Freezing baby bolognese

When I do a bulk cook up, I make sure to put a small amount in several small containers for the freezer. These are perfect for dinner for Chubs if she's not eating with us - quickly reheated and easily eaten. Yum!

Toddler tip for going out and about

I have containers ready to go with biscuits, sultanas etc in the pantry. All I need to do is grab and go as we run out the door. I find it much easier to do this in one go once a week or so, than to get a snack ready when we need to leave for somewhere.

Happy World Milksharing Week

I wanted to have this post ready for September 24th - 30th, which is World Milksharing Week but sadly I didn't get it done in time. When I started this blog I said that it would be for my enjoyment, not something that I would stress over, so this post is late since life happened. So, without any further ado...

World Milksharing Week may well be something that you have never heard of before - either milk sharing, or the event. The goal of WMSW is to celebrate milksharing and to promote human milk as the biologically normal nourishment for babies and children.

There are a few things that I want to discuss about donor milk. As usual when I talk about infant feeding and the like, check out my usual disclaimer.

The World Health Organisation recommends four ways that infants should be fed, in priority order depending on the circumstances. Firstly they should be breastfed by their own mother, or if that is not possible then with their mother's own expressed milk. If that is not available, next in line is milk from another healthy lactating mother; either as directly (wet nurse/ cross nursing) or using EBM (donor milk or milk sharing). If milk from another mother isn't available, then infant formula is the next best option.

In our society, we very quickly jump from options 1 and 2, straight to option 4. Option 4 (formula) is still a very valid and necessary option, but I think that option 3 is too often passed over, or mothers don't even know that it exists.

Most people know stories of cross nursing/ wet nursing in the past, and few have a problem with that. It's actually a quite romantic notion in many people's minds. However, if someone feeds another woman's child these days, it's so controversial that it makes the news - seriously. (I'm not saying that what happened in this story was ok or not of that the reaction by the relevant people was or wasn't ok; I have linked to it to show the horror and outrage which often accompanies stories like this.)

Of course, there are many factors when it comes to deciding what is the best thing to do in a particular scenario, and there are as many different reasons for a baby receiving human milk from another mother as there are babies who do. Here's a selection of possible scenarios:

- Baby is left with a friend/ aunty/ babysitter who also happens to be lactating. Mother and babysitter agree beforehand that baby can/ should be breastfed by the babysitter; either in the event that s/he won't take a bottle or the mother may even not leave a bottle in the first place, knowing that human milk with may be safer than EBM (depending on the circumstances) is readily available

- Baby is left with a friend/ aunty/ babysitter who also happens to be lactating. Something happens - a bottle of EBM or formula gets dropped or leaks in a bag, the baby wakes up unexpectedly and won't resettle, baby is very upset and won't calm down or take a bottle, mother gets stuck in a traffic jam and can't get home in time. Since the baby has been left in the babysitter's care, she does what one would expect, and she acts as she sees fit in that circumstance. In the same way that she would put a bandaid on a skinned knee, or give a cuddle after a fright, or to give a time out for naughty behaviour, she decides that the best thing to do is to nurse the baby. She may have the opportunity to ask the mother if this is ok (if they hadn't discussed this before) but she may not. The mother may be uncontactable, or the babysitter may be too concerned with calming the hungry, screaming child in front of her (and probably her own child(ren) is/are there as well if she's lactating) that she acts in what is, in her opinion, the best interests of the child - as the mother who has left her child with her would expect her to do.

- Mother cannot reliably supply her own child with any/ enough human milk. This could be due to a 'production issue' such as Insufficient Glandular Tissue, complications from previous breast surgery or perhaps the mother is taking medications which are incompatible with breastfeeding, such as chemotherapy. (Side note - very few medications are incompatible with breastfeeding, but that's a for another post...) Perhaps she can't provide her child with enough milk due to circumstance - maybe she works away for weeks at a time and needs to pump and dump, maybe she is an exclusive expresser but despite all the best practise she can't keep up with her baby's(ies?) demands. Perhaps the breastfeeding parent is a transgender man who has had breast reduction surgery. In this circumstance, the family may decide that using donor milk (also called milk sharing) is the best option for their family.

