Happy six month birthday to my little baby Luna! There are only three days until Christmas but I am so much more excited about the fact that I have looked after a baby almost every day for half a year!
This week we attended the Daisy Christmas party where I ate lots of biscuits and cake whilst chit-chatting with the other Daisy mums. On Monday, Dave and I attended a settling in session at Luna’s nursery, ready for her to start one day a week next year. She was absolutely fine and didn’t cry at all when we left her. The other baby at the session appeared distraught at the thought of her mum leaving her for the hour, but Luna just chewed on a wooden toy and barely noticed me leaving. All those people saying I was ‘making a rod for my own back’ by picking her up, breastfeeding her on demand and breastfeeding her to sleep, cuddling all the time and not letting her cry, should take a look at what a confident, funny, and independent little girl Luna is already, at just six months. I completely believe that you cannot love a baby too much!
I’m looking forward to Luna being at nursery because it means she will be right next door to me and I can feed her at lunch times. The other thing I get nudged about a lot is when I am going to stop breastfeeding, because, you know she is six months now. From a purely economic view, I can’t actually understand why I would replace something that is free and perfectly tailored, for something which costs money and is for a different species of animal. So the answer is: I will stop breastfeeding whenever Luna is ready whether that is six months of 2 years!
Continuing with the crazy, hippy, breastfeeding lady theme, I finally followed some amazing advice and froze leftover breastmilk to make little teether lollies. Luna absolutely loved it. I tried to feed it to her, but being the independent baby she is, she just pushed my hand away, However I then put it down on her tray and she straight away picked it up and started sucking and munching on it. Her face was a little confused at first – I guess she has never had anything ice cold on her little gums before, but after a few seconds she obviously realised she recognised the taste and was delighted.
On Tuesday, I popped along to my breastfeeding group, Honeysuckle Cafe. Now that I work on a Tuesday, I don’t get a chance to go anymore, but I had the day off and it was really lovely to enjoy a cup of tea and cake, whilst chatting to other mums about anything and everything, including feeding issues.
The most exciting thing about Luna turning six months old is that we can start weaning! After a LOT of research, we are going to try Baby Led. This basically means missing out the puree and mush stage and going straight to suitable finger foods – letting the baby feed themselves. It is great for appetite control as the baby will stop eating when full instead of being force fed until the parent thinks the baby is full. This follows one really well for babies who have been exclusively breastfed as they will have excellent appetite regulation already. The downside is that it is very messy as babies tend to throw food and play with it before they actually learn to eat it. I’ve got my sleeved bib, splash mat, and crinkle cutter ready!
The first thing Luna tried was sweet potato. I mashed it, and reformed it into chips. She mushed it in her fingers before eating a teeny tiny bit. There was a bit of gagging but I wasn’t worried as she wasn’t actually choking. The next thing she tried was broccoli. We went out to Miller and Carter with Zoe, and I ordered some steamed broccoli for Luna. She held it all night and was really pleased with herself. She did have a little lick but I don’t think she actually chewed and swallowed any. We then tried sweet potato and cod fishcakes which I made from farm shop ingredients. She wasn’t at all interested. Next, we tried Asparagus whilst out for a meal. She held it and licked it but no actual swallowing, yet again. Finally, we tried banana which she mushed in her hand and then dropped on the floor. I have read that the new textures can be very overwhelming for a baby who has only every chewed on plastic toys, so it can take a few day or even a couple of weeks for them to actually eat anything. But that is all part of the fun of Baby Led weaning.
Luna is the funniest, happiest, and most beautiful baby and I am so excited for what the next six months bring!
