Fussy Eaters - Tips on how to manage

Sarah Hunt

High Wycombe

I have three children.  Ben is 7, Toby 5 and Ellen 2.  When they were being weaned things were different for each of them.  Ben had a mix of homemade food and jars and packets and happily ate most things.  Toby was a very premature baby and had severe reflux.  He ate nothing but stage one jars of smooth tasteless pap for almost two years.  Ellen had a nanny and therefore ate almost exclusively homemade, usually organic, food.

Food has never been a huge issue in our house.  I try very hard to keep them away from junk food, I enjoy cooking and we eat out.  I limit sweets, chocolate, chips, etc. but they do have them. My middle child (ie the one who had the worst possible diet of the three when he was small) now eats virtually everything and has a huge appetite.  He cites spaghetti bolognaise and cabbage as two of his most favourite foods and is easy to feed.  The eldest also eats most things.  He doesn’t have a big appetite but isn’t fussy.  He usually eats less meat and more veg and given the choice would choose chips and chocolate (wouldn’t we all) but again is easy to feed.  Then there’s Ellen……NIGHTMARE CHILD – at least when it comes to food!

Her appetite is barely enough to keep a flea alive.  Some days I have no idea how she has any energy.  Some days she eats quite happily, others she eats nothing.  Today was a good day.  She ate two boiled eggs but refused the toast then changed her mind when we put marmite on it.  She ate a tonne of tinned oranges for tea and a small bit of pizza.  She might eat the bolognaise but not the pasta.  Some days she eats veg, most she doesn’t even touch it.  Do I have any answers?  None!  All I can say is that we don’t worry about it and we don’t make her think it’s a big deal.  I never force her to eat anything.  I allow her to snack but only on fruit and even then she doesn’t eat much.  She’s average weight for her height (she’s generally small but not thin), she has tonnes of energy, she sleeps well and is a happy little soul.  Looking back, my brother was also a terrible eater.  Bizarrely the things she eats mirror the things he ate and, likewise, the things he refused are similar.  Is it genetic to some degree?  I have no idea but the similarities are uncanny.

My advice is not to worry, not to stress and don’t make a big deal of it.  I always give her a small amount of everything.  Most days it goes in the bin, but hey ho!

To help write this article I asked other NCT editors for their thoughts and tips on coping with fussy eaters.  Here are a few of the replies:

1.  Be relaxed and don’t make a big deal out of it.  You can’t force a child to eat (especially not a 4 year old) and there is nothing worse than stressed mealtimes.

2.  Keep it simple: don’t worry about fancy cooking. I am a hopeless cook and, with the best of intentions, I bought lots of toddler cookery books and tried to create wonderful, tasty, healthy meals. I failed (fishcakes sounded good but turned out a hideous greasy mush). I now ignore the books and cook simple meals that I can cope with.  It turns out a roast dinner is not too difficult (as long as you get up early enough to start it off) and my children now eat a huge plate of roast chicken, potatoes and veg every Sunday.  

3.  When you can, eat as a family at the table. The kids eat much better when we all eat together. Both my children improved their eating habits when they started having lunch at their pre-school (it was worth paying for that extra hour) and had friends round for meals. 

4.  Make a list of what they DO eat, rather than what they don’t eat!  My daughter eats very little meat and doesn’t like cheese, yoghurt, milk or eggs.  But she loves fruit and vegetables, so why should I complain!

5.  Stick to what they like. My kids would quite happily eat the same meals every day if it is something they like (in the same way they’ll have the same bedtime story every night for a month).  Although it seems boring to me, I try to stick to their old favourites!

6.  Are they happy? Healthy? Full of energy?  Then they must be getting the nutrition they need!

7. Make up stories around the food. I made a mushroom sauce to go on chicken and didn’t take out the dark brown flecks underneath, so the sauce came out quite grey. My daughter refused to eat it until I told her that it was rat sauce made by the rat in ‘Ratatouille’ and then she wolfed the lot. To get her to eat curry, I made chicken korma and told her it was Primrose chicken (made by Primrose in ‘Fifi and the Flowertots’).

