I'm Weaning on a Jetplane...

Ok, I'm not really but it felt like a good day for a pun and it nicely tied into the travel theme of this blog. Huzzah!

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:

Brother Max milk powder dispenser

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...

Karicare Goat's Milk Powder

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

Mag Mag Sippy Cup

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.

Long-Sleeved Bibs

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

Things I can't live without # 7

This post probably should be entitled 'Things I can probably live without but don't want to...' as there are a few things that are downright luxury items. But there is one new item I have discovered and I cannot believe I didn't find it before now.

Milkies Milk-saver

How has nobody told me about this?! I stumbled across it online as I was looking for advice on breastfeeding. If I had had this product when Bebe was born I would have rarely had to express and may have had an easier time trying to get her on a bottle! If you have read my blog before you will know that I was very slack and didn't keep up the bottle feeds from early on which meant that my baby girl was very reluctant to take anything but the boob (for those interested today we had a break through and she guzzled 100ml of formula from a sippy cup - hurrah!).

Basically if, like me, you leak from the other breast when you breast feed this product is invaluable. I have always leaked quite a bit when I feed and have thrown out litres of precious breast milk in breast pads. Even now, 6 months down the line I now save about 40ml during her first morning feed which I can then use on her cereal (I am no longer trying to get her to take expressed milk but going on to formula). If you are using this from the start you would probably want to express a bit at the end of feeds so you get some of the good hind milk also as this only really collects foremilk. You can also attach a milk saver bag to it so it really can collect as much as you can deliver!

Genius.

Sheepskin stroller liner 

We use this in the stroller and in the car seat if going on a long drive (one of our car seats is lush but the other one needs this as it is a bit sparse in the luxury stakes). It is cool in summer and warm in winter and Bebe loves it. What's not to love?

Grass Counter top drying rack

File this under 'things I can probably live without etc...' It is rather handy though for sippy cups/bottles, dummies etc as you can keep it nice and clean and the items are ever lying in their own water as they dry. You can also put the whole thing in the dish washer to keep it sparkly. I also looks rather ace on the counter top. I can pretend I am mega healthy and growing my own wheat grass...

Merino Kids Go-Go bag

This is totally lush and was given to me by my oldest and dearest friend Lizzie. We started to use it when Bebe was about 5 months old and it is so handy and lovely. It has holes front and back so you can keep baby in it while puting in and out of car seat/stroller which is really handy when you are out and about and baby is sleeping (for instance when you take her to the Leonard Cohen Concert at Hanging Rock and she hangs out until she falls asleep in this and then goes into the car and into bed without waking up - precious!)

Food Holder

A few companies make this (we don't have this exact one) but they are all pretty good I think. Bebe is a self-feeder (we are following the 'Baby-led Weaning' book which is working really well for us) so she doesn't need her veggies in this but on a hot day she loves a block of ice or a frozen block of homemade stewed pear. Yum!

That is enough for today methinks.. I am going to write about the sippy-cup weaning thing next so if anyone has anything to add to the discussion then please do!

x Ali