had no idea that baby could chew; I thought that all the baby foods should be pureed, runny and soft to be easily swallowed. It turns out that babies don’t need teeth to chew - they are using their gums. But chewing is a skill and they need to learn it.

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It is amazing how babies learn this mew skill - walking. Eric started to stand up in his cot at about 8 months. He was holding on to the bars and slowly pulling his body up into standing position. A great tip I was given by Rob’s cousin – put some shoes on your baby as soon as they are able to stand up. Babies need get used to these new strange thingies on their feet, so that when they start walking the shoes won’t get in a way. Many babies that aren’t used to the shoes are tripping over a lot, which frightens and discourages them from trying to walk more. To be honest it took me some time too to get accustomed to putting shoes on Eric’s tiny feet – at first it seems like they don’t belong there.

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Once I got Eric to eat solid food and found out what he likes, I started to cook for him myself. Did I mention that I was a disaster in the kitchen? But I had no choice and to overcome my kitchen-incompetence I bought a book

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We had hunger and thirst crossed out, he wasn’t cold or hot, he wasn’t in pain, and we were running out of ideas and patience – try putting up with hours of crying when nothing helps. Finally we found out what was causing Eric those mood swings - constipation.

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Eric is a chubby baby and seeing him like that I started to get worried. I asked our dietitian about it and she told me that a baby won’t eat if he is not hungry, unlike adults who would eat because they like the taste of the food. It means that baby can not eat too much, and that is important to know because many babies at 6 - 12 months are

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Having introduced solids to Eric I started to wonder - how much should he eat, drink, what’s the right amount of calories for a baby his age (he was 8 months at the time). I was mostly worried about dehydration because I suspected that cutting the number of breastfeeds will cause him to not get enough fluids.

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My baby is nearly 9 month old and it looks like we finally have a routine I can trust. He has 2 naps, one in the morning and one in the afternoon and has 3 solid meals a day. That is, if you ask me, almost too good to be true! And the best thing is that Eric has worked out this routine for himself.

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Even with a routine in place I work hard to make every day a good one for Eric. He gets excited easily and I found out that if we leave relaxing activities closer to his sleep time (like going for a stroll), then he is more likely to settle without a fight.

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Entertaining a baby is a juggling act and I am sure every baby is different - but here is what works for me. My trick is to not let him get bored, keep him moving from one activity to another. After he had enough of playing in his porta-cot, I let him crawl on the floor for about half an hour, then we try to master the skill of walking, play with the fridge magnets a little, then we go for a stroll in a the pram, to the shops – he likes to watch the people.

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I knew that it’s a great idea to do exercises with my baby. It is pretty obvious that a small baby that can’t move needs someone else to exercise him - but what exactly should I do, for how long, how often etc, I had no idea.

So I started to look for instructions online and found this great program by Carrie Myers-Smith. It’s a complete course on how to exercise your baby and yourself while you’re at it. It starts with easy to follow instructions for a baby massage and continues to the complete baby (and mom!) workout.

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