8. Just accept that they’re fussy! My first child is a very fussy eater and my second child is a fantastic eater. I have done nothing differently with them, and I think it's important to point out that sometimes it's not your fault. It's just the way they are. I have tried EVERYTHING (and I mean everything) with my eldest, but he is just plain faddy. I work around it now, and live in hope that when he's older (he is now 5) he will be tempted to try other things. He is perfectly healthy, sleeps well, has loads of energy, but has never knowingly eaten a vegetable!  It is a problem when he goes to parties and on play dates, as he very rarely eats the healthy options on offer but, again, I'm hoping that maybe one day he will want to fit in with his peers. My advice is - don't stress about it. It may be temporary and, as long as they are healthy, it isn't a big deal.

9. Get your child involved in preparing meals , even if it's just tipping something into a saucepan or stirring. Then make a really big deal about how they helped to make it. We tried a sticker chart but only limited success. I have the opposite problem with my son, 16 months, who is a non-fussy eater and will eat anything he finds on the floor: fluff off the carpet, biscuit crumbs and, in the summer, a dead bug. Nice!

10. Pick up on what makes them happy - e.g. my son wants to be a footballer and now firmly believes (quite rightly) that eating all of his fruit and vegetables and drinking water will make him stronger and a better player. And always encourage them to try even a small amount - they often find they do like it after all!

11. Take away temptation! The most successful way of getting my son to eat what I want is to leave the house. If we go to the park he will reluctantly eat a banana if he accepts there is nothing better on offer and the food cupboard containing the biscuit tin is over 15 minutes walk away.

Mark, Canterbury

I hope these stories from other parents help you if you have a fussy eater.  The key message seems to be NO STRESS.  Easier said than done…….

How was it for you?

I asked local NCT mums what experiences they’ve had with weaning. This is what they said:

What age did you start weaning your babies and why this age?

Laura: I started weaning my first at about five months as most of my friends were starting and I didn't want to be left behind! I knew the guidelines but started then anyway.  I initially started with purees but about a week into weaning I read 'Baby Led Weaning' by Gill Rapley and became an instant convert.  I stopped weaning until 6 months and gave him only finger foods. With my second I didn't start until 6 months and was keen to do baby-led weaning (BLW) again.  Her manual dexterity was not as good and she was not yet sleeping through the night so I wanted to get a few more calories into her. I did not give her purees because I didn't want the hassle and I don't believe that there is any place for purees in weaning but I did spoon feed her some porridge/yoghurt/soup etc until she was able to manage herself. 

Megan: 6 months with all three children - it was the advice from the World Health Organisation. By the time I had my second it was also the advice from the UK government. I read quite widely (I always like researching things before I do them) and came to the conclusion that this was the best advice available.

Gillian: I held off with both of them for as long as possible to the recommended 6 months as I wanted them to have as much exclusive breastfeeding as possible, particularly due to the evidence about allergies. Baby #1 was weaned from 5.5 months - he was sitting, grabbing food and, frankly, desperate for solid food. Baby #2 was weaned from 6 months - she sat earlier than baby #1 but didn't seem as bothered by solids. Also, she turned 6 months in mid January and I wasn't going to start weaning over Christmas as we were travelling a lot and I couldn't deal with the mental effort of weaning, plus travel with two small people in tow!

Nadia: I let them both lead the way. When they started to stare at us eating and opening their mouths asking for food I started to give them solids. It was at about 5 months for both.

Vicky: I weaned both my children at six months, simply because it was the recommended age, and they hadn’t shown any need to start earlier (markedly increased appetite, noticeable interest in other people’s food) as can be the case for some babies. They were both mixed fed, with breastfeeding ending around nine months. I’m vegetarian, whilst my husband is not, and we agreed early on that we would give our children meat and fish, and let them decide for themselves when they were older whether they wanted a meat-free diet or not.

