Conecta on Facebook

Check out our little guy's claim to fame starring in a flashmob made in a shopping centre close to our home as part of the launch of a new Facebook game called CONECTA which helps to promote social change. 

Check out the video here and the game here 

A Balanced Diet - Food 6-10 months - recipes too!

At 6 months we increased food intake. 

Our little man already had two teeth by this time and was beginning to bite at milk time!!! 

We began giving him porridge with stewed apple for breakfast making it up with water as he refused to take anything mixed with his normal milk. Breakfast was a huge success. From 6-8 months we have gradually added milk so he now has half water and half cows milk with two large desert spoons of oats. As breakfast went down so well we moved on to increasing lunch. He was now able to start with some meat and grains so he was having small meals of mince and veg with rice or lentils or chicken, veg and pasta and loving it all. Gradually over the next two months we introduced egg and fish and began to give him the recipes we would eat minus spices, salt or two many flavours. After each meal he had a small portion of fruit (which I’m told helps to absorb iron).

At almost 7 months old he was having breakfast, lunch and tea and 5 milk feeds in 24 hours. He reduced his milk intake substantially and continued to increase his food portions weekly.

By 8 months he was down to just 3 milk feeds with food portions and variety increasing substantially. He adored food and we never needed to convince him to eat. He had days where he would eat more than others and we kept a relaxed attitude about this knowing that he would eat when he was hungry. We never offered him an alternative to the meal that we had prepared or topped him up with milk but we never let him go hungry. It has been easy to tell with him as he will eat almost anything but I imagine this has to be a delicate balance for those who are more particular about their food. We kept a strict routine on his milk so once we had reduced a feed it stayed that way slowly reducing it ounce by ounce until it was not part of his food intake anymore. This way we were able to monitor how he was eating and be sure he was getting a balanced and healthy diet as he continued to develop healthily.

Now at 10 months he is having a night feed and we have slowly weaned him off the morning milk so that he has some water when he wakes up then a cosy cuddle before going down for breakfast. The plan is to leave his night milk until he is older and able to eat a snack before getting ready for bed but we are aiming to wean him from the bottle by one year and give him cows milk in a sippy cup.

So far he’s doing fantastic and really enjoys sitting up at the table with us for meals. We’re proud to take him out with us for lunch as he eats very nicely and enjoys socialising in restaurants.

Below are a few of the recipes we have tried with our little guy. Please leave us one of your best bites so we can give it a go too!

Chicken, veg and rice mash

Dice a small piece of chicken breast and lightly fry it with some onion and parsley, add some water and bring to the boil, add a tablespoon of rice and some vegetables (we use broccoli, carrots, spinach and sweet potatoes). Leave to simmer until the ingredients are soft then drain off any excess water, mash and serve – this dish is great to make in bulk and freeze and you can substitute rice for other grains

Spanishy omelette with broccoli and carrot

Peel and chop several potatoes then boil until soft. Fry a small onion and add the potatoes to give flavour. Remove from the heat and place in an oven dish. In a separate bowl mix 4 eggs (more depending on the quantity you are making) with a little milk. Poor the egg mixture over the potatoes and oven bake on a low heat until the egg is cooked throughout. Cook some broccoli and carrots and mash then serve as a side dish.

Vegetable bake

Chop carrots, potatoes, spinach, broccoli, green pepper and cauliflower into small pieces and boil until soft. Put 4 large tomatoes into boiling water for 5 minutes until the skins are splitting, remove from the water and take off the skins and chop into small pieces or blend. Fry an onion with some parsley and garlic, add the tomatoes then the vegetables. Mix together and remove from the heat. Place in an oven dish and sprinkle with cheese then bake until the cheese is lightly melted. Mash and serve.

COMPETITION - your chance to win

WIN WIN WIN

It's competition time here at Baby Steps to Independence.

As this weeks post looked at our success story of sleeping through the night we want to help one lucky reader to get the sleep they and their baby deserve.

We are giving away a copy of Tracy Hogg's (aka: The Baby Whisperer) top tips to SLEEP

Here at Baby Steps to Independence our top tip is consistency. Whatever you do to help your baby sleep do the same thing every time so they can become familiar with what is expected at sleeptime.

For your chance to win simply write your top sleep tip in the comment section below (in any language), once you have done this you can get a second entry by liking us on facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/BabyStepsToIndependenceBlog

Entries must be in by Wednesday 12th December and the winner will be announced on Friday 15th December. Good Luck!!!

Sleep at 9 months

We are here.... we have had our first (and since then several more) full nights sleep. 

We managed to wean him off his 3.30 bottle with ease and a colleague suggested I used the next size up in nappies and most nights this has done the trick (either that or his bladder has grown)!

The clocks went forward here a few weeks ago and we decided to try and keep him on his old routine so he would be going to bed an hour later and hopefully get up an hour later too! It worked for a few days and we managed to keep all feeding times an hour later so he is on a slightly better food routine but it was clear he was getting so tired by the evening we decided to put him to bed just 15 minutes earlier and this worked amazingly. He now goes to bed around 7.30/7.45 and gets up around 6. He still has some milk when he wakes up but we have started weaning him off it and so he has around 50mls in a sippy cup. He’s doing really well on his new routine and we are getting a good night’s sleep. Even the nights he doesn’t go all night we only have to change him or lay him down and he goes back to sleep straight away so we don’t feel like we have  very disturbed nights.

