BabyWhispererForums.com
EAT => Feeding Solid Food => Topic started by: jay2yay on September 16, 2011, 00:04:53 am
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I feel like DS doesn't like any veges I make. It's not like I do anything to them.....most of the time I just add water, but sometimes I add formula. And he doesn't even like mashed banana mixed with milk!
Sometimes it's okay... but I often am feeling very stressed. He seems to take to jarred foods so much better and easier. I take so much time and make all kinds of foods and feel like I'm going to have to waste it all. I feel maybe he'd do better if I started mixing the veges together but it's almost like I feel like I don't have 'time' to figure all this out and it's becoming very overwhelming :(
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Hi Justine. I know it can be overwhelming when they are just starting on solids to know what they will like and to figure out what to feed them. Honestly, with all 3 of my boys I relied fairly heavily on jarred food, gradually adding more and more homemade food as they aged. Do you think it's a texture or taste thing?
Anyway, if it is stressing you out, maybe step back a bit and accept that for a while he will eat more jarred stuff as you gradually test out different homemade stuff. He doesn't need the solids for nutrition right now (milk is still most important). Maybe if you think of it as opportunities to try out things and practice for when he truly needs it for nutritional purposes. I found the early stages of feeding solids to be pretty tough with mine (what to feed, when how much etc.) but that stage actually passes fairly quickly and soon enough your lo will be eating what the rest of the family eats, as long as its an enjoyable stress-free experience.
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I agree that I would try not to stress about it too much. He really doesn't need the food so if he doesn't eat it, oh well! I would just freeze the remainder in cubes so my hard work didn't go to waste. Also, I would definitely mix fruits and veg. Things went better for us doing that. Here are some recipes: http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/. Have you tried just giving him pieces of food rather than purees?
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Thank you Becky and Kate :) Becky, it could be a texture thing but sometimes he takes clumpier food no problem, and then other times he gags on it. But then other times, it's definitely taste. He'll eat jarred peas but not homemade peas. Which stinks bc I made SO much peas! ::)
Kate, I do freeze most of what I make but (I read) it only keeps for about 4 weeks.
I haven't yet really tried giving him larger bits of food but I think I might tomorrow. Right before mashing the banana tonight I gave him a clumpy piece off my finger and he took two of those. Then when I mashed it, he gagged on it and started crying. So, I added milk but it was the same reaction. :-\
Thanks for the site, I'll definitely take a look and see what I can mix. Wouldn't mixing fruit and veges still make the food sweeter, therefore, encouraging a preference for sweets?
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Funny, I was going to suggest wholesomebabyfood too!! LOVE that site.
The frozen food is best if used within a month, but honestly, it's good up to about 3 months.
I agree w/ Kate. The veg/fruit combos are good ideas. And once you start to introduce meats, a great combo is something like beef/sweet potato/apples - and you can always sneak extra veg in there too... The apple adds a little sweetness, but also makes the meal savoury.
I've read babies naturally have a preference for sweet. Breastmilk is VERY sweet for their little taste buds - hence one of the reasons they like it so much ;) So I wouldn't worry too much about that.
Try and stick with the homemade food if you can. I'm a HUGE fan of making your own baby food. You know exactly what's in it - and unfortunately not all jars are free from chemical preservatives ect. that can leach into the jarred babyfood. They don't have to list those if it's in the packaging... :-\
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My pediatrician gave me the whole "give veges before fruits" this time around -- which they didn't when I started solids with the girls. Anyway, I honestly don't think it makes all that much of a difference -- both my girls eat plenty that's not sweet (well, dd2 does, dd1 eats roughly nothing, but that's another story...) -- I think it's just exposing them to lots of different tastes. Dd2 was never into the mashed stuff either - if you check out the Baby Led Weaning thread, that's what we did with her more than the purees. :) You're doing a great job!
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Thanks for the site, I'll definitely take a look and see what I can mix. Wouldn't mixing fruit and veges still make the food sweeter, therefore, encouraging a preference for sweets?