Sarah: I started weaning my first child onto solids at 4 months as that was the advice when she was a baby, although she did also seem ready (able to sit up, had teeth, was straining to try to reach food). By the time I had my second child the advice had changed to wait until 6 months, I did decide to try her on baby rice at 19 weeks (in a desperate attempt to get more sleep!) but she wasn’t interested and it didn’t make it into her mouth. At about 24 weeks she grabbed my hand when I was eating and steered the food into her mouth. For my third child I was happy to wait until 6 months before introducing anything other than breastmilk, but by 18 weeks he was desperately trying to drink from my cups of tea and glasses of water, and gnawing on apples, so I decided to push on the open door and introduced solids.

Nancy: I started at 5 months but not in any significant way, just trying lots of different tastes of food. Literally, I don't think she had more than a spoonful a day.  I started then as I had read they should be on 3 meals a day by 6 months and I was worried that I would be rushing and worrying that she wasn't eating enough by then.  Juno could sit unsupported by 5 and a half months so I felt she was physically able to have a go at eating.

How did you start weaning?

Megan: With my first I did the puree stuff and even used an occasional jar when cooking seemed like hard work. Because I waited til 6 months I didn't have to avoid many foods, but for the first few weeks I gave her single vegetables pureed, in order to spot any allergic reactions. After that she was having the same dinner as us, but whizzed up in a little hand-held processor. The second one probably got fewer jars but still purees - when what we were having was unsuitable I'd mash a banana or avocado with a fork. The thrid was baby-led weaned, which was much less hassle (I hadn't heard of it when I had the first two). He didn't really ingest anything until he was about 8 months (you can tell by what comes out the other end). 

Gillian: Baby #1 - 'traditional' spoon fed purees but he had different ideas and within about a week was grabbing bits of food (pitta, hummus, cucumber, banana). Baby #2 - more baby-led as I couldn't be bothered with the purees. I do usually spoon feed yoghurt and her breakfast (normally porridge) as she gets REALLY cross if she doesn't get it into her mouth fast enough. And sometimes I can't be bothered cleaning yoghurt off the ceiling. 

Nadia: I started to vary their diets a lot from the beginning trying all manners of vegetable and fruits. I wanted to make sure they experienced lots of different tastes early on in the hope they did not become fussy with food. It seems to have worked (so far anyway, fingers crossed). I was bought an Annabel Karmel book by a friend and that became my bible for weaning. I did read lots of leaflets and stuff on the internet but I used the Annabel Karmel books for recipes ideas. The key for me was to do big batches of everything and freeze in small portions. Much easier and stress free than worry about food every 5 minutes. I used ice cubes trays to start with and later the Advent pots. I tried baby rice for their first meal as often recommended but quickly moved on to veg and fruits. I did not see the point in giving them something bland for too long! In actual fact they only had it for one meal each.

Vicky: With my first child, Sam, I gripped my Annabel Karmel bible, nervously disinfected my kitchen from top to bottom, and read five times how to peel, boil and puree a sweet potato. It was a scary new world and I felt incredibly anxious about the whole business. How much? How often? Will he choke on his apple mush? For that reason, the Annabel Karmel book was great – I followed it step by step, gradually introducing different tastes and textures, building up Sam’s diet over the weeks and ending up with a freezer full of a rainbow of frozen puree cubes to defrost at will. He was a happy eater, and I quickly got over my initial nerves and found that, whilst I felt utterly clueless to begin with, it all just happened quite naturally.

Second time round, whilst it would be untrue that my second child, Grace, was gnawing on pork ribs by week 2, I think it’s safe to say I was more relaxed from the start. I still went the puree route, but was more confident to introduce elements of baby-led weaning (lots of large and varied chunks of finger food) earlier on - and whilst still flicking through Ms Karmel’s book (slightly sticky from round one) I was happy to simplify some of her recipes (Five pans to make a fish pie? Seriously??). 

