Washington Babies

Pls tell me I'm not the only one who doesn't fix every "kid" meal from scratch.

I was hosting a playdate for my meetup group today. The playdate was running long and Nathan was getting hungry, so I made him a quick lunch with Whole-Grain Rottini and Store-bought pasta sauce. One of my "frenemy" moms made the comment that she would never give her kids  any brand of jarred pasta sauce. I just told her, it's a quick easy meal and left it at that (Don't I get any credit for using whole grain pasta?)

 In my defense, he doesn't eat it everyday, and I snuck in some cooked spinach into the sauce. After the playdate, I checked the label, and it does have a lot of sodium and I was wondering if that's why she made the comment.

In other news...Nathan refuses to eat meat of any kind in any shape or form and I'm super stressed about it. I've tried to hide it in pasta and he'll pick it apart and take out the ground turkey or whatever the meat was. If I hide it and try to feed it to him, he's figured out how to spit of the meat and eat the rest. Not a big fan of veggies either, but I have been able to sneak in Spinach and tomatoes, here and there. I'm doing the best I can.

 

Re: Pls tell me I'm not the only one who doesn't fix every "kid" meal from scratch.

  • I don't! I'm busy, I'm stressed and if it's good enough for me it's good enough for her. I've been trying to change the household as a whole to healthy, more from-scratch foods but sometimes that box of rice-a-roni is just too good to pass up.
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  • You know i took this parenting class at providence a while back and the teacher mentioned not putting limitations on food or telling the child they cant get down before eating all of their food etc etc because the child may start eating alot of veggies next week to make up for it. I wouldn't worry too much unless it continued. I used to have this child in my daycare class that only wanted sweets and he started to look really skinny and sickly. THATS WHEN YOU WORRY. Plus is it really any of her business what you feed your child. Alot of people give their kids macdonalds everydayyyyy!
  • I hate high and mighty mommies. Sounds like a great lunch to me!

    Don't stress about the meat thing... in a couple of weeks that will be old news and he won't like something else. :) Just keep putting it on the plate, and he will get there.

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  • Chibipoe, Like you, we are also trying to eat better as a family. Nathan is really helping us eat better. Before he came along, I had never eaten whole grain pasta and we eat more fruit and veggies than ever before.

    Thank you everyone for the kind words :-)

  • I agree with PP. Sometimes you do what you gotta do. And like chibi said...if it's good enough for you, it's good enough for DC sometimes. There are nights when I make chicken, with homemade rice, corn, and we try to have milk and water with meals more now too. Other nights, its fish sticks and tater tots. You do what you gotta do.

    Hang in there. Things will work out! And I too hate those high and mighty Moms.

  • Wow, you have to wonder about someone who makes comments like that. ?Maybe she's super competitive, or maybe she has something to prove to everyone she meets.

    We try to eat healthy--more so now than we did before Evie--but I give Evie mac and cheese from a box or a hot dog every now and then. ?I don't think there's wrong with foods like that in moderation.

    I was going to tell you, the only way Evie will eat chicken is if I shred it and mix it with taco seasoning. ?Otherwise she just ignores it. ?I've also found that she will eat just about anything if it has cream cheese on it. ?You might experiment with different dips and sauces, like ranch, BBQ, ketchup, hummus, etc. ?

    Also, try other protein sources like beans, eggs, and tofu. ?Evie loves scrambled eggs, but only if I mix in shredded cheese when I cook it. ?She also loves hummus on pita or carrots.

    I was just thinking the other day that I probably eat twice as many veggies now as I did before Evie!?

  • lol at frenemy

    Connor is no where near eating kids meals yet, but I'm sure he'll eat what we eat: pasta with Prego and whatever veggies we have on hand thrown in.

    It's so wierd.  You would never insult another woman about her appearance or husband.  Could you imagine?  "I would never let myself gain 5 lbs over Christmas" or "I would never marry a man who made less than X."  But apparently it's just fine to insult parenting choices.