Sometimes milks sharing is a one off, occasional thing involving small amounts of milk; sometimes it is ongoing, constant and the main or sole source of nutrition for the baby. Obviously the risks which surround milk sharing need to be considered and it would be foolish and irresponsible not to do so. However; when considering this risk it is important to compare the risks of milk sharing to the risks of formula feeding, the risks of bottle or other feeding device use, the risk of not breastfeeding.

There a few main things to be considered when it comes to risk. Here is an excellent peer reviewed article which addresses many of the key issues in great detail. It is particularly concerned with peer to peer milk sharing versus formula feeding.

To my understanding, milk sharing falls into pretty much three types

- Direct feeding eg cross nursing/ wet nursing

- Peer to peer milk sharing/ donor milk. A mother pumps breastmilk and gives it to another mother, who then feeds it to her baby usually with a bottle and/or a Supplemental Nursing System (SNS). This happens directly and milk is usually sourced/ donated through informal means - friends of friends, advertising on parenting forums/ magazines and/or through organisations such as Human Milk 4 Human Babies.

- More formal donations through milk banks, where mothers donate their milk which is usually then pasteurised and combined with the milk of other mothers. There is usually no contact between the donors and recipients.

Here are some of the arguments that are often expressed with concern to milk sharing.

Safety: How can you give your precious newborn child milk from some random that you met on the internet? How do you know that it's safe, that they don't have diseases or take drugs or that they have sterilised the pump and stored the milk properly?

This is generally the concern with peer to peer milk sharing - very few people seem to have problems with banked milk. Again, this is a topic for another post but many seem more prepared to trust a more formal, organised milk bank with policies and equipment and rules than another mother. As I said this is a whole different discussion, but it's prudent to point out here than banked milk is not available or suitable for many women.

Firstly, very few places have human milk banks. They are found in only a handful of capital cities, so if you don't live there, tough luck. Secondly, milk banks rightly prioritise their limited resources (financial and lactated) to those who need it most - sick and premmie babies. If your baby is healthy (or becomes healthy) then banked milk isn't available to you. Thirdly, banked milk is not suitable to all families. For example, Muslim women believe that it is their religous duty to provide their child with breastmilk and that babies who share milk from the same mother have a sibling bond. They therefore need to know where all of their donated milk has come from, as their baby has formed a sibling bond with that woman's (women's) children and therefore can't get married when they grow up. In a bank situation the milk from many different mothers is mixed together and the recipient cannot trace it back, so that would be unsuitable.

How can you give your precious newborn milk from some random you met on the internet? Perhaps I can look at this another way (and please keep in mind my usual disclaimer).

Instead of looking at formula baby food, perhaps we could look at it this way. Another animal, usually a cow, pumps its breastmilk (uddermilk?) and this milk is donated to/ given to/ stolen by someone else. The milk is taken from this mother (the cow) and is combined with the milk from lots of other mothers (cows). No information is kept about which individuals have contributed to this milk pool, and there is no way to know any of the health information about the donor (cow) mothers or about the age of their babies (calves). No information is known about how the milk is collected, stored and transported. After being transported it is highly processed, modified and supplemented. Very little information is available about these procedures. No information is available about all of the 'randoms' (that is, all of the people who have been involved with the process) to the families of the babies who use this milk. This process is all performed by for profit companies who place infant's health second to their own profits and are therefore professionally involved in misleading mothers. This cross species processed milk is then widely available for sale as one for two culturally normal options for the feeding of previous newborns.

When you consider formula in this light, does donor milk really look so strange? Donor milk involves a human mother willingly donating (not selling) human milk to another baby who, for whatever reason, is unable to receive his/her mother's own breastmilk exclusively. The mother(s) are (or become) known to the receiving family. They know where they live, the age of their babies, that their babies are human. Generally receiving mothers ask for blood tests and medical histories about the donor mother, as well as information about any medications, diet and alcohol consumption. They mothers generally discuss milk collection and storage procedures. Yes, the receiving families are trusting the honesty of the donor mothers that they are doing what they say - but remember that formula using families are trusting the formula companies for the same thing, which is by no means reliable. (Melamine anyone? Salespeople dressed up as nurses with quotas to fill? Goodnight milk?) I admit that when I first heard of donor milk from people you don't know, I was dubious about it; however, when you consider how much we don't know about formula (and consider acceptable) then I think it paints donor milk in another light.

