Judith has pretty much rejected purees at this point (she will still eat some pureed fruits, but veggies are a definite no-go), so we've been experimenting with finger foods. Her timing isn't that great - I wouldn't be quite as frustrated if we didn't have the possible weight gain issue going on. So after talking with a couple fellow CF mamas, I'm experimenting with different foods and different ways to boost her caloric intake.
She's handling the new solids well. For a few weeks, we've been giving her different Gerber finger foods, and she loves most of them; but it's also time to introduce regular table foods. She's had some canned/steamed veggies, her first taste of beef pot pie, some spaghetti, buttered noodles, mac & cheese, waffles with butter, and ::gasp:: french fries. She doesn't eat a lot of any 1 thing, so the formula helps compensate. As she grows and her tummy gains more space, I'm hoping this will change. Maybe it's more of an issue of things being new and she's unsure about whether she really likes it or not. She's such a mystery sometimes.
I do know 2 furry creatures that are thoroughly enjoying mealtime these days. Buster and Lady certainly aren't lacking for food around here. Heck, the other week Buster helped himself to Judith's entire breakfast (and did get punished for stealing food... stinker). Lady's much more patient with Judith, and will wait until I place the leftovers on the floor for them to clean up (since it's mostly veggies anyway, it doesn't hurt them at all haha!), but trust me - she's just as enthusiastic about the table food as Buster is. Let's just say it's really awesome to have 2 furry vacuums to clean up the trails left behind. ;)
The one thing that's bothering me, and probably will bother me for a while, are the sanctimonious Judgey McJudgersons who feel the need to lecture me about my child's eating habits, especially when they know nothing about our situation. She gets plenty of healthy foods, but I'll be damned if I'm never going to pass up an opportunity for her to have some high calorie, junky foods - if it'll help her gain weight, so be it. She's not eating it all the time, and really there are much bigger things to worry about in life than concocting some lame theory equating eating a chicken nugget to eating a bowl of nuclear waste.
Showing posts with label solids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label solids. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
New Discovery
Judith is not a fan of having chunky things in her purees. She'll eat puffs, Mum Mums, and arrowroot cookies, but give her something that has real substance, and she flips out.
Case in point: Since she's been showing an interest in what we're eating, and enjoys the above mentioned finger foods, I thought she would like to try some purees with chunks of the real thing in it. So I got some Gerber 3rd foods (a couple fruits and veggies, and some "complete" dinners like spaghetti in meat sauce and chicken & noodles), and the fruits are a hit - they're thicker, and don't have the chunks in them, so she loves them. I haven't tried the veggies yet.
Spaghetti and meat sauce was a fail. I thought it was because of the tomatoes, and stupid me didn't think about the high acid content in tomatoes when I bought it - I probably irritated Judith's poor system with the natural acid, and she was miserable after eating it. I tried a chicken and noodles dinner, and got the same results as the spaghetti. Now I think it has to do with the small chunks of food, and she doesn't like the sensation in her mouth.
I feel like I should mention something to her PT/OT, and see what he thinks. I don't think it's a true oral aversion to foods, because she'll take thick purees and will put dissolvable foods in her mouth. We can forget about anything else at this point.
::sigh:: This feels like such a slow, tedious process. Many term babies at this age are eating table foods for most (if not all) of their meals. At this rate, Judith's going to be eating purees in kindergarten...
Case in point: Since she's been showing an interest in what we're eating, and enjoys the above mentioned finger foods, I thought she would like to try some purees with chunks of the real thing in it. So I got some Gerber 3rd foods (a couple fruits and veggies, and some "complete" dinners like spaghetti in meat sauce and chicken & noodles), and the fruits are a hit - they're thicker, and don't have the chunks in them, so she loves them. I haven't tried the veggies yet.
Spaghetti and meat sauce was a fail. I thought it was because of the tomatoes, and stupid me didn't think about the high acid content in tomatoes when I bought it - I probably irritated Judith's poor system with the natural acid, and she was miserable after eating it. I tried a chicken and noodles dinner, and got the same results as the spaghetti. Now I think it has to do with the small chunks of food, and she doesn't like the sensation in her mouth.
I feel like I should mention something to her PT/OT, and see what he thinks. I don't think it's a true oral aversion to foods, because she'll take thick purees and will put dissolvable foods in her mouth. We can forget about anything else at this point.
::sigh:: This feels like such a slow, tedious process. Many term babies at this age are eating table foods for most (if not all) of their meals. At this rate, Judith's going to be eating purees in kindergarten...
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Solids and Rolling
Or in Buster's case, it could be rolling in solids haha!
