What Reed is Eating

Reed is an adventurous little guy and when it comes to food his attitude is no different. He has never turned away from a single thing we've offered him. The closest we got was a bad face he made when he tried greek yogurt two weeks ago. In his defense, that really is a weird taste, and I only offered it to make sure there was nothing wrong with his sense of taste after he bit into a banana peel (didn't make a face) and got mad at me when I took it away. I know lots of kids are picky when it comes to food and that may just be the case for Reed someday, but for now I will happily accept his "little eater" status and keep offering up new foods.

I don't know why starting solids is so exciting to parents, but it is, I couldn't wait for Reed to take his first bite of food and that seems to be the general consensus amongst the parents I know. Even now when I offer him something new I can't wait to see his reaction. There is so much information out there about when to start, what foods to start with, what time of the day to offer solids, etc. - it is OVERWHELMING! We had a pediatrician tell us to wait and start solids at 6 months, we had family and friends asking at 4 and 5 months when we were going to start him, our nurse practitioner questioned why we were bothering giving Reed solids at 7 months, we had a lactation consultant tell us to only offer solids right after nursing, there are articles by doctors that tell you to place solid meals between nursing sessions so as not to impede with nutrient absorption, some people swear by rice cereal, others advise to beware of its' constipation powers (learned that lesson the hard way). So what did we do?

Shortly before Reed was 5 months old he started yelling at me anytime I ate in front of him. If he was sitting in my lap during a meal he was trying to get the food off of my plate. He was able to support his body in a sitting position at this point, so we went ahead and let him try out some mashed avocado - he's been eating ever since. In the end I think we started Reed at the perfect time, for him, we listened to our child and our instincts and did what was best for our family.

Right now Reed typically nurses when he wakes up in the morning (6:00ish), nurses when he wakes up from his first nap (10:00-11:00am), then 30-60 minutes later I offer him lunch, he nurses again when he wakes up from his second nap (anywhere from 2:00 to 4:00 pm), depending on how early his nap eneded I may try to nurse him again around 5:00 pm. I try to have both the adult dinner and Reed's dinner ready every night at 6:00 so we can all eat together and then he nurses before falling asleep around 7:30. Typically he also has an overnight nursing session between 1:00 and 4:00 am.

My goals for Reed when planning his meals are:
1 - Variety, I don't want him to have the same meal every time he's in the highchair
2 - Balance, I try to offer a fruit, a veggie, a protein, and a grain portion at each meal
3 - Independence, I try to let Reed feed himself as much as possible. If he is having a puree I will often just pre-load the spoon and then let him feed himself.  If we are out I might feed him to cut down on the mess and I also try to leave the messier dishes for dinner (which is followed by bath time) and the tidier ones for lunch.

4 - Similar, I always introduce age appropriate foods, but since I "make" all of Reed's foods, those ingredients that we regularly have in the house or are part of our meals for the week get introduction priority. Also, anything that he's had before that I'm using to make our meal with goes on his plate as well.

Trying Cherries for the first time

Meal planning for the week, is something I try to do every Sunday. I usually get Sunday through Thursday dinners planned out and then assume Friday and Saturday we will figure out as we get closer (inevitably something comes up earlier in the week and one of the meals is pushed to Friday, someone plans something one of those nights, we go out to eat, or we hit up the grocery store again). Anyway, now that Reed is eating big boy foods I still plan Jon's and my week of dinners out first, then I look over what I'm making for us and figure out what Reed can have and what we might want to introduce him to. This past Sunday he tried eggplant for the first time at Nonna and Pepe's so then I made sure he had it again for lunch on Monday and dinner on Tuesday. He also tried garbanzo beans this week because I was making a salad that had them in it and cherries because they are in season and we picked a bunch of Pepe's on Sunday.

Reed's lunch and my lunch both had
zucchini, carrots, garbanzo beans, and cucumber

Adults had Chicken Quinoa Salad
with Baked Cheesecake Peaches

Reed had peaches, chicken, and avocado

Mom and Dad had Turkey Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries
No bun because I'm giving up wheat to see if it helps Reeds eczema :(

Reed had ground turkey, steamed sweet potatoes, and peas

A few of our must-have items for mealtimes are:

ZoLi Bot sippy/weighted straw cup

Dr. Sears Nibble Trays for when we are on the go or
Nonna/Grandma are on lunch duty

Right now we just take a little bit out at a time and put it on his tray or the table, but I'm hoping we can use these for awhile and he grows into eating directly out of them.

Munchkin Mesh Feeders

These are great when you are at a restaurant and don't want to make a huge mess. In the beginning we used them to help introduce new foods, Reed loves them so much we found that he was willing to try anything we put in them. Now if I'm in a hurry at lunch or Jon's not around at dinner I'll give him one to play with while I clean up the rest of his mealtime mess.

Baby Bjorn Bib

These bibs are genius! They basically have a huge catcher at the bottom so you have less mess on the floor and baby when he's done, plus Reed and I will both dip into the little bowl for seconds from time to time.

Last, but not least, on the list is the Beaba Babycook. It is a steamer and food processor in one. It is so easy to use and was really convenient in the beginning when we were chopping and pureeing Reed's food a bit more. I still use it a couple times a week to steam a quick batch of veggies or make a batch of "poop sauce" (our constipation solution - fruit of your choice and prunes blended together).

This week Reed and I started on a three week experiment to find out if his eczema is related to a food sensitivity. This means no dairy, eggs, fish, peanuts, wheat, or soy for Mom or Reed. Hopefully we find a cause or just rule it out completely. I'm definitely struggling to stay satisfied and can't wait to, hopefully, have some of my favorite foods back soon. This isn't as big a deal for Reed but he was eating a lot of fish and eggs and I was hoping to introduce some yogurt and cheese soon. Oh well!

In the meantime here is what Reed has enjoyed eating so far: Apples, Avocados, Apricots, Bananas, Black Beans, Carrots, Chicken, Cherries, Cucumber, Eggplant, Eggs, Fish (Salmon and Mahi Mahi), Garbanzo Beans, Mango, Nectarines, Peaches, Pears, Peas, Prunes, Rice, Sweet Potato, Squash, Turkey, Watermelon, and Zucchini. On the shortlist to try out sometime soon are Blueberries, Grapes, Plums, Beets, Peppers, Beef, Pork, and hopefully some Cheese and Yogurt.

Like I mentioned before meal times can get pretty messy at this stage, but I have a faithful clean-up crew ready at my beck-and-call.