Remember that all things in life are about assessing the risks of taking a particular form of action (or not taking it). I again link to this peer reviewed article which details a lot of the issues.

This is nutso extreme. Yes, breast is best but you gave it your best shot. Come on - you have IGT, you are one of the women who genuinely can't breastfeed, aren't you the type of person who is allowed to use formula totally guilt free? Isn't driving around to other women's houses to pick up milk and check blood test results a little extreme?

I would also like to point out something that a friend with IGT said to me. One of the biggest criticisms of those who talk about the risks of formula feeding or the benefits of breastfeeding is that this shouldn't be done because it makes mothers who can't or don't breastfeed 'feel guilty'. However, the marginalisation of mothers who choose to use donor milk and the scaremongering around the risks donor milk are extreme and in my opinion shameful.

Again, 'extreme' is a relative position. Feeding your baby purchased, highly processed milk of another species when there is same-species milk available may be considered 'nutso extreme' too.

It has been with mixed emotions that I have noticed more media coverage about donor milk, particularly peer to peer milk sharing. Firstly, the coverage has in general been pretty unimpressive and full of scaremongering. However, the fact that these articles are finding their way into mainstream tabloid newspapers itself seems like a good step to me, because it is normalising the use of human milk.

I also want to thank three groups of people here. Firstly, I would like to thank the mothers who willingly donate their milk to other precious children who need it. Secondly, I would like to thank those who are advocating for milk sharing, and thirdly I would like to thank all those who support the donors and advocates.

I encourage mothers and families to be aware and informed of the risks and benefits of their chosen way of feeding and how it relates to their particular circumstances, and the risks and benefits of avoiding certain ways of feeding.

Yay for milk!

Linked
Linked

Happy birthday to my breastfeeding baby

I posted about how Chubs turned one not long ago and we had a wonderful rainbow party for her. She is definitely a toddler now, not an infant. She is walking (running actually), knows a few words (Mum, Dada, ta, NanNan, stop and just this week, socks and dinosaur. I'm not kidding) and a few signs, had the most adorable pigtails and loves to dance to any music she hears. She recognises her favourite characters, will wave to puppies and people, can get off the couch or an adult bed safely and can play peekaboo. Heck, she even squirts antibacterial gel on her hands and rubs them together when we leave the petri dish that is daycare (that's my little germaphobe!). She is certainly not an infant. She's a walking, dancing, breastfeeding little girl.

It is not common to see a breastfeeding toddler. Indeed, I was first asked if she was almost weaned when Chubs was four or five months old - we hadn't even started solids yet. In Australia a little over 20% of babies are breastfed at 12 months (1) and many fully wean soon after. It is even less common to see a toddler breastfed in public. This is partly because some women find it easier to avoid the critism and just feed at home, but also practical - a toddler is not a newborn, and a toddler can be expected to wait for a feed if it's not convenient.

A toddler can also be expected to use her manners. We taught Chubs the sign language for 'milk' which she uses when she wants a feed. I much prefer her to look at me and make the sign for 'milk' (which is oh-so-cute) than to whinge and scratch at my shirt front. She is a big girl, she can use her manners. I love that when she's done she says 'ta' and pulls my shirt down to cover me up again. Of course, there's the phrase 'if they can ask for it, then they're too old for it'. Well, using that logic, Chubs has been to old since the day she was born. She 'asked' for a feed then by rooting around with her mouth, by sucking her fists and by crying. She can ask for a drink of water now by pointing at her sippy cup. She can ask for a story by picking up a book and bringing it to me - she will even swap books from my hands if she wants a different one to the one that I was trying to read to her. So using that logic, she's too old for a drink of water and a story, too. Even when she is old enough to say 'Mummy, can I have a breastfeed please?' it's not her need and desire for breastfeeding which has changed, but her cognative and language development.

