Baby Recipe: Fish, Potato and Bok Choy

So we're pretty much decided to pull out any stops as far as feeding Luka.  We figure if we introduce him to interesting food now (we hope) he will be an adventurous eater like his mommy and daddy (and know a little bit more about how to prepare food when he one day gets married than either his parents did).

This week, Chris prepared him an array of delicious food (seriously, you could serve it to guests) including
this delicious boiled fish, potatoes and bok choy (not kidding).

To prepare:
Boil some potatoes on the stove, when soft, remove the potatoes from the water and set aside
Add some deboned white fish (Dory, Tallapia) to the potatoe water, boil until cooked
Steam some bok choy (add some fresh garlic)
Mix all together with a hand blender/bar mix
Spoon into ice trays, freeze overnight
Dump the cubes into a ziplock or Tupper, label and date

Note: each cube is roughly equivalent to 1 tablespoon (Tbs)

To serve:
Remove desired number of cubes x number of feeds, place each feed into a small tupper with a lid and thaw on the counter. refrigerate as needed.

Going Green

Hmmmm...should I really be eating something that is
luminous green???

As the son of an environmentalist it was probably just a matter of time for Luka to get his Green on!  Ha, just another way of saying that we managed to introduce his first green food, his daddy's favorite when he was growing up, peeeeeas.  Not sure about the mushy green mush at first, after a nice breastfeed and some mango, he eventually took all of it, so who knows what the strategy there is - end result though - pretty cute photos.

Aaaah, not so bad afterall!

Bananarama!

Yummie banana!

Self-feeding training. Lesson 101 - m o u t h.....

So, since moving to the tropics, 'solids training' has taken somewhat of a leap forward.  I guess tropical fruits such as mangoes, bananas and avocados are all the rage on a baby's palate as Luka is practically helping himself from the refrigerator these days!  Of course I blamed ouma for feeding him all the good stuff and no vegetables - so I ensured we had some sweet potatoes and butternut in the mix this week as well, and yes, loved it.    

Behold the newest Foodie in the Family

Breakfast in bed!

The prep-phase

While I am a strong proponent of  'Breast is Best', there comes a time in every infant-son of food-loving parents to make the jump to delectable dishes like....rice cereal!  Trust me, this important step is much to blame for this post, and pretty much, most of the feelings of being overwhelmed in the last week.  A quick search online will give you an indication of just how complicated and controversial introducing solids can be in a normal term baby - let alone to a premature infant that is somewhere between 3.5-5.5 months old.  I mean, do we go by the old WHO 'breast-only for the first six months', or the new WHO guidelines of 'breast-only for the first 4 months', and if so - which four months or six months exactly are we talking about, his birth age (which means his digestive track's real age) or his corrected age (meaning his developmental age) - you see my point here....

'Presentation is Everything' right?
Just because it is not Kobi Beef does
not mean we can't have white linens.

So, once I got back on my motherhood horse after a few blows this week, (we won't go into low weight gain issues, low milks supply - leading to rented pumps and miles driven for Medela parts in the Southern Peninsula, herbal supplements - and just general overwhelmedness and under-decisiveness) meagerly mom (and darling daddy of course) decided that guidelines are exactly that, there to guide us - and in the end, guidelines don't make decisions for Luka, we do.  So with the  blessing of Luka's paed and encouragement from a few great nurses - we embarked on the big Solids phase!  Nothing too crazy in the beginning, just some rice cereal (gotto work him up to that seared Ahi and all), and after the initial 'hey, what's-this-weird-stuff-in-my-mouth-tongue-thurst' - Luka seems to really like it!

"Release my love, or be slain by my
spoon!"

We have started on breakfast only, after a breast feed - with his porridge as 'breakfast-in-bed'.  We make it lots of fun (thanks niggie) and allow him to play with the spoon after the feed (which, proud mommy can say he managed to jam into his mouth - okay, and his eye a couple of times).