Better than any self-help parenting book and guaranteed to have you either laughing or crying with us. Join us on our journey of discovery and diapers where the wheels on the bus just keep going round and round and round...
As Jerry queued to buy our salt-ridden snacks, I got myself, Drew and Harry settled in a quiet corner of this devil's dwelling, plopping Harry in a highchair.
As I started to feed Harry (home-cooked and defrosted roast dinner I should probably point out), I felt like all eyes were on me. I'm sure people were thinking 'how could she bring her kids in here?' and to be honest, I was thinking the same.
Jerry bought fishfingers for Drew and after she refused to eat them as they 'didn't look right', Drew ate a selection of cheese, breadsticks and fruit from Mummy's 'safe' snackbag.
One week away from her 1st Birthday, Harriet has started waking up through the night.
The only thing that makes her go back to sleep?
More milk
I'm not talking about a few ounces. I'm talking about a whole extra bottle. That's before 9.30pm. Then she'll wake again in the early hours for more.
What's going on? Why is Harriet SO hungry? We even give Nursery an extra meal to feed her at teatime as each day we picked her up, she was crying and visibly hungry. That seemed to work for a couple of weeks. However, she's still not getting enough it seems.
Surprisingly, my Health Visitor has suggested that Harry is using ALL her calories and needs more. Something I also didn't know was that babies use up a lot of calories due to an illness or infection and Harry has had her fair share of illnesses, so it makes a lot of sense. So, we need to give her higher calorific foods and the surprising bit is that means...things like Rice Pudding mixed with double cream, Butter on bread/toast instead of margarine, Full Fat Cheese Spread, Bananas mixed with double cream, Chocolate Mini rolls.
It's so weird because I'm so used to giving both Drew and Harriet snacks to fill them up such as fruit, rick cakes, healthier baby biscuits, dried fruit. Not ever would I think to give them anything like I've listed above. It's worth a try though so I'm will be stocking up with everything I need to fill her up ready for tonight...we SO need to catch up on sleeeeeeeeeeeeep!!
For those of you who are nodding and saying - "ooooh that's the same as my baby", PLEASE see your Health Visitor first. Every baby is different and the weight/height/development of your baby needs to be considered before changing to a higher calorific diet. Harry is not overweight or underweight, but she is up on her feet and walking with help, so she needs that energy and at the moment, she is using every little bit and its not enough.
For reference, I've made a list of calorific foods you can try:- High Calorie Foods for Babies / Toddlers Avocado Pork Cocktail Sausages Thomas the Tank Engine Yogurts Chocolate Buttons Full Fat Cheese Apple Sauce Sweet Potato Pears Peaches Butter Chocolate Mini Rolls Porridge (with cream)