Baby Rice Recipe

  

The first solid food that we are weaning Raven on is baby rice, I am making this myself as a lot of shop bought baby rice is full of sugar. We are giving this to Raven at about six thirty or seven in the evening after we have ate dinner, so we can focus on solely feeding her when its time for her dinner.
Below is my recipe for my homemade baby rice, its super easy and quick to make too!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 of a cup of blended white rice, organic or brown rice into powder form (this can be kept in a container in the fridge for up to a month). 
• 1 cup of water.
•  Breast Milk or Formula.

1.  Put the cup of water into a small saucepan and boil on high heat.
2.  Once the water has boiled turn down to a low heat.
3.  Measure out your rice powder into a cup.
4.  Sieve the rice powder into the hot water, a bit at a time and stir to get rid of any lumps of the rice powder which sometimes sticks together.
5.  Cook on low heat for 10 minutes, stirring the whole time; if you want the mixture to be runnier then add hot boiled water (from the kettle) into the saucepan and again stir until the mixture is even.
6.  When done, put into a bowl, let cool and stir every five minutes to prevent a sticky mixture. 
7.  Before serving add breastmilk or formula to make the mixture a little runnier. This also make the taste of the baby rice more familiar to your little one.

  So that's all, like I said its super easy!!  Make sure to have many cloths and baby wipes on hand as feeding this to your bubba will get really messy!!

V xx

17 weeks old!!

  Today Raven is 17 weeks old!! Let the weaning commence! Regarding the weaning, the reason we started weaning at 17 weeks old is because our health visitor thinks that Raven is ready and so do we. If you would like more information on why we started weaning at 17 weeks then please refer back to my blog post that I posted not too long ago about this. With the weaning we are starting with baby rice, that is homemade by me, in the evening. I shall be posting a blog post of my recipe and how I make the baby rice up. I am soo excited to try our little one on big girl food and I will keep you posted in due course with how its going.
 
   This week, our little princess has been trying to sit up even more like the previous week and she is still super chatty and now Raven has finally started to laugh!! Hearing her cute little giggle for the first time made my heart melt and of course we had to video it, so that we can look back on it in the future.

   Ravens sleep however still has not changed, she is still waking every hour or two for a feed and a cuddle with mummy. No matter how exhausting the lack of sleep has been, I know that her sleep won't hopefully be like this forever.

   So that's pretty much all for this week, until next time!

V xx
 

Whats in my changing bag?!

 

 We go out at least four days a week down to our town to go and get shopping and to go to the library, we are out for about two hours each time and during this time our precious little girly likes to have a very loud poopie. So as you can imagine we have to have our little bag of changing essentials on us. 

   Below I have listed all of our essentials for any Mumma's that are a little unsure:

1. A pack of baby wipes and a spare pack if we are half through the first pack. We like to use unscented sensitive baby wipes, as they are extra gentle for little bottoms.
2.  Four nappies as you never know how many times your little one may poop. Also its good to have spares, just incase something happens to some of the nappies.
3. Nappy bags to bag up all of the used baby wipes and dirty nappy, to prevent less mess.
4.  A tiny tub or tube of sudocrem to prevent any sore bottoms. 
5.  Four vests, four all in one baby grows if its cold outside or if its hotter four dresses or t-shirts and trousers. Bringing extra clothes is extremely important for leaky nappies. 

   So this is what we take out with us, its pretty basic but everything is completely essential. We also just pack the essentials so we do not have to carry extra. I hope this post helped any unsure Mumma's.

   V xx

Normalising Breastfeeding

 

 I am a breastfeeding Mumma and there makes me nothing prouder than my body being able to nourish my precious daughter and to cater to her every need. I think that breastfeeding is magical and the bond that it creates between Mumma and bubba is truly amazing. I think that every mum should try to breastfeed their little one unless there is a medical reason because of the many benefits that it brings. PS, I'm not mummy shaming for the mothers that haven't tried it as every one has their own preference on how they want to feed their baby.

   Recently companies like Adidas and Aldi have advertised women breastfeeding, I must say I think this is incredible as companies seem to now be jumping on the band wagon for all of us breastfeeding Mumma's and are showing the world that its a normal and such a natural thing. Why should we have to hide us feeding our baby. Everyone has to eat, so do breastfeeding babies.
 
   A biggie for a lot of mothers is feeding in public and around even family members, Its such a shame that in this day and age a lot of us are being shamed for feeding our children out in the public eye. But why can't we, again our babies need to eat. If someone can sit in public and eat something then why can't our baby eat, its just the same isn't it.

