Toddler food ideas

[bean-e]

Dd's (10.5 months) food allergies/sensitivities is preventing her having foods that she really wants to try. She sees our food and wants so much to try to the point that she screams out "mama mummum" indicating that she wants to have my food. And this girl's first words are mummum, if that tells you how much she loves food.

Currently, she is able to have lamb, chicken, carrots (I think she is turning yellow from having too much carrots), broccoli, banana, celery and asparagus. We are not sure if she can have butternut squash, acorn squash and cabbage. She seems fussier when she has them, but I will need to try again to know for sure. She has had a small amount of yu-choy, gai lan and kale and they seem to be fine, but again, more testing needed.

I think beets gave her diarrhea. Blueberries, napa cabbage, pears, apples, potato, yam, sweet potato, and legumes are no-nos for sure.

So we are at seven safe foods. I am keeping her away from grains because I know she can't do gluten, rice and probably quinoa. So do you think are generally fairly safe foods that I can try with her?

Also, I posted the following under health and healing but no answer. I know the mamas here are really good about poop.

Dd 10.5 months has been on solids for almost two months now. She has a limited number of foods that she can eat because of allergies, so her entrée is usually carrots, broccoli and chicken. It's pureed because she just swallows most of her food. Anyway, it comes out looking pretty much the same as how it went it, texture and colour. So I am wondering if that is normal, or should it be more brown or something. It just seems like it's not being digested and absorbed. Would her being an antacid have an impact on this?

thanks.

[bean-e]

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[kjbrown92]

Has she had stool testing? We had the Genova one done and it gave us a lot of good information, about DS needing certain probiotics and digestive enzymes. And he's been tolerating new foods much better.

turkey?
pork?
fish like tilapia or salmon?
cauliflower?
peaches?
pineapple?
kiwi?

If she's still on antacid, has she never made it to baseline?

And I'm sorry, I can't keep everyone straight. I'm horrible with names so not even having a face to connect to, I'm even worse online. Are you nursing? Are you off the same foods?

[bean-e]

I've tried turkey once, and it might have made her fussy afterwards. That is on the list of things to try again. Cauliflower is also on the list of things to try.

Salmon gave her a small rash on her bum, but that was a small amount of salmon, so more could cause a very bad rash. I could try tilapia though.

Is it a concern that she has too many fruits but not enough veggies?

She is still on antacid, but we are slowly lowering the dose now. I don't think I have heard her gag for a while now, which could mean that it's not as much of an issue for her anymore. It was the potato, sweet potato and yam in my diet (recently anyway) that was causing issues for her.

She is still nursing, but not nearly as frequently as she used to. And she seems to be able to tolerate most of these foods in my diet (with the exception of the major allergens). The only thing that I am hesitant to try for myself and her is pork. Both my husband and I have a very bad feeling about it.

[kjbrown92]

You only listed banana as her fruit, so I was trying to think of other fruits. When DD2 was 13 months old and we did the ED to figure her out, we were left with 20 foods. Bananas were her only fruit too. A year and a half later, she lost it, but gained other fruits back. She just got them back in on rotation (at age 5yo). She's so excited.

I'd sort of try things in the same food family as the ones that you've already passed as safe. Though broccoli was safe, and cabbage wasn't, so you may hit or miss on food families (we do too). But you could use it as a starting point.

[norajune'smama]

i don't have much to add except that i would be hesitant about fish. it's a pretty major allergen, and she's already reacting to so many foods.

[bean-e]

Sorry, it's almost true that banana is her only fruit. She can do a certain kind of asian pear, and dried apricot. Is it possible that she can do apricot but not peaches? Dd would be devastated if should couldn't have bananas. She has about two of them a day. I can see why you dd would be excited to have it back.

I really don't know whether to feel blessed or cursed. She seems to react to many foods, but her reactions are really fairly minor. It's almost easier if she had more severe reactions to fewer foods.

[rhesp1212]

Oh boy do I feel your pain!! My DS is super highly sensative to a tremendous list of foods, and like you he only had about 7 foods he could eat consistantly but lost some of them in December. We started a rotation diet and found some foods that he is able to tolerate on a rotational basis and have been able to add a few in.

Antacids can certainly inhibit digestion because it lowers the acidity levels of the stomach. You need enough acid to be able to break down foods properly. My son was on zantac for a very long time until we realized that all of his reflux was food sensativity related. Once we removed all of his triggers he didn't need to be on it anymore.

It is totally possible she could be okay with apricots and not peaches. My son can do barlett pears and one other kind but cannot do asian pears, red or green pears! He can't do any legumes, rice or wheat either. Are you sure your DD is sensative to gluten or just to wheat? My son is sensative to wheat but not gluten. He can have spelt and oats that aren't gluten free and does fine with them.

