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Article Mummy led weaning

By Lee-at Jacobson
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35 Comments

Ok, confession time. I am a useless and disinterested cook and I don’t really care.

I once attempted to make a cake and used cumin instead of cinnamon. Turns out banana and curry cake is not a winner.

Luckily, I married someone who is rather good in the kitchen and is happy for me to be his sous chef of sorts. I can chop and prep rather well.

It’s not you. It’s me.

Well, that’s the way it was until kids came along and as the “primary carer” I was expected to keep the kid fed. This was all going swimmingly with the aid of my boobs and formula until of course the day we hit solids and I was expected to cook. Like actually make stuff.

My anxiety was compounded by mother’s group where conversation pretty much revolved around 2 set topics, sleep and food.

“Baby M just loves my quinoa and kale tuna patties”.

“I’m definitely going to do baby led weaning. It’s the only way.”

“You must get Annabel Karmel’s book. Her recipes are amazing.”

A recipe book? For babies? Really..

I mean, clearly I was missing the cooking gene (and ironing too for that matter) but it all seemed like a lot of effort.

But peer pressure and Jewish guilt is a funny thing and before I knew it, I was mooshing veggies, cooking bolognese and even got those overpriced compartmentalised plastic thingamajigs for freezing tiny cubes of goop. I was a new woman!

And of course he didn’t like it.

Ok, so he would eat it the first time, but never again.

Just to mess with me. Nice one little buddy.

So I was left with a freezer full of bland kiddie food.

The dog got really fat. I got really annoyed.

I tried those squeezy things from the supermarket and of course he sucked down those puppies like a champ. And all was well in the world again.

It’s a pyramid system

But soon, kinder came round and they expected the kids to bring packed lunches every day. Everyyyydayyyy.

And once again I was thrown into the another crazy world, one I like to call “lunchbox lunacy”.

But this one was not just about the highly nutritious, handmade, organic, gluten free, sugar free, taste free meals I was required to prepare but also the actual box I packed them in.

Did you know that there are entire forums dedicated to the ideal lunch box for a 3 year old?!

There’s the bento leakproof whizbang, the stainless steel supremo with a double air chambered silicone seal and don’t forget the insulated lunch bag system. Yes, it’s a system – in a lunchbag!

But it doesn’t end there.

Like any good over considered product, it comes with accessories too.

Think animal shaped sandwich cutters, sushi roll makers, reusable snack bags and insulated jars. It’s a veritable minefield of mummy guilt and credit card debt.

And I got totally sucked into the madness.

So when his personalised bento lunch box arrived I was beyond excited and together we took the precious BPA free box out of the packaging.

And he couldn’t open it.

Turns out his chubby little 3 year old fingers weren’t able to master the fiddly lids so we ended up with the cheap and cheerful Thomas mini pack with matching boxes from Aldi.

That’ll teach me.

Got any funny weaning stories to share? Please share in the comments below.

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Comments

  • I found lunches when my kids were at kindy a nightmare.
    Once they started school we had access to the tuck shop and that was excellent.

    Reply

  • the bento box will be great in a few years lol. love your story

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  • Thank you so much for sharing your story.

    Reply

  • Haha funny & so true. Thanks for the giggle.

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  • Oh yeah, who doesn’t get tired sometimes from those always returning chores of making lunchboxes and dinners ?! ????

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  • Wonderful post – brought back many memories, but so glad that it was a little less manipulating when my kids went to school. [No social media for one thing].
    My kids had their preference, one – vegemite sandwich, 2 – peanut butter sandwich, 3 – strawberry sandwiches, 4 – whatever you make, mum.
    Once they could manipulate a butter knife, they usually made their own as they preferred it that way, and I sure didn’t object.
    Thanks for a good laugh.

    Reply

  • I know of one child who will only eat soft food. At birth that had to put tubes down his throat which had to be changed a couple of times. It seems some damage may have been caused which has resulted in hard chewing food hurting his throat. It isn’t that he dislikes the taste of the food, because he says he does. He seems to have problems swallowing hard food. Specialists reckon there isn’t significant damage.

    Reply

  • I relate to this! The fancy sandwich cutters are actually pretty useful, though…

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  • Hahaha, hilarious but oh so true. Society says do this do that and that we should conform but I’m not the perfect mum and I don’t have the perfect child. I just aim to do the best I’m capable of doing ????

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  • Thanks for your post,very funny!

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  • Lol, you’re funny ! Cooking separately for our babies and preparing lunchboxes can sure be a bit (or a lot) of a pain ! I always used the basic ingredients minus the spices for baby from the dinner I was cooking for the rest.
    I never bought from the store to prevent my babies would develop a preference for store bought food (in the same way I don’t like to buy ready made dinners for ourselves).
    For the lunchbox I try to do from Monday till Friday every day something different for lunch and then rotate this weekly. For example on Monday sweet potato waffles, on Tuesday buns, on Wednesday wraps, on Thursday vegetable muffins, on Friday rice cakes with strips of cheese boiled egg and roasted corn kernels. I’ve alawys extra’s on the side in the lunchbox like roasted broadbeans, coconut flakes, fruits, raw veggie’s and a homemade healthy cupcake or so.

    Reply

  • Haha this bought a smile to my face.

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  • we do make our own baby food but that is purely because we already have the stuff here and we have 7 kids and can’t really afford it, though I am sick to death of thawing foods out hahah we actually go to the supermarket and look at all the packets of baby foods then go home and make the same combos, my brain doesn’t let me come up with these combos on my own, along with moosh foods I have the moosh brain!

    Reply

  • Lol lots. I pureed and mashed things too but my little preferred the supermarket tubes. Now she won’t eat anything like soup. The joys of a texture sensitive child

    • Yes, my little man ate so much avocado when starting solids he wont go near it now! LOL

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  • hahaha your post is hilarious and totally relateable.
    Thanks for sharing, I had a good giggle.
    We shop at kmart for our lunch boxes now. :)

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  • ha ha good read thanks, glad I’m not perfect either

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  • LOL. The lunchbox lunacy got me too. It’s the best when you get guilted by those crazy mummy friends into buying a “proper” lunchbox – I spent hours searching for the best bento lunch system and spent a fortune on it only to find out that it had been lost by week 2. That will teach me.

    Reply

  • Funny article! :-)
    I think some people are a little bit exaggerated. My daughters generally gets sandwiches in her lunch box and she loves them!

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  • Love your article. My advice – keep it simple. There’s nothing wrong with Vegemite sandwiches. My daughter has taken cheese and tomato sandwiches to school for lunch for years and is still not sick of them.

    Reply
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