Baby Food: Round 2

...Or should I say Toddler Food: Round 1?

Now that Elise is almost 10 months (whaaat?) and eating a whole multitude of foods, I thought it was time for another post about baby food.

Around 5 or 6 months (mommy brain), we started giving Elise puffs (Happy Puffs).  She loved them, and I loved that they allowed me to do a couple of things around the house while she silently ate her puffs. 

When I was a nanny, the parents would bring me finger foods to feed the kiddos.  So, I followed suit with my own child and low and behold, Elise loved eating independently!  The fancy name for this parenting technique is Baby-Led Weaning and there are a plethora of books on the market. But the main gist of it is, baby eats what you eat but in bite-sized pieces and they feed themselves. The only things that Elise has not eaten are peanuts, milk, honey, really spicy things, beef, and pork (the last two are for my own reasons not medical).  She eats 3 meals a day plus a few snacks here and there. 

Some things that are difficult with this path:

1. Babies choke.  99% of the time they will work it out themselves.  It does make your heart drop when it happens but as long as you are mindful of the size you are cutting the food into; there shouldn’t be anything to worry about.  Of course, start your kiddos off on very soft foods (bananas, avocado etc) and work yourself up from there.  Dads are actually the worrywarts in this department.  Mike would always get mad if she choked and tell me to switch back to purees.  As you can tell, I never listened to him.

2. It’s messy!  Our pups get A LOT of treats.  It is a lot easier if you have dogs that are natural vacuum cleaners.

3. It’s Expensive.  Our household has gone completely organic or at least Non-GMO (for things that are not available in organic).  We shop primarily at Natural Grocers, Sprouts, and farmer’s markets because it makes it that much easier to shop (Natural Grocers is the only store that carries all organic produce and most, if not all, of their other products are organic). Our grocery bill has gone up by 30%; however, I do believe this is completely worth it.  I’m feeding not only Elise, but Mike and I, food that I don’t really have to worry about.  I also believe this is so much healthier in the long run.

The PROS:

1. Elise feeds herself.  No need spending time steaming, pureeing, and feeding her pureed food.  Although, I do think parents should start their kiddos off with homemade purees (it’s short lived and helps them get used to food and texture).

2. Elise eats what we eat.  I don’t have to cook another meal every night.  With the exception from above, she eats and most of the time loves what we are eating

3. It’s less time consuming!  Elise eats while we are eating.  Easy peasy!

Some of Elise’s favorite foods:


1. Blueberries- I cut these in half and she devours them

2. Chicken Marsala- This is her absolute favorite dinner.  She eats for about 30 minutes continuously.  She absolutely loves the mushrooms.

3. Peas- Just steamed frozen peas whole

4. Cheese- cut into bite sized chunks

5. Falafel- This was her first favorite food.  Just cut into bite sized pieces

6. Green smoothies- although these are spoon-fed to her.  She has not yet mastered the straw.

Elise loves, loves, loves to eat. She also love flavor.  Funny, because while I was pregnant with her, I ate a bland, bland diet and hated to eat. 

In case anyone is wondering, Elise still nurses anywhere from 6-10 times in a 24 hour period

So, I am interested: What do you feed your toddlers?  Are they picky eaters?





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Elise is 9 eh.. 9.5 Months Old

WOW!  I am late with this update!

Elise,

You are now just over 9 ½ months old going on 3! Your personality is BIG!  You know what you want and you won’t stop until you get it.

This month you got your two bottom teeth and you are working on your top left one.  You love showing them off, too!  You even realized that I have a full set of them and giggle when you touch them.  Hopefully, the teeth explain your sleep…

One reason why this update is so late is because you have been keeping mommy up a lot at night.  Your naps are also suffering.  So, whenever I have a moment to myself, I am either working on a project or catching up on sleep.  There are nights that you wake once, you eat and you go right back to sleep.  Others include up to 6 wakings with little that will console you.  Last night was a rough night but we did have a big day and you ate something new.  Beside last night, I THINK it is slowly getting better. 

On another front, you are not quite crawling… but oh soooo close!  You are rolling everywhere though and there are times I put you in a spot walk away and return a few minutes later and you aren’t there anymore!  Granted, you are only 5 or 6 feet away from where I left you but it still makes my heart drop a bit.  You’re really good at doing the yoga position “pigeon”.  For the third month in a row… I am guessing you will be crawling by Daddy’s birthday. 

