feed me
not yet ready to write about yesterday’s walk for maddie, i sit at my new mac book (paul’s birthday gift to me, hell yea!) and ponder what to post…
i’m asking moms on twitter what they feed their 1+ year olds and how often. here’s why… now that jackson has turned 1 and we’re “supposed to” be saying buh-bye to the bottle (which should be something you would think i would want to celebrate), i find myself not knowing what to feed him. i feel like he is at this strange stage in eating where he’s over the whole jar-food thing, but still learning the concept of table foods.
and then there’s snacks, which baffle me entirely. we’ve never had the luxury of giving jackson snacks because we’ve always been told by his specialists to have him on a strict feeding schedule so that he’s hungry enough to get the bottles in. back in the day, the bottle and its contents were the focus (side note: good grief, how far we have come!) needless to say, jackson hasn’t been the snacking-type, until paul’s cousin introduced jackson to goldfish a couple months back, and opened all our eyes to the glory that snacking can bring. thank you, heather!
so, once one has a 1 year old, a toddler, a little person who is no longer a “baby,” what do you feed them? and when? how much? and how often? do you prepare your own foods? do you purchase prepared foods? how long did you do jar-foods (if you did them at all)? how did you end your child’s relationship with the bottle? do you look for calorie-content (cuz your kid is a string bean, like mine) or nutritional value (making sure the best of ingredients are listed on the label)???
i could go on and on with the questions that i have about feeding our magoo. and yes, we have asked our pediatrician, who has given good insight… but i’d rather hear the real advice from the stay-at-home parents themselves. call me crazy.
please, share with me what you feed your child. answer every last one of those obnoxious and overly-analytical questions i have listed above in a comment or email to me. because there seems to always be somethin’ ya know? once you get a handle of one thing, somethin’ else happens and you need to be ready to adjust again.
i need help adjusting to toddler-hood. i just got used to having a baby.
0 Responses to feed me
Have a Sip
Well…
I’m not a stay at home parent but I twitter with the best of them so I guess that makes me either a really shitty employee or a damn good one that can multitask really well.
Umm..enough about me..
I personally go for the calorie content. Have a little peanut too I find that at least initially it takes them a while to bulk up into solid food. What we did was to begin to put food on the tray while we were eating (avocado is especially good – it’s pretty bland, creamy and has a butt load of fat) and let them eat what they wanted. You can either do the finger foods first & finish off the meal with a jar of food or vice versa – either way works.
The magical Puffs were our first food – man, these weren’t around when my first ones were little but honey – these ROCK – of course they have no nutritional value but they do get them use to using their teeth.
About the bottle. We use Avent sippy cups. I’ve found that the nipple/sippy cup interchanges so when you want to do a cup you can and then a bottle other times. I think it’s easiest to wean from the bottle as in 4,3,2,1 per day and have the last one be the night time bottle.
Obviously this feeding thing is a gig to me because I’ve got WAY too much information on the subject.
Hit me up if you want to talk more.
We rarely do snacks. Never really did. But when we do, it’s almost always boxes of raisins. I don’t do crackers/cookies, partially because a lot of packaged snack foods are a pain in that ass with S’s peanut allergy.
When he was one, we did a lot of those tiny tube-shaped pastas. They kind you put in soup. You can cook them in chicken broth for flavor, or try sprinking some parmesan cheese on them to make them saltier and easier to grip.
Lots of steamed vegetables. And lots of continuing to spoon feed him pureed veggies. I breastfed until 15 months so he wasn’t on cow milk until then, but I think we stuck with bottles until 18 months or so before going all sippy cup all the time. He learned to use a straw early on so we always used straw cups. He still sucks at drinking without a straw.
I can’t remember what else we fed him, which I guess means that I’ll have no idea what to feed this little guy either. Great.
Wait I remember some more.
Cheese cubes cut up extra small. Green beans cup up extra small. Hot dogs cut up extra small.
He never, ever liked those Gerber Graduates meals.
I made my own food. My kids were (still are) string beans. I’m talking 5th percentile here. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I think the “average” American eats too much and too much of the wrong foods.Snacks are tricky because you don’t want them to have too much or they won’t eat their meals. I’ve struggled with this and had to cut snacks out altogether at times. Avocados are perfect for getting fat into those kiddos. Cream at the top yogurt is also a great meal. You can mix in fruit or pureed squash or avocado or almond butter with that, eggs were a staple.Veggie Booty and Fruity Bootie for snacks I already said it on Twitter – check out Super Baby Food. It’s all about healthy food, when to introduce what, recipes, ideas. The library probably has it if you want to browse before you buy. I could go on and on but I won’t.
the feedback is awesome! keep it coming! and thank you!
