I NEED HELP! veggie (or ANY!) moms. At wit's end- tl;dr...

[biblionerd]

Yes, caps are necessary, I'm about to lose my mind. DD WON'T EAT. She's still getting nutramigen am and pm and I can't stop because she won't eat hardly anything. I'm not being dramatic, she really won't eat much at all and I'm concerned that something is wrong. She should probably be getting even more than am and pm because of how she eats. Ok, I take that back, she'll eat junk. I'm calling the pedi on Tuesday. I have no idea if there are pedi nutritionists around or if this is just a behavioral issue. I'll set a bean on her tray to try and she will flip her shit- like literally shriek and scream bloody murder until the evil new food offender is removed. DS never did this and ate enough that the "he'll eat when he's hungry" worked. 

She is allergic to milk and peanuts. Milk/cheese/peanut butter are some of DS' favorite food and protein sources so I took a big blow with that and I just feel lost. She can eat tree nuts, but I haven't found any nut butters without potential peanut contamination. She will kind of do sun butter, but... she won't dip anything in it, she won't eat bread, she won't eat toast, won't eat any veggies other than corn and peas (sometimes)- definitely no raw veggies, won't eat tofu, won't eat any fake/alternative meats, won't eat beans (she loved black beans for two days when she first started solids and hates them now), she'll eat baked beans occasionally if I feed her off of my plate.

She's REALLY weird about textures. I can tell she wants to eat some things, but she'll start to pick it up and literally shudder and gag. Then she'll try and lean forward and eat it off of the tray with her mouth (which is usually unsuccessful). So I try feeding it to her and all of a sudden she hates it because I'm trying to give it to her. She eats crackers, loves crackers. I think it's the crunchiness. She seems like like crunchy foods and hates squishy, with the exception of fruit. She likes pretty much any fruit I've given her. She's on rice milk. What better alternatives can anyone suggest? I'm lost with alternative milks.  


So her "typical" diet lately is a lot like today's:

Breakfast: Nutramigen when she first wakes up, fruit, and cereal (usually cheerios). She was eating a van's waffle but hates them now.

Lunch: Sunbutter on crackers (but it's a very small amount of sunbutter to get her to actually eat it), a fruit/veggie/oatmeal pouch, and rice milk

Dinner: Lentil soup, rice milk, and she grazed off of some peas on my plate. 

Bedtime: Nutramigen 

snacks: Soy yogurt, veggie sticks (not healthy ones, the puffy snack ones), rice cake, fruit/veggie pouch

I swear that is pretty much all she will eat. I just bought a magic bullet and have some sili squeeze pouches coming (they destroyed the reusable ones we had already) since she SEEMS like she will eat almost anything out of a pouch. She hates being spoon fed, can't spoon feed herself, but acts like she can't stand to touch food that isn't crunchy. Can anyone recommend any other steps, ideas, foods, etc.? I seriously feel like a horrible mother. I just don't know how to feed my child. Honestly at this point I don't even think it's a meat/vegetarian thing because I know right now she wouldn't even eat meat if I put it in front of her. She just.won't.eat anything new or non-crackery. Help?!

[monkeybabe]

Can you try making smoothies and putting them in pouches? You can hide a lot of veggies in smoothies. Have you tried putting hummus or other paste type foods, aside from nut butter, on her crackers? If you can give her a variety of fruit, with different healthy properties, that would help with her nutrition, too, right? A lot of ladies on here have talked about coconut and almond milk for the babes.

[biblionerd]

May 27, 2013 1:29:44 GMT -5 monkeybabe said:

Can you try making smoothies and putting them in pouches? You can hide a lot of veggies in smoothies. Have you tried putting hummus or other paste type foods, aside from nut butter, on her crackers? If you can give her a variety of fruit, with different healthy properties, that would help with her nutrition, too, right? A lot of ladies on here have talked about coconut and almond milk for the babes.

I can't get her to eat hummus either. I can definitely do smoothies, but I guess I'm kind of at a loss to what kind of protein or fat to get in them. She eats tons of fruit/veggie pouches (she usually gets another one before bedtime that I forgot to put), but I don't know what to put in them other than fruit and veggies. 

[monkeybabe]

This company sells peanut-free almond butter and you can plug in your zip to see if it's sold close by: www.barneybutter.com/

[monkeybabe]

May 27, 2013 1:36:00 GMT -5 biblionerd said:

May 27, 2013 1:29:44 GMT -5 monkeybabe said:

Can you try making smoothies and putting them in pouches? You can hide a lot of veggies in smoothies. Have you tried putting hummus or other paste type foods, aside from nut butter, on her crackers? If you can give her a variety of fruit, with different healthy properties, that would help with her nutrition, too, right? A lot of ladies on here have talked about coconut and almond milk for the babes.

I can't get her to eat hummus either. I can definitely do smoothies, but I guess I'm kind of at a loss to what kind of protein or fat to get in them. She eats tons of fruit/veggie pouches (she usually gets another one before bedtime that I forgot to put), but I don't know what to put in them other than fruit and veggies. 

Coconut "cream" would be a good source of fat in smoothies. You put a can of coconut milk in the fridge overnight and the fat will solidify at the top of the can. Scoop out the top and it'll leave the coconut water at the bottom. Almonds are good for protein and I often add a spoonful of almond butter to smoothies, or you could try it on crackers.

