Baby Love - the 'bible'!

I was around 6 months pregnant when I bumped into an old work colleague who had a 6 month old baby. She told me that motherhood was ace but I had to remember one thing - buy Baby Love. She told me it's the baby bible.

So next time I was at the library I borrowed a copy, and had a bit of a read. It looked very helpful, but I wasn't willing to buy a copy at that stage.

However, once Lewis came along, and I realised I couldn't live without it (and couldn't have the library copy on loan permanently), so I bought myself a copy and also bought it as a gift for 2 pregnant friends.

Since then, other friends with babies all use it as the main reference point for baby-related questions. "Have you checked the bible?" is a common question in my mothers group.

I think it's pretty interesting, considering the internet has meant to have superseded books...

Recipes ideas for 6-12 month olds

Here are some recipes that are quick to make and nutritious! I recommend making a large batch and freezing in ice-cube trays or meal-sized containers. These are tried and tested on my 7 month old baby. 

I don't believe in over-pureeing - a quick whiz with a stick blender should do it. Lumps are good - it teaches them to move onto more solid foods. I supplement these 'mushy' foods with steamed vegies and cheese that my baby feeds to himself. He loves it! He also loves toast. I list these finger food ideas below too.

First foods 4-6 months: Tips and ideas

We started feeding Lewis solids a bit after he turned 4 months. He loved it from the first mouthful, and is still a big eater.  Baby Love was very helpful in telling you how to introduce solids and when to introduce certain things, but I thought it might be helpful to others to tell you how we did it. So here goes:

Lewis' first music festival: Golden Plains 2011

I always said I'd never bring my baby/child to Meredith or Golden Plains music festival. I couldn't understand why these parents wouldn't just leave the kids at home so they could have fun?

I skipped Meredith (the boyfriend went), as Lewis was only 4 months old, but we purchased Golden Plains tickets in advance, as I assumed we'd be able to leave him with the grandparents for the weekend. Which we could have done, except that we couldn't leave him for two nights! He was just far too little still - and often waking in the night. We couldn't make the grandparents get up at all hours.

So as the time got closer we realised we would have to take him with us, or miss the festival. So I went and bought a massive family tent, ordered him some ear muffs and bought jars of baby food.

That Raising Children DVD is actually pretty good...

You know the one? They give it to you at the hospital.

They really should give it out earlier, and then perhaps people would watch it! I watched it when my baby was about 2 months old, and I wished I'd known a lot of the stuff a bit earlier. (For example, how to wash bottles and prepare formula, mothers stories about how breastfeeding was difficult/didn't work.)

I told everyone at my mothers group, and they all came back the next week (after watching it) and said the same thing. The families in it are great, Dave Hughes is funny, and it makes you feel a little bit more confident, as the people in it didn't know what they were doing either!

The Raising Children Network website is also very good. Check it out!

Lewis' food/milk/sleep routine at 7 months

Lewis in now 7 months old and has been on 3 meals a day since 6 months. We started him on solids when he was 4 months, as he was sculling his bottles of formula and wanting more, and was also seeming interested in food.

This is how I'm structuring the day at the moment.