Having trouble w/solids, could use some allergy-friendly suggestions.

[cristeen]

DS is 16 mos, and demands solids at least twice a day. I'm trying to wean him off formula, i have maybe 3 wks worth of known safe formula left before its gone.

He is allergic to both cow and goat dairy, and reacts to beef, bananas, green bell peppers and oranges. He doesnt like avocado at all, and wont eat any leafy greens. Hes very texture driven - loves eggs scrambled or over medium, but if the yolk is cooked until its crumbly he'll spit it out. Won't eat potatoes if they're baked, mashed or in any other way soft, but will eat fries and crispy hashbrowns.

To further complicate matters, we're grain and soy free.

So what on earth do I feed this kid? Right now hes getting eggs and apples, because thats what i can figure out what to feed him...

Oh, and he wont drink anything out of a cup or use a straw.

[tanyalynn]

Cristeen, how do you feel about legumes?  We're using more and more and enjoying them.  I'm fermenting them the way Stephen describes fermenting brown rice in this post....

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/04/new-way-to-soak-brown-rice.html

... and they're so easy for making extra of something and freezing it.  And they're a good source of folate.

Some of the things we enjoy: refried black beans that are extra lard-y (does he tolerate pork?);  a lentil soup flavored with bacon, made with chicken broth for the liquid; hummus can be nice and fatty. 

We don't eat a lot of grains, but I've kept corn tortillas around for the convenience of burritos--but I don't know if that would work for y'all. 

What do you think he'd think of the texture of chicken liver pate?  I just made my first batch, it's pretty good. 

And you may want/need to look for sources of lamb or goat, I'd *think* quite a few recipes that are usually beef would work with those, although affording them is an issue, or you make separate meals for him, which of course would be majorly inconvenient. 

[cristeen]

He does tolerate pork, thankfully, but refuses lamb - not sure if he can tolerate it or not yet.

I have no problem with legumes, but really have no idea what to do with them, since we didn't grow up eating them at all.  And so far they're hit and miss with him. 

[Koalamom]

Your LO sounds like my 19 month ds.  Around 16 months, ds started eating all our meals with us.  He wouldn't eat the same meal twice in a row.  And if you had peas in tuesday and they were a hit, you cannot serve them on wednesday or he will feed them to the dog (or crazy cat).

How is your babe with soup?

Since we are newly potatoe and grain free, I am trying to get the heartiness factor into the meals still.  We recently had a soup of chicken chunks, veggies, and black eyed peas.  Ds loved the peas and picked them all out. 

Todays soup is cauliflower, mushroom and chickpeas.  I use bone broth too.

What about sausage?  We love alfresco chicken blueberry sausage, and they are the best food when ds is picky as he will eat them all the time.

What about turkey?  You could use ground turkey where you would use beef.

What about steamed veggies with beef fat all over and some dulse?  Very nutrient dense.  We just added in very heavily steamed kale for ds and he went crazy for it.   But I am only serving it to him once this week or he may hate it.

Does your LO have teeth?

What about ketchup on food?  (it is a vegetable too...)  Or maple syrup or raw honey?  Does he have weight issues?  We are dealing with underweight issues so I have to get my kid to eat.

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by bluebirdmama1 
How is your babe with soup?

What about sausage?  We love alfresco chicken blueberry sausage, and they are the best food when ds is picky as he will eat them all the time.

What about turkey?  You could use ground turkey where you would use beef.

What about steamed veggies with beef fat all over and some dulse?  Very nutrient dense.  We just added in very heavily steamed kale for ds and he went crazy for it.   But I am only serving it to him once this week or he may hate it.

Does your LO have teeth?

What about ketchup on food?  (it is a vegetable too..." rel="http://files.mothering.com/images/smilies/duck.gif">)  Or maple syrup or raw honey?  Does he have weight issues?  We are dealing with underweight issues so I have to get my kid to eat.

Soup - he'll eat it fresh but not reheated. Reheated he'll pick out the sweet potatoes and eat those.

Veggies and beef fat - seems to be allergic to beef. He'll eat sw pots in pork fat, but i cant get him to eat anything green - even avocado.

Teeth - lots of em, and he's cutting 2 more molars.

Ketchup - he did get into the (homemade) ketchup the other night and licked the dish clean, so it seems like he'd be willing.

Weight - not underweight, but definitely skinny. If you go by weight, hes actually above 75% somewhere, but hes so skinny that i mostly keep him in overalls or count on his CDs to keep his pants up.

[MamaMamaMama!]

Some things that came to mind:

Sweet potato fries

berries, kiwis, other fruits (fruit salad if he will eat it)

Not sure if that's a good age for raisins or other dried fruits (boy has my memory gone regarding that stage!)

Can you do nuts? Nut butters (not just peanut but cashew or almond) are good for dipping apples, and I make peanut butter balls with a mixture of pb, honey, and coconut flakes that my kids love

Would he eat the reheated soup if you blended it? Used it as a dip?

Try coconut flakes as a breading for fried meat (especially chicken) (especially chicken fried in coconut oil)

I make pancakes in a blender with raw buckwheat groats (technically a seed, not a grain) soaked overnight and then blended with egg, baking soda, honey, and some combination of fruits or veggies (zucchini, squash, pumpkin, apple, etc.)