I know we hear this a lot but a lot of people say it's a load of bs. I certainly found that. I really didn't worry about it. We all have a natural tendancy towards sweet things. I mixed veg with fruit for Austin and I also gave him actual fruits/veg and he ate lots of veg until he became a picky toddler! ;)
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He's 7 months. I would stick to making your own and just saying to yourself 'ho hum' if he doesn't eat it. Not a problem if he eats it or not at this age.
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oliver will eat most things if I use the blender and puree them completely - I know he can manage lumps so am not worried and prefer that he eats a variety of things (we can't really use jars as they all contain carrots and\or dairy :( ). We also are starting finger foods - he loves breadsticks!
We actually do fruit before veg often as then they are not always expecting something sweet to finish! I mix fruit and veg together - odd combinations but if they eat them, why not! Murray still likes the Ella's Kitchen broccoli, pear and peas one! Jars always contain carrots etc as they are sweet so don't see a problem with putting fruit in to sweeten it,
Have you tried banana, without milk? Oliver loves it ...
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Tbh, my little one was much better when I gave him pasta than with lumpy purees. Don't blame him tbh, lumpy purees sound gross!
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Justine - know how you feel. I went out and bought a new food processor when DS started solids and was SO excited. He hated all of my purees! Well most of them. He did like the fruit purees and from my experience eating fruits before vegs didn't stop him from eating vegs. We did/do a combo of homemade and jarred.
To share a funny story, I was SO excited about making my DS this puree out of this baby puree cookbook. If I recall, it had turkey and apples etc in it. My DH was watching me as I sauteed the apples, boiled the turkey, etc etc. I made this thing with all of my love for my DS and couldn't wait to have him try it. Well, I should have. He literally took a spoonful, gagged, and vomited. I was devastated!!! It wasn't funny back then, but thinking of it now, it is actually kind of hysterical. These little guys have all got our number and they eat what they want when they want!
I have found that as he gets older though he likes more of my cooking and I'm sure you will find that too. The best (and hardest) thing to do is just roll with the punches. You're doing a great job - your LO is lucky that you put so much time, effort, and love into his food!
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Do remember though that some days they will eat well and like something and another day they will refuse it. A health visitor said to me once it can take 15 tries to get a baby to accept a new food.
I just used to make a batch of something, freeze most of it and try it with him. I used to make a lot of stews, chicken, beef etc with vegetables all blended together. It is a pain when you see your food rejected but some of the baby food is shocking. I mean you look at a beef stew jar and it will contain 8% beef!!! It's all filler! So even if only a little of your home made lovely food gets eaten, it's still going to be more nutritious.
One thing I also used to try is giving finger foods for him to play with as I fed him. It helped him start getting into finger foods and also helped with the feeding process.
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wow, thank you everyone so much for all the helpful tips. I'm going to keep at it for sure and try not to put the focus on me ;)
The frozen food is best if used within a month, but honestly, it's good up to about 3 months.
This is good to know, maybe my peas won't be wasted after all :)
Have you tried banana, without milk?
Yesterday, I gave him some bits of banana...I had to really help him since it was so slippery but he definitely seemed to like it much better than pureed banana!
Nicole- your story made me laugh! I, too, got my *amazing* food processor for Christmas so I was really super excited to make his food. I really should stop making this about me!
Do remember though that some days they will eat well and like something and another day they will refuse it.
Yes, thanks for this reminder. I think I'll also try the finger foods while he's eating and see how he does.
I really need to read up more about finger foods....to me, it still felt so far away but he's 7 months already!
When I gave him jarred or packaged baby food, I always tried to make it organic but it doesn't even sound like that makes a big difference. So, thanks everyone so much again!
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Yep you can introduce finger foods from 6 months so I'd try now.
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My little nugget gagged on bananas too when I first tried. He also gagged on Peas and Broccoli. However, when I puree his food to a consistency identical to the consistency in baby food jars he eats just about anything (including Peas and Brocccoli, and he LOVES his banana puree). Put your blender on high and let it run for over a minute - keep adding BM, formula, or the (filtered) water from your steamer pot until you get that perfect puree.
Stick with making your own baby food if you can! It's so much better for the LO, and very rewarding. The cost effectiveness is also incredible (Think $.80 a jar for organic sweet potatoes or $1.50 for 2 organic sweet potatoes that make over a dozen 2oz jars).
