Sharing Snacks

Little Mae loves it when she hears the word, "Snack"! She drops everything she holding onto, and comes speed-crawling towards me. Today, I pulled out one of Chubbs' favourite snacks when he was Mae's age, puffed kamut. Kamut is an ancient grain, that contains around 17% protein. It's so tasty (think fragrant popcorn) and good for kids. Baby Mae and even Chubbs enjoyed their post-dinner snack immensely. But the best part of it for her, was when Kor-Kor shared the snack from his bowl, and him feeding her. She was giggling when eating, and would pat his back and baby babble whenever she was ready for another piece. To which, he promptly pops another puff into her mouth. Priceless.

Beetroot

I made little Mae a huge batch of yummy beetroot puree today; sweet potato, butternut squash and beetroot.  It was Mae's first time trying the sweet root veg, and she loved it. Hey, even I like it. It was creamy, sweet and best of all, packed with anti-oxidants!

Post-beetroot baby girl.

Chomping Away

I have been introducing new foods to Mae consistently, and so far, she seems fond of the meals I've prepared for her. Since the last post on Mae's weaning, the new foods she's had include corn (pureed with rice), oatmeal, apple, orange sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips and blueberries. She's a good eater, who likes avocado in almost everything. She's lost a bit of her infant flabbiness (part of the weaning process?), and has firmed up quite significantly. I'll be moving on to vegetable protein next, like tofu and lentils. Let's see how she takes to them.

Butternut Squash

We've had a bit of a bummer in Mae's weaning process recently, upon finding out that she is allergic to peas, which she loves. She ended up with rashes all over her face, neck, and legs, and swollen, puffy eyes. She didn't sleep for many nights because her rashes were so itchy. She's now on Zyrtec and some steroid cream, and is feeling better.

I introduced butternut squash to her yesterday, because it is such a great first food for babies. Creamy when pureed and rich in beta-carotene, she liked it very much. I made it with breastmilk and brown rice cereal for her breakfast and she enjoyed every last bite of it.

Pears and Peas

Mae was introduced to pureed pears about a week ago. She didn't fancy it at all when she first tried it. I had to give it to her almost as a drink, diluted with lots of water. But she likes it now, mixed with breastmilk and rice cereal for breakfast, and even as dessert on its own, after her avocado and rice cereal dinner.

Yesterday, she also tried pureed peas. She loved it from the first bite, and ate quite a large portion of it. I'm mighty pleased because peas are high in dietary fiber, protein and iron, making it a superfood for babies.

Getting her chompers on peas!

Avocado

I eat avocado almost everyday. I mix it with salsa as a dip/ roast chicken in a salad/ boiled egg and capers (the best sandwich filling!)/ tuna and pickled onions with toast/ in a smoothie with banana and soy milk, etc etc etc. It was the food that I was most eager for Mae to try because it is so nutrient-rich, packed with potassium and good fat. The creamy texture also makes it an ideal weaning food for babies. Unfortunately, there seems to be a dearth of good avocadoes in Singapore at the moment. Unlike just a month or two ago, I just can't get any proper, creamy ones anymore. I was throwing hissy fits everyday, cutting into lousy, plastic-ky-fleshed avocadoes that had to be thrown away. And I hate throwing food away!!!

Mae finally got lucky with one that I paid good money for. I passed it through a sieve, and mixed in some breastmilk before serving it to her, to ensure it was extra smooth. But of course, going by how things have been playing out these days, Mae didn't like it the first few times she had it :( Boo me. But I pressed on, and she seems a lot more tolerant of it these days. I'll give her small amounts often, till she gets used to the taste and texture, and hopefully, she soon love it as much as I do.

Playing happily after her avocado and rice cereal breakfast.

Papaya

Mae's extremely constipated. She hasn't gone in more than three days, and screams in pain every time she needs to pass even a little bit out. And she has this chesty, phlemgy cough that won't go away. I haven't slept in a week because she's waking herself up, coughing every other minute, and I have had to hold her upright, all night. It hasn't been fun. We brought her in to the clinic this morning for more medication and some suppositories, and the p.d. suggested some papaya to make the transition to semi-solids easier on her.

It was a really sweet Hawaiian papaya that I bought her, and I thought she'd love it to bits. But somehow, she prefers her bland, glue-like rice cereal! She barely tolerated the bright orange papaya puree, and labored to finish her portion. I remember Chubbs loved his rice cereal more than anything else too. I guess tasteless foods rule!

Purple Sweet Potatoes

Chubbs and I were having some of these gorgeously purple sweet potatoes for breakfast today, when I thought, why not let Mae have a taste of it? Sweet potatoes are packed with vitamins and fibre, and these purple ones have added anti-oxidents. So I mashed some up, mixed a little breast milk to thin the puree out, and she liked it. She ate a good tablespoonful of it, on top of her brown rice cereal, and was a purple-y mess. But the mistake that I made was that the puree wasn't smooth enough. Through the bites, she looked like she was struggling with the texture a bit. I ought to have strained it to make it silkier for her. I feel like a rookie mom again, since it was more than three years ago that I went through the weaning process for Chubbs.

Brown Rice Cereal

The little bug got her chompers on some yummy brown rice cereal and breast milk mix as part of breakfast today. I put off weaning her for a while because she was quite sick. Even though she is still very phlegmy and coughing, her nasal congestion has cleared a little, and I think she can manage a taste of semi-solids.

She loved her cereal! Although I'm sure all 6-month olds will, having had nothing but breast milk eight meals a day, for six months straight. She literally grabbed the spoon and bowl from my hands, almost spilling the contents. And she lunged greedily at every bite that was brought near her mouth. Most of the cereal ended up on her bib the first try, but I think she got the hang of it when I gave her some more in the evening. She gulped down most of her food. Good girl.

Chubbs helped to feed her!