sofia ep 5: sofia eats!

assalamualaikum

sudah setahun berlalu sofia mula makan solid food dan tak bergantung nutrien pada susu ibu semata mata. so i feel like after a year of experimenting with food for sofia, i wanna document it down (and also because i haven't posted anything for half a year now lol).

okay so first things first, it's a rule that you can only start solid foods feeding your little ones when they reached six months, so that's what we did. however, if your paediatrician advised otherwise, please follow and refer to them. since sofia hit six months in june of last year, i started to get anxious since april. tak tau mana nak cari sumber untuk mula bagi makanan solid pada anak. my point for references were instagram of irissukamakan, feedinglittles and solidstarts. then i juga ada join group ibu ibu menyusu jadi kat situ pun semua mommies sangat pemurah share idea menu yang boleh digunakan untuk clueless moms like me. 

  

    

    

    

please note that these are my references only and i'm not claiming that it's the best way to introduce solids into your kid's meals. you might be able to get better advice or meal plans.

jadi bermula dari usia sofia 6 bulan, i buat la menu first week tu. but i skip snacks sebab tak sempat nak prepare. cumanya, i tak pakai beras sumo. i pakai beras biasa, froze em up and blend them before packing it up for school. i also rasa i tak titis susu ibu dalam makanan and sofia was able to take it up just fine. awal awal tu, accompanying makanan solid, i masih hantar sofia ke sekolah dengan bekal 5-6 botol susu in case dia tolak makan dekat sekolah and perlukan susu untuk kenyang.

bahagian bawah beg autumnz tu letak susu and makanan

kemudian, days 5 through 16, i mula blend nasi bersama sayur and labu (although labu and carrot might be carbs also, not too sure) tapi i focus untuk bagi sofia mula rasa perasa alami makanan. i selalu akan blend everything into puree untuk bawa pergi sekolah supaya senang cikgu nak suap dia makan while kat rumah i cuba untuk bagi dia pegang dan main dengan makanan by turning the foods into rice balls atau just cutting the veges into strips that she can pinch.

kalau kat rumah, cuba untuk potong sayur supaya dia boleh pegang dan main. tak banyak pun masuk mulut. lepas dia letak ke pinggan, i akan sua ke mulut dia balik.

sometimes i guna kentang or labu as main carbs instead of nasi and tambah sayur lagi. 

freeze, kukus dan blend semuanya sampai jadi puree untuk bawa pergi sekolah

masuk minggu ketiga, dah mula introduce dia dengan protein. i buat satu satu, each protein i bagi dia makan for 3 days straight untuk detect allergies. so far alhamdulillah sofia boleh ambil semua makanan and tak ada allergy lagi kecuali maybe kekacang sebab belum cuba.

antara protein yang i bagi sofia cuba ialah dada ayam, daging topside, ikan tenggiri dan telur. i campurkan sekali dengan nasi dan sayur. arrangement yang sama, blend untuk bawa pergi sekolah dan bentukkan makanan besar besar bila makan dekat rumah. 

cara potong makanan i refer dkt instagram solidstarts untuk avoid chocking

cukup sebulan bagi dia suai kenal dengan makanan, i dah mula prepare dan masak guna mirepoix, serbuk ikan bilis dan serbuk ayam. kira macam dah guna flavor enhancer dalam makanan dia. 

i selalu buat stock mirepoix dan bekukan untuk masak later. senang je nak buat, perlukan bawang holland, lobak merah dan saderi dalam nisbah 2:1:1. kemudian i akan masak sampai lembut, naik bau dan bekukan macam biasa.

mula dari sofia 7 bulan juga i start 'masak' makanan dia ikut recipe. antara yang i cuba macam masak lemak labu, paprik, tomyam putih. semua ikut recipe baby yang i jumpa dekat tiktok. bila i jumpa recipe, i akan buat due diligence, 1. recipe ni tak patut ada garam, gula, msg. 2. bahan yang digunakan tak panas or pedas. i check makanan ni semua juga dkt website solid starts. 

