The FOOD Thread « Back to Group Discussions

[element2012]

So how are you feeding your baby now? What are they eating? How many times a day? Anything else?

I'm a green banana at this whole "introducing solids" and we haven't done a well baby checkup in a while for me to grill the ped, so what are y'all doing??

DD has been interested in foods since 4.5/5 months.  We've given her little chunks of avocado, banana, egg yolk,  sweet potato, strawberries (I just learned you're not supposed to give this to babies???), just here and there not really consistently.  She really never gagged in the beginning, but now at 6.5 almost 7 months, she gags often.  It's actually freaked me out enough that now I am mushing things up and putting them in a bowl where I'll give her a few tastes and let her play with the rest which usually means a lot more mushing and maybe a little tasting.  Now I try to give her something at least once a day, if she is interested. It's usually sweet potato with egg yolk and coconut oil or full fat plain greek yogurt with some strawberry blended in.

Anyway, am I doing this all wrong??? Lol.  What are you doing?

[AfricanQueen99]

Let me confess that I have Lazy Mom down to a science...

I just throw down whatever the rest of us are eating. That's it. For snack she just ate Pirate's Booty and prunes, because that's what my son picked out. I don't go out of my way for her food...just like I don't for the other kids.

She is offered food whenever it's meal/snack time and she's awake.

[montessorimama1]

Ok, well I'm all about the solids but I'm not what you would call "mainstream" and my chubster eats like a teenager, but here goes...

Breakfast @ 7:30am: A 4-minute whole egg mashed with 1/4 avocado and bean puree (pressure cooked beans, pureed and strained because otherwise they have too much insoluble fiber)

Snack @ 11:30am: Another 1/4 avocado mashed with papaya or peach and/or goat yogurt  (hurray for enzymes and probiotics!!)

Lunch @ 2:30pm: 2-3 veggies (a leafy green like kale or chard, a starchy one like sweet potato or beet, and sometimes summer squash, celery or broccoli) coarsely pureed with a chunk of animal protein (free-range beef, chicken thighs, or wild salmon filet) and mixed with either olive oil or coconut oil and cod liver oil (for babies).  For dessert a seasonal fruit puree or apple sauce if I'm lazy.

Dinner @6:00pm: same as lunch (just different veggies and if I used olive oil at lunch I use coconut oil at dinner or vice-versa)

He sometimes eats the fruit in chunks if I am holding it but he's not great about getting things into his mouth on his own; they end up all over him and he gets frustrated.

[Kindermama]

Originally Posted by AfricanQueen99 

.
I just throw down whatever the rest of us are eating. 

this! E just had homemade chicken soup and a very small piece of homemade sourdough bread for lunch. I threw the soup in the blender to chop it up a bit. 

I generally give egg yolks and fruit in the morning. Lunch is a protein and veggie mix sometimes with fruit too. Dinner is protein and veggies. 

So far he's tried....

Organic proteins: grass fed ground beef, free range chicken, free range turkey, ham, sunflower seed butter, egg yolks

Veggies: squashs, kale, carrots, peas, corn, leeks, pumpkin, sweet potato, russet potato, green pepper, cucumber

Fruit: berries, apples, pear, peaches, grapes, avocado, banana

Oils: olive and coconut

Grains: just getting into O cereal and sourdough bread after a rough start with baby oatmeal and whole wheat bread a few weeks ago. Keeping an eye on his poo to make sure these grains don't constipate him! 

[coldandsleepy]

W is SO into food.  He didn't seem to have a tongue thrust reflex to start with and if he ever had one... it's gone now.  He really chews at food (and he has 8 teeth, so he can really break things down!) like he knows what he's doing, and he WANTS everything.  I don't eat with him sitting in my lap anymore because he'll just plunge his little fist right into my meal and then jam it in his mouth.  Messy!

