Mama's feeding table food or the like

MrsZiz

So I feel like we're in a rut, I've mentioned this before but now I am trying to branch out. As we all know, the pedi made me feel bad because Bella's a bitty aka in the 5% for weight. We're trying to feed her everything under the sun. We've even added a little heavy cream to her breastmilk at the advice of a pediatric dietitian that I work with. She's been SUPER picky lately with the normal things she eats. Tonight she picked all of the carrots out of her veggies and left the peas! She used to LOVE peas! She LOVES avocado so she gets that a couple of times a week. 

Tonight I cooked squash (she hasn't had this in SO long) and figured we'd try that. I also cooked quinoa. We never eat that at our house because I feel like it's bland and don't know how to spice it so it's more tasty. Any suggestions to make it tasty but kiddo friendly for her? What about the squash? Should I add something to it? I eat it with a little brown sugar... so I've thought about adding a little to hers, anything to get the kid to eat more! 

I feel like she eats a ton now but I think she's cutting teeth so she's become a picky girl in the last week. Once she gets them she usually goes back to her old self but that last time it took 2 weeks for them to break skin... ugh! 

Married2MrWright

Ha, ha!  We're off the charts here at >95% for weight...and she's about 99% BM and just tasting solids still (not really eating them)...every baby is different.

Keep offering her a variety and she'll choose what she needs...since you're trying to get her to gain I would go with full fat, plain yogurt (organic would be best), avocado, hummus and cheese.  Is she drinking cows milk now? Whole milk will add calories and fat too, so that should help her gain weight. I know you've tried eggs and she had a reaction...have you tried just the yolks?  The whites tend to cause the reactions in babies, but the yolks are usually okay and have good fat and lots of iron.  You could make a little "omlete" with egg yolk, avocado and spinach.

To make the squash appealing (if you think she doesn't already find it so just plain) you could add some cinnamom (I'd skip the sugar...there's plenty of time for that down the line).  Does she like sweet potatos?  Libby likes them roasted with a little olive oil...I cut them into "fries" and bake them on a foil lined cookie sheet until tender. How about green beans? Broccoli? Spinach? How about zucchini or summer squash?  Pumpkin will be available soon too.

Check out this site, if you haven't already for more ideas:

https://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/babymenub.htm

vanceandlori

Is she totally on table food?

This recipe was reeeeally fattening (though I didn't make it with that intention):
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/fettuccine-alfredo-recipe/index.html

Has your pedi. said anything about peanut butter? If he is okay with you starting that, PBJ sandwiches (with bananas too) are a good go-to breakfast

I have read girls on TB that add butter to a lot of their recipes when they need to 'fatten' their LOs up. I have also read about Pediasure, but I don't know anything about it.

 

mrspresley

is she dropping in percentiles? b/c if she isn't, there is nothing wrong w/her being 5th percentile in weight - and i am not just saying that b/c miss A is small too the growth curves are to make sure that they are growing appropriately for their age and their own past growth trends, not to make sure they are growing more than most of the other kids

also if you look on the WHO charts you may find she is higher than 5th... the CDC is now recommending that pedi's use the WHO charts and not the CDC charts for kids under 2 b/c the WHO charts are based on BF babies .... based on the WHO chart, miss A was 10th percentile at her 9 month check up and not 5th percentile. here's the chart if you want to look up her stats.

again, if she is holding fairly steady on the growth curve i don't think you need to make any changes to "fatten" her up... even if that's what your pedi recommended. babies who get too fat when they are young are predisposed to obesity when they are older.  now i am not saying that babies shouldn't have chub and rolls (they all should!!) but there comes a point when a baby is actually fat and that's what isn't good.  and it's ok if she is picky while she is teething, even if it takes 2 wks again...she will make up for it when she is feeling better!!