So why am I still feeding her? In summary, because it is good for her, it's good for me and it's biologically normal. Nutritionally, breastmilk can provide a toddler with 31% of energy, 38% of protein, 45% of vitamin A, and 95% of vitamin C daily requirements (2). She's been a bit coldy recently and we've been trying to get her to eat some mandarins for the vitamin C but she's not been a fan. When I saw that statistic I relaxed a lot. It's a great food which is perfectly designed for her.

The immune benefits are huge - even if you ignore the nutritional and comfort benefits. If you could go to the shop and buy some sort of  'toddler immune supplement', imagine the claims they would make.
- Immune boosting properties
- Perfectly designed by a human antibody making machine
- Tailored exactly to the specific environment that you live it. Get antibodies to many of the diseases you are likely to come in contact with, both over your life time and in the short term.

Can you imagine how much of that would get sold? I can give that very substance, full of my antibodies, straight to my daughter for free, and yet I still feel the need to justify it?

The benefits of breastfeeding, of course, are more than just the properties of the milk itself. The comfort and closeness of breastfeeding is beneficial for both mother and baby, indeed the whole family (see Dear Husband's comments below.) A breastfeed can soothe a skinned knee or a shove from another kid at the playground. What's the harm in that? Many people comment on breastfeeding as shown in 'The Slap', where it was often used to avoid discipline. The problem there is not with the breastfeeding itself but the way it was used, in the same way that anything can be used as a distraction to avoid discipline. A feed to reconnect after a day apart at daycare/ work, a feed to sleep or to resettle at night or a feed after a tumble off the climbing frame at the park - a wonderful way to soothe and comfort my precious girl. There is no evidence to suggest that breastfeeding causes clinginess or emotionally needy children, indeed the opposite is often the case. She will grow out of needing to suckle for comfort, just as babies grow out of needing to suck on a dummy/ finger, needing a teddy or a blankie for comfort or needing to be swaddled at night to sleep. She will grow out of this when she is ready, or I will encourage her to wean if I'm not happy to keep feeding, but while we are both happy and both needing this connection, it will stay. Indeed, some women (such as those who have rare conditions leading to chronic under-supply like Insufficient Glandular Tissue or those who have intitated breastfeeding for an adopted baby/ child) breastfeed their child for small amounts of milk for its non nutritive benefits, and then feed the baby with a bottle for the bulk of their food requirements.

Dear Husband says that his attitude has changed. 'Now that I realise the health benefits of breastfeeding a toddler, I don't look at Chubs and think 'she's too old'. I think that we're doing the best for her health and her future by continuing and I'd rather do that for her than for her to have artificial / processed foods.' He also added about breastfeeding an older baby in general 'Some women can't and that's ok, but I think it also fosters a much more nuturing feeling in the home. It's really nice that Chubs will be playing on the floor with her toys and then she'll pop up and do the milk sign, it's a nice loving atmosphere to have'.

The World Health Organisation recommends breastfeeding for two years and beyond; and not just in third world countries, either. Dr Katherine Dettwyler (an anthropologist) has extensively studied weaning ages in other animals, particuarly non-human primates. She compared the weaning age of other mammals (particuarly large body weight non human primates) against factors such as length of gestation, weight gains, teeth development and age of sexual maturity. Using these studies she has determined he natural age of weaning for humans - that is, the age at which weaning would proably occur without cultural influences - to be between two and a half and seven years of age. Many refer to breastfeeding past 12 months as 'extended breastfeeding' but I'm not a big fan of that phrase. If it's the normal timeframe that someone should feed for, then what's extended about it? That's like saying that because we can keep babies born at 25 weeks gestation alive through artificial measures, then having a pregnancy last nine months is 'extended pregnancy'. I think the phrase 'full term breastfeeding' is more appropriate.