Like the other ladies said, wholesomebabyfood.com is AMAZING!! A great resource.
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Also, throw some organic sprouted flaxseed in with the veggies your LO doesnt seem to care for. Gives it a little flavor, and my pediatrician recommended flaxseed for added nutrition.
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I found my son really liked milky foods at that age so some fish pie always went down well. To make it coarser, rather than pureeing everything I used to just flake and mash the fish with a fork and mash the potatoes.
Gagging is ok and normal. Choking isn't obviously but it does take them a little while to learn how to move foods around in their mouths and their gag reflex is really sensitive at that age. Gagging is what stops choking.
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In Canada and the USA, you really don't have to feel any guilt with jarred food - no added salt, fillers, sugar like there is in the UK.
That said, I have found the same thing as sdaeffler - it's all about the consistency... my DD hates lumpy purees. But she eagerly eats things like Cheerios, gerber puffs, pieces of steamed fruit... and she loves smooth purees too.
BTW - a baby food jar is 4.5 ozs ;) But yes, much cheaper to make you own and totally fine to mix fruits/veg!
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In Canada and the USA, you really don't have to feel any guilt with jarred food - no added salt, fillers, sugar like there is in the UK.
Errr... I would disagree. Although there may not be added salt, fillers ect in the food itself - what should be a huge cause for concern for all parents in jarred (or canned) food is in the chemicals in the packaging. BPA (the chemical that mimics estrogen) is in the lid of almost all jarred baby foods (and in the lining of canned foods) and can leach into the food. http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/blogs/organic-parenting/bisphenol-a-baby-food-47072002 This is in Canada and the US. Perhaps a bit off topic for this thread, but something all parents should consider and do their research on before feeding jarred baby or processed baby food to their children.
If anyone is interested, we have a thread going on here about what's sneaking into your kids foods - (chemicals, Genetically modified ingredients, ect).. either in the food directly or by leaching into the food from the packaging. http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=217108.msg2323829#msg2323829
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I guess I'm not too concerned because I have no health problems from jarred food myself ;) And I formula feed with concentrate formula - from a can... I really think we all need to relax a bit. There are chemicals in everything. Unless you are washing your entire home with vinegar and water and just rinsing your clothing... we all get exposed. And I suspect many use the dishwasher to clean babies things too...
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I agree that the lack of salt, sugar and fillers does not necessarily make jarred food great. Didn't realise about the BPA in the lids but they have to heat up this food to a really high temperature to kill of bacteria spores to make it shelf stable. Inevitably that means nutritionally it's not as good.
Once in a while, ok if you want to but personally it's home made for me all the way, with a freezer you can do batches no problem. I bought 3 emergency jars for my son and they've all gone into the bin unopened. For one it just looks so unappetising!
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There are chemicals in everything. Unless you are washing your entire home with vinegar and water and just rinsing your clothing... we all get exposed. And I suspect many use the dishwasher to clean babies things too...
Minimizing ones exposure is probably the best course of action, I would agree. We all have to do what's best for our own family. We do clean with water and vinegar (it's safe and cost effective ;) ), and when I can't, we use completely natural cleaners (Nature Clean) Don't use the dishwasher for baby things, but only use natural dish detergent as well.
We're a Crunchy family - so I don't expect everyone to do what we do, but I do feel it's important for parents to be aware of potential dangers to be able to make the best choices themselves. Many expect these chemicals and fake foods to be "safe" just because they are on the shelves.... when that's far from the case.
Do your own research and make the best choices you can for your family - that's all I can say. But again, this is off topic for this thread. I would be happy to see you over on the other thread I posted to discuss this further, Kara :)
It's not meant to become a debate, just sharing the information that there ARE chemicals in the jarred baby food packaging, and that is something to consider. The packaging for jarred and canned foods are far different now then they were 20-30 years ago - and potentially more toxic. Personally as a Mom, I would want to be aware of that before deciding to give it to my child, which is why I make mention of that on this thread. :)
Justine, I hope you're having more success with Isaac eating the homemade baby foods. You're a wonderful Mama to put so much love and effort into his food :D
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and fake foods
This is going a bit far...
