Meals

violetmarie61516 · May 2017

Hi ladies! Lillyana is finally starting to transition and want solid foods (what we eat) less than her regular pureed baby stuff. What are some ideas for good breakfast, lunch and dinner meals?

vintagevix2016 · May 2017

Breakfast on the weekends are usually eggs (scrambled or hard boiled), with chopped up fruit, and/or yogurt with fruit puree mixed into it. During the weekdays it's usually yogurt with puree mixed in and some chopped fruit.

Lunch during the weekdays is at daycare so we don't have to worry about meal. On the weekends it it usually some sort of chopped protein (chopped chicken, pork, beef, turkey or lentils, chickpeas) with a veggie (steamed until semi-soft and chopped) such as: sweet potato, green beans, peas, broccoli, turnips, cauliflower, squash, carrots, etc. "Dessert" is fruit of some sort and a little piece of an arrowroot cookie.

Dinner on weekdays and weekends is the same as lunch. At daycare he's been eating simple soups too. We aren't brave enough to try that at home yet.

That said, we offer the above options but also have puree on hand in case he feels more inclined to have that. More often than not, he wants both!

artlea2013 · May 2017

Foods for Miles have always been just a part of whatever I'm eating if I can prepare a section that isn't salted. Salt and honey are the only avoids for babies at this age, as well as obvious choking hazards (whole nuts, whole grapes, popcorn, etc).

If I can't give him some of my meal, often because it's a quick grab Subway sandwich or something like that, we keep a stock of frozen chicken breasts that we can quickly oven bake with a little oil and light seasoning and I've found that recently Miles loves the bags of small diced frozen veggies. Peas, corn kernels, carrots and green beans all let him practice his pincer grip, which is a big plus. A little butter mixed in adds some flavor and gives more fat, which babies need plenty of. Toast chopped into fingers or some reheated macaroni (I'll make a crockpot of homemade mac & cheese and save the leftovers for Miles) round out that meal.

For breakfast Miles has really come to enjoy Cheerios and Kix, but also pancakes, waffles, toast, yogurt, chopped fruit, sometimes teething biscuits if I just need him to sit still for a minute

It's been fun to watch him explore

rlbrooks84 · May 2017

Breakfast
eggs fried or scrambled sometimes with green chili, oatmeal with fruit mixed in or plain, plain yogurt, applesauce, toast with butter, banana or pumpkin bread

lunch
applesauce, peanut butter sandwich, fruit, leftovers, eggs,

dinner
typically it's whatever we eat but less seasoning, I like to separate some of it before I season it. If we are eating something she doesn't like then I'll give her a pouch or leftovers from another night.

Frozen veggies are great for all meals, Charlotte really likes peas, carrots, and corn.

charlotte doesn't do dairy so that limits me sometimes but they have dairy free yogurt and butter.

meggyme · May 2017

Jackie usually eats what we're having, or else it's a pouch and cheerios, or fruit/veggies and a cheese stick.

AmberLiz99 · May 2017

Whatever we eat, minus any added salt or sugar. Good motivation for the family to eat healthy if you know baby is having it too! Plus, there is no time in my life to be making separate meals for people, haha

Tawny87 · May 2017

I usually give cam what we are eating if he can handle it, poor guy still has no teeth...

violetmarie61516 · May 2017

These are some great ideas. Thank you to each of you. Unfortunately I still don't seem to get meals myself, I literally just snack until late at night and then I make food. Probably why I'm so big! But, we are trying to do more meal planning and stuff with LO now. Thank you again for the ideas!

vintagevix2016 · May 2017

Love4Labs326 said:

These are some great ideas. Thank you to each of you. Unfortunately I still don't seem to get meals myself, I literally just snack until late at night and then I make food. Probably why I'm so big! But, we are trying to do more meal planning and stuff with LO now. Thank you again for the ideas!

We haven't gotten the hang of "eat what we're eating" yet since dinner usually isn't ready until after Damien is in bed. Sometimes it's more like "eat what we ate last night" if we aren't giving him something made right at that moment.

For meals that aren't "eat what we're eating" style, I've done small vacuum-saver bags of "Damien" portions of meat that I can quickly thaw and cook up on the fly and that seems to work well. In the mornings or after he goes to bed, I will cut up his fruits and veggies so those are quick to prep along with the protein in the evening.

rlbrooks84 · May 2017

Charlotte had curry tonight and loved it. It really made me miss the days when my boys would pretty much eat whatever I made them.

StayingFocused · May 2017

How much are you feeding at a time? Levi will eat a good 1 1/2 cups or so worth of food at a time.

vintagevix2016 · May 2017

StayingFocused said:

How much are you feeding at a time? Levi will eat a good 1 1/2 cups or so worth of food at a time.

I honestly don't measure, just give him a helping and add more as it disappears until he stops.

lm45678 · May 2017

vintagevix2016 said:

StayingFocused said:

How much are you feeding at a time? Levi will eat a good 1 1/2 cups or so worth of food at a time.

I honestly don't measure, just give him a helping and add more as it disappears until he stops.

Same

StayingFocused · May 2017

I'm just guessing also but it seems about that. I have to send his meals to daycare and my containers are about that total between the two sections.

artlea2013 · May 2017

I would maybe send more than you think he might eat with the instruction to give him whatever he wants but don't require him to finish the contents of the container.

Lizbeth86 · June 2017

Is anyone else having trouble getting their LO to eat "real food" (not baby food). It seems like your LO's (and my nieces and nephews) are so excited to eat adult food, but my LO has no interest and spits out anything I give her that's not pureed baby food. Exceptions are cheerios and crackers, she'll bite into those. But she'll spit out pasta, rice, cooked veggies, chicken, etc. I'm not sure how to get her to start moving off of baby food.

