One of the things I get a lot of questions about is what we feed Henry, how we feed Henry, what do we use?
Let me start by saying I am not a baby feeding expert. We did a combined approach of purees and Baby Led Weaning. I HIGHLY recommend the infant course from Feeding Littles. Megan and Judy are a dream team with many years of experience as well as the licensing/credential to back up what they do.
We started last January with purees. I was on winter break, so made my own. I'm not a purist, we also bought jarred food, but since I had the time and most of the equipment, I thought why not?
I bought a book on making your own baby food at home. It was simple, and easy, and a couple of hours over a couple of days. Easy peasy. And I went for variety: squash, beets, carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, peas, apples, pears, bananas, avocado, peaches, mangoes, raspberries, blueberries - we tried it all. We tried it solo and also mixed into rice/oatmeal cereal.
We used the Ryan & Rose Cutie Tensils for spoons and he took to those right away. He did great! He loved just about everything we gave him, except for beets. He didn't care for those. But everything else? He was game.
Can I digress for a moment? Y'all. This little squish! So much cute! I can't believe that was January - he's grown so much!
Around 8/9 months we started to introduce table food. A little bit of what we were eating, but he was predominantly still eating purees. He was having a hard time with his gag reflex at first and would vomit everything up as soon as it hit the back of his throat. But we kept trying. After a few weeks of trying he got used to more textures and the gagging was starting to fade. I mention the gagging to say that it is normal! Textures are new and baby reflexes don't know what to do so the gagging happens. The important thing to know is that gagging is not choking. Please consult your doctor for more information.
Once he got the hang of table food though, he wanted NOTHING to do with purees. I still had some backstock so I mixed them into yogurt. I also made a donation to a local food pantry. He hasn't looked back.
We are also super fortunate that his amazing day care feeds him morning and afternoon snack as well as lunch. He is getting so much variety there and he has been loving just about everything.
Typical breakfasts: pancakes, cinnamon toast, veggie muffins, scrambled eggs, waffles - all served with some kind of fruit
Typical lunches or dinners: Anything rice and beans, grilled cheese, pasta, meatballs, meatloaf, turkey burgers, peanut butter and jelly, chicken, pork, potatoes, veggies
Snacks: yogurt, cheese, fruit, applesauce, veggie straws, bambas, crackers, salsa, hummus
Y'all. He eats better at day care than I do at home. For real. For example, snack this morning was a cheese biscuit and fresh broccoli. Lunch was beef stroganoff, mangoes, and veggies.
Some of his favorite homemade meals? The Thai Chicken Curry that we love and also Andrea's Southwest Bowls. He loves anything with lots of flavor.
Feeding Gear
We've tried lots of different things, but here are some of our favorites.
We love these bibs from Target. He is still a somewhat messy eater and these bibs catch a lot of it. They also wash easy and you can stick them in the dishwasher.
Now that Henry has drinking through a straw down pretty well, these are our favorite cups. They click tight for no leaks and the weight straw means that when he tips it back, he's still getting liquid.
This post is reminding me that I need to get more. As Henry is getting better and more interested in feeding himself, I need something that will stick to the table or his tray. Otherwise, it gets tipped over pretty quickly. These munchkin bowls are great!
Since starting the new day care and getting his snacks and meals there, Henry now sits at a table. He was really starting to not like the high chair at home and definitely prefers being at the table with us for meals. I snagged this booster from Amazon and love it (we have the earlier version). The booster is height adjustable so can grow with him. The trays are dishwasher safe! The whole thing wipes down so easily. Such a great find and saves so much space in my kitchen now that we don't need the high chair any more.
I am so very blessed that Henry seems to be an adventurous eater. While he definitely has preferences - like anything crunchy - he also is willing to eat just about anything.
No comments :
Post a Comment