buat rencah sendiri. air fry ayam dan ikan bilis, blend jadi serbuk

tomyam putih untuk sofia

masak lemak labu

i juga ada introduce snacks macam pancakes, omelette etc untuk bagi dia rasa more texture, shape and flavors. antaranya i pernah buat dia pancake dragonfruit. dia suka sangat!

nak bagi anak makan ni cabaran dia di samping nak cari masa untuk prep mirepoix la apa la is to get them to actually eat. i am ambitious, awal2 i memang plan nak dia blw every weekends and so on sebab i dimomokkan dgn ketakutan yang kalau i tak start bagi dia blw, dia akan lambat pandai makan sendiri. tapi i penat so lama lama process mengajar sofia makan jadi chore untuk i rather than something that i wanted both of us to enjoy. jadi i ubah sikit style, i still cut and prep some food untuk dia pegang dan suap sendiri, tapi i also prep something on the side yang i boleh suap in case dia cuma bermain dan tak makan. alhamdulillah, by the age of 1 year tu sofia dah tau proses pegang makanan dan suap ke mulut pakai tangan and sometimes pakai sudu baby tu. so i think macam, of course i encourage you to follow all these advanced techniques untuk bagi anak cepat pickup skills but maybe don't push your limits sampai u rasa stress nak buat benda tu. apa guna spend 2-3 jam blw and rumah bersepah tapi anak tak makan. boleh buat blw, pastikan anak makan, and ibu bapa tak stress.

contoh macam mana i susun jadual makan sofia for the first few months

then i guess what i wanted to say also is kita semua as a whole, have different mindsets. and being woman and mother sometimes kita mudah tersentuh dan sensitif kalau orang pertikai anak kita or cara kita jaga anak kita. of course dalam proses nak ajar sofia makan, ada orang yang cakap i too restrictive sebab hanya suap benda yang i masak sahaja dekat sofia. ada yang cakap i tak blw enough and concern kalau sofia lambat pandai suap makanan sendiri. ada juga yang suggest bagi nestum sajalah etc. awal awal benda mcm ni did affect my emotions sikit tapi i just buat je. i mean, there's nothing wrong with what people say to me cuma i rasa i nak cuba cara i so i jalan depan saja. i memang selective pasal makanan sofia sbb i memang takut kalau dia sakit, especially if it's in my power to prevent it. once i rasa dia dah ready nak take on more adult foods, i bagi dia rasa sikit2. masa dia reached 1 year old, i bagi dia rasa birthday cake dia secubit dua, rasa 1-2 biji nasi beriani and stuff like that. i guess what i'm trying to say is, you're a mother and you should believe in yourself yang u dah buat terbaik untuk jaga anak u. so apa orang cakap, so long u dah berusaha ke arah terbaik, u abaikan saja dan terus saja jaga anak cara u. of course jangan la tak ambil nasihat lansung. nasihat is nasihat but you will know how to differentiate between nasihat and cynic criticisms. 

at this point of writing this entry, sofia is a big eater. dia makan semua benda. i still tak letak gula garam dalam masakan harian dia untuk pergi sekolah tapi kalau keluar i bagi dia rasa fries, fried chicken etc dalam kadar sederhana. dia sangat suka makan dan makan semua benda. alhamdulillah sayang, you're very cute when you're round <3

Thank you for reading this entry :D

sofia ep 3: sofia's second quarter on earth!

assalamualaikum

next week sofia will be 1 year old, and i am so happy to see how much she has grown for the past six months. i am officially a clingy mother than cannot not look at her pictures every hour of every day in the office. a child is truly a blessing.