As the mom of a similarly pukey feeder, we do the opposite of most parents and let V eat small meals and graze on snacks in between. We found this got more into her and she kept it down.
If he’s still doing the cyclical puking, I wouldn’t be in too big a hurry to take him off a bottle. What you could start to do is slowly transition him to milk (3/4 formula – 1/4 milk) and keep upping the milk as you go along.
As far as what to eat… Avocados are great; well cooked carrots; potatoes; sweet potatoes / yams were always a big hit. Round about a year we started trying to feed her little bits of what ever we were eating.
Snacks: Cheerio’s are a staple in our house, as is puffed rice. Animal crackers are another thing she really likes. We did a lot of raisins around that age as well.
You know where to find me if you want to chat more about food
Screw “supposed to” – if he eats great from the bottle or better, sleeps, then don’t feel the need to mess with it.
People might give you dirty looks but seriously, no kid went to college with a bottle.
My kids never took bottles, but I love the Avent sippies because the “nipple” is flat and not like a boob and for some reason, my kids liked it — like I wasn’t trying to fool them with that one.
Can’t stand Nuks. Since Q never took a bottle, she never actually could figure out a sippy cup so she used a toddler cup with straw.
Okay, so food wise. I love Avocado but hell if ANY of my kids would eat it. Quinlan was always super skinny and still is – I used to be really obsessed with it and stir olive oil into her applesauce. (it works too). But we don’t drink milk around here – Drew is fine with cow’s milk, but Quinlan not so much (in small doses, she’s okay).
Soy yogurt was a big snack. You can get the plain vanilla in the big jugs (heh) and stir in whatever – fruit, etc.
We did cheddar bunnies and cheerios, rice puffs are good – low allergen and they sort of melt in your mouth but really, we only just did those as an on the go snacks. Most of ours were just varied forms of regular food. Cream cheese on crackers or bagel bits.
We did lots of fruit — grapes cut up, watermelon, all kinds of that.
Quinlan LOVED baby food – she’d eat the jarred shit all those meals in one jar (blech). Drew was a total table food boy from almost day one and it sort of drove me nuts, but it was nice in the long run.
I was way more adventurous with Drew but he didn’t have the stomach issues that Quinlan had.
And I honestly never really had “meals.” Quinlan ate in the fron the tv because she’d at least sit there and let me feed her. Drew was the opposite. But either way, at that age, it was a ton of small meals. Sitting down for a big huge meal isn’t great for the stomach anyway, so I wouldn’t be too married to “how things should be.”
And I can’t believe I’m giving people advice about food. HAHAHA.
I can’t give much advice as I’ve not personally been in your position, but my SIL made her own baby food. Yogurt is a staple in their house (stuffed with some grape nuts for extra calories when her oldest was little), as are crackers, cheese cubes, organic beef hot dogs (her kids had problems with pork), and cheerios. Outside of that, she purchased a few baby food blender books and went at it. There’s quite a selection on Amazon that might help out. Avocados, bananas, and squash were what she gave the older one most, but her younger baby was a tank and didn’t need the calories as much so she had alot more peaches and melons. She also did alot of steamed/pureed veggies, which sort of helped the transition between total-mush to actual-vegetables, which both her daughters weren’t particularly keen on in the beginning.
I hope that helps. Good luck finding something that fits for you and your son!
I definitely don’t have a toddler yet, but Jago has been eating table food for sometime now. He LOVES chicken and pretty much everything. We have been giving him bite size food portions now for about 2 months. He also likes Annie’s(organic) mac-n-cheese. Jago loves snacks..cheerios, animal crackers, etc. Still bf him, doesn’t like a sippy cup. He has been using a cup and a straw for about 1 month now, he gets water. We still steam all of his fruits and veggies. Yogurt is a good snack too.
