need baby food ideas for 12 month old

[gardenmommy]

I need some more ideas for feeding my 12 month old.  She is my pickiest baby by far, and it's driving me up the wall!  She is dairy-free, although she does tolerate kefir and yogurt in very small amounts.  She is still breastfeeding a lot, drinks water (although not a whole lot).

She isn't eating a lot in the way of grains; a little sourdough bread (like crumbs), a few nibbles of crackers, cheerios, not much else.

She *will not* eat bananas, avocados, or mangoes, except in a smoothie.  I've been trying for months, and she consistently makes a face at me like I'm trying to poison her.  Not sure if it's a texture thing or what, but I've given up trying to get her to eat them for now.  

She will almost always eat:

Meats, including chicken, turkey, roast beef, pretty much anything very tender and mushy.

Eggs

Apples without the peel

Small sips of my smoothie

Waffles (blender batter version)

Just fruit dried fruits

Raisins

cheerios (the wheat-free variety)

dry beans of all kinds

peas

green beans

broccoli

cooked carrots

cooked celery

olives

anything in those squeezable baby food packages

Hit or miss foods:

sweet potatoes

white potatoes

blueberries

crackers/biscuits

applesauce

peaches

I know that babies need you to keep offering foods to them, since it can take awhile for them to get comfortable with the idea of certain foods.  That's not really my problem.  What is the issue, is when she's screaming (literally, and very loudly) non-stop because she's hungry, but she won't eat anything that I can put in front of her quickly.  She doesn't have enough teeth to really chew anything properly, and I don't always have something readily available for her.  I feel like I'm just in a rut, and need some ideas to get us moving again.

[Jenni1894]

My ydd is 1 also and she eats what we eat.

fruits or yogurt for breakfast.   Sometimes puffs or cereal also.

She loves toast smeared with apple butter, peanut butter, or jelly

lunch is whatever we are having. ham pieces, cheese, veggies.  She loves cooked carrots.   Even loves shredded carrots.  

For sw. pots, try slicing them like fries and sprinkle w/cinnamon and bake.   All my kids love them..me too!!!  Bake them in the oven.

My dd also loves PB&J!!  Which I sprinkle w/flax seed!

She doesn't have a whole lot of teeth, which my other kids had a mouth full at that age.    But she does really good with gumming things.  

You could make pumpkin pancakes or regular pancakes too!

[Lirazel]

My DS is 15 months and has a fairly limited amound of foods I can count on him to eat.  The list you gave sounds fantastic to me! :)  But you say you have a hard time providing her with good foods when she's hungry *right now.*  For situations like that I try to always have simple foods at hand - even keeping them in tiny tupperwares in the diaper bag at all times.  I usually have raisins, Just Peas (you say she likes Just Fruits right?), and homemade crackers.  That way I know there's always something to keep him content, even if it's while I get sometime more elaborate ready for him.

[prancie]

At this age your baby should still be getting most of her nutrition from breastfeeding.  Food is still for play and learning.  So, if she's actually really hungry, breastfeed her.  

[gardenmommy]

I will look for the just peas, I think maybe they were out last time I looked, because I didn't see them.  Lol, I'm feeling rather less frazzled tonight, so I think that maybe part of my problem is that I'm just not organized enough.  I think that having some snack containers with stuff she'll eat would significantly improve our dining experience.  DD is also going through a stage where she wants *my* food, from *my* plate/fork; even if I give her exactly the same thing on her tray, she will scream (and I'm not joking when I say scream: she is *SO* shrill, I think maybe I need earplugs to protect my hearing) until she can sit on my lap and eat from my plate.  

This morning, she ate maybe 1/4 of a waffle and 1/4 cup of scrambled eggs.  She might like pancakes.  I've been thinking about trying them in the blender from the Sue Gregg website.  The rest of the family would probably like it, even if DD didn't.  I think maybe I'll try the sweet potato fries, too.  They might be a hit with my older children.

Prancie, she does get the bulk of her nutrition from breastfeeding (including nursing through the night).  However, she has always been a bit fussy about nursing, and if she doesn't want to nurse, there is *nothing* I can do to persuade her.  Not even a bit.  She will just arch her back and scream.  And when she wants to eat food, she Wants It NOW!!  She is such a determined little person!  My older children were much easier to feed both at the breast and at the table, so this little cutie is a whole new ballgame for me.  Thank you for the encouragement to continue to help her get plenty of mama milk, that is what has gotten us this far.