My kids loved frozen stuff as toddlers--berries, even veggies like peas. Something about the texture, I guess. Perhaps it's sort of cold for that right now but maybe worth a try as it gets warmer

You could also try more grown-up fare like slow-cooked pork with sauerkraut; my kids surprised me a couple of times with foods like that I thought they would never eat, but they ended up loving.

[sublimeliving]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pancakes, scones, muffins, egg casserole, spaghetti with grain free noodles

Pizza-(grain free crust, and vegan cheese), sandwiches (http://www.grainfreeliving.com/breads/66-bread) 

For a treat, take fresh blueberries and flash freeze them. They are yummy.

 

 

Coconut Flour Pancakes Makes about 6 pancakes (http://www.cheeseslave.com/2008/10/17/coconut-flour-pancakes/)

 

 

 

3 eggs 
3 tablespoons butter (in your case use the oil) or coconut oil, melted (plus extra butter or coconut oil for cooking the pancakes)
3 tablespoons coconut milk or whole milk (in your case the coconut milk)
1 1/2 teaspoons rapadura ( you can also use raw honey or maple syrup)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Cherry-Chocolate Chip Scones
Makes 14 scones

I used fresh, pitted cherries for this recipe, but dried would be fine as well!

2.5 cups of almond flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda (not GAPS allowed)
2 eggs
2 TBS coconut nectar (honey works too)
1/4 tsp liquid stevia
1/3 cup melted butter (or coconut oil)
1/2 cup pitted, fresh cherries
1/4 cup  73% dark chocolate chips (enjoy life chocolate chips-soy free)

Preheat oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or simply grease with oil.

In a medium bowl, mix together dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, whisk eggs until combined. Add melted butter (oil) and coconut nectar or honey, and stevia.

Combine wet and dry ingredients.

Fold in cherries and chocolate chips.

Drop about 1/4 cup at a time of dough onto prepared baking sheets and shape as desired (I like the triangle look personally).

Bake for 15 minutes.  Serve with butter or whipped cream for a delicious, filling, low-glycemic breakfast!

Grain-Free Blueberry Muffins (http://www.organicthrifty.com/2009/08/11/grain-free-muffins/2.5 cups of almond meal, almond flour, or hazelnut flour (can be made by grinding crispy nuts in a coffee grinder)

3 large eggs
1/4 cup of honey
1/2 tsp. of baking powder
1/2 tsp. of sea salt
1 Tbs. of vanilla extract

1 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Prepare muffin tins with liners or lightly grease with oil or butter.  Mix all ingredients until smooth.

Fold in the blueberries.

Bake for 30-40 minutes.

Optional add-ins:

For zucchini-spice muffins:
add:

1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup shredded zucchini instead of blueberries

[Ruthla]

AT that age, many babies aren't really "into" solids yet, and that's perfectly normal. When you say you only have 3 weeks left of formula for him before it's gone, does that mean that it will be gone and you'll have no way to replace it, or that you already have this much in the house and you'd prefer not to buy more because it's expensive and highly processed? Because if you will be able to  buy more formula, it might be best to continue using it until he's ready, all on his own, to eat more solids.

Could you try making your own "formula" for him, based on bone broth from whatever animals he can tolerate? I'd suggest getting him used to the taste of that before you use up all the packaged formula you have in the house.

I'd also keep on offering different varieties and textures of foods, even if he keeps on rejecting them and you need to make him special foods to fill his tummy. The short-term goal is to feed him well right now, and the long-term goal is to teach him how to eat well for a lifetime.

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by Ruthla 

AT that age, many babies aren't really "into" solids yet, and that's perfectly normal. When you say you only have 3 weeks left of formula for him before it's gone, does that mean that it will be gone and you'll have no way to replace it, or that you already have this much in the house and you'd prefer not to buy more because it's expensive and highly processed? Because if you will be able to  buy more formula, it might be best to continue using it until he's ready, all on his own, to eat more solids.

Could you try making your own "formula" for him, based on bone broth from whatever animals he can tolerate? I'd suggest getting him used to the taste of that before you use up all the packaged formula you have in the house.

At this point I have about a weeks formula left. This is the brand we know he tolerates, the other organic one we tried he doesnt tolerate (and he flat out refused the 3rd one). The brand we've been using changed their recipe last summer - i cleaned out the local HFS of the older stuff, but when its gone, its gone. We have no idea whether he'll tolerate the new recipe (and since they added corn syrup solids, i'm not inclined to spend the money to fund out).

My plan at this point is the stock based formula, but i would feel so much better about it if he were eating more variety. He wants solids at least 3x/day, he's just picky. And i'm not comfortable allowing him to eat solely apples, toast and Annies bunny grahams. Since the OP, he's started refusing his morning egg, so I took to making his toast into french toast, and at least i know he ate his egg that way.

Interestingly enough though, i made chili for Super Bowl Sunday and dumped the beans he'd refused to eat into the pot... And he loved them! He ate both beans and chili happily. So I'm thinking he just wants more flavor.

I've also gotten him started on probiotics and yogurt, which he'll happily eat if i combine it w my home-canned apricots. I'm thinking i may turn some of the BM in my freezer into yogurt, since he's refusing to drink it.

Thank you for the input, ladies. I'm feeling much less desperate than I was in the OP.