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This whole post was simply the PP mentioning that she felt her hard work and dedication to homemade food was going to waste... introducing solids is not always easy. Mom is super excited for this new phase and in bub's life and then it doesn't go as planned... it can be disappointing and discouraging for mom... if the LO takes to jarred food, go with it. It's not going to poison him. She has the next 20 years to make his food with love that he will happily gobble up :)
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Thank you for the insightful tips, everyone :) I personally don't find homemade foods that much more economical but I'm sure I could be making wiser choices. To have the variety in my freezer that baby food provides just doesn't seem possible (for me to prepare that much and/or afford to buy that much food to make it.) I struggle cooking just for my family on a daily basis so that's the main reason why I find making food for DS a chore, I think, but I've been trying not to see it this way. When I became a health nut (a moderate one :) ) when I worked out like crazy before I got pregnant, the advice I got that I'll never forget is 'just try to eat as close to the way God made it'. :)
I'll join the thread, Rebecca :) Because it makes me assume that the organic baby food packages that are BPA free are okay?
Thanks again for the encouragement :)
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Big hugs hun... I totally went through a phase were DD was eating everything I made without hesitation - it was great. Then it all went sideways and I felt exactly like you do right now. She was fine with jarred so I went with it for a month or so... she is now back to homemade. Don't worry about using jarred if it works for him right now since the majority of his calories are coming from a bottle or a boob anyways...
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Banana and avodado is really popular here too! So is avocado and prunes - now that one looks gross!
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I struggle cooking just for my family on a daily basis so that's the main reason why I find making food for DS a chore, I think, but I've been trying not to see it this way. When I became a health nut (a moderate one ) when I worked out like crazy before I got pregnant, the advice I got that I'll never forget is 'just try to eat as close to the way God made it'.
Great advice - I love that! One thing that I found really helpful - I made a point of cooking extra at dinner time to make into purees. So if I'm steaming carrots for dinner, then make extra for purees. Baking sweet potatoes for dinner, I'll do a few extra ect. Any leftovers from dinner could be pureed as well ect. It does get easier as they get older and their food choices open up, as well as the herbs/spices you can add to their foods. Maybe that will help it seem like less of a chore if you're just adding it to your everyday cooking, kwim? I always make big batches and freeze. We have a deep freezer in the basement.
Bananas/avocados are super easy to just mash up w/ a fork. I love bananas for travel... easiest homemade baby food around! :)
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Mashed bananas - I think I bought them jarred once for one of the girls and then tried to figure out why in the world I would do that. It's funny the things you'll do without thinking.
I notice now that many of the organic baby food brands have their food in pouches now instead of jars. Wonder if that's to eliminate the bpa in the lids?
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Mashed bananas - I think I bought them jarred once for one of the girls and then tried to figure out why in the world I would do that. It's funny the things you'll do without thinking.
So did I! Apparently mashing a banana is hard work ::) Funny enough, they don't taste anything like a banana and my kid wouldn't touch them!
I notice now that many of the organic baby food brands have their food in pouches now instead of jars. Wonder if that's to eliminate the bpa in the lids?
I noticed that too - and the ones in pouches list BPA free on their packaging ;) My DD loves most of the combos that are made by Baby Organics in the pouch. Great for travel.
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Quote from: Erin M on Today at 07:13:02 AMI notice now that many of the organic baby food brands have their food in pouches now instead of jars. Wonder if that's to eliminate the bpa in the lids?I noticed that too - and the ones in pouches list BPA free on their packaging
Thats great news :)
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Yes I've got some of those pouches as well and love them for traveling. Too bad they're a bit more $.
Funny thing is DS hates mashed banana but will happily eat small chunks lol. Which I guess makes it easier for me!
Rebecca, that's a great idea about making food at the same time as dinner. Will have to incorporate that!
Srry I didn't quote anyone, I'm on my phone!
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Yeah, definitely. I didn't do baby led weaning but that's pretty much what it's about. My son has eaten some pretty exotic things because he's had some things I'd make for myself as well as things made for him. Also if you batch cook in large quantities it's really easy to have loads of options in the freezer.