Now it's easy to say what things would be like without cultural and societal influences, but of course we do live within a society with expections, norms and influences. For example, gorillas can wean at whatever age they want; that doesn't change the fact that Chubs goes to daycare while I'm at work, which is obviously a hurdle in our breastfeeding relationship. 'The real world' is were we live each day, so to pretend that it doesn't exist would be foolish and unhelpful. However; here's perhaps the best thing about breastfeeding a toddler - I've already done most of the hard work. Chubs is a healthy little girl who enjoys a diet of many foods and is not reliant on breastmilk for all her nutrition, indeed some days she has very little breastmilk at all. There's no rushing home for a feed any more and it's much easier to plan feeds around a glass of wine, rather than the other way around with a pumped bottle, 'just in case'. I've not left any pumped milk for her (except at her nine/ ten hour long daycare day) for months. At 12 months my milk supply is 'practically bulletproof' - I no longer need to worry about a missed feed (or two or three). Cracked nipples, leaking and engorgment are a distant memory of last winter. Yes, breastfeeding an older baby does bring some new challenges. Since six months we've faced challenges of biting (with teeth!), sore breasts from acrobatic feeding and supply drops during my periods, but the bulk of the hard work is done. Most of the benefits for a fraction of the work - woo hoo!

I will be dropping my pumping session at work from this week, which will make a HUGE difference to my stress levels during the work day. No longer will I need to pack up the breast pump the night before, charge the batteries, pack the ice packs, go through the nightmare that was trying to fit pumping sessions into an impossibly tight teaching day, take home my expressed breastmilk in the cooler, scald the milk to inactivate the lipase and put it into labelled bottles for the freezer, wash the pump parts, recharge the batteries and then pack it all up again the next day. Once I've finished up my small freezer stash, Chubs will have soy milk or cow's milk at daycare.

I have to thank a close friend and colleague for her support during my pumping journey. We're a bit tight for space and there is no free room available at my work that I can pump in; not even a store room or something like that. (I don't have my own office but share a staff room with ten other teachers.) I've been using her office to pump in for the last six months and I really am indebted to her. If it wasn't for her letting me use her office to pump, then I'm not sure what I would have done. Had it not been possible to pump at work, then worst case scenario would have been early weaning. Thankfully I was able to avoid that. It was inconvenient for her since she needs to use her office to you know - do work in, so I appreciate that she made the effort to reorganise her day so that it would be available for me as much as she could. To thank her for her support, I made this cake to express my thanks. (See what I did there :) )

I put little milk bottles on it since they don't make little breast pump lollies.
I hope you're all impressed that I made it from scratch, too!

Breastfeeding a toddler is not only good for Chubs, but it's good for me too. Breastfeeding past 12 months lowers my risk of osteoporosis, breast cancer, ovarian cancer and anemia (3). In the same way that breastfeeding helped my body to recover from my (hellish) pregnancy, it is still helping my body now. I love that we have our special time together - well, most of the time I love it, sometimes it's frustrating out of my mind, but aren't most things with a toddler? It's a great tool for getting her to sleep and back to sleep - I'm sure I get more sleep because of breastfeeding than I would otherwise. If for no other reason than that it's a good idea! Mummy loves her sleep... :)

So, where to from here? Well, simply - on. Breastfeeding is beneficial and enjoyable for everyone in our family, so we will continue. Perhaps Chubs will wean soon on her own, perhaps I will encourage weaning. Perhaps something will happen which will force weaning; I don't know. There are two people in this breastfeeding relationship and we will continue while everyone is happy.

Do I think that everyone should breastfeed their toddler? Do I think that everyone should breastfeed full stop? As I've mentioned before, I'm a keen advocate for breastfeeding, I think it's an important public health issue and I obviously talk about it a lot. I feel that it is a responsible thing to speak out about unethical advertising of formula companies and to normalise breastfeeding. However, how a particular family choses to feed their child is totally their business, and none of mine. I fully respect others' choices as to how they feed their children and at what age they wean. There are as many different feeding/ weaning stories in the world as there are children and that diversity is to be celebrated. Please don't read this post as me telling others what to do. It's about me sharing our family's journey so far and the reasoning behind it. If you can take something from it which you think is worthwhile for your family, then I feel honoured. This is not an anti-formula post in the slightest, but a celebration of my precious breastfeeding relationship with my beautiful walking, dancing, breastfeeding little girl.