Sarah: My first and third children’s first foods were whole apple, my second’s was margherita pizza, all three at their own insistence, and achieved by pulling my hand holding the food towards their own mouths. Following this, for all three I have also introduced purees plus finger foods from the very beginning. I don’t really make the distinction between finger foods and purees that BLW seems to do, after all if a baby chooses to lean forward, open their mouth and put it round the spoon of food held in front of them, isn’t that baby-led? I do have a couple of rules though, I keep an eye on the baby’s body language and don’t persuade them to eat something they don’t want to (e.g. using a spoon to open the mouth and shoe-horn some food in). As much as possible I try to give them the same as everyone else at the table (although with something mushed up in addition), and I never give them anything I wouldn’t eat myself.

Nancy: Bit of both.  When I just started out it was BLW but then as I wanted to make sure she was eating properly I gave more traditional puréed food.

What was your experience with weaning?

                                                                                      

Laura: I really enjoyed weaning. It was very satisfying to see them manage different types of food and enjoy new types of food. It is also funny what they do and don't like. I once gave my daughter a curry when she was about 7 months before tasting it myself. Her eyes were watering but she seemed to enjoy it. It was only that evening when we had it for dinner and my husband didn't particularly like it because it was too hot that I realised chicken madras is quite spicy!

Gillian: Baby #1 - I just followed one of the Annabel Karmel books which was easy enough, although a bit faffy with all the extra work. Baby #2 - I just gave her what we were eating (albeit lower salt options and minus honey, unpasteurised cheese and whole nuts). Much easier and much more instinctive. And she and her brother just have the same food. 

Nadia: I just did a lot of reading beforehand... There is so much info at hand now and lots of people to ask!

Sarah: I love weaning! I love cooking, so its extra fun making things for your baby and seeing what they enjoy, what faces they pull, what they spit out even. My first child pulled a horrendous grimace every time she tried a new food, but then would be straight back for more. My third child is currently at the blowing raspberries stage, what larks at mealtimes! With my first child I spent a lot of time reading about weaning and what foods I should/shouldn’t give, meal planners etc. With my subsequent ones they tend to get a subset of what everyone else is eating.

Nancy: I just made it up as I went along and tried to have fun!

Did your babies have any allergies?

Megan: None of them have any allergies, they were all exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months and we avoided peanuts and peanut products for at least a year.

Gillian: No allergies but both of them have had foods that initially caused some local rashes or very mild eczema around their mouth - e.g. raw or tinned tomatoes and strawberries. But they've both grown out of it.

Nadia: They did not have any allergies thank goodness so again I was lucky on that score

Sarah: (Fingers crossed) none of mine have had any food allergies, although my second child has yet to have any shellfish, and my third is only 6 months old so I don’t know how he will react to a lot of foods yet.

Nancy: The only reaction we had was to kiwi fruit where she came up in a red rash.  She hasn't had them since so I don't know whether she is still allergic or not!

What were your babies' favourite and least favourite foods?

Laura: I find that their favourite foods varied. In the first few weeks of weaning my daughter there was one week where she would only eat very sweet things to the extent that she would cry if she got the side of the toast that didn't have the jam on it in her mouth!  Initially I was worried that she was going to be very fussy about food but I relaxed and sure enough in a few days she was back to eating whatever was put in front of her. Some weeks they eat virtually nothing when other weeks they eat everything they can lay their hands on. For me the central message and main appeal of BLW is to allow them to develop their own instincts about what and how much they eat.  

Megan: When we first weaned they seemed to like everything. Fussiness set in much later, not until they were at least three years old (in fact my youngest, at nearly five will still try most things).