Don’t let any ped try to suggest atypical bottle behavior patterns on you–those patterns don’t fit every child and feeding situation–unfortunately most peds just don’t get that so do what your gut tells you and the feeding therapist suggests and tell those who have issue to politely shove off
unfortunately I’m not much help here on this one–GC was being fed almost 100% by the gtube up until she was 2, then it went to bolus feeds for 80% of the time thru her gtube and we we weaned her down to where she is now. She would on occasion eat the pureed baby food I made, just veggies mostly, no meat textures–we were told to add lots of high cal stuff to it if possible–real butter, sour cream,full fat cream, etc to up the calorie content. but most of the time I added duocal (an RX calorie supplement powder) to her baby food so she would get higher Kcals for each bite she took. Anything with texture was a big, big issue for her, so no pureed foods or snack foods –but one of the first texture foods that really made her completely happy was graham crackers–still true to this day that anything with crunch is a big positive for her and it helps with the Sensory disorder too.
So having 2 opposite kids I love reading what other people feed their kids.
As you know Coop is the king snacker!! Not sure that is a word! But Mason is more my meal guy. He still eats some baby food just because I want to make sure he gets some thing. He is also eating a lot of fruit. Everyday he likes something different which causes me to throw out a lot of food. Mason also really likes the gerber graduate stuff. They come in those little microwavable bowels. And as always he is a huge fan of pizza. We are more than happy to introduce Magoo to pizza! It is a crowd favorite in our house. One thing that I don’t have to cook that everyone eats!!!! See you in a couple weeks.
Great Post!! I’ve been wondering the same things. My kid has been transitioning to solids well. I’m still breastfeeding and she eats jarred organic baby food. We’ve also introduced finger foods like bananas, avocado, and those cereal puffs. I also gave her YoBaby yogurt. She loves it! I was really wary of giving her whole wheat or cow’s milk just yet – but I noticed she wanted more variety and so we tried it. I’m glad we did.
Now that she is getting teeth, I want to feed her more table foods. I’m just not sure when she’ll be ready for more chewy foods…. I look forward to reading more of other posts!!
As for the sippy cup issue… I’m not a big fan. That is unless you vary the style of nipple/sippy part. I have seen them hinder mouth/verbal devlopment. But I’m no expert. I also think the convenience can sometimes lead to kids that take no responsibilty for their drinks. (ie… they throw the cups around and run around while they are supposed to be eating/drinking.) We haven’t reached that stage yet, but I hope to work on having my kid sit to eat (hopefully that will lead to mindful eating in the future).
Zoey never would take a bottle and uses any sippy I try only as a chew toy. We have taught her to use a straw – that’s helped her water intake!!
Don’t get me wrong, when Z will use a sippy, I’m sure we will have them on hand. I just don’t think we’ll use them as the go-to cup everyday.
I look forward to reading more!
gosh, these responses are so wonderful. today we have started with a “big boy” lunch consisting of bits of deli meat, string cheese, pear, cheez-its (his new fave) and milk in a straw cup.
so far, so good… he had a bottle this morning at 7, snack of yogurt and milk at 9:15, and we just did lunch now at 11.
we shall see… but keep up the responses, this is such great insight and info! thanks!
HI there…I just came across your blog (read a comment you left for Heather and was so touched) and was drawn to yours….my hubby also is/was a pilot in the Navy (went to the Naval Academy)& my 2 year old son also has eating issues (not quite as severe as your little guy) but sees a GI Dr, nutrionist, has gone to feeding therapy and there was talk about a feeding tube…but he’s eating better now and we give him supplements. Before I share what we fed him at 1 year…few questions…does your baby have a feeding tube?What solids has he been able to try? Any allergys? My little guy had Reflux really bad and a severe egg allergy. Soldis in the beginning we had to be so careful due to choking. I’ve had a year of practice with all this….some days are so frustrating when he just won’t eat! I have only read the last few posting….that’s why I don’t know all the questions I asked.
elizabeth- thank you so much for your comment! so glad that you found me.
no, jackson has no allergies now… we did a panel on him a few months ago and he is all clear with no allergies, so that’s awesome news! originally he was allergic to something in my breast milk that could never be pin-pointed. so we have always been VERY careful when it comes to introducing anything new. but since the allergy panel was done and came back clear, all bets are off!
the solids for jackson had to be started at 4 months because he was not taking a bottle and we had to get something in him. of course this meant that coordination-wise, he was not ready for this, so that was an uphill battle.
if you check out the link bar at the top of our blog, you can see kinda how we came to be where we are now.
the solid foods are great for jackson and he’s now drinking whole milk… something we never thought we’d see.
thank you so much for the input, and please visit again or shoot me an email to say hi!
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