Weaning.
Do I have anything to add to the mammoth wealth of information out there? Is my two bob really of worth when a press of a button can find you the best-sourced library in the world?
I think I can only bring my own experience into the dialogue, as it seems true that no two child is the same. My two boys certainly are like chalk and cheese, except that they have both been very difficult eaters and don’t much enjoy food unless it looks processed and is dripping in sugar/salt or has bright neon lights. So I contradict myself here – they were alike in both being fussy eaters!
I never thought that Rafy would eat a proper meal. He is now four and a half and I can safely say that left to his own devices at school, he will at least attempt a bite from the vegetable group (so the spies say). At home, he only needs reminding for every other mouthful: “Eat. Rafy! Eat!” But those early years were a different story altogether! Mouth firmly clamped shut for a good ten months, then vomit. VOMIT. He would have a couple of spoons of puree or porridge or fruit. And. Puke.
There was nothing physically wrong with him. I tore my hair out trying different methods and seeing dieticians/nutritionists/osteopaths. He just was not interested in food. In actual fact, it was that he just wasn’t hungry because he was too full of milk; I realised this very late on.
I’ve tried to learn with Huxley, my second, and I reduce his milk plus wait till he’s really hungry before beginning any enticing of food. It mostly works, except of course when routines clash and we have to eat when others eat – scheduled meals on trains or holidays or as visitors…
In the beginning, Hux didn’t want to try new foods. He wouldn’t do baby-led weaning, which I was desperate for him to get on board with. How much simpler would life be if they could feed themselves?! His older brother kept making himself choke when I tried it with him at that age; if anything made it down the hatchet, it all resurfaced again!
With little one, he knocked it all off his high chair, or wiped it away like the wipers of the bus. I had to do it the old fashioned way and spoon-feed him – offering him tastes of whatever I was eating. At two years old, I try to make all his food “finger” food to give us both a chance of independence. I offer pasta in large tubes, try to bind everything with whisked egg in the oven and trick him into thinking he is eating muffins 24/7. He even likes avocado on an ice cream wafer cone!
If in any 24 hours, Hux consumes green beans or avocado or some form of fish, I’m overjoyed and mark it as one of few spectacular days! I wonder how his good v. bad eating day ratios compare with other kids of his age? It’s probably better that I don’t know.
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