                                                                                        

Gillian: Baby #1 - hummus, peach, toast, marmite (yuck!), cucumber, rice pudding, yoghurt, scrambled eggs. Baby #2 - banana (her first word!), yoghurt, cheese, bread, butter, red pepper, pesto, fishcakes, chips, porridge. At weaning age, I don't really remember them not liking anything. Sometimes they'd not be hungry or pull a funny face, but they never really refused anything. Baby #1 is now 3 and it's much more annoying now. 'I don't like fishcakes!' 'But you had fishcakes last week and loved them.' [After moaning for 10 minutes, he tries a bit of fishcake] 'I love fishcakes - they're my favourite!' Aaarrrghhh!

Nadia: I don't recall anything they particularly disliked. My daughter seemed to have a sweeter tooth than my son but other than that I don't remember having to avoid anything. Even if they turned up their nose at something one day, I would try it again another day until they ate it. I remember my daughter disliking banana for quite a long time but I have persevered and she loves them now. Another thing she wasn't too keen on at first is the texture of mince meat so I mixed it with more vegetables until she got used to it.

Vicky: My children had similar early preferences. Sweet potato, banana and carrot were very popular, whilst neither would countenance avocado or pear. They are now 4 and 2, and have diverged in their tastes: whilst Sam will eat rice and dhal till the cows come home, Grace is never happier than when presented with a meal involving some sort of meat product.

Sarah: My eldest was very keen on avocado, and would happily eat very sour foods like natural yogurt with blackcurrant puree mixed in (I resisted the temptation to sweeten it, she didn’t mind at all). My second was less keen on food generally, but has maintained her love of tomato puree from her very first food. My third is very fond of apple puree, toast, strawberries, broccoli, mushed-up banana in Greek yogurt, sticks of cheddar, pretty much anything he can get his hands on.

Nancy: Banana was favourite and still is now! Tuna and mashed potato with cheese was also a big favourite. She didn't like mango at all, which was good as it’s expensive!

If breastfeeding, what age were your babies when you stopped?

Laura: I had huge problems with breastfeeding with both my babies and would have liked to have fed for a lot longer with both of them (long, long story!!) but I fed my first for four weeks and my second was mixed fed to 21 weeks. 

Megan: 3 years 11 months, 2 years 6 months and still going at 4 years 10 months.

Gillian: Baby #1 - 2 years 4 months - by which point he was just having a feed at bedtime. He decided to stop one night and that was it. Baby #2 is 9 months and still breastfed. I currently plan to feed her until she weans herself.

Nadia: My first (my son) naturally stopped at 10 months. he wasn't interested anymore. My daughter stopped around 9 months. I initiated that one because of going back to work (I did not fancy having to express at work!). It happened quite naturally. She did not complain in moving over to bottles. So that was easy with both, I was lucky!

Sarah: My first child was mixed fed until 5 and a half months when she went onto formula only (and solids), my second was 14 months old when I gave up breastfeeding, I’m still breastfeeding my third child at 6 months, and will probably do so until after he has his first MMR jab.

Nancy: 14 months. She was ready to stop at 12 months but we were going skiing and I wanted the option to breastfeed her on the plane in case she started getting upset.  

Please note that this article is based on mothers' personal experiences and is not to be seen as NCT advice. For the NCT guide to weaning go to http://www.nct.org.uk/parenting/how-start-solid-foods-and-weaning

Weaning - The Official Advice

The following extracts have been taken from the Department of Health’s leaflet, ‘Weaning: starting solid food’ (Jan 2008).

Six months is the best age for introducing solids. Before this, your baby’s digestive system is still developing and weaning too soon may increase the risk of infections and allergies. Weaning is also easier at six months. If your baby seems hungrier at any time before six months, they may be having a growth spurt, and extra breast or formula milk will be enough to meet their needs.

If you decide to wean at any time before six months, there are some foods that should be avoided as they may cause allergies or make your baby ill. These include wheat-based foods and other foods containing gluten (e.g. bread, rusks,

some breakfast cereals), eggs, fish, shellfish, nuts, seeds and soft and unpasteurised cheeses. Ask your health visitor for advice, especially if your baby was premature.

Solid foods should never be introduced before four months.

