Maddox is officially done with "baby food". He has decided that he no longer likes mush of any sort and will only eat that yummy stuff that big people eat. From the beginning, I have made all of his baby food in my own kitchen. My friends tease that I am attempting to pass as a 'supermom' but now that I look back, I think I partly started doing it out of guilt brought on by my failed attempt (gasp) at breastfeeding.
The entire 8 months that we knew about Maddox before he actually arrived, I talked about the joys of breastfeeding and read pretty much every book ever published on the subject. My husband was just as excited as I was and even went to nursing classes with me. Lots of people warned me that I may have trouble and not to blame myself if I decided not to breastfeed, but of course I reassured them that I would be nursing my child, end of discussion. I had friends who stopped breastfeeding after several days or weeks and told me their accounts of what went wrong but truthfully, I just thought they didn't try hard enough or didn't REALLY want to do it (sorry guys).
Making purees was really super easy, and we saved tons of money. I just steamed veggies and fruits and either mashed them up or put them in the blender. Then I froze them in ice cube trays so I could get out individual servings. Pureeing is easy, but as I said earlier, Maddox does not like them anymore. Needless to say, coming up with meals for him that are both healthy and edible for someone with only one tooth has become a challenge. These books have been soooo helpful!
The entire 8 months that we knew about Maddox before he actually arrived, I talked about the joys of breastfeeding and read pretty much every book ever published on the subject. My husband was just as excited as I was and even went to nursing classes with me. Lots of people warned me that I may have trouble and not to blame myself if I decided not to breastfeed, but of course I reassured them that I would be nursing my child, end of discussion. I had friends who stopped breastfeeding after several days or weeks and told me their accounts of what went wrong but truthfully, I just thought they didn't try hard enough or didn't REALLY want to do it (sorry guys).
Well, after about 7 weeks, I quit nursing. After 7 long weeks of tears, frustration, pain, and resentment, I had to quit...for my own sanity. I dreaded feeding him. He would nurse for sometimes up to an hour and then want to eat again 45 minutes later. He could never get the hang of latching on, I had mastisis twice, and to make matters worse my c-section incision became infected so I was constantly running a fever. Not to mention my husband left for Iraq the day after Maddox was born. ( This was not a good time for me to say the least.) I started to resent my own son and that was the point that I knew this had to stop. Although I know it was the best decision for us, I still feel guilty sometimes, so to ease the guilt I made all of Maddox's baby food. No jars for him ...okay maybe occasionally when I am exhausted he eats Earth's Best organic "Sweet potato and chicken dinner" but don't tell anyone :)
Making purees was really super easy, and we saved tons of money. I just steamed veggies and fruits and either mashed them up or put them in the blender. Then I froze them in ice cube trays so I could get out individual servings. Pureeing is easy, but as I said earlier, Maddox does not like them anymore. Needless to say, coming up with meals for him that are both healthy and edible for someone with only one tooth has become a challenge. These books have been soooo helpful!
Annabel Karmel is wonderful! She has tons of other books about superfoods for babies and toddler meal planners.
I love this book because it is really practical and the recipes are mostly quick and easy, which is essential when I have to cook 2 seperate meals for dinner.
I just want my kid to be healthy so if there are any little things that I can actually do to ensure that, I will. No, I do not yet don a cape and matching heels...but yes, at the end of the day, I want to feel like I am doing something good.
ok, ok, i just have to say, this post, and the previous post are PERFECT together! love it! :)
ReplyDeleteMegan
I NEED to check these books out! Lil Mootz is still eating baby food, but we're slowly introducing big people foods. There are times though when I feel like maybe he's not getting a well balanced meal.
ReplyDeleteYou and I were in very similar boats. My hubs deployed 5 days after Lil Mootz was born and I had a c-section and I really wanted to breastfeed. I managed for 6 weeks before I had to call it quits. My issue was I wasn't producing enough milk. He would eat and then less than 2 hours later he would be hungry again, but I was still empty, so I would have to bottle feed him every other feeding. I read that pumping can help get things flowing more, so I started pumping, but then he was only breastfeeding like every 3 feedings because I just wasn't replenishing fast enough. After 6 weeks I had to just call it quits because I was getting so frustrated and mad.