  • I just wanted to agree with everyone else, especially since Oliver has had pasta with a little red sauce--from a can-- every night this week. I also put veggies and some kind of meat, but I actually measured the sauce b/c I was a little worried about how much I should be using it, and it was about 1-2 tablespoons! So dont worry, its hardly any sauce anyways. Feed him whatever he will eat! :) Oh, and my meat trick is making meatballs with bread crumbs and a little ketchup and garlic salt in them. Yum! Great for parents too! Also, ds wont eat any veggies etc now unless they are heated up. HTH! You are doing fine!
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  • imageapplecider:

    lol at frenemy

    It's so wierd.  You would never insult another woman about her appearance or husband.  Could you imagine?  "I would never let myself gain 5 lbs over Christmas" or "I would never marry a man who made less than X."  But apparently it's just fine to insult parenting choices.

    You nailed it. 

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  • That's one of the healthiest meals the kids get! Heck you put spinach in it! Hello...those are two of the "super foods" plus whole grain pasta. I HATE that type of mom. One mom in Logan's preschool class got pissed because the snack mom on St. Paddy's day made rice crispie treats and dyed the marshmallows green. Ugh...
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  • ps...people judge your parenting skills no matter what you do. As a parent, you need to look at the big picture, trust yourself, and not let it bother you.?
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  • At least it wasn't chef boy r dee!  I loved that stuff when I was a kid.  And I still love Kraft macaroni and cheese.
  • In this case, my kid is screwed. Collin has been subjected to Kraft macaroni and cheese since the first trimester. Wink
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  • oh jeez.  Ben ate spaghettios last week.  Talk about not healthy!

    Do what you can and avoid moms hat feel like they need to compete with you.

     Ben's not much of a meat eater eiether.  He used to eat NOTHING.   Now he'll eat chicken nuggets, bacon, meatballs... but still not much.    I try to make sure he eats beans - he likes garbanzo beans, black beans, hummus, etc...  but I'm not great at making sure about it.

    REmember, meat isn't a necessity.  Protein is..  So just make sure he's getting protein somewhere... dairy for instance.. or beans are good too.

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  • Thanks for all the advice. He does eat a lot of diary..Yogurt, Cottage cheese, shredded cheese as well as tons of Garbanzo beans (one of his favorite snacks) so I guess I'm ging to relax a bit about the meat. I'm going to try some turkey meat balls this weekend.
  • I would be worried about the salt, mostly.  Perhaps you can mix the regular sauce with no sodium added sauce so he doesn't get as much?

    You'd think if she was trying to be helpful she'd have said, "you could try ______ so he doesn't get so much sodium" instead of "i'd never do that," which sounds competetive and/or judgemental.

    Boy 10.6.13
    Labored at freestanding birth center using hypnobirthing techniques
    Delivered via csection
  • Um did you read my post last week that my child only eats Easy mac and cheese???  As they get older they eat less and less of what you want them too and more of what they want to...My baby eats what he wants to lol
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  • Um, you're better than me.  I have no problems whipping out (organic!) jarred baby food (or when he's older, a Lunchable!) in public.  Frenemy mom is dumb.  I've been reading through all the Annebel Karmel books and laughing at how almost every meal is more complicated than anything I've cooked before.  But then again, if it has more than 3 ingredients, it is definitely more complicated than anything I've ever cooked.
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  • imagetfarabians:
    Um did you read my post last week that my child only eats Easy mac and cheese???  As they get older they eat less and less of what you want them too and more of what they want to...My baby eats what he wants to lol

     

    That's the truth.  I can't tell you how many grilled cheese sandwiches Ben has eaten.  Or in the case of last week, cheese quesadillas.  Which is the same.  :)

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  • I had to laugh at "frenemy" - classic.  All the PPers nailed it on the head.

    And honestly, I won't have the time once I'm back at work and Maddy is eating solids to blend all of her food from scratch.  I'll completely be using jarred food until she's starting on chunkier solids - then she'll eat what we eat.  Or at least, that's the plan....as I've seen from the Mommies with older babies, sometimes babies eat whatever they eat.

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