You will find that as your baby eats more solid foods, the amount of milk your baby wants will start to reduce. Once your baby is eating plenty of solids several times a day, you can drop a milk feed but continue to breastfeed or give 500–600ml (about a pint) of infant formula a day until at least 12 months of age. Breastfeeding will continue to benefit you and your baby for as long as you choose to carry on.

Cow’s milk is not suitable as a drink until your baby is 12 months old but can be used in cooking.

Vitamin D is naturally present in only a few foods such as fortified margarines, eggs and fatty fish. It is also made naturally in the skin when it is exposed to gentle sunlight. It is sensible to give all children vitamin drops with vitamins A, C and D from the age of one to five years old. Breastfed babies and babies drinking less than 500ml of infant formula milk per day should begin vitamin drops at six months, or earlier if advised by your health visitor or doctor.

Babies are more likely to develop allergies if there is a family history of eczema, asthma or hayfever. For these families, exclusive breastfeeding is particularly recommended for the first six months. Introduce the foods that commonly cause allergies (milk, eggs, wheat, nuts, seeds, fish and shellfish) one at a time so that you can spot any reaction, but don’t introduce any of these foods before six months. Avoid giving peanuts and foods containing peanut products, e.g. peanut butter or groundnut oil, until your child is three years old.

Soya-based infant formulas should only be used on the advice of your GP. Some babies who are allergic to cow’s milk may also be allergic to soya. Infant formulas based on goat’s milk protein have not been approved for use in Europe.

Foods to avoid

·      SALT (which contains sodium)

Do not add any salt to foods for babies. Do not use stock cubes or gravy in your baby’s food as they are often high in salt. When you are cooking for the family, do not add salt, so your baby can share the family foods.

·      SUGAR

Sugar can encourage a sweet tooth and lead to tooth decay when first teeth start to come through. Try mashed banana, breast or formula milk to sweeten food if necessary.

·      HONEY

Don’t give honey until your baby is one year old. Very occasionally, it can contain a type of bacteria, which can produce toxins in the baby’s intestines and can cause a very serious illness (infant botulism). Remember that honey is also a sugar and can lead to tooth decay.

·      NUTS

Whole nuts, including peanuts, should not be given to children under five years in case of choking.

·      LOW-FAT FOODS

Low-fat foods, whether yoghurt, fromage frais, cheese or fat spreads are not suitable for babies or children under two. Fat is an important source of calories and some vitamins which they need.

 

Department of Health (www.dh.gov.uk)

My Weaning Experience - Fun, Stress & Plenty of Mess

Maria



My baby, Maria, is now eight months old and I’ve been weaning for around three months (yes, I started before the recommended six months!). I approached weaning with a mixture of excitement, nervousness and confusion!  Excited about moving onto the next stage and seeing how Maria would take to new foods. Nervous and confused about how to go about it and when! It felt like I was bombarded with information about feeding my newborn baby but, when it came to weaning, I was thrown into the deep end! Different people gave different advice about whether or not I should wait until Maria was six months old. And I wasn’t really sure how many times I should give solids each day, how much to give and how this all fitted in with milk feeds!!

Wanting to do the best thing for my baby, I had planned to follow official advice and start weaning at six months after exclusively breastfeeding until then. This was much to the horror of my parents: “Well so and so started giving baby rice at four months and they’re ok and solids will help Maria sleep (they didn’t!!), and in the old days there was none of this advice.....etc, etc!!”

It was at the advice of my doctor that I started weaning at around five months (well, he is a health professional after all!!). I can’t remember why he suggested it, perhaps because Maria wasn’t sleeping well. I started by mixing some formula milk with baby rice once a day (I had, again, planned to do the dutiful thing and use expressed milk but it was becoming increasingly difficult to find the time to express and, when I did give it a go, I got little more than a teaspoon-full)! Maria seemed more than ready for it – she excitedly gulped it all down – but this didn’t improve her sleeping. In fact, it got worse and, as time went on, it became clear that she had a cow’s milk allergy.