before i give birth to sofia, i drowned in a pool of infinite tiktoks about mothers training their kids to do stuff as early and as frequent as they can to ensure rapid development of skills. i agree to those activities. but as a working mother, i sometimes find it hard to do all that because i'm only home from 7pm and we all go sleep at 9pm -- i have a short 2 hour window to spend time with her. early on, i did put aside my exhaustion to help her do tummy time, do all the crawling exercises, guide her to sit upright and i do all these as early as when she was 4 month old. and i think that sofia is built differently because she definitely did not enjoy all that stuffs at all. she was either crying or i can see her in agony. but i do know that she tries, because she usually lasts a few seconds. but my motherly instinct cannot watch her like that so kinda decided to stop, make peace with myself and let nature run its course.

by doing that, i started to appreciate more of her growth and i try to not keep track of her capabilities vs other kids (while having a lot of people around me being concerned about her). i tried to always refer to sofia's paediatrician to check if there's something alarming or if we have to get her checked. my mantra is to just let her take her sweet time, with ibu always on her side to encourage her, as long as she grows healthily :D

i learned that if you want to encourage the kid to start crawling, you can start by doing tummy time as early as the baby can handle. when she started to get used to laying on her tummy, she learned how to roll over so quick! some ways that i tried to get her rolling is to play some high sensory videos or putting her favorite toys at a place where she has to stretch and eventually roll over :D

i foresee sofia might share the same interest in luffy as her father hmm

one thing that i love and i sincerely hope that this specific behavior stays-- she loves to babble! i am delusional but i take what i can get when i hear she cries 'eeeyboooo' when she's hungry, asking to be fed or just wants to cuddle with me. i mean, what mother wouldn't let down tears of happiness hearing their kid calling out her name right!! and she babbles every time, every day. i love all the small conversations we have, all her noises. luckily for hazim, her most fluent word to say nowadays is "bapak" ~roles eyes~

i really do hope that sofia grows up knowing that i'd give up everything for her to always make conversations with me <3

i am a tv-mother lol. i mean, i planned to not expose sofia to screens (managed to gatekeep her from mobile phones still tho haha) but to be honest, it's hard. i'm lucky she's in school for one third of the day because then i can work without having to leave her occupied by the TV. i think by being at school, she develops a very friendly behavior around other kids, most probably because she's used to having a lot of friends at school. i try my best to play with her toys when we're both home so i feel like at least for now, she's very into developing her own skills by playing and interacting with different types of toys.

i dont shop for me i shop for her hehe

by playing with toys, she slowly developed the ability to sit upright either on the ground or on the chair. manifesting for strong and healthy backbone!

can easily bring her to eat out and do grocery runs together :')

our next best interaction is her bites. when she first grew teeth, truth be told it got me scared as hell to feed her we almost resort to stop breastfeeding. but she has this charm that, whenever she bites me, she smiles, as if it's her way to play with me and subhanallah no pain man, no pain haha. her smile really melts me. now she has 4 teeth, 2 at the top and 2 at the bottom (sorry for my lack of knowledge of what these teeth are called T_T).

my manja baby, please stay manja pleasee

eee menunjuk gigi hihi

while i'm ashamed to admit, i didn't had the chance to properly cook after sofia's here because i got occupied with work and focusing to play with her at home and it was not until early november that i found my groove and is able to fit meal prepping into the schedule. but but but, i always cook for sofia since day 1 that she can start eating. and to be honest, preparing her meals have been the highlight of my weekend because she likes my cooking! i mean, she's getting rounder and chubbier. the teachers always says that she loves loves loves to eat and she has a certain behavior and sounds that she makes to get me to feed her. next stop is to try and let her learn to self-feed.

at 11 and half months old, she finally woke up one day and decided to show her mom that she can crawl! i mean, i've been scared and anxious for 4 months because every kid around her seemed to be able to crawl at a younger age. but as soon as i saw she did it, all of my bad thoughts went away, i've stopped comparing her to everyone and i was just so elated! sofia, please know this that i am so happy and you are the one who made me happy <3

dear sofia, please know that your arrival is the best thing that ever happened to me (on par with me having your father by my side hehe). i promise to always encourage and cheer for you, be proud and happy of every small and big milestones and be your #1 supporter, forever and always <3

Thank you for reading this entry :D

psa: covid might be on the rise again so please mask up my good fella