He still nurses about every other hour all day long, and once overnight.  I left him for the first appreciable chunk of time ever on Thursday-- 10 hours!  which seemed SO long.  (I am taking graduate classes 2 days a week and it means being gone for that long.  :/)  He drank almost 16 oz of breastmilk in that time.  

For solid foods, he's liked pretty much everything he's tried... I've given him bites of all kinds of fruits and vegetables straight up, and brown rice, and oats, and all sorts of plain beans and lentils... generally the plainest parts of whatever we're having.  Now we're moving more into letting him try bites of whatever I'm cooking for the rest of the family.  Earlier he had a bit of a baked falafel and LOVED it.  His little face lit up.  It was great.  :)

I don't cook specifically for him (or my older son) pretty much ever and barring the emergence of an allergy, I don't plan to start.  Waaaaay too lazy for that.

[element2012]

So we are now doing a modified BLW.  DD gags very often on pieces of food, so we are mushing her food up and she is feeding it herself.  She will only occasionally let me spoon feed her, but she likes to dip her spoon in her food and "feed herself".  I'm not sure how much she actually gets down her throat, but all things in due time, right?

[juneboymum]

Oh man, I feel bad for my poor Eli.  We barely do any solids yet.  I've offered him chunks of avacado, banana, sweet potato, egg, brocholi, celery, and sometimes a tiny bit of bread (if he grabs it out of my hand).  He also like Mum Mum crackers.  He's 7 months old tomorrow so one of the youngest in the group. 

My oldest didn't have any interest in solids until he was about 10 months old and didn't eat anything consistently until he was over a year so I'm not experienced with babies eating so much at this stage.  I remember learning that breast milk is all that is needed for the first year and that food was just to "play" with and experiment with.  Should I be doing more solids with him?  He's growing like a weed, ahead of the curve for milestones, and is still exclusively breast fed.   

Poor Eli....I won't tell him what all his buddies are getting! 

[bentlaj11]

We aren't doing too much in the way of solids either! He loves gnawing/shoving food as fast as he can... like he hasn't eaten anything.ever! And, then as soon as it gets far enough back he just gags and gags until it goes down... makes me so paranoid (even after doing BLW with DS1)! I thought they gagged to get it out, but not him! So, at lunch I don't hardly ever give him anything... Although he never has, I'm scared he's going to choke, and I don't want to deal with that and not have DH there! DS1 was the same as Juneboy's first... he just played with his food (still does) more than eating until he was older. DS2 gets mad when he doesn't have food in front of him when we are at the table... makes me think that if he ever figures out the swallowing thing we're going to have to buy in bulk to keep him fed!

Juneboy, I agree, food is just for fun/learning for the first year (or 2 if you're extended BF, imo). I don't think Eli's missing out, too much ;)

[imakecutebabies]

Originally Posted by AfricanQueen99 

.
I just throw down whatever the rest of us are eating. 

 

agreed!

 

Babe is the loudest, craziest eater in our family. He acts like he's starving to death if anyone in the house is eating... even if I am currently feeding him, it's not ever fast enough haha. He is nursing every 3-4 hours and 2-3 times at night. He eats whatever is baby friendly on my plate. Bananas, peas, mum mums are easy snacks. Still no teeth but he picks tiny things up like a champ :) 

 

 

I just started a meal schedule to follow for lunch and dinner. I printed out a weekly calendar that I made with pictures so the kids always know what they're going to eat and when. It sounds like a lot of work but it's not, it's made my life so much easier! 

 

[element2012]

Sigh, I feel like we're going backwards with the food thing.  I made the mistake of buying one of those organic baby food pouches while out, and now I think she prefers that texture and method of eating.  I'd rather not feed her something processed on a regular basis. Now meal times are her not allowing us to feed her, and her just playing with the food, smearing it around instead of feeding herself like she used to.  DH is concerned about her playing with the food, like we are allowing her to develop bad habits.  Not sure what to do with this girl anymore!