Pigeon pose

You love, love, love to eat!  Some of your favorites include: Blueberries, peas, mushrooms, pasta, green smoothies, and your #1 favorite is Chicken Marsala.  You love flavor and veggies.  My dream come true!  Hopefully it lasts into toddlerhood. 

Speaking of toddlerhood, I can see that phase creeping up on us.  You have the biggest personality.  You do this face when you want something (squinting eyes, smiling really big, and waving your arms everywhere)… this happens especially with food or a toy that you love.  You are also starting to throw little tantrums…

You tell that bird!

    

                           

  

You have started forming relationships with some of your favorite toys.  Your bathtoys are some of your favorite things to “talk” to about how your day went.  You giggle, wave your arms about, and your eyes light up when I bring them out during your bath.  You also talk to a counting giraffe and kiss all of your stuffed animals.  

You have started giving kisses, clapping, waving, and (what I believe is one of your first words) saying “mama” (but only when you’re crying) and “dada”. 

This last month you have become your own little person!  You have your own wants and preferences.  You are definitely doing better with strangers especially if they are women.  You also love other kids!

Your first "selfie"

I cannot believe you are only 2.5 months away from your 1^st birthday!  You and I are going to have to start planning the big event, very soon!

I love you, goose!  Thank you for making me your mommy!

First 4th of July... you just wanted to eat watermelon

You are my angel, my darling, my star!

Love,

mommy

Why I Make my own Baby Food

Now that E is starting solids, I want her to have and taste REAL foods.  I really have nothing against store bought/jarred baby food and it is definitely a route I would go if I had less time on my hands.  This may sound funny or silly but since I have been “making” her food since she was born (and even before that, I suppose) I wanted to keep the trend up.   I make dinner for Mike and I so what is so difficult about making my daughter food, too?  Seriously though, it is ten times easier than I thought it would be.

I also love the fact that I get to choose the ingredients and actually see/do the process from start to finish.  I select, wash, cut, steam, and puree it and I know there is no contamination.  I’m “processing” her foods but I am not buying and giving her processed foods.  The hope in doing this is that she will grow up loving the taste of non-processed and fresh foods instead of junky, processed foods.  Also, by introducing her to textures and flavors at 5.5-6 months (instead of giving her “one texture” purees and at a later age), I hope and believe that she will not be a picky eater into toddlerhood.

Processed and fast foods have become such an epidemic in our society, and I am victim to it.  My teenage years were spent eating fast food and drinking pop.  I fell into the slump of eating a lot of processed junk during my pregnancy and after having E and I am just now slowly transitioning back to eating whole organic foods, again.  I’m not going to withhold food from my daughter, but my hope is that she will CHOOSE healthy foods over junk.

I know… high hopes!

So far, E has only had sweet potatoes, avocado, and green beans.  She basically despised avocados (Heck, I hated them until I was in my 20’s), but seems to really like the potatoes and green beans.   I tried rice cereal about 3 or 4 weeks ago but she seemed to get really cranky the rest of the day so I basically skipped the cereals altogether.  I’ll introduce oatmeal later on. 

HATES avocados!

Theres is also the fact that making my own baby food is cost effective.  I can make 10-20 servings for the cost of 2 or 3 of those store bought pouches.  This isn't a huge reason I do this but it is a cherry on top!

The process is really quite easy:

1. Choose organic, in season produce

2. Peel skinned veggies and fruits

3. Wash thoroughly (before being cut and once it is cut)

4. Steam

5. Blend in a food processor or blender (adding cooking liquid to get the texture suitable for your baby’s age)

6. Divide into ice cube trays and freeze

7. Take food out of trays and place into freezer bags (veggies and fruits are good up to 3 months in the freezer)

The only two exceptions are bananas and avocados.  They do not need to cooked and can just be mashed up with a fork as long as they are ripe enough.  They also cannot be frozen.

Veggies need to be cooked until the child is 12 months old to reduce choking hazard.

Foods suitable for 4-6 month olds:

VEGGIES: sweet potatoes, green beans, and squash (acorn or butternut)

FRUITS: pears, apples, avocados, and bananas

GRAINS: whole grain organic cereals (oatmeal, rice, and barley)

Of course, always follow your instincts.  If you don't think your baby is ready for solids then wait.  E loves to breastfeed and nothing has changed from before we started solids.