Have you tried grapes?
Other veggies: Peas, green beans (it is a legume though), spaghetti squash, zucchini and yellow squash.

Other gluten free flours and grains? Amaranth and Teff are both good sources of protiens and amino acids and are gluten free. You could also try gluten free oats (Bobs red mill sells them). Can she do corn? If you can add that in that would probably be a huge help. Try tapioca flour for a thickening agent if she can't do corn. You can make pudding and gravies with it this way.

Regarding meats, it's great that she can do chicken. Atleast you have a good protein source. My son is super sensative to corn and he reacts to any kind of meat that was fed grain. But, he does well on grass fed beef and we are getting ready to try grass fed pork. Also, when trying fish, get wild caught fish rather than farm raised as those are usually fed soy/corn types of feed.

Sorry alot of this is from my personal experience and may or may not apply to you, but it gives you some things to think about anyways.

Goodluck Mamma....I know how hard this is as we are still going through it!
Valerie

[bean-e]

Thank you for taking the time to write so much, Valerie. I had no idea that fish can eat soy and corn! That's just wrong.

Dd can't do corn. She gets eczema when I have it. She also gets it when I have wheat based products. And I am guessing it's gluten that she is allergic to since dh and I am, though we don't feel anything after having it. Oatmeal in my diet, even gluten free ones, give her a rash on her bum. So she can't do wheat, oatmeal, rice and quinoa. Given this, I am very hesitant to try any grains. Maybe when she is a bit older...

We have been trying grapes for the past couple of days. I think they are okay, but I think she reacts to raisins. That's weird, isn't it?

[PeachBaby]

How about radish? (My DS can tolerate those, the little red ones. Even the skin, I stopped peeling them shortly after introducing them and he does fine with it.)

[BirthKathy]

Originally Posted by bean-e

Thank you for taking the time to write so much, Valerie. I had no idea that fish can eat soy and corn! That's just wrong.

Dd can't do corn. She gets eczema when I have it. She also gets it when I have wheat based products. And I am guessing it's gluten that she is allergic to since dh and I am, though we don't feel anything after having it. Oatmeal in my diet, even gluten free ones, give her a rash on her bum. So she can't do wheat, oatmeal, rice and quinoa. Given this, I am very hesitant to try any grains. Maybe when she is a bit older...

We have been trying grapes for the past couple of days. I think they are okay, but I think she reacts to raisins. That's weird, isn't it?

If she reacts to raisins, she might be sensitive to salicylates, a natural food chemical that is high in the skins of some fruits. She might do even better with peeled grapes than whole grapes. Here is a list of foods that contain salicylates for you to check out. Some of the foods you said she reacts to are on it.

http://salicylatesensitivity.com/food-guide

[rhesp1212]

Check the ingredient list on your raisins.....some of them have added oils or preservatives in them. My son can do organic raisins and sunmaid raisins but not the others because of the other additives.

I'm very thankful that my son can have spelt and oats...pulling all grains is so so difficult. You never know what they are going to react to, and when you're on such a very limited diet it might be worth trying some other grains. I did the 7 foods thing for a long time and I felt so sick after a while because my body just wasn't getting the nutrients it needed even though I was eating a TON to keep my milk supply up.

What about buckwheat...it's actually a berry, not a grain and you can use the flour to make baked goods or eat the "grain" as a hot cereal. It's quite tastey too!

Can you do dairy and/or soy? I don't remember seeing you write anything about it, but I may have just missed it along the way. If she can't, you can try raw goat's milk from a grass fed goat. I found some at a local farmers market here in town and it's the only kind of milk that my son can tolerate....and even then it has to be on a rotation or he starts to react to it.

Have you tried any tree nuts like cashews and almonds? Hemp? I found shelled hemp seeds, hemp nut butter and hemp protein powder. Great source of Omega's and protein if she can tolerate them. Chai seeds are another great one to try as well. Have you tried coconut? It's a great source of medium chain fatty acids.

Another thing to try would be lentils......my son can't have any kind of beans, and he can't have black lentils, but he can eat a ton of red lentils without any problem at all. The dietician we work with also had us try wild rice since my DS is also allergic to rice. It's not in the same family as brown and white rice and some kids can tolerate that as a replacement.

If I think of any other ideas I'll let you know!!!
Valerie

[bean-e]

Thanks you again for all your wonderful ideas.

My diet is not nearly as restricted as it used to be. I an do some grains but I do have to stay away from dairy and soy. In fact, soy was the food that started the whole acid reflux thing.

Nuts and apple in my diet used to give her sour breath, but I have tried recently and her breath stayed normal. I am going to try to have more of these things in my diet and see what happens.

We have also gone to see a NAET practitioner twice now. I don't know if it's my imagination or what, but I think she is getting better. It could also be that she is growing out of things and that we have been living in a place without mold issue for two months now...could be anything and everything