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Just to let you know I emailed Hipp and they emailed back to say all their packaging including jars and lids are all BPA free.
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Have you ever heard of baby led weaning? It's a stress free way and no need to make anything especially for baby. They just eat what you eat. It was so easy and no worries. Here's the link http://www.babyledweaning.com/
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I think there is little need to cook specific 'baby food' whether you do BLW or traditional weaning. Just keep an eye on salt and then go for it. I did a mixture of making things especially for him and just giving him what we have. It really dawned on me the day we went for pizza; he must have been 11 months, he was throwing his cheese sandwiches everywhere. As soon as our pizza came, he was devouring what we gave him! Basically a pizza ain't that dissimilar to a cheese sandwich but he enjoyed having something with more flavour!
I often used to cook stews and bolognaise sauce, take some portions out for him then add the (salty) stock cube for us! He has loads of freshly cooked herbs in his diet too. It's all good! Be adventurous! I made him risi e bisi the other day and he loved it.
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DD wouldn't eat anything "baby food" and who can blame her refusing bland mush LOL...but she would eat whatever we had. We did change our way of cooking a bit by reducing the amount of salt we use, which is healthier for all. Not one child is the same and some may not be ready for real food early. Example, DS was crazy for food at 6mo, you couldn't give him enough. DD didn't care for food until closer to 9mo, and now she'll try anything. I think it does help to let them feel the food before trying. They are curious creatures so why not let them explore. Their gag reflex is so strong that there's a small chances of chocking. Just as long as there are no family history of allergies, give them whatever they want, except for maybe raw veggies.
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We had much the same experience as SylvieA, dd1 loved everything straight away, dd2 took until nearly 8 months to stop refusing all foods and totally went the BLW route. That child ate pretty much nothing pureed, just went straight to "real" food.
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Thanks everyone :)
Shiv, that's great news! We don't have Hipp baby food here but wish we did!
Thanks for the link Sylvie :) I'll read into it more. I'm just surprised you can basically give them what we eat? Like...even stuff you cook with cooking spray, non salty spices, etc? We cook pretty healthy (not a lot of butter, salt, etc) but I just didn't realize he could eat almost anything we did.
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I'm just surprised you can basically give them what we eat?
That's basically the idea. You've most likely introduced enough foods that you know that's he's not allergic to anything. Basically just use common sense in terms of things he might choke on, things that he wouldn't be able to handle just yet (raw tomatoes come to mind), super spicy foods, fried foods, etc. but you'd be surprised at what he can eat. :) The links on the FAQs are very helpful.
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I'm just surprised you can basically give them what we eat?
Definately!
I got Annabel Karmel cookbooks when weaning DD1 and her recipes are very 'meal based' from 7 months on so DH and I ended up eating a lot of those too! I do the same with DD2 now!
Her website has some great meal recipes. We all like the beef casserole one and DH loves the salmon one!
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Yes, yes, yes to Annabel Karmel, I LOVE her recipes. :)
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More and more now my son's a toddler I'm cooking him things for both of us. He's had smoked paprika, cumin, mild curry pastes etc from about 8 months. I just figured he didn't reject breastmilk when I'd had a curry so he'd probably be used to it. At his first birthday party, my sister had made some porcetta which was stuffed with garlic, fennel, parsley etc and was amazed when it was his favourite thing. I think in the UK anyway, the drive is to get them onto family foods asap whether you chose BLW or the traditional route and you probably find traditional weaners (like us) got onto exclusive finger feeding at an earlier age.
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OK, after some reading I'm going to give DS a BLW lesson today :) :) Since I'm so excited, I'm sure he's going to hate the experience.
I should probably post this question on another thread, but I'm wondering since he's used to eating so much pureed food, do I do a combo of puree and BLW to start?