The allergy materialised as dreadful eczema all over Maria’s body. She’d had eczema before but it started to get out of control and she became increasingly distressed with it. She was also doing up to 10 dirty nappies a day and I think she became terribly dehydrated. She also stopped putting weight on. At first, I didn’t link the eczema with the cow’s milk. But one morning I gave her some baby porridge, which contained skimmed milk powder, and she reacted within minutes. Where she got some on her hand, it came up like a nettle rash – bright red with white spots. Just to be completely sure, I gave her a Petit Filous a couple of weeks later and she got the same reaction on her hand.

I took Maria to the doctor and he prescribed some lactose-free SMA in case I ever needed to use formula. Before giving her any, I decided to do a patch-test on her hand and she got the nettle-like reaction again, so I’m sure it’s the cow’s milk protein that she’s allergic to. Apparently, around 2 to 3 per cent of babies have such an allergy – so, very low – and most eventually outgrow it.

And I very much hope so. As I’m breast feeding, this means that I’ve had to cut all dairy products from my diet. As you can imagine, this is absolutely no fun at all! And a childhood without cake, chocolate, ice cream, etc. would be pretty wretched, so I will keep trying the milk every now and again and hope that the allergy goes away! For now, I use Kara coconut milk at breakfast time with porridge. Opinion was mixed on whether or not I could use infant soya milk, which I did for a couple of weeks. My doctor said it was fine but my health visitor was cautious on the use of this before age two (yet more weaning confusion!). So I’ve erred on the side of caution and stopped using it, even if it was only 3oz a day at breakfast.

Other than the allergy side of things, weaning has mostly been an enjoyable experience, although some days she’ll eat well and other days she won’t, for no discernible reason! When Maria was six months old, I moved onto three ‘solid’ meals a day. I use the term ‘solid’ in the loosest sense, as most of the food she’s had has been purees. Most things have gone down well – chicken casserole and most fruits and vegetables. Maria has turned her nose up at a few things:

·      Salmon – I pureed up two fillets with potato, broccoli and tomato, and she didn’t like it! Note to self – don’t make such large quantities in future!!! Eating baby food myself so that I don’t waste it isn’t my favourite sort of lunch! And it’s so frustrating when you spend ages making something and they don’t like it!

·      Liver!!! No surprise there, then! My mum made a massive batch of liver casserole, convinced that this was the BEST way for Maria to get iron into her diet. Perhaps it would be if she’d actually eat it! And I’m not sure I can face eating that one myself. So it’s currently taking up lots of much-needed space in my freezer!

·      Swede – again, don’t puree up a WHOLE vegetable before trying it out first in future!

·      Banana – another allergy! When I tried this, Maria got the nettle-like reaction under her chin and round her neck within minutes, which is a shame as this would make a great finger food and mixes well with other foods.

Frustratingly, the jars of food from the supermarket have often gone down better than the food I’ve painstakingly made myself – I hope that doesn’t say anything about my cooking!

Alongside purees, I’ve also been offering finger foods. It’s taken a long time for Maria to put any of these in her mouth. I think I missed a window of opportunity here. There was a time when everything would go in Maria’s mouth but she seemed to stop toy-licking just before I tried to give her proper food!

One good thing about weaning is that it’s helped to give us more of a routine to our day. I don’t feel like I had much of a routine before six months! I now do a milk feed when we get up in the morning followed by breakfast, a milk feed after Maria’s morning nap, lunch at 12, a milk feed after Maria’s afternoon nap, tea at five then a milk feed before bed. I still worry about whether or not she’s getting enough milk. Some days, it feels like she hasn’t had much at all as looking around, grabbing my nose and yanking at my nipple are much more fun than feeding! But she’s not really demanding any more than she’s getting so I just have to hope it’s enough!

And finally, it’s been a messy old business! It’s been a bit of a challenge to put up with food flying everywhere! But I guess it’s all good preparation for when Maria starts chucking paint around and drawing on the walls!