[motherhendoula]

Pancakes and muffins are great - you can put all the puree food they wont eat into them!  My eldest two refused purees after about two weeks of them....i made zucchini pancakes, pumpkin, apple and banana ....just add 1/2 c of pureed - whatever - to basic pancake recipe.....and take out the egg.  - unless its banana, then you need the egg.    i made muffins from purees too - my DD LOVED mini muffins of all flavors.  and both keep in the fridge for days just fine.

Lirazel - what was that about homemade crackers?  can you share that recipe?  (please pardon the hijack!)

[skreader]

From what you describe, she's eating quite a variety of food (IMO).

We were still pretty boring w/ our kids at that age - we mostly fed them congee (juk) with other stuff minced into it.

Here are some recipes available online

http://www.homemade-chinese-soups.com/baby-porridge.html

http://blog.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/baby-food-around-the-world-congee/

http://www.porridgerecipe.com/baby-porridge/baby-porridge-recipe.php

[Lirazel]

I'd love to share my homemade cracker recipe!  I find them *very* easy to make and the ingredient list is small.  I mix 1/4 cup water with one cup whole wheat flour (a little more flour if you use white) and 2 tbsp melted coconut oil or butter.  It should form a soft ball of dough - add a bit more flour if it's sticking to your hands too much, but you don't want it to get stiff.  Roll out super, super thin either directly on your cookie sheet or on parchment paper that you then transfer to your cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with coarse salt to taste, press the salt in a little, cut into squares with a pizza cutter (or knife) and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  The dough bounces back a little as it bakes so it separates along the cut lines and gets a little thicker than you rolled it, which is why you want to roll it very thin.  I actually normally make these with extra sourdough starter, but this is how you can make them without sourdough.  My son loves them.

[gardenmommy]

Lol, she does eat a variety foods.  It only we had that much variety available every day.  Most days, we have only one or two of those foods available for her, since I only shop for groceries twice a month. Mostly, I just try to feed her what we are eating.  I've never been a big fan of buying special baby foods other than the occasional package of something for outings.  DD likes packaged baby food more than any of my older children ever did, so I do have a few things on hand for when I can't come up with anything to feed her.

My only concern with muffins and pancakes is that I don't really want to have a grain/carb-heavy diet for her.  Although that would be easy to feed her, I think she would get pretty stopped up with a lot of grains.  My older children all had issues with too many grains=constipation, so I've been pretty slow about giving DD too many of them.   However, I do like that you can stick a whole ton of stuff in there and no one is the wiser.

[gardenmommy]

Oh, and THANK YOU for the cracker recipe!  I am going to try that this week.

[mommy212]

Every weekend when I do my meal plan and stuff I plan in to make a couple of snack foods to be ready in the week... This makes me sound super organized, which I'm not, but I try. Little man loves to cook with me (18 mo) so we make a lot together and if you are a sahm it will give you a fun way to pass the time productively. We make crackers, bread, coconut-oat balls, healthy cookies or muffins, homemade popsicles (they make great baby-size popsicle molds). If you don't like to cook you can keep something she might like on hand like whole grain crackers (my little guy loves bread/crackers, can you tell? :) ), frozen pancakes (you can make these at home so you have baby-size ones and freeze them in a ziploc) or maybe she likes blueberries or strawberries, or kiwi fruit, raspberries... anythiung like that :) Oh also my LO loves applesauce with peanut butter and flax oil mixed in... fast and easy

[BabyFireFly]

Wow, I am amazed at the amount and variety of foods that you are getting into your 12 month old! My 20 month old would be content with a pint of blueberries and crackers most days LOL. I wasn't really pressing whole foods on my daughter when she was that age, she was still mostly breastfeeding and I would give her some cereal or pureed fruits and veggies, a little yogurt, stuff like that. She is a natural grazer, so during the day I keep a plate of finger friendly foods out where she is playing and she takes what she wants as she wants it, I've never really made her sit and eat.

[gardenmommy]

For the record... I would like to emphasize that DD is *begging/screaming* for food.  It's not that I am trying to force or encourage her to eat.  She was exclusively BF for nearly 9 months, at which point, I slowly started to introduce solids.  She has acted since then like a starving man on a desert island every day, and the struggle isn't really getting her to eat, it's finding her foods that are acceptable.  She is dairy-free, with the exception of small amts of yogurt and kefir in smoothies, and I am not giving her a ton of grains yet.  I would be happy for her to still be exclusively breast-fed, or nearly so, as most of my older children were at 12 months.  She isn't starving by any definition (I think at last weigh-in, she was ~21 lbs.).  What I am struggling with, is finding quick snacks/meals that are both dairy-free and non-grain, esp. when we have something for a meal that isn't particularly baby-friendly (like sloppy joes, or salad, or quesadillas).  That, and finding the happy medium of making food that isn't terribly complicated, yet is appealing to 7 people (including 2 *very* picky children), lol.  

