When you become a mum, you're open to a whole new world of marketing mumbo jumbo for all the things you 'need' for your new child. And I for one find it baffling and sometimes a little frightening.
Every shop wants you to spend with them and every brand wants you to think they're essential. And some are but some aren't. If you don't do your research, as a new mum you can end up buying a lot of things that you don't really need.
One new example I've seen is the Dettol detergent advert where it suggests your baby's clothes could be covered on bacteria so you need to add their antibacterial agent to each wash to be on the safe side. Is this something that I should be worrying about? Or is it a ploy that just plays on a parent's worries and desire to look after their little one, no matter the cost?
At the moment, we are a little confused about weaning. The excellent NHS emails we get each week have said that you wouldn't wean before six months as baby's tummy is too small and fragile still for anything more than milk. But then again, we've started receiving emails from brands suggesting it might be time for baby rice and some people we know seem to have started weaning earlier.
They say every baby is different and if they seem hungry or start showing an interest in food when you're eating, then maybe it's time to start trying weaning. Ethan has certainly noticed us eating and drinking lately but I think that's because he's becoming more aware of the world around him in general. He still needs feeding, like clockwork, every three hours during the day so we're thinking of moving on to the next stage milk and I guess we will then take it from there. Really, there's only six weeks until he'll be six months old (very scary indeed!) so it won't be long before we're moving onto the messy task of weaning anyway.
If you have any advice or suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I haven't a clue about highchairs or how much to feed them and how much milk to still give, so I'd welcome anyone or any brand who wants to give me some pointers in the right direction.
I was such a panicker when I started weaning Molly. Being a first time mum I read everything I could and really tried to wrap my head around the whole weaning idea. When I started it felt like it took ages for her to eat a significant amount. I wanted her to be eating breakfast, lunch and dinner just like the charts said but she didn't. I did find the charts really useful but I started to relax and follow them as a guide instead of the rules - See I panicked! As soon as I remembered that she will get there in the end I felt so much better. She is still a bit of a fussy eater now but we are getting there! I feed her jars so I can see how much she has eaten (and have less mess to clean up!) but I have really found that baby snacks are great, things like baby crisp so I can put them all over the high chair tray so she can try and eat them and I can eat my own dinner. As for high chairs, I would always recommend a wipeable one rather than a wooden one because I think they are more comfortable for younger babies that aren't so stable as they are cushioned. The toys that stick to the trays are great too. We have one that spins and I spin it and as Molly smiles I swoop in with some food! When she cries, I find a beaker of juice does the trick!
ReplyDeleteOnce she had a taste for food, I reduced her milk intake down so that she was hungry enough to eat, otherwise she had no interest because her tum was full. I still find that if I wait two hours after her bottle, she is ready for some proper food.
This is my blog post about how we started weaning:
http://addingup2bemum.wordpress.com/2013/05/23/hungry-baby/
Good luck! Let me know how you get on!! xx
Thank you so much for your comment - it's really reassuring and very helpful as I'm only just starting to think about it all now. Thanks for the blog link too - going to read it and make notes!
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