Julien first sprouted teeth when he was 4.5 months old. They were the 2 bottom front teeth. I have to say it felt magical looking at those 2 little teeth. They are so white, so straight and so tiny! Having been used to a toothless Julien, it was rather odd indeed to look at Julien with his 2 little pearlies. And I remembered how excited we were at the thought then of introducing food to Julien. We went to buy some baby porridge and I bought a book of baby weaning recipes. He was neither impressed by the porridge nor the fruit purees.
Next, he ignored the 2 top front teeth and grew his left and right fangs instead. He looked like a cute little vampire for a while. By then, he was quite happy with fruit purees. I also tried the popular brand of organic baby food - Ella's Kitchen. Apparently all the rage among hip mummies in London, they are packaged in brightly colored pouches, where you can squeeze out the contents in a spoon for Junior or have it straight from the pouch, sucking it out easily - Jules loves to have it that way. In fact, he really loves Ella's Kitchen and has actually learnt to recognize it now. He is all ready to eat once you show him the pouch. I have tried tasting the stuff myself and have to say it is indeed yummy!
Early this week, I spied the top left front tooth coming out, and 2 days later, realized I was mistaken - he was having his 5th and 6th teeth at the same time; both top front teeth were coming out. Wow! And he's 7+ months now, so he is ready to try the Stage 2 weaning foods. Hmmm... That means tasty vegetable bake, fabulously filling fish pie, chicky chicken casserole and delicious beef stew! I think I am ready for some Ella's Kitchen myself! :)
But try as I might, he would not take to the Stage 2 foods. I have to confess that I am much tired out from waking up at night for his night feeds - he wakes almost every 3-4 hourly for a feed - and so have stopped making food for him. Instead, I have been turning to store-bought food. It seems that he would eat the Stage 1 store-bought food but would turn his nose up at the Stage 2 foods. I suspect that this is because the Stage 1 foods were mostly fruit purees, so he likes the sweet stuff, but does not like the savory Stage 2 stuff. Also, the flavors were more complex, so it is probably something that he does not feel comfortable with yet.
I started to worry that my boy is not getting enough nutrients, especially iron - the baby's store of iron does run out after 6 months. I read about how an iron deficiency can cause anemia and was desperate to make sure he gets his iron.
Daddy Low is away from us for a week for work and I decided then to use this week to help Julien get into a sleeping/feeding routine. Up till now, Julien is still having night feeds and I really want to try to get rid of that. I went online to look for 7 month routines as well as asked frens and found that 7 month olds seem to be eating a lot more than my dear Julien! And I thought, "Maybe that's it - I have been starving my baby, so that's why he can't sleep through the night!"
With that thought in mind, I was determined that my baby will not go hungry into the night and so devised a detailed routine where he would not only have his milk, but also proper meals of rice, meat, veg and fruits. I got all revved up and spent one evening, when Julien has gone to bed, cooking up a storm.
The problem with weaning a baby is that every portion has to be small because their capacity is not there yet. But it is impossible to cook with little amounts, so I ended up cooking and freezing them in individual food storage containers. I made 2 flavors that night - (1) chicken, carrot and potato, and (2) fish, sweet potato and pak choy vegetables.
You can imagine my disappointment, when Julien refused to eat. I was half upset and half indignant. Upset because I was banking on these to get more food into him and make him full, so that he can sleep through the night, so that I can sleep through the night! Indignant, because it was nice food! And after all this work too! :(
And then, I thought, maybe it's the discomfort of all these new teeth growing out .... No wonder he has been in a rubbishy mood! He wants to be held all the time, threw up his milk once and have more poo than usual 2 days ago. And his appetite has been half of his usual. They say every tooth coming out generally takes 3 days to ease up - so, I think we are over the worst, since the teeth have cut through the gum, peeping at me like little gems hidden in the sand.
It is funny how all the babies grow differently in their own way. Although they are all around 7-8 months now, their growth and development does not go in the same sequence. Baby Lewis is the leader of the pack, being the first to flip, sit, crawl and can now pull himself upright against supports. Yet, he has no teeth. Jules is a record-teething baby, but still inches himself awkwardly along when he tries to crawl. Dun get me wrong, Jules gets places alright, but he is nowhere as fast or as fluid a crawler. And with that many teeth, you would think that Jules would be chomping his way through food paradise these days. But no, my dear boy makes feeding time a marathon event. The way he fights me, sometimes you would think we are in the boxing ring too! Anyway, it's just really interesting how nature works itself through the different babies... But fast or slow, they all get there eventually :)
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