Nearly there...........

It is the eve of Eleanor's 6 month birthday (where did that go?) which means that as of tomorrow it's full steam ahead, well, in theory it is but unfortunately our little sweetheart has eczema so we're going to take it easy. In my mind I planned her first proper meal to be on Easter Sunday. A full on slap up roast but it turns out she'll just be having veggies again and........................................meat hooray finally! I've splashed out on an organic free range chicken for the occasion although I got it out of the cheap fridge so it' had to go in the freezer. I would love to give her a Yorkshire pudding but they're just a food intolerance waiting to happen. Eggs, gluten and dairy in one package. Now I think karma could be kicking my backside a bit here. I would always rant away to myself about people with intolerances and how it was all in their heads. You could say I was intolerant of the intolerant anyway I now find myself in a situation where my precious little girl could react to any of these things so we're just going to introduce one at a time. We know we should be safe with dairy as lactose will have gone into my milk and she doesn't have a reaction to that. Her skin seems loads better since we stopped having to have the heating on all the time so I'm hoping food is not going to be a problem for her. I remember watching a TV program with Giorgio Locatelli and his daughter is allergic to hundreds of things. I remember thinking how unfortunate it was him to be a top chef and have a little girl who couldn't eat any of it. Now I'm not putting myself in the same bracket as him for cheffery but I do love food and making food for others is an expression of my love for them so I would like Eleanor to be able to eat anything and everything. Fingers crossed, I guess we'll soon find out.

Vampires beware

We've had garlic two days in a row now. Yesterday's garlic hit was provided via houmous. We tried ricecakes but they were little tiny ones and whilst she could pick them up it was with a sort of arcade grabber action so once lifted she couldn't get it in her little mouth so we gave the old loaded spoons a go. Now houmous and spoon loading is a marriage made in heaven. Eleanor can not get a spoon in her mouth facing the conventional way up so you need something that's going to stick to the spoon. She loved it. There was some gagging as it was probably quite sticky in her mouth but she kept going back for more. It was definitely the messiest meal yet by a country mile. We both had to have a bath afterwards.

Tonight our little gastronaut had some garlic mushrooms. Not the weird little breadcrumby things but proper slimy mushrooms. She had a big grey oyster mushroom, a girolle and a fat slice of chestnut mushroom. When I say she "had" these, she got them in her mouth and chewed for ages but they came back out of her mouth pretty unharmed.

I've not noticed if she smells garlicy as I've had more than she has but the little ones at baby signing this morning weren't giving her a wide berth so she must still be smelling sweet which is more than I can say for her post houmous nappy!

Stains massive

Here's Eleanor snacking in what was a beautiful green and white dress which is now a green white and orange dress. If you know how to get red pepper stains out, please do drop me a line. Much obliged.

Baby steps

Well, we've made a start. I almost feel like whispering it because I was determined to stick it out until six months to start weaning but the voices in my head were saying "just try her with a bit of banana" "a stick of carrot won't do any harm" and I caved. My justification is that as it's 'baby led' I'm not forcing Eleanor to do anything she doesn't want to. Also as we've started before 6 months we're limited in what can be offered. At the moment it's fruit, veg and rice which seems rather cruel as her little fingers are nowhere near dexterous enough to be picking up rice. She can just about manage sticks or things that are naturally long and stick-like. Unfortunately this means she seems to be eating chips quite a lot! Well, they're not actually chips. Who would feed a baby chips? They're saute potatoes or roast potatoes cut into a baby friendly size and shape (which happens to be chip shaped) They're not chips, honest............ She loves them anyway.

As you may notice I've been rather tardy with my blogging but I do have a baby to look after, anyway I'm going to condense everything that has passed her lips thus far into the following sentence: banana, mango, butternut squash, sprouts, green beans, sugar snap peas, mange tout, sprouting broccoli, spring onion, cucumber, red pepper, pineapple, beansprouts, baby corn, potatoes, lettuce, rocket, carrot...............and chips. I think that's everything. They have all passed her lips but not necessarily been swallowed. I know she's definitely swallowed banana, rocket and something orange. How do I know? Use your imagination. Anyway time for a picture post methinks.

What is this Baby Led Weaning that you speak of?

"What is this Baby Led Weaning that you speak of?"

I hear you cry. Well.......it's complicated but it isn't, it's simple. Where to start? The basic principle of baby led weaning is that rather than being spoon fed purees the baby is given food in handy baby fist sized pieces and they feed themselves. Gill Rapley is a former health visitor who did a study into weaning babies without purees. The evidence from the study was compelling and subsequently a book was published. I have read said book and it just made perfect sense to me. It's not a mainstream idea and you won't find many health visitors endorsing it nor are you likely to find many who have actually heard of it. Even so I'm not a lone maverick in BLW. It's been going on and quietly growing for a few years now and thanks to excellent forums such as www.babyledweaning.com the word is spreading.

Now because it sounds a bit "out there" many of you may think I've turned into a bit of a yoghurt weaver but really it's just common sense. I hope that through my blogging I can continue the enlightenment of the masses.

Peace out and Boomshanka x

What is a blog?

I've started a blog. I don't even know what a blog is. I believe it's like twitter but longer (I'm not really sure what twitter is. I just know that I can be kept up to date with what an ice cream man from bacup is up to. Hi Salvatore!). I believe a blog is a place for my musings on life, love and this particular blog, baby led weaning of my wonderful little constant companion, Eleanor. If you're reading this you're either friend, family or just got downright lucky with your googling, whoever you are, pull up a chair and make yourself at home. There are some jammy dodgers in the tupperware to your left x