We thought it would be really nice to follow the journey of a new Mum's experience with feeding her child. Catriona and baby Maeve have agreed to take part and each week Catriona will document how she is progressing, including what new foods Maeve has eaten and the consistency of the food. Mummy Cooks will be on hand to offer advice and recipe ideas for a successful baby led weaning journey.Over the next 5 weeks we will be exploring how baby Maeve and mum Catriona get on with the weaning process. They are equipped with the Starter Weaning Set so here is stage 1 of their weaning journey preparation.
Baby Maeve: 4 months 2 weeks
Started solids: No (preparing to start).
Bottles per day: 5 x 7oz
"We are so excited about beginning the weaning process with baby Maeve. She is now 4 months and we are planning on waiting until she is at least 5 months before we start. But now is the time to research how we will go about it, as it’s quite daunting for a first time Mum. We didn’t succeed with the breastfeeding so it’s even more important for me to get the weaning right with her. When baby Maeve was about 14 days old she was still not gaining weight and wanting to feed all the time. She was never satisfied and had not pooped in over a week; it was time to involve the medics.
After she became very lethargic we went to A&E. They were really supportive for my wish to breastfeed and tried to promote and encourage it, but my milk supply was very low. They then completed every test possible with Maeve to rule out any medical issues with her. Everything came back clear which was a huge relief. After being in hospital for 5 nights being observed and monitored, the medical decision was to formula feed Maeve to ensure her neurological development was not compromised. While it was the most upsetting news for me, it was obviously the best decision for Maeve. She began to thrive, she was less irritable, and I finally got some sleep!
So now it's coming to Maeve's time to start weaning and I am going to make sure she eats healthy homemade food and where possible, home grown. But where to start? Some background reading first off! Books I have checked out include ‘Feed your child well’ by Teresa Dunne which is a great read in terms of the science behind it all. I would advise getting it from your local library, as you will only read it once. The River Cottage Baby and Toddler book (as advised by my sister) is full of really nice ideas on how to cook in season and how to cook for the family and make it suitable for baby. This is how I want to cook so it’s perfect. I have stayed clear of Annabel Karmel because what I have read is that she is slightly old school and does not move on with ingredients fast enough. Her recipes are not all suitable for batch cooking either.
Despite all my research, I really think it would be fantastic to see how you actually prepare the food as well as the information on how I should introduce it. I will be attending a Mummy Cooks Weaning Class this week and I'm really looking forward to it. I will be back next week to let you know how we got on!
Follow our weaning journey here:
Weaning Preparation (part 2)
Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Weaning 7 months
