The road to BLW

So, as much as I like to think of myself as some kind of maverick Momma, winging my way through the daily terrors of newbie parenting whilst routinely spurning the advice of the mammary militia and only occasionally checking Netmums to see if my son is normal, today I took the decision to wean my bundle of loveliness in a, well, rather trendy manner.

I'm not one for 'the masses'.  My opinions are rarely shared by the many and I like it that way.  Being beige is not for moi. That said, I would have thought that by the time I turned 40 I would be a proper Mummy. You know, all serious and twin-settee and four-wheel-drivey.  Instead, I found myself newly pregnant,  incredibly sick (and sober) and still, STILL harbouring a seriously teenaged attitude towards anything average.  And hippies.

Being an only child doesn't help with this problem. I've been around very few babies in my life and showed exactly zero interest in them until I turned 37, met the man of my dreams and came over all hormonal and unnecessary. 3 years later we ditched the pill.  3 months later I was duffed up.  It just kinda happened and believe me, I know how unfair that is. We didn't expect it and we are enormously grateful for the ease with which it happened.  Still, that meant that I had to do something that I found truly terrifying.  I had to go out into the world and MEET OTHER PREGNANT WOMEN!!

Or at least I thought.  Isn't it funny how as soon as you fall pregnant you become public property?  All of a sudden everyone wants to give you their advice and quiz you (and judge you) on each and every aspect of pregnancy and parenthood.  I should have known to block it all out at the exact moment I wee-ed on the stick but instead I found that not only was I taking in all the inane crap that was coming at me, I was judging myself on it already.

That's how I ended up signing up for NCT classes. Big mistake. HUGE! So huge in fact that by the time we reached the last session (which was SIX HOURS LONG!) both myself and my beloved had regressed so far towards teen angst riddled rebellion that we BUNKED OFF! We even came up with an excuse, rang the instructor at a ridiculous hour so we'd get the answerphone (we'd been allocated sausage rolls and crisps for the last day lunch so felt we had to pass the pastry torch along.  I know.  It's ridiculous) and panicked when her husband answered and we had to lie in real time! And all this with the added piss take of a 200 quid bill for our (dis)pleasure!

There's only so much emotional blackmailing about breast feeding and natural birth that this girl can take.

AND I had gestational diabetes so I couldn't even eat the obligatory shit biscuits at each session.

AND the course leader was a hippy. 

And so, when at 38 weeks and 2 little days my darling boy arrived and stole my heart away, I decided to try and be rational about all this parental advice stuff (I mean, I am a scientist.  We're a generally level headed sort) and never again allow some braless, hemp flour biscuit making, ugly long skirt wearing crone make me feel like I wasn't good enough.

Not that I didn't feel crippling guilt when, after a week in hospital thanks to dodgy blood pressure, jaundice and other assorted nasties my milk STILL handed come in, or that I didn't cry when the Doc made me give my baby a bottle.  But I'm not perfect.  And my body is not perfect. And my wonderful partner is, well, a man, and hence not perfect.  And my son will not be perfect. But he is utterly beautiful :)

I have absolutely no idea how months 0 through 5 occurred in what literally seems like 10 minutes, but here we are.  1 week off 6 months old.  Incredible.

And scary.

Because it's weaning time!!!!!

Once again we find ourselves in the realm of advice givers.  To use a spoon or not to use a spoon?  That seems to be the question.

Both myself and my partner are from a generation of almost purely bottle-fed, spoon-fed babies.  We managed, right?!  But if all this hype about self-feeding is true then it's gotta be worth a try, right?  And hey, what's cuter than a baby with food on it's head?! 

So this blog, in a nutshell, is a diary of our adventures in baby led weaning.  It's gonna be messy and I'm not gonna lie, the urge to grab a spoon is gonna get me sooner or later but let's just see.....

Here we go.......