Mind you, I have been weaning this past few weeks AND we are flying to Sydney this weekend so I am not too far off...
I have posted before about how hard I was finding it to get my bubba to take a bottle. Well, the good news is that she is now taking some formula but not from a bottle. I had read in Baby Love that by 6 months if they haven't yet taken a bottle then you can go straight to sippy cup so we did and it worked a treat. She is now taking 2 cups of formula a day and couldn't be happier. The other breakthough came in the form of a suggestion form my cousin Chelsea. She said that she had heard that goat's milk tasted more like breast milk than cow's so we bought the Karicare Goat's milk formula and that also went down very well. The final piece to the jigsaw puzzle was an inspiration from my friend Charly who always gives her daughter Flo her bottle cold or at room temperature. We have done the same so now I don't have to heat anything up! Great considering we don't own a microwave -and heating milk up seems to be pretty much the only useful thing about those bulky, ugly things (yes that is why I don't like them - nothing to do with the radiation or anything sensible like that...) Also good for when you are out and about or indeed traveling.
We are following the Baby-Led Weaning method of introducing solids which is fairly simple. Basically baby feeds herself and there is not a mashed up vegie in sight. You can read the book - it makes sense to us and she is thriving on it. She loves her food and just pretty much eats whatever we are eating. She doesn't have teeth yet but she manages to gnaw through bread, avacado, carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli, watermelon, noodles (fun...), pieces of chicken, dry biscuits, bananas, apple, mango and the list goes on. We just cut the food into long thin pieces the right size for her to grab. She will try anything and although it can be a messy process, when I am out with her I just don't give her too many messy things to eat. She does eat cereal in the morning but feeds herself with a spoon that we hand to her laden with the stuff. She is mad for it. For dinner I feed her in her nappy only and then just wash it all off in the bath - easy! Oh, and a little tip to get some hidden fibre into the mix - I dust her watermelon (which she adores) with weatgerm or dry cereal and she doesn't even notice!
Some products that I have found useful in this whole process are as follows:
I love everything Brother Max. Beautifully designed and very functional. This is great to have in the handbag for bottles on the go. The only disappointment I have is that for some reason you can't seem to buy their bath toys here in Australia - Baby Bunting say that they are yet to be put through the rigorous Aussie testing procedures...
Bebe isn't lactose intolerant or anything like that (she eats pretty much everything with the same abandon) but she just liked this better. It is good for babies who do have allergies though and gets great feedback from mums who have had trouble with reflux etc
This is the sippy cup that Bebe like the best. It doesn't spill everywhere and is easy for her to drink from. Not sure if it is meant for milk but it works for us. The only problem is that it really only fits 200ml of formula nd sometimes she wants a little more so I make sure I have another one ready to make up not too far away.
These are from Giggle Monster. They are Aussie made and machine washable. I bought three and use them every day. They take an absolute beating but wash really well and are still looking decent so when I take her out to lunch she doesn't look like a hobo, yay!
I'd love to hear other stories/tips about weaning and feeding and if anyone has a travel story to tell (and I know you do as you tell me in person but then don't post about it!) tell me or post a comment/email and I'd love to share it with everyone else.
Happy travels xx Ali