We are having an eventful weekend so far! Buster is outside right now (it's about 5 pm Sunday), did his thing in our yard, then ventured over to our neighbor's side, sniffing the grass. He proceeded to roll around for quite a long time, rubbing his scent into the grass. I have a feeling Marbles the cat was out there at some point, and Buster decided to rub out her scent. He was having a grand time, making the most ridiculous noises and kicking his paws into the air!
I've taken the plunge and started Judith on solids. We got the information on starting almost 2 months ago when she had her last well-baby visit, but I didn't feel like she (or me for that matter!) was ready at that time. But lately I've felt more confident, so we decided to try them yesterday.
We started yesterday off with some rice cereal. Me in my infinite Midvale-yness completely screwed up the measurements for the cereal-to-formula ratio. The box said to mix 1 tbsp with 4-5 tbsps (equivalent to 2 oz) of breast milk or formula (in our case, formula). I couldn't reach my measuring spoons in the cupboard because someone decided to move them to the highest shelf and shove them way in the back (thanks, John...), so I grabbed the 1/4 tsp that I use to add salt to Judith's formula. Had I thought it through, I would've realized that 4 of those would equal 1 tsp, not 1 tbsp. So the mixture was pretty runny.
Judith got some in her mouth, but kept spitting it out. I figured we'd be good to try it today...with the correct measurements. Not happening. Judith absolutely HATED the rice cereal. I don't think she cared for the texture or the flavor, based off of her screaming when I tried to give it to her, after giving her some formula (we did a bottle first, solids second). I decided to give up on that, and went to get some Stage 1 apple puree instead. Success! She loved the apples! She made some cute "testing new food" faces - to be fair, the apples are slightly bitter, and I doubt Gerber used a sweeter apple to make the puree. But she enjoyed the texture, and moved it around in her mouth, actually swallowing the majority of it!
Rice cereal = 0, Apples = 1
Needless to say I'm not forcing any more cereal on her!
We're fortunate, because a co-worker of my mom's gave us a bunch of jars of baby food, so I can try out different fruits and veggies with her before I make my own purees. I know a lot of people are either one camp or the other, but I want to make sure Judith actually likes something before I invest the time in making my own purees of something.
I'm hoping that she continues to do well with the solids, but I have a feeling we have a long, slow road ahead of us when it comes to introducing things beyond purees.
We are having an eventful weekend so far! Buster is outside right now (it's about 5 pm Sunday), did his thing in our yard, then ventured over to our neighbor's side, sniffing the grass. He proceeded to roll around for quite a long time, rubbing his scent into the grass. I have a feeling Marbles the cat was out there at some point, and Buster decided to rub out her scent. He was having a grand time, making the most ridiculous noises and kicking his paws into the air!
I've taken the plunge and started Judith on solids. We got the information on starting almost 2 months ago when she had her last well-baby visit, but I didn't feel like she (or me for that matter!) was ready at that time. But lately I've felt more confident, so we decided to try them yesterday.
We started yesterday off with some rice cereal. Me in my infinite Midvale-yness completely screwed up the measurements for the cereal-to-formula ratio. The box said to mix 1 tbsp with 4-5 tbsps (equivalent to 2 oz) of breast milk or formula (in our case, formula). I couldn't reach my measuring spoons in the cupboard because someone decided to move them to the highest shelf and shove them way in the back (thanks, John...), so I grabbed the 1/4 tsp that I use to add salt to Judith's formula. Had I thought it through, I would've realized that 4 of those would equal 1 tsp, not 1 tbsp. So the mixture was pretty runny.
Judith got some in her mouth, but kept spitting it out. I figured we'd be good to try it today...with the correct measurements. Not happening. Judith absolutely HATED the rice cereal. I don't think she cared for the texture or the flavor, based off of her screaming when I tried to give it to her, after giving her some formula (we did a bottle first, solids second). I decided to give up on that, and went to get some Stage 1 apple puree instead. Success! She loved the apples! She made some cute "testing new food" faces - to be fair, the apples are slightly bitter, and I doubt Gerber used a sweeter apple to make the puree. But she enjoyed the texture, and moved it around in her mouth, actually swallowing the majority of it!
Rice cereal = 0, Apples = 1
Needless to say I'm not forcing any more cereal on her!
We're fortunate, because a co-worker of my mom's gave us a bunch of jars of baby food, so I can try out different fruits and veggies with her before I make my own purees. I know a lot of people are either one camp or the other, but I want to make sure Judith actually likes something before I invest the time in making my own purees of something.
I'm hoping that she continues to do well with the solids, but I have a feeling we have a long, slow road ahead of us when it comes to introducing things beyond purees.
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