Advancements in Food - A Realization (Long)

[hass2001]

This is mainly just me blabbing. No real point to this post.

I've realized after reading a lot of your food posts that we are behind on Sam's food skills. All of you seem like you totally know what you are doing when it comes to the food, and I am clueless. You have such great ideas with mixes and I think it's neat that some of your babies are already on to chunkier and adult foods.

Sam can't do a pincer grasp and we are still on plain purees. I did start yogurt over the weekend which she loves and have done some yogurt drops and puffs over the last couple weeks. I haven't done much experimentation in mixes and I realized Sam is probably so bored!!

So today I had a realization that I need to step it up. Tonight I pulled out her mesh feeder (I've only used it maybe 3 times) and put some cubed pears. She loved it! Tonight was taco night so I put aside some cooked ground turkey and onions before I put the taco spices in. I froze it for this weekend. Not sure what I'm going to do with it. Maybe add some squash or sweet potatoes. I'll have to look at Tambs post, she did something similar.

I chopped up some cooked pears and avocado and let her play with the cubes, practicing her pincer grasp. Hubby got a little uptight about it, saying that it's too messy. Well she's never going to learn another way!! I finger fed her some of the chunks and she did really well. She also got a pumpkin/sweet potato puree mix for dinner while she was playing with the chunks.

Feeling a bit adventurous, I saved the water I cooked the pears in. I'm going to freeze it in cubes for her to put in her mesh feeder or to thaw later and put in her sippy cup for practice, since we haven't worked with that much yet either.

I'm feeling a bit more confidant about her food now. And that makes me ;D

If you got this far, here is a :drink:

[lolaburns]

Sounds great! I think you are being too hard on yourself, though! I KNOW you were doing an amazing job regardless.


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[lauranicole91]

Yay!! Food is a serious adventure. Pey started refusing purées a little over a week ago and we went full table food. It's been a hard switch for us(not her, she loves it). Purées were easy. Now I spend more time preparing her meals than I do for myself. And don't even get me started on how I don't eat even half as healthy as she does. Hahaha.

[vthokie]

Sounds great!! That's basically what I did. I wanted to do more BLW, but it freaked DH out. Once I noticed her chewing at things more, I just started giving her small chunks. This week we were out of town, so I just started tearing up bits of what we were eating and seeing what she would do with it. I just try and limit salt, processed stuff, and sugar. They'll move at their own pace. She wouldn't eat meat a couple weeks ago, now she loves it. You haven't hindered her in any way. It's a learning process for all of us. Keep chugging along. You're doing great!

[mala]

As my husband said to me the first time we gave b real food: no one ever said having kids was neat. Getting messy is just part of the fun!

[Deleted]

That's great Hass!! Sounds like she's really loving the new stuff I find it easier to feed the kids what we eat, esp. as there's 2 of them now and I'm already cooking low-salt/sugar etc. You will get the hang of it and eventually there won't be as many steps to the process, kwim?

I totally get you, Laura, on the kids eating healthier than us sometimes. Tonight we're getting Indian takeaway but I deem it too salty for the kids so they are having their own dinner earlier. Silver service over here!

[devotchka]

Don't feel like you are behind - it's all about experimenting with flavors, textures, smells, etc. My guy has no teeth so there are limitations but I try to do a big mix of everything - purees, soups, sippy cup w water, pieces of hard fruit (big ones a la baby led weaning), cheerios, my food w/o salt, etc. Before, I felt like I wasn't doing "enough" but as long as you just keep letting them try new things, you're good. M isn't an expert w/ pincer either but I just let him pick stuff up (he uses his fists and very occasionally tries to pick them up w/ his fingers) anyway. Cheerios is fun for that, and I've been dicing up pieces of steamed carrots and other steamed veggies. He LOVES steamed broccoli and it's mushy enough that he can gum it.

[laurack]

I don't think babies really get bored with food anyway, I don't think they have the concept of that you know. I feel like its just - "oh heres a spoon of something coming at me! Oh its reasonably nice tasting. More please"

I doubt they would compare it to previous meals/days and think "this crap again?!!" or anything.

we do a mix of puree and table food but i don't make seperate table food for her. I figure it's encouraging for us to eat better anyway, now I cook with less salt and if we want to we can add some afterwards.

If we are eating something very salty, I'll give her just a tiny bit and maybe cut up a cucumber or give her half a banana to play with. To be honest she doesn't consume much table food, most of it still ends up on the floor. So I do still give some puree after dinner most of the time because otherwise I feel she'd wake even more often in the night!

A slice of buttered toast is a good one, keeps her busy for a little while in the highchair.

[muppetinma]

We're kind of in between. Andrew's just recovering from a WICKED case of diaper rash, so I've stayed pretty tame on the food front lately. Most meals, he gets two purees (or a yogurt and puree if it's breakfast), and a snack he can pick up. It might be a banana or cheerios for breakfast, whole wheat toast with hummus at lunch, and pasta at dinner. As he's starting to get more comfortable with the finger foods, I'm including more substantial portions and lessening the pureed stuff. My kid just likes to eat, no matter how he gets it.

[rxbeth]

I'm in the same boat as you and I'm really going to try getting more adventurous. I gave her a few small chunks of chicken last night and I was so excited when she got some in her mouth and chewed and swallowed it!

[Deleted]

It was my experience with Juliana that she was ready for new and different things (foods, nipple sizes, cups, toys) much earlier than I thought she was based on what I read or my thinking that she was "too little for ______". I promised myself then to pay closer attention to her cues that she can do things and is ready for things, but I still find myself holding her back sometimes and she'll tell me now that she can do ________.

I find it much easier with Rosalie to let her try new things "early" and I am much more relaxed with her and my abilities as a parent. I think part of that is just being a second timer, but also because I am here seeing you gals with your kiddos and your milestones are encouraging me to try new things.

[Deleted]

I'd say it sounds fine.

So far Taylina has only had a few different foods in puree's. Part of that is because we didn't start solids until she was 7 months old, and I'm not in a hurry to change it. Figure as long as she is growing well and happy not fussing because she is hungry we take it slow. Right now I've given her, avocado's, sweet potato's, squash, banana's, carrots, and rice crackers. She has taken to food well and loves everything other than the squash so we've been mixing that with some of the other foods. I plan to start rice in the next week. I'll just cook it in water and then blend it up and feed that to her instead of rice cereal.

The thing I hate about all the store bought baby cookies etc is that they all have suger, or wheat etc. and we've been trying to hold off on that as long as possible.

[bebeetmoi]

Good for you going forward with new ideas as to how to present food to her. The whole food thing was super intimidating to me when we started. Not knowing how she'd react, whether she was ready for a particular food or not, etcetc. Luckily, LO is a good eater and I learned to just trust my own judgement and my baby- and so far so good! And I am with PPs, eating with a baby is a messy affair! Not much you can do to prevent it other than practice, practice, practice.
Good luck!