the other methods we can retrieve the food and put it back in case he changes his mind. But once it goes on the floor thats it - even if we were to use a drop mat, we have no choice - because our dog Barney is there in a flash, cleaning up the mess! I think no one could be more pleased than Barney that Ethan has reached the age of solid foods. It means he will be getting all sorts of extra treats through the day!

So in the last few days, Ethan has tried a couple of new foods. Banana - he has been offered it before but was having trouble picking it up. I decided to mash it up and give him a pre-loaded spoon. He couldn't get it into his mouth fast enough! Zucchini - steamed until just soft. It wasn't one of his favourites, it ended up being donated to Barney pretty quickly. That doesn't mean we will  never offer it to him again. Sometimes it can take 10 to 20 tastes of a food before they decide they like it, so I won't give up on the zucchini just yet!

In the next few days i am hoping to let him taste some more fruits, since his diet so far has been mostly vegetables. We will have a go with plums, nectarines and apricots. I am forecasting that he will love those, given how well watermelon and banana went down! Ethan is turning 6 months old on Saturday, so I am also going to start introducing him to foods such as yogurts, cheese, bread, cereals and meat. Not all at once of course, just gradually as he improves his skills with firmer foods.

Anti-aging properties of potato

We were having Shepherd's Pie for dinner tonight, so I decided that Ethan could try some mashed potato. There were two ways I figured that he could get the potato into his mouth: scooping it up with his fingers, or with a pre-loaded spoon. I was interested to see what he would do with the spoon, so decided to try that. 

We sat down to dinner, and I put about half a teaspoon of potato on a little baby spoon and held it out to him. He immediately grabbed it with both hands and took it straight to his mouth, removed the potato and started making chewing movements! Clever little lad! He kept sucking on the spoon even after all the potato was gone, and had such a tight grip it was hard for me to get it back! He was so keen on the potato that he started putting it into his mouth faster and faster, getting a little bit ahead of himself resulting in getting it over his face, and all over his nose! It was quite amusing to say the least! He was having a good time with it though! Maybe he knows something about potato that we don't? It might have some sort of anti wrinkle properties for all we know!

 

Exhibit A

Ethan definitely loves his roast veges. He really went to town on them the other night. He also had his first gagging experience. It was a bit nerve-racking, but he managed to sort it out himself. He got a little over-excited and stuffed the whole stick of roasted sweet potato in his mouth all at once, chewed for a little while and then attempted to swallow it. He went a bit red and coughed and spluttered, eyes watering, but then it went down. He then got on with things and picked up his next piece of vegetable as if the gagging episode had never happened! Needless to say, it did get our hearts racing, and caused his Dad to jump out of his chair, pull the tray off the high chair and started to get Ethan out, but before he did Ethan had sorted things on his own! Hopefully the gagging is a rare occurance! 

We have been trying to figure out how much Ethan is actually eating - not that its really a big deal this early in the piece, but it would be interesting to know. The next morning, we found out that he has actually been swallowing some of his food - we had evidence! Its funny how before kids you wont go anywhere near a dirty nappy without making a huge fuss. Once you become a parent, you can spend a fair amount of time analysing the contents of them! On this occasion, I was probably a little over-excited to find evidence of some sweet potato in there! So much so that I yelled out to let Steve know, and he came in to inspect for himself! At least I am not the only one inspecting the contents of dirty nappies!

Fruit, wonderful fruit!

One of the things I like about BLW is the variety - there is no need to give baby the food for 3 days at a time before moving onto the next, as with spoon feeding. Unless of course there is a family history of allergies - none of which we have! So it has given us free reign to be able to give Ethan whatever is suitable from our meals.

Last night we were a bit naughty and had take away - it was just one of those days where the cooking was not going to happen at the end of the day. Of course, Ethan couldn't really partake in that meal, so I took the opportunity to let him try a some watermelon. I cut it up into thick sticks, thankfully it was a seedless variety so i didn't need to look for pips, and away he went! Well, what a hit that was! I think it was the combination of the coldness on his teething gums, and the ease with which he was able to get some of the delicious juicy fruit down the hatch that was the drawcard. He gripped onto the watermelon and stuck the end in his mouth and sucked on it, his eyes getting wider and wider, and sucking more furiously as he got the taste of it. The juice dribbled down his chin and all down his bib. When he dropped it occasionally, he would scream as if we had taken away his favourite toy! As soon as he got the watermelon back he was happy, until he dropped it.This went on for about 10 minutes, and I think he managed to get a fair bit into him.