[Kindermama]

Originally Posted by element2012 

Sigh, I feel like we're going backwards with the food thing.  I made the mistake of buying one of those organic baby food pouches while out, and now I think she prefers that texture and method of eating.  I'd rather not feed her something processed on a regular basis. Now meal times are her not allowing us to feed her, and her just playing with the food, smearing it around instead of feeding herself like she used to.  DH is concerned about her playing with the food, like we are allowing her to develop bad habits.  Not sure what to do with this girl anymore!

Don't worry. She'll be civilized at some point! 

[element2012]

Originally Posted by Kindermama 

Don't worry. She'll be civilized at some point! 

That made me think of this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cds7lSHawAw

[AfricanQueen99]

That video is awesome!! I would love to do that with my son!

[imakecutebabies]

Ha Ha Ha!!  

[montessorimama1]

element - Have you considered letting her feed herself with utensils?  Zach was not crazy about finger foods until I introduced the fork and now he's munching away with little intervention!  Here's a little video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5T8ERUA6GE

[imakecutebabies]

great video, thanks! very simple and a great way to learn. nico gets frustrated if i give him kiwi, peach pieces, or something else that sticks to his food mat because he can't grab them. 

[element2012]

Look at Zach go! Sigh... We are no where near there with this girl's eating.  I'd say honestly she's only somewhat interested in food, and even my DH has been astute enough to realize she's just not really ready to eat, or eat often.  I need to back off.  I get antsy because everyone else I know with babes around her age are eating like full meals, and we have made really no progress at all.  She's still growing like a weed, so I guess I just need to follow her lead.  My husband likes to remind me that, just like every one learns to walk eventually, every one learns to eat eventually.  I need to stop obsessing!

[imakecutebabies]

Awe, don't worry momma, our babe is behind & ahead in different ways~ I always try not to ask other parents how old their kids are bc I hate to compare, but I'm also always curious!

We tried the fork this morning and it was a total fail lol. All of the food ended up on the ground haha, we'll keep trying though

[bentlaj11]

Originally Posted by element2012 

Look at Zach go! Sigh... We are no where near there with this girl's eating.  I'd say honestly she's only somewhat interested in food, and even my DH has been astute enough to realize she's just not really ready to eat, or eat often.  I need to back off.  I get antsy because everyone else I know with babes around her age are eating like full meals, and we have made really no progress at all.  She's still growing like a weed, so I guess I just need to follow her lead.  My husband likes to remind me that, just like every one learns to walk eventually, every one learns to eat eventually.  I need to stop obsessing!

I don't know if it will make you feel better, but DS1 didn't eat much (mainly just played with his food) until he was around 14 months. Then he started eating like he never knew what food was before! He's still occasionally picky, but I trust that he knows what his body needs (some days it's more protein, other days more fruit, some days not much at all). Each baby truly is unique!

[coldandsleepy]

Originally Posted by bentlaj11 

I don't know if it will make you feel better, but DS1 didn't eat much (mainly just played with his food) until he was around 14 months. Then he started eating like he never knew what food was before! He's still occasionally picky, but I trust that he knows what his body needs (some days it's more protein, other days more fruit, some days not much at all). Each baby truly is unique!

My older son was like this.  He really didn't eat more than 1-2 bites of any solid food til about 15 months and he didn't eat actual meals until 20 months or so... at 3, believe me, the guy knows how to eat!  Some babies are just slower to warm up to solids.

W is really into finger foods now.  Anything with little bits appeals to him.  He also loves... celery.  If he could gnaw on celery all day long, I think he would.

He'll eat bites from a spoon if it's something he really likes, but after 3-4 bites he gets bored and just wants to grab at the spoon.  He knows what utensils are, I think.  If you give him a spoon or a fork, he will use it to reach out to food and poke at it, and he thinks it is hilarious to put his spoon into my mouth.

He gets SO mad if you're eating and you won't give him a bite of whatever.  I also can't hold him on my lap during meals at all any more unless I want to share with him.  He is extremely adept at stealthily removing food from my hands.  :P