Sippy Cup to Beaker?

Alongside my ongoing concern that the babe should be using cutlery, I am now thinking that I should be thinking of moving her onto an open cup. She discarded her bottle at 12 months and has happily used a hard spout sippy cup for all her drinks ever since. She is however taking more or more interest in drinking from my cup or mug and I have always been led by her so ….

Amusingly, her attempts to drink from mummy’s cup are, whilst successful, more like lapping than drinking. In the manner of a small dog!

The Doidy Cup may just make all this easier and is recommended by all the Amazon Mum’s out there. I’ll give it a go and report back.

I am however aware that the babe will reach these milestones in her own time, whether or not I stress about it. Motherhood – easier said than done.

Toddler poo problems

After a week out of the blogging game I am coming back with the unusual mix of toddler nutrition and harem pants. Let’s deal with first things first. The babe has struggled with her poos from being a tiny thing. (It runs in her family bless her). I gave her water in between feeds when she was three months to help and anticipated drama when she moved to solids. Whilst weaning wasn’t disastrous – the babe is a tremendous eater and there are few things she won’t sample – each new food introduced had to be given an opportunity to get out of her system again before we new what trouble it might cause.

I think I have been pretty good with what I give her to eat. I bought a brilliant Beaba Babycook which I would highly recommend and which ensured early weaning friendly purées in minutes. I succumb to Ella’s kitchen fruit smoothie pouches for ease but how bad can 100% fruit be? Well, it turns out pretty terrible for a toddler with a sensitive digestive system. Despite the best efforts of my somewhat old school health visitor, the babe has struggled with her poos for at least 6 months.

My lovely childminders who I frequently praise on the blog took it upon themselves to point out to me that some of the stuff I was giving her to eat was really not helping. Some might take offence but I was soooo grateful. They know I’m a mum who only wants the best for her girl and will do anything in her power to make her life easier and I’m confident they respect me as a parent. So why not take a little advice from parents and carers who have a lot more experience in life and child rearing than me. Taking her off her favourite bananas and substituting pears and apples was a big one. (Bananas are all sugar apparently). Red meat and pasta together are almost impossible for small children to digest. (Out went her favourite homemade spaghetti bolognese and in with the ratatouille). And all per packed foods for children have massive amounts of sugar in them, natural or not, that exacerbates any digestive issues. (Even her Petit Filou yogurts have been switched for Greek yoghurt and fruit purée, very tasty).

When I went to pick her up tonight I discovered that the childminders had bought me two recipe books to help me and congratulate me on my success. How lush. I may now need to seek out the health visitor who told me that the babe should be eating the same meals that we eat all the time……

My other promised topic was harem pants. I am a big fan and I am too for the babe in summer. When she was tiny she had some gorgeous white linen ones, long ago too small. Imagine my excitement when I came across some new ones in Next yesterday. Gorgeous detail and a good price for a lovely quality item. Still available online at £11. The shot is of the babe sporting her harem pants in portugal last summer. She was the grand old age of 5 months….