This morning I decided that since the watermelon went so well, I would let him try some apple for morning tea. It wasn't a particularly soft apple, but i thought he might gum it for a while and get at least a little juice out of it. He seemed to be getting a bit frustrated and bored with it after about 30 seconds, so I cut him a couple of sticks of watermelon. Ahhhhh, that's better!!!

After a shopping trip later in the morning we went to do a bit of shopping, arriving back home just in time for lunch. I made us all some fruit salad and yogurt, and cut up a nice wedge of pear for Ethan, leaving the skin on, and of course a bit of the old favourite, watermelon! For the sake of variety, he had the pear first. He seemed to love it! He held it with both hands while the end of it was in his mouth and sucked at it for a while. Then a little bit broke of, and he did exactly what it says in Gill Rapley's book - he sucked on it for a while, then spat out what was left - just the skin! How amazing is that for a 5.5 month old! What a clever little man.

Baby Linguine?

Not many people have heard of Baby-Led Weaning. In fact, whenever i mention to someone that we are using the Baby-Led Weaning approach to solids, they say "baby linguine?". Then I end up explaining the whole concept to them and I think a lot of people think its a bit strange! Not that I blame them, because I used to think the same thing! 

However, once you have seen it in action, it really does show you that its a great way to introduce babies to solid foods - and it makes perfect sense! It teaches them how to manage food in their mouths,  how to chew and swallow, and also improves their fine motor skills. Even though Ethan has only sat down to a solids meal a handful of times now, I can already see his motor skills are improving. 

One of the main benefits of BLW is that you can give your baby the same food as the rest of the family (within limits of course - I wouldn't feed him a curry just yet!). We were having roast vegetables the other night, so as I prepared our dinner, I cut a few extra chip-shaped pieces of potato and sweet potato for Ethan. He was so pleased at dinner time when he had the roasted vegetables in front of him! He tried each one with gusto! He even managed to get some of the fluffy potato in his mouth and chew on it! He looked like a little old man who had forgotten to put in his teeth, it was a really great moment!

Finger foods first!

I first heard of Baby-Led Weaning (BLW) 2 years ago, on a forum that I frequent. At first, i thought it sounded a little out there, and continued to feed our first son Josh by spoon, struggling as he got older to get him to swallow lumps without gagging, and generally just having a hard time getting him to eat. It was a lot of work making the purees, cleaning up the mess made in the kitchen, and then being disappointed when he didn't want to eat the resulting sludge! Now that i think back, who can blame him? I don't think I would want to eat a funny coloured combination of meat, vegetables and sauce! 

After having our second son Ethan, I decided to do a bit more research into BLW. I started by reading blogs and websites on the subject, and was quite amazed by what I was reading, so I ordered the book Baby-Led Weaning by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett. It arrived in the post just after Christmas, and as I started to read it, I was sitting there nodding my head agreeing with almost everything it said! 

Ethan was almost 5.5 months old, and I thought he was showing some of the signs mentioned in the book that signal readiness to begin solids. So that night, I prepared some extra pieces of broccoli with extra long stalks just for him! I sat him in his high chair, tray on, and showed him his first piece of broccoli! He straight away took it out of my hand and put it straight to his mouth and licked it. The look of shock on his face was priceless! Still getting the hang of holding onto things for a length of time, he did keep dropping it, but i picked it up and he took it back countless times, each time putting it back to his mouth. Pretty soon a few bits started to disintegrate into his mouth. I am not sure that he swallowed anything that first day but he did seem to have fun! We let him continue to play with the broccoli until he showed signs of getting frustrated.

So that was Ethan's first attempt at solids! It seemed to be a success - he was managing to hold it for a little while and getting it to his mouth, having a lick and experimenting with this strange green mini tree!  It was fantastic seeing his expressions while he was doing it, and the best thing was that he was sharing our meal with us!