Linked

1 - Donath and Amir, 2000
2 - WHO/CDR/93.4
3 - Mortensen, K. Lactation Resource Centre

Stewed plums and KASAD3: Sandwich

I made some stewed plums for Chubs a few weeks ago. Although the plan did not work out as I had intended, it was successful none the less.

I bought one and a half kilos of plums as they were on special. I left the skin on and cut the flesh (and skin) off the seeds. I then put the flesh into a bowl with some water - too much water it turns out - and microwaved it.

When I blended the cooked plums with the stick mixer, it was so runny it was like thick juice.

I kept going and blended the plums until all the skin was cut up smooth, and then I poured it into ice cube trays for freezing.

I also poured some straight into Chubs-sized plastic containers for daycare lunches - I added Weet-bix to these containers (with no milk) to thicken the plum pseudo-juice up. I used the ice cube blocks to mix in with other frozen fruits which were thicker.

It didn't work out how I intended, but I was very thankful that the plums didn't go to waste. There's no point being frugal and buying fruit on sale if it doesn't get eaten. All the plum pseudo-juice has been eaten now, so I'm very glad that it could be salvaged.


Now, for KASAD3: Sandwich

Today's square is another square which is quite quick to knit up - it could be a nap time project if you're a fast knitter (or if your little one has long naps!) As with the Beach square, it only uses knit stitch and the pattern comes from changing colours so it's not a complicated square.

Square 3

Materials

- 8 ply yarn. Small amount only of C1 and C2, approximately 30g of each. Scrap amounts of C3.
- 6mm knitting needles
- yarn needle to weave in ends, scissors to cut yarn.

Skills and difficulty
Beginner knitter
- cast on
- cast off
- knit stitch
- changing colour at the end of row

Colours
In this example
- C1 is yellow
- C2 is pale blue
- C3 is dark green

Procedure
1. Cast on 32 stitches in C1
2. Knit every row (work in garter stitch) for 20 rows (10 ridges).
3. Change to C2. Knit every row (work in garter stitch) for 8 rows (4 ridges).
4. Change to C3. Knit 2 rows (1 ridge). End of C3
5. (Repeat step 3) Change to C2. Knit every row (work in garter stitch) for 8 rows (4 ridges). End of C2.
6. (Repeat step 2) Knit every row (work in garter stitch) for 20 rows (10 ridges).
7. Cast off and leave a 50cm tail.
8. Weave in beginning end and butterfly the tail.

Return to all the KASAD posts

Daycare packing list - updated

I blogged earlier about Chubs' and my packing lists to make sure we have everything we need for work/ daycare. In theory, and generally in practise, these mean that I don't need to drop Chubs off without everything she needs (although I often forget to pack a wet bag for her...) and that I'm not overflowing with milk but missing pump parts.

In a few months the list have changed though. We have been able to get Chubs down to one bottle at daycare (although she still feeds 3 - 6 times during the day when she's with me and 2 - 4 times overnight.) I'm also able to cope with only one pumping session at work which frees up a lot of time (ie, 15 mins which is HUGE) during my crazy busy day.

Here's the lists which are current now. I've also made a few annotations...

Night before jobs

- Chubs lunch - bottles + teat, breakfase, lunch, two snacks, biscuits, rusks, dummy

- Mummy lunch

- Batteries on charge The catch here is to actually DO this, not just to write it on the list...

- Ice packs in freezer

Chubs' daycare bag

Night before

- Sheet bag – top sheet, bottom sheet, bunny rug , white hair brush

- Drawstring with 6 cloth nappies, wet bag Add the wet bag in! Don't forget the wet bag!

- Spare clothes – long sleeved romper, onesie, singlet, jumper, socks

- 3 disposable nappies

Morning of

- Lunchbox

- Blankie (in sheet bag)

Mummy work gear

Night before

- Breast pump bag with flanges, diaphragm, valve, 1 bottle, 1 lid, 1 sealing disk, motor, battery pack

- Lunchbox

- Book bag

- Computer bag and charger!!!!