[biblionerd]

May 27, 2013 1:36:36 GMT -5 monkeybabe said:

This company sells peanut-free almond butter and you can plug in your zip to see if it's sold close by: www.barneybutter.com/

Thank you! I can't find many around, but I saw I can buy it online. I buy everything online and didn't even think of that for some reason. 

[monkeybabe]

Ooo! Lentils for protein! If you plan to make your own baby food pouches, you can add lentils to your veggie pouches.

[biblionerd]

May 27, 2013 1:42:54 GMT -5 monkeybabe said:

Ooo! Lentils for protein! If you plan to make your own baby food pouches, you can add lentils to your veggie pouches.

Yes, she will eat lentils!

[monkeybabe]

Quinoa is also a good source of protein and the amino acids needed to replace meats, I think. I don't know if you've tried that at all, and Zoe's an eater, so saying she loves quinoa doesn't really help, but it's worth a shot if she hasn't rejected it already.

[bean47]

Mention the texture issues to your pedi and see if you can get an OT eval, possibly through EI. She might not need services but they could make some suggestions. Good luck!

[browneyedhunni85]

I hide vegetables in Smoothies. He just throes vegetables on the floor when offered alone.

[jfh]

You could also try making patty or ball type things with a crunchy outside. Mark Bittman has a good recipe for chickpea fries that get pretty crispy, and they're high in protein. Lentil burgers might be good. skiesthelimit posted a recipe for quinoa bites and rubber pants posted one for brown rice balls - I don't know if either turn out crispy, but they're worth a shot. It's pretty easy to make your own nut butters if you have a high-powered blender, so you could make almond butter (etc) at home. You can add avocado to smoothies as well for fats. Sorry this is so stressful for you, I hope some of these work out!

[mala]

You could add silky tofu to those smoothies.

[skiesthelimit]

Here is the quinoa bites recipe: (they do come out crunchy)
Cheesy Quinoa Bites
Makes ~28 bites

•2 cups cooked quinoa
•2 large eggs
•1 cup shredded carrot
•2 stalks green onion, diced
•2 cloves garlic, minced
•1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
•1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
•2 Tbs all-purpose flour
•1/2 tsp seasoning salt
•1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together quinoa, carrot, egg, green onion, garlic, cilantro, cheese, flour, salt and pepper.
3. Distribute mixture into a greased mini muffin tin, filling each cup to the top (1 heaping Tbs each).
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

I used nutritional yeast instead of parmesan and gluten free all purpose flour instead of regular flour. I cooked the quinoa in veggie broth to give it some extra flavour. X really liked them because he could eat them on his own with his hands.

I also second lentils. Maybe you can try the lentil loaf. And definitely sneak some veggies in smoothies. We use Vega One protein powder because it's gluten, dairy and soy free.

I made these falafel patties and they turned out crunchy on the outside and X really liked them.
cookieandkate.com/2012/baked-falafel/ sorry I don't remember who posted them but they were a hit.

Does she like pancakes? I make buckwheat pancakes every Saturday and X really likes them. They are high in protein.

1cup buckwheat flour
2 tbsp honey, maple syrup or sugar (I use maple syrup)
1/2tsp salt
1egg, beaten
1 cup milk (I use almond milk)
2tbsp oil (I use olive oil)

Does she like oatmeal? I make these lactation cookies that are like oatmeal balls and are chewy, X likes them and they are full of protein.
www.gimmesomeoven.com/no-bake-energy-bites/

X also really likes these bars that we buy at Costco. www.larabar.com/products/larabar They are basicallly just dates and nuts. High in protein.

Good luck momma!

[skiesthelimit]

Here is the quinoa bites recipe: (they do come out crunchy)
Cheesy Quinoa Bites
Makes ~28 bites

•2 cups cooked quinoa
•2 large eggs
•1 cup shredded carrot
•2 stalks green onion, diced
•2 cloves garlic, minced
•1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
•1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
•2 Tbs all-purpose flour
•1/2 tsp seasoning salt
•1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together quinoa, carrot, egg, green onion, garlic, cilantro, cheese, flour, salt and pepper.
3. Distribute mixture into a greased mini muffin tin, filling each cup to the top (1 heaping Tbs each).
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

I used nutritional yeast instead of parmesan and gluten free all purpose flour instead of regular flour. I cooked the quinoa in veggie broth to give it some extra flavour. X really liked them because he could eat them on his own with his hands.

I also second lentils. Maybe you can try the lentil loaf. And definitely sneak some veggies in smoothies. We use Vega One protein powder because it's gluten, dairy and soy free.

I made these falafel patties and they turned out crunchy on the outside and X really liked them.
cookieandkate.com/2012/baked-falafel/ sorry I don't remember who posted them but they were a hit.

Does she like pancakes? I make buckwheat pancakes every Saturday and X really likes them. They are high in protein.

1cup buckwheat flour
2 tbsp honey, maple syrup or sugar (I use maple syrup)
1/2tsp salt
1egg, beaten
1 cup milk (I use almond milk)
2tbsp oil (I use olive oil)

Does she like oatmeal? I make these lactation cookies that are like oatmeal balls and are chewy, X likes them and they are full of protein.
www.gimmesomeoven.com/no-bake-energy-bites/

X also really likes these bars that we buy at Costco. www.larabar.com/products/larabar They are basicallly just dates and nuts. High in protein.

Good luck momma!

[raynes]

This sounds a LOT like Owen, though he'll eat breads. I find he'll eat most things if I put them in pouches. A current favourite is roasted pears with sauteed spinach and some fresh grated parm. You could put some olive oil in there for fat too.