   I personally, at first, did feel a little strange feeding my baby in front of others. I used to constantly think to myself, am I making people feel uncomfortable and I used to worry about what others thought. However, luckily for me, I got over this pretty quickly. I even feed Raven on a bench in the middle of a busy shopping centre. But I do not care anymore, I'm not going too starve my child for the sake of someone else feeling uncomfortable or on their opinion.

   I get very mixed looks from people when I feed  my bubba in public but I just look back and smile to whatever their opinion may be. I have had people smiling at me for being such a confident breastfeeding Mumma and I've also had some horrible looks but I don't care. My baby will always come first.

   I know that some of you may be thinking that, it isn't always that easy to just be carefree about this subject and feeding your little one out and about. But its okay, just think about what your little one needs. You will also never probably see these people that have looked at you in a nasty way ever again, so please don't worry Mumma's. Be strong and do it for all of us breastfeeding mummy's. I send you all of my love and support.

   PS, If you want a super inspirational breastfeeding Facebook group then I highly recommend joining: Milky Mommas (Breastfeeding / Lactation / Human Milk Feeding Support). The support here is amazing and nothing will make you feel better than knowing that there are many of us out there.

Ta Ta
V xx

16 weeks old.

   Raven is 16 weeks old today, I cant believe that she is nearly a whole 4 months old!! The time has gone soo quick and the last week has flown.

   This week Raven has become a super smiley baby and even more talkative and her cheekiness is unreal. We are still waiting for that little giggle to arise and we are hoping that its just lurking around the corner.

   She is starting to nap better throughout the day now, very two hours for about twenty minutes or so. Last week Raven was struggling to nap at all and was soo soo fussy because of it. However this week because the naps have become easier, I think this is why she is not as grouchy. She must get that from me as I do not survive well on little sleep even though that's what mummyhood is like now. Which is completely worth it for our little munchkin. On the subject of sleep, Raven still isn't sleeping very well at night however our health visitor has advised us to start weaning as she thinks that this is a sign of Raven being ready. For more about Raven weaning I have previously written a post about what our health visitor advised. Raven also starts weaning next week! Which mummy is super excited about doing. So stay tuned for my recipes for my homemade baby rice and vegetable and fruit purees. 

   Something that has taken me by surprise, but obviously in a good way, is that it appears that Raven is trying to sit up. ALREADY!! I cant believe how quick she is growing up, she also now hates laying down when being held but loves being supported slightly to stand up and to sit up to observe the world around her. She also likes watching abit of TV here and there, which gives Mumma time to do some odd jobs around the house. 

   So this is our progress this week. Its just so amazing, how so much can change in the space of seven days. We cant wait what she is going to learn in this coming week. 

PS, this is Ravens progress from the start of week 15 to today, week 16.

Ta Ta,

Vxx

Weaning at 17 weeks.

  

For the last week Raven has been a little terror; She has been waking every hour or two during the night, when she was sleeping for four hours at a time. She has also been struggling to nap during the day which has been making her super fussy throughout the later part of the day. As we do not have a dummy for Raven, this can be even more challenging.

   We had a lovely visit from the health visitor today to talk about weaning and to check on Ravens progress, during this visit I explained what has been happening with our darling little one, the health visitor actually explained that Raven could be very well ready for weaning at 17 weeks alongside still breastfeeding her until she is two years old, so that she still gets all of the health benefits of mummy's milk. Raven has also been showing other signs of her being ready: she can sit up now with little support and hold her head steady and because she can now pick stuff up and put things in her mouth.

  Well I am super excited about starting our little one on big girl food in two weeks time as she is currently 15 weeks old, originally I thought that it was only possible to wean her from six months but there is actually research that says that weaning early has no effect on your bubba as long as you wean properly with the recommended food which is some fruit and vegetables and baby rice only, until six months old. I also know that a lot of people have very strong views on not weaning until six months of age however I think it completely depends if your baby is ready, as every baby is different and it also depends on what your health visitor recommends, as at the end of the day, they are health professionals and are trained about everything to do with our little ones. If you have any questions or are considering weaning early at 17 weeks then I would highly recommend that you speak to your health visitor about this, if you haven't so already.

   So I will be making my own baby rice and baby purees, alongside some baby led weaning. I've decided to make my own baby food as its a lot cheaper and friendlier on your purses, you know exactly what's going into the food and quite a lot of store brought baby jars have high sugar contents. Also you can freeze any purees that you make so it doesn't take too long to make every time you feed bubba, for any working mammas especially.

  I will be updating you all on how the weaning goes, and I will also be posting all recipes that I use.  Until next time.


  V xx