8 Months Old
Off to Spain to visit Nanny and Grandad started off with an early trip to the airport and breakfast in Costa Coffee. Rosie’s breakfast consisted of Kallo Puffed Rice with soya milk and a big helping of fruit. The ‘Klip it & Go’ range of Tupperware dishes are particularly useful for keeping liquids and solids apart until you need to mix them. On the flight I had made up a picnic of rice cakes and cashew nut butter, cherry tomatoes and chopped fruit. With Rosie on my lap eating it was a little messy but we managed to clean up afterwards. Rosie is still being breastfed so in order to help her ears she was fed both on takeoff and landing.
Once in Spain Rosie really took to her new chair. The chair is one of those that clip on to the table. The only problem with it was that a small gap between the chair and the table meant that a lot of the food ended up on the floor. We soon got wise to this and put a tray underneath to catch everything. We visited the beach on a number of occasions and Rosie really was the star attraction with her beach picnics. Not quite sure what the locals made of it but Rosie loved to mix the sand with her food before eating it! Tapas was a real hit and most of the time when we were eating out and about she was able to share my food. Breadsticks that are always put on the table proved to be a big hit with Rosie although I didn’t allow her to have many due to the salt content.
Nanny had been busy batch cooking and freezing so Rosie was able to enjoy some lovely meals. Her particular favourites were Nanny’s shepherd’s pie and chicken risotto.
While we were away we managed to get in to a good routine with her during the day. She would tend to have a late morning nap usually in her pushchair and then have a long afternoon sleep in her cot. Initially she was still waking during the night and having a feed but during the last week she started to sleep through the night. I would still give her a feed in the morning and then again late morning, late afternoon and then at bedtime. However she didn’t seem to be bothered if she missed some of these feeds.
In true baby led weaning style, Rosie will try to grab anything that I’m eating especially if she didn’t have anything to hand. One day at the beach I’d been eating an ice-cream when Rosie practically launched herself at it. I let her have some since she had been so determined although this is not something I would encourage!
There has definitely been an increase in the quantity of food that Rosie is now eating. There is a lot less waste and she is really doing well with picking up her food. She can open her fist and get at the food inside and is so close to getting her pincer grip. Usually babies seem to ‘get it’ around the 9 month mark and I think Rosie will be spot on with that milestone.
During our month in Spain Rosie has definitely grown significantly. I cannot report her weight as I haven’t visited the weigh in clinic for some time. She has grown out of a lot of 6-9 months clothes so I guess the sun and Nanny’s cooking have contributed to this.
While we were away a previous attendee of my Happy Little Eaters course sent this lovely email.
- “I thought I would share with you our success with BLW. Harrison is now 9 months 1 week and 4 days old. We have been doing the BLW since 6 months where we started very ad hoc with a few bits of what we were eating here and there and then after a few weeks we started doing breakfast every day and then moved onto lunch. We didn’t do tea until maybe 6 weeks down the line. Now Harrison has 3 square meals. In the last 2 weeks we have introduced snacks and offer him milk in his beaker at 11 and 3pm. He almost always chooses to eat the food rather than have milk and seems very content with this option. He has a milk feed in the morning usually about 6 oz although he can have more if he wants it and has a bed time milk feed of 7 oz. He still has a night feed of 6 oz but I am hoping soon this stops.He eats soooo much food it is a joy to see. He investigates everything and tries everything he is given. He loves pancakes for breakfast and tuna croquettes and cheese straws have been a huge hit. Plums are by far his favorite fruit and he loves natural yoghurt with them.I wanted to thank you so much for the information from your course. It was a real eye opener to eating healthily and making sure Harrison has a healthy relationship with food. I don’t have to lift a finger when I feed him, I get to eat a hot meal and I get to enjoy it.
We are well along the road of weaning and he is doing great!
Thanks again.”
The next Happy Little Eaters – Baby Led Weaning course starts on Thursday 9th August.
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