that said, i agree w/Lori on the full fat yogurt.... i don't remember if you saw my FB post but i did find that Dannon makes an "all natural" variety that is full fat w/o anything added - the only ingredient on the label is milk.  you can mix in mashed bananas to give it some extra flavor/calories.

the avocado you are doing is good too. if she doesn't get sick of it you could give it to her daily.

meats are also a good source of calories so you can make sure she has some type of meat each night at dinner, too.

kinibruin

ugh my sister's oldest was super picky for 2 years. we fed him everything and he would act like we were poisoning him. it was horrible.

he loved yogurt. and chicken and potatoes. he also liked those yogurt drinks from gerber...

we did a lot of mixing things in to try to hide the food. he wouldn't eat meat, so basically he ate those dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets. they may not be exactly healthy, but sometimes we would just lose our minds... hahahah

myday1708

We're in the same boat... Alexa is cutting teeth and decided that she doesn't want to eat ANYTHING but crackers and applesauce. Arg!

I am trying to get her off of baby food... Last two nights we offered her what we were eating (turkey chili with white rice // chicken with white cheddar shells) and let her experiment. After she was done experimenting, I blended her food up and then dipped each spoonful into applesauce and fed it to her while she ate one cracker after another. 

I think we'll try hot dogs tomorrow...  With beans.

Then pasta with sauce...

I'm not really a cook, so this is going to be hard!

I read in the below thread how Lisa in Oz said making baby food is easy... Well... That's assuming you know how to cook veggies! I've never cooked a potato before! I barely know how to boil eggs! Arg... I'm slowly learning... But for me, it's hard!  

vanceandlori

Honestly, we started feeding brooke everything we ate from when she turned 1 year (no baby food).  Kitchen scissors are the best... just cut up whatever you are eating.

Mac and Cheese, Tofu and Rice (with ground chicken), Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Baked Potato, etc, etc

My cousin was diagnosd with failure to thrive when she turned a year.. they would try to feed her everything that we girls avoid when we think we are gaining weight-- ice cream w/every meal.

Hope you find something she likes! Oh, and they totally go through phases of not wanting to eat. I was just telling Chritine how Brooke would open her mouth to eat, then spit everything out.. it was driving me nuts! We gave her a jamba juice and easy things ... try not to worry!

kauai_luv

I basically give my LO whatever it is that we're eating. I think she's in the 25% for weight. She's definitely a petite little thing, and I just stopped BFing about 2 weeks ago. To give you an idea, this is what she typically eats (since about a year old): oatmeal with blueberries, a drizzle of maple syrup, and whole milk for breakfast, Brown Cow brand yogurt for a snack (flavored, not plain), quesadilla with avocado/tomato on the side for lunch, salmon, brown or white rice, with a veggie for dinner. We do give her quinoa and spray Bragg Liquid Amino on it. Since Bella loves avocado, you may want to give that to her everyday. When I was able to get good avocados, my daughter was eating them a lot! I think it would be worth a try to sprinkle some brown sugar and cinnamon on the squash and see how it goes. Add a little butter for some extra flavor and calories. It was so much easier when we were able to give Wai the same food that we were eating instead of making separate meals, but it's definitely a trasition period that you need to ease into. I hope the teething goes well!

MrsNJSwimmer

our problem is that we eat like crap (lots of take out and fast food) and don't want to give him any of that - although he has had pizza now.   I still have a bunch of baby food left b/c he has such a love/hate relationship with purees (he'll eat them for weeks, and then refuse them for weeks).  He loves things he can pick up, so he's been eating lots of those Gerber puffs (they seem to be easier to pick up than the cheerios?) with each meal. 

he's a big fan of spagetti, with and w/o tomato sauce, chicken - we've used spices on this and he's been ok with it - lemon pepper for instance, ground beef, regular rice - I try to make his lump together so he can pick it up, baked potatoes, bread/bagels (small pieces), grapes, watermelon/ cantalope/ honeydew, bananas, avocado, applesauce, sweet potatoes, prefers the pureed green beans and peas to the real thing - not sure what that's about.  He will tolerate some yogurt when he's in a phase of allowing me to feed him from the spoon, but he's not a huge fan. 

