I am participating in Kelly’s Korner Show Us Your Life Fridays, this one is “What do you feed your kids?”
Little W did not get to enjoy last summer’s fair treats… like this delicious ginormous elephant ear.
We started feeding Little W solids at 6 months of age. She continued to nurse has her main source of nutrition, but we gradually added solid foods that she could learn to feed herself (also known as Baby Led Weaning -I have attempted to chronicle this journey as well as I can). Her first foods were avocado, soft cooked carrots and bananas. She ate a meal here or there, then went to having lunch and dinner, and now at 10.5 months she eats three “meals” a day while nursing 4 times.
Little W pretty much eats anything we give her. The only thing I have noticed she does not care for too much are very acidic tomatoes (think heirloom tomato base for soups). She does not drink cow’s milk but has had butter and a bit of cheese. She just recently started having a “slice” of bread with butter (the crusts cut off and then sliced into little squares) with dinner sometimes – I have an issue with gluten and wanted to wait awhile before introducing it to her. She still rarely has wheat. We also have not given her chocolate or nuts.
A normal breakfast for her is fruit. She rotates between a whole banana, quartered grapes, orange chunks, or a blended up (I use a magic bullet) apple with a bit of rice cereal in it. She eats everything by hand except the apple-sauce, which I spoon feed her as of now.
A normal lunch for her is a vegetable base with extras. Since the winter is on us I use mostly frozen veggies. (I try not to use canned because guess what- all aluminum cans are lined with BPA soaked plastic sealant. You know, that toxin that everyone has taken out of the baby bottles/sippys? Still in our canned goods…leaching into our food.) Little W loves green beans so I keep those in the freezer along with peas, a “mixed” melody, broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach. I can boil a bag on the stove and she can have 1/4 of the bag as her main lunch nutrient. I save the rest for the next few days and just re-heat them on the stove in a bit of boiling water. Along with the veggies she sometimes gets a bit of whatever we are having: a wedge of grilled cheese (crust removed), a turkey sausage link, rice, noodles. Many times they are left overs.
A normal dinner for her is whatever we are eating! She has had prime rib, loaded baked potatoes, chicken a thousand different ways, spaghetti, tacos (everything but the shell and sour cream.. like a loaded nachos without the nachos! Super messy but so fun), and even boxed meals like tuna helper and pancakes! We try to eat meals that we all can have, and have set it up so that it is to be expected. It also helps me to focus on our meals. If I am making it appropriate and healthy for Little W, I know it will be good for us.
One thing I did was I took advantage of her interest in food from the beginning. Right when she started grabbing for our plates, I started letting her eat the same things. She wanted to eat what we were eating, weather it was sweet, salty, or sour. She wanted to be like us. Do not underestimate your influence. I also try to make it fun. I call her green beans “greenie beanies” and I have a funny voice with it. When I ask her if she wants her “greenie beanies” in the funny voice she gets all excited and makes her way to her little booster seat at the table as fast as she can. Eating can be fun!
So right now, this is what we are feeding Little W. I do want to note that she does not snack. She has a sippy with water during her meals and that is it. We will probably switch out nursing with healthy snacking when the time comes, but as of now she doesn’t need it. I am excited to see what tips and tricks people use on their babes as well. You can see who else added their two cents HERE.
Another thing, once Little W can drink out of a straw long enough to have a meal, I am going to implement green smoothies into her breakfast routine. Don’t knock it til you try it – your daily dose of greens and it tastes like yummy fruit!