- Anything else?

Morning of

- Computer

- Keys + nametag

- Lunchbox – lunch, ice packs

- Breast pump – add batteries which you remembered to charge last night, didn't you...

- Anything else?

Purple carrots

A while ago we found purple carrots at the supermarket. I had seen them before from a relative who grew them, but I'd never seen them for sale in the supermarket before (or since).

The tasted like normal orange carrots, but creamier and a little bit sweeter. These were very, very juicy. They had a texture like beetroot as well - softer than orange carrots but still firm.

I cooked them up for Chubs by microwaving them with a little water, then I blended them up with the stick mixer and froze in ice cube trays. You can see how the pigment leeched into the water - it looks like beetroot juice here.

Chubs loved them and they froze well. I can't belive how strong the pigment is. As well as staining my hands, when mixed up it's practically impossible to see any other vegetable. Tonight she had purple carrots, pumpkin, green beans and chicken. When I mixed it together it looked like purple carrots with tiny bits of very purple chicken; the pigment is so strong.

That day I also bought some purple sweet potato - it must have been the day for purple vegetables at the supermarket! When I peeled the purple sweet potato, it was white on the inside.

It tasted much more like normal potato than orange sweet potato. To be honest, I wasn't too fussed on it. Chubs didn't mind it, but I only ever gave it to her when it was mixed with other veggies.

What less-than-common foods have you discovered?

WFMW - Packing list for baby and Mum

Today's WFMW is about helping things to go more smoothly in the day to day crazy-ness that is life. I work part time and Chubs is in daycare on those days. I do several things to make these days the least stressful as possible, and one of those is packing lists.

Chubs' day care bag (and the un-vacummed floor...)

Below is the list of what I need to do the night before, as well as what needs to be packed and collected each morning.

Night before jobs

- Chubs lunch - two bottles + teats, lunch, snack, biscuits, rusks, dummy

- Mummy lunch

- Batteries on charge

- Ice packs in freezer

Chubs' daycare bag

Night before

-         Sheet bag – top sheet, bottom sheet, bunny rug , white hair brush

-         Drawstring with 6 cloth nappies, wet bag

-         Spare clothes – long sleeved romper, onesie, singlet, jumper, socks

 

-         3 disposable nappies

Morning of

-         Lunchbox

-         Blankie (in sheet bag)

Mummy work gear

Night before

-         Breast pump bag with flanges, diaphragm, valve, 2 bottles, 2 lids, 2 disks, motor, battery pack

-         Lunchbox

-         Book bag

-         Computer bag

-         Anything else?

Morning of

-         Computer

-         Keys + nametag

-         Lunchbox – lunch, ice packs

-         Breast pump – add batteries

-         Anything else?

Our packing list is printed out and is stuck on the 'command centre' at home. The 'command centre' is just a wall where we have the calendar, small whiteboard, notes etc. Any extras for that particular day (hopefully) get written on the whiteboard.

Obviously your packing list will look different to mine, depending on what your family's needs are. However, having a list means that Chubs and I still have what we need, even when I'm in a sleep deprived haze. Packing lists work for me!

Spaghetti Bolognese

Today was a big day for Chubs - and for me as well. It was her first taste of Spaghetti Bolognese - both the meal, and the song. As an Australian child of the 80s (who's mother was a kindy teacher no less) I've long had a soft spot for Peter Combe. When he started playing shows for adults, all my dreams had come true! Well, not all of them - now I get to listen to them with my very own Miss Clicketty Cane.

Baby Spaghetti Bolognese
Makes 10 small baby portions, suitable for freezing

200g crushed tinned tomatoes
250g ground beef/ beef mince
1 cup uncooked soup pasta (or other small pasta)
One cup steamed brocolli
Three carrots, cut and steamed

Brown the mince and add the tomatoes. Cook for 5 - 10 mins until all cooked though. Boil the pasta for 8 mins or until soft - a little bit overcooked is ok. Blend the steamed veggies. Divide the bolognese, pasta and veggies evenly into 10 containers and freeze.