Tuesday 28 June 2016

Six Baby Weaning Foods That Are Messier Than You Might Think

The outcome of last week's EU Referendum has turned our lives upside down and the future feels bleak and uncertain.

I am concerned about what the Leave result means for my daughter, but - as those running the country appear to know as little about what will actually happen next as I do - I feel unable to put my worries into words.

So I thought I would focus on a subject of constancy and stability instead.

My baby will always need to eat, and her eating will always create a great deal of mess.

But here are six foods that took me by surprise with the amount of clearing up I had to do afterwards.


1. Breadsticks

These seemed like an ideal snack. So compact and hand-sized, I naively believed I could just snap a bit off, pop it in my baby's hand and she'd merrily chomp away without smearing it all over her face or dropping it.
How wrong I was. Her tight little fists shatter dusty crumbs in every direction, while she sucks it into a sticky cement texture which she then drools and mashes into clothes, carpets, buggies, you name it.

2. Mango

I expected sticky juice from this soft fruit. But I was not prepared for the strings of flesh it would leave behind on every surface it touched. I have quickly learned the best tactic with any baby mess is, "NEVER let it dry!" But all it takes is one filled nappy or crying fit at the end of a meal for you to take your eye off the ball, and before you know it you are attempting to scrape mango off the highchair with a knife. The other day I found some still crusted on to dress that had been through a hot wash.

3. Peas

Don't be fooled by the non sticky texture of these sneaky little vegetables. Their ball-like shape should have been the warning sign. They roll everywhere. I keep finding dried up shrivelled little peas in the strangest of places, days after I last served them.

4. Rice cakes

These are the worst part of breadsticks and peas combined. They seem a great portable snack, but they quickly disintegrate into soggy Rice Krispies which will turn up everywhere, most likely your hair.

5. Pear

Now I clearly am naive when it comes to how much chaos a baby can create at mealtimes, that much we have established. But I was knocked for six by the dirt that pear leaves behind. Bananas and avacados go black and leave dark stains on everything, I knew that. But pear?! If you don't get that into soak instantly then all those pretty, pale, pastel summer clothes will be sullied forever.

6. Broccoli

When the health visitor held a Weaning Advice talk at my Mother And Baby group, my daughter was only eight weeks old and solids seemed a world away. But one thing stuck with me. "A nice thing to try for baby-led weaning", she said, "is steamed florets of broccoli, that your child can hold like lollipops and suck the tops off." How sweet, I thought. Now, kindly tell me what kind of lollipop sheds a slimy green snowstorm all over every surface, so fine it seems impossible even to wipe up?! The worst part was the aftermath in the bath - covered with a film of floating broccoli bits that stuck back onto my child as quickly as I attempted to wash it off.

So now that my eyes have been opened to the perils of weaning, I am resolved to picking spaghetti off the floor and mopping sweet potato from between neck folds - at least I am expecting the result.
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13 comments:

  1. haha! the broccoli in the bath paragraph made me giggle... no matter what you give babies they will always find a way to make it 'messy' - The amount of wipes we went through was insane, and I hated the food in the neck folds lol the hardest thing to clean with a wriggly baby on your lap. I swear my kids constantly looked dirty and unwashed lol ;) #stayclassymama

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  2. Haha, just brilliant! Ohh the messy world of weaning...I was laughing my head off at breadsticks...it looks so easy. Who knew these little bubbas could crush them in an instant with their teeny tiny hands. I haven't tried pear but that sounds like a nightmare! My little girl loves raspberries and she's forever dropping them into the highchair, sitting on them, resulting in a raspberry stained bottom ;-) Thanks for linking with #stayclassymama

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  3. I'm pretty sure my daughter (and me) have never been clean again since she started eating solid foods. I'm with you on the breadsticks/rice cakes - they seem like relatively mess-free snacks, but they make more crumbs than you'd think. My daughter loves broccoli, but the little green bits end up all over her face and in her hair. #fortheloveofBLOG

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  4. Breadsticks are the worst for mess but are so handy at the same time #fortheloveofblog

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  5. Can I add weetabix...they seem so harmless and stick-to-spoon useful. But it's like actual cement. All over your child. #fortheloveofblog

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  6. Can I add weetabix...they seem so harmless and stick-to-spoon useful. But it's like actual cement. All over your child. #fortheloveofblog

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  7. Oh brilliant!!!! It's just so messy isn't it?! All of it?!! Totally with you on the broccoli! I also sat and thought 'oh how cute! What a brilliant idea!' at the broccoli/lollipop mashup effing disaster... WRONG!! Nothing cute about that!! Ive actually given up trying to rid my floors and surfaces of the remnants of old and shrivelled food-it drives my mum insane. I'm waiting for the day we get mice-maybe then I'll do something about it!!
    #bigpinklink

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  8. Oh brilliant!!!! It's just so messy isn't it?! All of it?!! Totally with you on the broccoli! I also sat and thought 'oh how cute! What a brilliant idea!' at the broccoli/lollipop mashup effing disaster... WRONG!! Nothing cute about that!! Ive actually given up trying to rid my floors and surfaces of the remnants of old and shrivelled food-it drives my mum insane. I'm waiting for the day we get mice-maybe then I'll do something about it!!
    #bigpinklink

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  9. The good thing about peas is that if you leave them long enough they go hard and are much easier to pick up (#justsaying)
    #chucklemums

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  10. How is banana not on there? Brown stains EVERYWHERE. Although I suppose it's not something you'd expect to be fairly clean. I hate weaning. My 2.5 year old still makes an awful mess though... Thanks for linking to #chucklemums!

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  11. Haha Fran too true! Thanks for the heads up as I tackle the weaning stage for the second time! Currently I'm bucking the baby-led trend and I'm all about the spoon feeding but I know it's coming! Thanks for sharing on #fortheloveofBLOG x

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  12. Ahhh breadstick and rice cakes are the worst. I hated weetabix too, that stuff was like concrete if you weren't quick enough to wipe it off #bigpinklink

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  13. Haha, it really does get everywhere! Babies can make a mess with anything. #chucklemums

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