Most of the stuff I gave to him plain to start with, he didn't really need any enticing to eat it.  i've been trying to go by the charts on wholesomebabyfood.com as well.  Seems to be working ok for us.

however, ditto what jaime said about her being on one line, as long as she's not dropping, she's probably fine - and I read yesterday about BF babies being on a different chart - I think she gave you that link too. 

sanae78

myday1708:

I'm not really a cook, so this is going to be hard!

I read in the below thread how Lisa in Oz said making baby food is easy... Well... That's assuming you know how to cook veggies! I've never cooked a potato before! I barely know how to boil eggs! Arg... I'm slowly learning... But for me, it's hard!  

DITTO!

MrsNJSwimmer

sanae78:

myday1708:

I'm not really a cook, so this is going to be hard!

I read in the below thread how Lisa in Oz said making baby food is easy... Well... That's assuming you know how to cook veggies! I've never cooked a potato before! I barely know how to boil eggs! Arg... I'm slowly learning... But for me, it's hard!  

DITTO!

someone got me a cookbook w hen I graduated from college - it was called How Long do I cook a 3 minute egg? and it is always my go to book for how to do something simple that I probably should have learned in my experience, but never did.  But I'm with you, I'm no cook.  Baking, that I can do!  But that's not going to feed us well!

mrspresley

kinibruin:

we did a lot of mixing things in to try to hide the food.

this is a good idea, too.  have you seen the book deceptively delicious? there are veggies mixed into everything, even brownies i saw it featured on oprah and everyone taste testing could not tell there were veggies hidden in most of the food items

Married2MrWright

sanae78:

myday1708:

I'm not really a cook, so this is going to be hard!

I read in the below thread how Lisa in Oz said making baby food is easy... Well... That's assuming you know how to cook veggies! I've never cooked a potato before! I barely know how to boil eggs! Arg... I'm slowly learning... But for me, it's hard!  

DITTO!

The great news?  The most nutritious meals are generally the easiest to make...grilled, sauteed, steamed and baked it the way to go.  In our household my DH does most of the cooking because he loves to do it.  And he's Mr. Gourmet Chef about it.  That said, I can whip together meals in 20 minutes that are tasty, nutritous and budget-friendly.  How?  I've developed a repertoire of mix/match items that go well together and are quick and easy to prepare.  Stuff like grilled fish/poultry/meat + steamed or sauteed veggies + carb side (potato, sweet potato, rice, quinoa, pasta...I prefer higher fiber options here)= tasty, healthy and quick meal.

Try grilling some boneless chicken breast (I use a grill pan on our stove top), meanwhile steam some broccoli and boil water to cook some pasta (I like brown rice or quinoa pasta)...by the time the chicken is done so is the pasta and broccoli.  Drain the pasta, add a 1/2 cup (or more, if you like) of your favorite jarred marinara, pesto or alfredo sauce, toss to coat and heat through...serve it on the side with the chicken and broccoli or combine all together.  We keep a variety of jarred sauces (check for sodium levels and get the ones that are lower) like marinara, alfredo, pesto, yellow curry, etc. and they work like magic on simple things like grilled chicken, rice/pasta and veggies.

If you go for simple items rather than trying out elaborate menus, I think you'll find it's not so overwhelming and actually easy.  You might check out recipes that only have 4 or 5 ingredients.  They actually sell books of them!

Married2MrWright

Oh yeah, you might check out these books by Sandra Lee...Semi-Homemade:

https://www.amazon.com/Sandra-Lee-Semi-Homemade-20-minute-Meals/dp/0696232634/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284501819&sr=1-4

https://www.amazon.com/Sandra-Semi-Homemade-Fast-Fix-Family-Favorites/dp/069624182X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284501819&sr=1-3