Naps have gotten even more flexible but he is so well rested from his night sleep and getting much more active during the day that it is hard to get a good nap routine going. As he seems quite adaptable during the day we haven’t worried too much about this. If he seems tired we put him in his room for a nap. He is napping very little in the morning now and having a longer kip in the afternoon so I assume he is preparing to drop the morning sleep and go for just one nap a day but I will wait and see what happens. If we go out in the car in the morning he normally has a cat nap and this is usually enough to get him through until he has had his lunch. If we’re at home he can nap at any time so we just watch for the signs and pop him in bed when he shows us he’s tired.

This routine has worked really well for us and we hope it continues throughout the holidays (where he will be travelling to different time zones and climates) and into the New Year. 

Mummy's birthday treats

Today we celebrated my first birthday as a mummy. It has been the most amazing day and we have found there are so many things to teach our son about the special days of others.

He has been part of the planning and preparations and making special things for mummy. I had a beautiful handmade card which he and daddy had spent a morning making. We decided to risk the crowds and have lunch at the beach. With lunchtime and nap times in mind we executed our trip so that our little guy was full and well rested and he was an angel at the restaurant. He sat calmly and played with the few toys we had brought with us and we were able to enjoy a really nice family meal. After lunch we let him have a good play on the beach. He has no fear of the sea and happily crawls towards it and enjoys a splash in the shallow water. He ends up covered in sand and quite damp but its so worth it to hear his squeals of joy and see his big smiles.

Today we also had the great pleasure of seeing a marine turtle being release back into the sea. She had been injured and taken care of at the local turtle sanctuary and now fully recovered was being released back to her home. There was a large crowd gathered on the beach but we managed to find a nice space and our little guy even got to touch the turtle before she was released.

It has been a marvelous day and i’m looking forward to the many celebrations that the next few months will bring.

For more information on the turtle sanctuary visit 

http://www.tamar.org.br/centros_visitantes.php?cod=8

Short attention span – a learnt skill?

I have just sat and watched my 9 month old son play with a small toy car for 20 minutes. And we say children have no concentration. Let me share with you how we as parents teach our children that they should be breaking their concentration.

It all starts when they are a few weeks old and begin to fix their gaze on something – usually a light or bright object. We watch for a short time then go in front of them breaking the connection to get their attention and see them focus on us. Every parent does this, why? Because we want our child to look into our eyes. We want to see them respond to us. We want to be part of their small world as soon as we can. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s good to be aware and to choose the moments when we can be present in their world and when we can step back and enjoy observing their new interest.

So, I watch as my son takes his small car and pulls himself up on the sofa and proceeds to run the car up and down the arm of the sofa whilst ‘brumming’. The car falls on the carpet so he gets down, picks it up and pulls himself up again. The car falls again this time onto the sofa; he cruises round but can’t reach it so he pulls on the throw until he can reach the car. He then returns to the arm of the sofa and continues ‘brumming’. He looks at me a couple of times throughout this process and I just smile but don’t say anything and he continues playing. After around 15 minutes of this continued cycle he drops the car but it goes under the sofa. He gives a frustrated squeak but tries to reach it. After a couple of attempts he really can’t get it so he looks up and cries and says ‘mama’. This is my cue to help him. I ask him if he would like me to get the car, retrieve it and give it to him then tell him to say thank you and return to where I was sitting. He looks over at me then resumes his game. Only after a full 20 minutes does he come over to me and leave his car.

First let’s look at the skills he was using and practicing in this time. He used gross motor skills to pull himself up, small motor skills to hold the car, he was practicing his pincer grip to move the car, he problem solved to reach the car when it was out of reach and he asked for help when he really couldn’t get the car from under the sofa. That is a lot to contend with without somebody speaking to you or playing along with you.

If I had spoken to him when he looked over at me I would have broken his train of thought and therefore his concentration. If I had moved to where he was playing or taken a car and joined his game I would have interfered in his stream of thought and therefore broken his concentration. When he asked for help if I had continued to be with him or started to ask him other things I would have broken his concentration. By stepping back and just observing I was able to give him the chance to complete his task and remain concentrated on what he was achieving.

Of course I am not saying we never play with our children or stop them if we need to. Life happens and they have to be adaptable especially in such a demanding world as it is today. I am merely pointing out how it is very easy to teach your child to break their concentration by interrupting them when they are so engrossed in an activity. I have done it on many occasions. Often my son is startled when I speak to him and it is only when I see this reaction do I realise how deeply embedded he was in what he was doing.

As a parent all I can do is try to let him experience things for himself whenever I see he is concentrating hard on something, giving him the opportunity to use the time he needs to complete his task and hope that he has good concentration skills as he grows. Then, enjoy every moment that he chooses to interact with me.

Children learn what they live...

At the Social Good Brazil seminar

As the Social Good Brazil seminar is taking place this week, I thought it appropriate to remind us all that we are role models for our children. 

He is a little poem to inspire us to raise happy children for the world.

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.

If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.

If children live with ridicule, they learn to be shy.

If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.

If children live with tolerance, they learn to be patient.

If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.

If children live with praise, they learn to appreciate.

If children live with fairness, they learn justice.

If children live with security, they learn to have trust.

If children approval, they learn to like themselves.

If children live with acceptance and friendship, they learn to find love in the world.