Delitachan · June 2017

Lizbeth86 said:

Is anyone else having trouble getting their LO to eat "real food" (not baby food). It seems like your LO's (and my nieces and nephews) are so excited to eat adult food, but my LO has no interest and spits out anything I give her that's not pureed baby food. Exceptions are cheerios and crackers, she'll bite into those. But she'll spit out pasta, rice, cooked veggies, chicken, etc. I'm not sure how to get her to start moving off of baby food.

It can be a struggle with some of the more nutritious foods. My LO will not eat scrambled egg much and chicken either.
Our son's GI specialist said that transitions can take up to one year. Try pancakes or ground beef.
Worse case scenario - use toddler formula.

AmberLiz99 · June 2017

Lizbeth86 said:

Is anyone else having trouble getting their LO to eat "real food" (not baby food). It seems like your LO's (and my nieces and nephews) are so excited to eat adult food, but my LO has no interest and spits out anything I give her that's not pureed baby food. Exceptions are cheerios and crackers, she'll bite into those. But she'll spit out pasta, rice, cooked veggies, chicken, etc. I'm not sure how to get her to start moving off of baby food.

I would just keep trying and offering the food first. If she doesn't eat much you can give her baby food after a meal. I have a friend whos kid would gag on anything till they were around 14 months, but after that something clicked and they ate everything.
My baby is a food vacuum, so I can't offer first hand advice.

Tawny87 · June 2017

Lizbeth86 said:

Is anyone else having trouble getting their LO to eat "real food" (not baby food). It seems like your LO's (and my nieces and nephews) are so excited to eat adult food, but my LO has no interest and spits out anything I give her that's not pureed baby food. Exceptions are cheerios and crackers, she'll bite into those. But she'll spit out pasta, rice, cooked veggies, chicken, etc. I'm not sure how to get her to start moving off of baby food.

My kid exactly! He is only 18lbs and the 1st percentile so it's not exactly awesome... He still doesn't have any teeth so I wonder if that is part of the problem. In regards to solids he likes cheese, Cheerios, rice crispies, cake, and yogurt melts and anything of true substance has to be purée or yogurt. It's pretty freaking annoying.

artlea2013 · June 2017

Lizbeth86 said:

Is anyone else having trouble getting their LO to eat "real food" (not baby food). It seems like your LO's (and my nieces and nephews) are so excited to eat adult food, but my LO has no interest and spits out anything I give her that's not pureed baby food. Exceptions are cheerios and crackers, she'll bite into those. But she'll spit out pasta, rice, cooked veggies, chicken, etc. I'm not sure how to get her to start moving off of baby food.

I would make sure that you take any meals and snacks in front of her as much as possible and share what you're eating with her, if you can. Try to plan meals and snacks that she can have some of instead of preparing separate food for her. Babies are much more interested in food if it means they get to be like Mom and Dad. Even when it's the same food, I used to have to haul Miles into my seat and feed him directly from my plate sometimes for him to be interested. His separately prepared plate was not good enough. It'll come, my mother always told me that it took until I was almost 2 for me to completely eat solid food and I ate hardly any at 18 months, just wasn't interested.

Lizbeth86 · June 2017

Thanks everyone! I'm glad to know that LO is not alone although she is in the minority. @Tawny87 I'm noticing that although I think it's mostly a skill thing, she does seem more motivated to try to chew sweets over nutritious food. She hates cheese though which I thought was weird, I thought cheese was kid food.

She also just got a bunch of teeth all at once and may not know how to use them yet.

@art+lea2013 I will try to sit her on my lap to eat my food, thanks! She really is not that interested in food in general (except cheerios) so I'm not sure it will matter, but I think she'll at least be more intrigued.

lm45678 · June 2017

I would also try to give your LO pieces of your actual meal when possible. If you're eating a salad, take a little piece of avocado and feed it to her for example. My daughter is always more interested in food when she sees me eating it than she is when I just place a random food on her tray.

vintagevix2016 · June 2017

@Lizbeth86 Damien has his good days and bad days but I often "chase" his "real food" meals with purees just to be sure he's getting enough nutrition now that we are transitioning to cow's milk and not relying on formula so much. He's getting much better but it was a long road and it's only here in the past week or so that he seems to really be interested in our food. We always offer it first like @art+lea2013 suggested.

egirl1025 · June 2017

Lizbeth86 said:

Thanks everyone! I'm glad to know that LO is not alone although she is in the minority. @Tawny87 I'm noticing that although I think it's mostly a skill thing, she does seem more motivated to try to chew sweets over nutritious food. She hates cheese though which I thought was weird, I thought cheese was kid food.

She also just got a bunch of teeth all at once and may not know how to use them yet.

@art+lea2013 I will try to sit her on my lap to eat my food, thanks! She really is not that interested in food in general (except cheerios) so I'm not sure it will matter, but I think she'll at least be more intrigued.

I chewed fake food in front of my son, looking like a complete idiot I might add, basically when we first started giving him solids because it was so rare that we ate in front of him initially. Since he was staying to mimic us, it kind of worked out. Now you better be prepared to share if you are eating in front of him.

vintagevix2016 · July 2017

I found a recipe for an egg muffin type thing with cheese, spinach, and bacon and it's pretty good. Damien really enjoys it too. It makes for a quick breakfast meal for him since I just pop a muffin in the microwave for a few seconds to reheat.

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