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I'd do both. He'll probably just play with it at first anyway. :)
LOL about him hating it! :)
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He may not eat much at first which is fine, but it's fun to watch them figure it out. For purees, can you give him the spoon to play with it. I usually gave the kids a spoon whenever I gave them yogurt or apple sauce, or anything saucy. But do it in small amounts to avoid huge a mess LOL...you'd be surprised to see how much more they will eat if they are in control. It worked really well for us :)
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I am SO proud of my Isaac!!!! He ate almost an entire pear, probably 1/4 a large banana, and some of the pork we had for dinner last night!! I didn't even give him any puree. Some of the choking made me a bit nervous, lol, but he figured it out! DH was more nervous than me....I don't think I'll have any luck letting DH supervise BLW. Of course I'm wondering if he ate enough food but I'm not letting myself worry about it!
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WOOHOOO!!! :D Great news Justine! :) I wish there were a "like" button on here! ;)
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That's so great!!! I would say that he likely ate more with the BLW than he did with the purees! Like the others have mentioned, one of the jars of fruit is only about 50 cals, so really only about half of an average apple/pear...
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Solids are just for practice anyway at this age. As long as he had fun, I'd call it a success!!
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YAY!!! What a clever boy!!!
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Yay! Also remember that gagging is not choking. They have a really sensitive gag reflex when they're little and they need to learn. Choking is silent (or nearly silent) which is why you must, must, must stay with them all the time when they're eating.
I did read somewhere that when they move onto finger foods whether you're doing BLW or traditional weaning, they do eat less because there's less bulking out with water. What he ate though sounds like huge amounts!
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Thanks everyone! This is so exciting. You're right lemonthyme, it was definitely gagging not choking. Gosh, that same mom is still on my case and actually asked me to 'reconsider!' Said she knew of a mom who's baby died from a large apple chunk.
Why in the world do some mom's find it their responsibility to parent other children? Don't I love my 7 month old enough to OBVIOUSLY take all the precautions I can so that he doesn't choke?? It's like an insult. I finally got firm with her and think she'll leave me alone now ::)
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woops, lol. you guys have no idea what I'm talking about do you? :D :D :D I just realized I was talking about that lady on the BLW support thread, not this one. Sorry!!
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As for apples or things like that, of course they can chock if given in the right size, but if seated and not running, they normally gag it out before it gets to choking. I gave the apple either grated, thin slices or whole, but whole wasted a lot and only gave whole when they had at least one tooth to dig into it. Now I'm curious about that support thread LOL
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LOL! I'm curious now too :)
I am so happy to hear that he is doing so well with the BLW! Funny how our LO's know what they want and stick to their guns until we clue in ;)
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Just an acquaintance that freaked out when she saw my video of Isaac eating pork on Facebook. At first she tried to be polite saying I should make his pieces smaller. Then after I responded, she came back saying she knew of a woman who's baby died choking on an apple chunk. "I'd hate that to be your baby!" type thing. ::) I said maybe we could talk privately about the possible death of my son :P Luckily, a more experience mom came by and backed me up by talking about how positive of an experience it was with her two boys :)
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People love their opinions! Although apple is one thing I am wary of! Anything that can come off in a choking size piece is obviously a risk. So I slice apple like pp say and halve grapes etc.
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Yeah, apple is the only thing my son has ever properly choked on but any age kid (or adult) can choke. Long before we started weaning, I did a first aid course for babies and children and I'm so glad I did. I knew what to do and although I didn't do it perfectly when I checked later, I did it well enough to clear the blockage.
Babies can choke on purees too. You just need to be prepared. Oh and the apple was sliced! I do halve grapes though, this first aid course said grapes were the most common thing to choke on. I also didn't give them to him till he was nearly a year old. I think the apple thing freaked me out!
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I think some of the gagging is child dependent too. We did more purees with dd1 and she gagged and choked all the time! Dd2 went largely the BLW route and she never choked on anything.
OT, Justine, I love that new avatar. Isaac is such a cutie!
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Gagging is totally possible with anything... my DD is fine with chewing things like small pieces of fruit, cereal etc... and fine with smooth purees... but a chunky puree causes her to gag every time!
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thanks Erin, yours too!! :)
Yea I think much of it is using common sense when choosing foods. Obviously an apple is easier to choke on over a pear or peach.
I know what to do from reading/pictures if a baby chokes, but I should probably take one of those classes as well.....
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Ds1 gagged himself with his spoon many a times.. of course he did it when I first took a video of him eating applesauce ::) :P