I offered her applesauce (homemade) at lunch, and she would have none of it, lol.  The other kids were scarfing it down, but she was acting like it was poison, yet she happily sucked down a squeezable version of applesauce.  Such a fussy eater!  And before I get blasted for having such environmentally un-friendly options in our house, DS2 is sick, and we are in survival mode today.

I'm roasting a chicken for dinner tonight, so I think I will set aside some of the leftovers for DD to nibble on for lunches.  I am also going to try baking some sweet potato fries, thanks to a PP's suggestion.  

Thank you for all the suggestions!  I think I will def. try out the crackers this week, and I am going to make popsicles for sure when it warms up a bit (it snowed here this morning!).  I think muffins are also on the menu this week.

mommy212, do you have a recipe for the coconut oat balls?

[BabyFireFly]

What about avocado? Have you tried that? The good fats might help to fill the little one up.

[gardenmommy]

Originally Posted by BabyFireFly 

What about avocado? Have you tried that? The good fats might help to fill the little one up.

She won't touch it.  I keep trying, but she looks at me like I have 2 heads, hehe.  Fresh, mashed, as guacamole, mixed with other foods... doesn't matter, she will.not.eat it.  Same with bananas.

I do use butter or coconut oil in everything possible, so I think that probably helps.  She loved the roasted chicken tonight, scarfed green beans (home canned) like they were candy, and ate several bites of mashed sweet potatoes.  It was a good night!

She's also nursed about 7 times today; maybe she is growing again?  

[mommy212]

coconut oat balls recipe :)

 1 cup almond butter

1/2 cup honey or other thick sweetner

1/2 cup coconut flakes

2 cups rolled oats

2 Tbls wheat germ

2 Tbls ground nuts or seeds of any type

1/4 c baking cocoa (optional, and totally delicious without)

Preheat oven to 300

Mix almond butter and honey, set aside

toss together oats, coconut, wheat germ, ground nuts and cocoa if using. Spread on a baking sheet and toast for 5 minutes or til your liking. (If you are intot he raw thing this step is not necessary, just adds flavor)

Form a small ball from the almond-honey mixture. Roll the ball in the toasted oat mixture and set on a small baking sheet or plate, anything you can set in the freezer. Freeze for 20 minutes or so (they will not freeze hard) and transfer to a ziploc or tupperware in the fridge. You can leave some in the freezer but I find that, while I like them frozen, they are much more kid-friendly when softer.

Also, when I made these the other day I used a combination of sunbutter (sunflower seed butter) peanut butter and almond butter because almond butter is very pricey and I didn't have much left. It was thinner and I had to mix in some wheat germ, sesame and flax seeds to thicken, which just made it better lol. If you really wanna do grain free you can just coat these in coconut and ground seeds.

[BabyFireFly]

Sounds like it! I remember when my daughter was at that age and would go through a growth spurt....I felt like she nursed all day - sleep and nurse sleep and nurse!
 

Originally Posted by gardenmommy 

She won't touch it.  I keep trying, but she looks at me like I have 2 heads, hehe.  Fresh, mashed, as guacamole, mixed with other foods... doesn't matter, she will.not.eat it.  Same with bananas.

I do use butter or coconut oil in everything possible, so I think that probably helps.  She loved the roasted chicken tonight, scarfed green beans (home canned) like they were candy, and ate several bites of mashed sweet potatoes.  It was a good night!

She's also nursed about 7 times today; maybe she is growing again?  

[gardenmommy]

Thanks mommy212!  That looks delish.

[NANNY GAYLE]

I retired early from my company of 25 years and became a Nanny due to my love of babies/children.  I have made baby food for my babies who are now grown and my second set of babies.  I make banana baby pancakes and also banana, blueberry, mango little muffins and freeze them.  I just pop one in microwave and an instant snack/meal is ready.  I also freeze homemade applesauce, all other fruits, veggies, and mixed dinners.  It only takes a few minutes to thaw in a cup of hot water and the children have tasty, healthy meals.  I make my own frozen pops with yogurt and a small amount of juice.  The kids love them and hardly any sugar.  Good luck and keep offering a wide variety of foods.