Glorious food

It is so much fun teaching Stardust how to enjoy his meals. Stardust eats well and is quite adventurous - happily eating foods in a wide variety of flavours, colours and textures. He approaches new foods rather apprehensively, but I am pleased that he at least gives everything a taste. If he rejects the new food outright, I usually take it away and try re-introducing it a week or so later.

Not all babies are ready for solid foods at 6 months, which is the recommended age to begin weaning. Stardust certainly was not ready for solids but I was in a hurry to get him weaned at the time, which meant that mealtimes during the first few weeks were rather a struggle.

Limited mealtimes are a big help in maintaining my sanity. If Stardust is refusing food or eating reluctantly, I will end his mealtime after 45 minutes and just assume that he's full. I know some very patient and longsuffering parents spend an hour or more trying to coax their baby to eat. However, I personally feel that it is not worth the stress just to force another 2-3 teaspoons worth of food into a protesting baby who is just plain tired of sitting still.

One another thing I refuse to do at mealtimes is try to entertain or distract Stardust so that he sits still long enough to eat. At most, I'll sing or talk whilst feeding him but I will not prance around with the spoon pretending it's an aeroplane. He isn't allowed any toys either - the only object he holds in his hand during mealtimes is a damp cloth for wiping spills.

Once we got over the initial difficulty of weaning, everything just fell into place. I love how his face just lit up today when I brought out a steaming bowl of stewed pumpkin, golden and smelling of sunshine. And how his eyes grew big and round when he had his first bite of it.

Mama's little baby loves pumpkin, pumpkin
Bebop-a-lula, pumpkin pie!