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Weaning

This is a definitive guide to weaning your baby, from the UK's No.1 baby and child nutritionist, Annabel Karmel. With her years of expertise and personal experience, bestselling author Annabel Karmel guides you through every aspect of weaning your baby. It starts at the very beginning with basic, but crucial details, such as what type of spoon to use and the time of day to first offer solids, and covers other common concerns like when to begin weaning, fussy eaters and the latest allergy advice. 50 delicious, nutritious puree recipes and 3 menu planners will show you exactly what to feed your baby, and when. And input from the 'Weaning Club', parents of six babies who are expertly guided by Annabel through the weaning process, troubleshooting any problems they, and you may encounter along the way, will steer you and your baby along the right path to solid food.

This is the little love of my life, Squeegee. Squeeks started his life living outside the fabric store where I used to work. I had been feeding his mother and father, and eventually, all his six siblings! I wanted to adopt his father, a grey tabby I'd called "Mr. Bill", because of his extreme vocal whining! Mr. Bill turned out to have feline AIDS, and I couldn't bring him home because I had another cat, Noelle, who was old, and I didn't want her exposed to the disease, which is fatal. I had Mr. Bill fixed to stop him from fighting the other males in the neighborhood, and found him a home with a nurse who fell in love with him at first sight!

On a stormy, October day, with the wind blowing up a gale, I managed to catch Squeegee with the help of a good friend, and get him stuffed into my cat carrier, which was no easy task, as he was spread eagle, fighting capture with all his might! I brought him to the vet, and had him tested for diseases. He was negative, so Squeegee went home with me and has been there ever since!

A year after bringing Squeegee home, he got deathly sick and began throwing up violently. I raced him to the vet, and the blood work showed that he was going into renal failure, and other tests revealed all his major organs were enlarged and in distress. The vet sent me to a clinic in Winter Park, which was very expensive. They discovered Squeegee's kidneys looked "bright" on X-Ray, which means they were too dense. Still, no one knew what was causing any of it! They put him on Cipro, a drug given to children as an antihistamine, I believe, to stimulate his appetite, because he'd lost about 5 lbs. in a short period of time. My vet placed him on Torbutrol, which is a narcotic pain killer, because he seemed to have back pain. None of this had an explanation! $2500, two ultrasounds, and a muscle biopsy later, we still didn't know why Squeeks was sick. He was better, though, so we continued the Cipro and Torbutrol, and eventually, Squeegee recovered, although he was never able to come off the Torbutrol, even when I've tried to wean him off it. He still hurts too much when he doesn't get it.

When Squeegee first got sick, I literally went bankrupt to save his life. Many people wouldn't understand that, but as a single woman with no children, my pets are the closest thing I have to that, and the bond is stronger than if I had my own family. It's a substitute, and an outlet for the void left in my maternal instincts.

Torbutrol was always expensive, costing about $70 every 40 days when I gave him 1/2 a pill twice a day. Through the years, that has increased dramatically. I now give Squeeks only 1/4 pill every day, and it costs me $19.50 every 16-20 days. There are days when he just has to have more, because I can tell he's hurting. He should have at least twice that amount, but there's no way I can do it anymore.

Squeegee would have died when he was two without my help. He's now about 13, and I can't imagine my life without him! As personable as Tigger is, and as pretty as Barrymore is, there's still no other cat in the world that will ever mean more to me than Squeeks. Maybe it's all we've been through together, but I think it was already like that when all this started. He's just special. To most people, Squeegee is just a talky, orange cat. To me, he's my baby; soft as silk, and full of love.

There's another facet to Squeegee that makes him one of a kind. I've suffered from migraines from the time I was 7. Shortly after getting Squeeks, I realized that he'd wake me up at night when he sensed one coming on, much like seizure dogs alert a person when they are going to have an epileptic seizure. At first, I would just yell at him to shut up, but soon realized that every time he did it, I was having migraine symptoms. When I paid attention to Squeegee's insistent squeaking, got up and took my meds, and maybe had some coffee (which shrinks the enlarging blood vessels that cause pressure and pain,) I could often make it to work and overcome the migraine. When I ignored him, I would be sicker than death, and in agony! As I've aged, I get fewer headaches, and Squeegee seems to be off his game a bit, which is okay. He's old now, and entitled! I owe him as much as he owes me.

Weaning.

In the UK the GOVERNMENT recommend that you exclusively breast feed your child for at least 6 months. Well, the GOVERNMENT can kiss my arse. The GOVERNMENT don't have to feed the child every hour and a half for half an hour at a time. The GOVERNMENT don't have to get up three times a night to feed that child for an hour at a time. I have been on my hands and knees with this child this week. I am so exausted i cannot tell you.

I started Luka on baby rice last a week last Sunday with a view to a nice slow segway into the world of proper food. Yeah. Right. That lasted all of five mins. After the food poisoning last week my baby went on the most almighty feeding bender that has left me so tired all i want to do is cry and run away.

Two weeks on and he is now on three lots of puree a day. His milk feeds are a bit erratic and still quite long but he is feeding less, so that is a good start. I think i have also found a formula that he likes so now all i have to do is find a way that he can take it (he is confused by his cup and still won't take a bottle) and we will be golden. I don't want him on formula all the time, but it would be good to give me a break every now and again.

A tough week. Made even tougher by the fact that the Rons and Keks are here to visit and i can't leave Luka in the evening. So whilst they are all out at the pub with DF and Nickster drinking Bathams and talking crap, i am at home doing the ironing.