It has been awhile since I have written on here so here is an update of what has been happening for these past 6 months.
Lets start with solids as that is a big milestone at 6 months old.
It was exciting to give her her first taste of food as she had only ever consumed breast milk so this mummy was determined to see how Ella would react. I started her off with a 2pm solid feed as she seemed happy at this time all rested from naps. Her first food was purred banana. I didn't want to bother with the baby rice cereal stuff as it really has no nutritional value. It was so hard to get her to open her mouth and spoon feed her this but after a few taps on the mouth and taste of the banana she finally let me spoon fed her. She only had a few spoon fulls so I usually ate the rest of it. It was like a daily smoothie for me, tasted gooood!! It felt like forever to get to her eating I cannot remember the order of what I feed her but I just eventually started giving her different fruits cooked and cooled pear and apple then I moved on to giving her vegetables such as carrot pumpkin potatoe kumara. While I was getting Ella into solids she became very fussy with taking naps during the day again and I was really struggling and was starting to become obsessed with getting everything right and organised as I am a person who runs more smoothly when there is routine. I turned everywhere to solve my problem of getting Ella to sleep during the day. I was getting frustrated and angry it wasn't working and Ella was getting more and more overtired. I swear I tried all the tricks in the book. I ask for advice for family and friends and also from the ladies on the mummy group on the facebook even look at website on the internet I called plunket and healthline and still I was obsessed with no real plan to get Ella sleeping. I spent a lot of my day stressing out about it and crying. Enough about that where was I that's right SOLIDS..once ella was enjoy her fruits and veges I started introducing meat by mixing it into her veges and she wasn't to keeen but with time she was being spoon by me and was actually enjoying it by the age of 8 months. Must of been because she started crawling at 7 and a half months old. All that crawling must of worked up her appetite. I ened up buying Ella baby food from the supermarket as it was becoming to time consuming and a waste of food to make it myself so I brought baby food pouches. I pick the fruit one mostly as she like banana the most and I started picking the more meat and vege ones. So preparing her meals was much easier she either ate it cold straight from the pouch or I heated it in a bowl in the microwave for about 20-30seconds on med.high. So it took from 6-8 months to get her eating lunch and dinner which was only few spoons and it slowly increased day by day till i felt she was ready for breakfast. I never pushed breakfast on her because she never really wanted it as she just get a breastfeed first thing in the morning even sometimes she wouldn't have breastfeed in the morning either because of the 2 night feeds she had.
Ella started crawling at 7 and a half months.
Not long after that she was moving across furniture and reaching out to other furniture across from her so she was getting mobile quicker than a thought a baby would.
By 8 months she was a successful crawler and was already looking ready to stand on her own as she was standing for more and more seconds each day, went from 2 second to 4 to 8 and so on.
At 9 months old Ella and i had become bit more relaxed with her sleeping for naps and at night as I thought to myself is it really worth the effort and energy when all it is doing is stressing her and I out so by 9 months she was sleeping really well and with that she was more comfortable with eating solids. She eats what we at this point a little bit mashed then how i would have my food but the same stuff and she loves getting messy and squashing her food through her finger and rubbing it all over herself and her high chair. I brought a high chair from a friend of mine so I got a awesome deal and didnt have to pay much at all. Overall the 9 month mark of being mum is so much more relaxed for me but it still isn't easy but I am coping so much better.
Between 10 month old and now 11 month old Ella cut her first tooth. The top middle left tooth look so cute when she bites into biscuit and leaves a tooth mark. So these part two months has been tough because of this teething business going on so sleep has been a little tricking for my little one and she is wanting to chew and bite anything and everything. Glad she has not bit me yet. She has been wanting to breastfeed a lot more and has been rather clingy towards me and it driving me crazy though I do like the cuddles. To this day today Ella is cutting a second tooth but it is playing pee-a-boo and hide and go seek so it playing on her gums. I'm rubbing teething gel on her gums and sometime giving her pamol and it seems to be helping especially before meal and before bed.
So summing this all up life as a young mum has been a wonderful journey for this almost one year of it. Im proud to be still breastfeeding and never needed to spend a cent on formula for my baby. I'll wean my girl when she is ready as of now she is far from it.
