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Table foods
S/O dinner . . .
Isaiah hasn't been liking baby food much (we mostly make our own or sometimes buy the Sprouts organic brand. He gets Gerber at day care). He will eat it rather reluctantly at DC but clamps his mouth shut, turns his head, pushes the spoon away from us. I've tried giving him some finger foods that I know he likes (avocado, bananas) but those are hit and miss. He does like the Gerber puffs but they aren't really appropriate for a meal.
So we've started giving him some table foods off our plates, and he has been scarfing them down. We had chili and corn muffins one night for dinner and he had a few pieces of muffin. Last night we had some Chinese for dinner (lo mein noodles, sweet and sour chicken, etc.) and he devoured some noodles and pieces of chicken (no breading or sauce). This morning he shared a banana with me and some pieces of sausage.
Obviously I'm not really following the 3-4 day wait rule but I'm avoiding all allergenic foods (peanuts and shellfish, dairy, eggs) and there is no history of food allergies on either side. I'm thinking he is over the baby food and that we should just stick with the table foods. But the new parent in me is worried that this will screw him up somehow?
Basically, I want to know if I am effing my kid up or if he will be fine.
Re: Table foods
We did the same thing. We only did the 3-4 wait thing at the very very beginning with high allergy stuff.
Dagger just wanted to eat what we had. We have never had any issues. I think we did egg and PB just before a year.
I only did the 3-4 day wait rule at the very beginning with baby food. I didn't have to worry too much about it later because he's such a picky eater with a primitive diet.
I think as long as you're not having problems with reactions, the more variety you can get in him the better.
i think you're doing it right. to a certain point it helps to go with the flow and let him try stuff, especially if he is turning his nose up at the baby food. i'd just keep adding new things at a nice slow n steady pace and keep your eye out for any wonky reactions.
the first time alison had eggs was around 10 months, when she grabbed a huge fistful of scrambled eggs off my plate at christmas time. crafty little buggers, babies.
How old is he? I didn't do the waiting on any food. No history of allergies and I just really didn't think he would have any. The only thing I waited a year for was honey and peanut butter. I gave him something new every day from 6 mo on. Good thing because he ate everything under the sun until he was 18 mo and went on a food strike. He still won't eat half the stuff he did when he was under 18 mo and I was so smug about my great eater.
People in other countries don't even use baby food- they just give them regular food. We're the obese country. So I don't think you're messing him up. Pretend he's French.
we did purees for about a month and then jo just ate off our plates. We didn't wait. The only reaction we had was to peanut butter and that was instant. i'd wait on things like that but just go for it with chili etc...
It worked really well for us.
Emmett was completely over any type of baby food by 10 months, with the exception of the Earth's Best oatmeal breakfasts. We kept pushing it until a few weeks ago and finally he's on strictly table food. I buy him those toddlers gerber meals for the babysitter and send him with cheerios and yogurt. I suspect that babysitter gives him rice and other meals because she's Cuban and that's what I they do.
I'm nervous about the PB but would love to introduce it now if I can. He's had no other allergies to anything else and we did the same as you and Winged as far as the high allergen stuff 3-4 day rule and everything else was fair game.
"Once I got a bath bomb that, once exploded, filled the tub with confetti. Little sharp metallic pieces of confetti. The product description said nothing about confetti. Oh look, there's a tiny, sharp metallic blue star stabbing me in the labia. HOW RELAXING. " - NoisyPenguin
I wanted to give nuts before one year, so I gave her almond milk on the way to a doctors visit. I figured it was the best place to be in case she was allergic.
Also, apparently whatever it is you're eating is always going to look the most delicious to them, so I would say you are on the right track.
For less then ten cents a day, you can feed a hungry child.
TSD, he's 8.5 months. We started him on solids at 6 months and it took him a few weeks to really like them. So he has only been eating purees/rice cereal regularly for maybe a month, which is why I was a little worried about jumping right into table foods.
Those of you whose babies went/go to DC, what did you do when they reached this point? Had them continue giving baby food there? I'm not really sure how table foods work in the infant room. He gets lunch at 12 every day (per our request) along with 2-3 bottles of breast milk. I told them a week or so ago that if they wanted to start giving him puffs to go ahead. (They provide all food there.)
I didn't start any food till 6 mo either and by 8.5 he was still fine with oatmeal and puree. He wasn't really into eating much else. Doctor and books said "under one, it's just for fun"- not where they're getting their nutrients. That's from the BM or formula, so food didn't concern me much. But I think you have to go with his cues. If he's eating the table food then he wants it. Ethan didn't get into food until a year and then was done by 18 mo like I said. Even the peanut butter. He ate it for a month and then it was over. But he's a strange kid in that way- he NEVER wants what we're eating. He'll ask what it is, but if we offer it, he says no. Even chocolate or something kids are normally intuitive to know they should want. Your kid is showing interest- I'd go with it. He does eat like 3 puree pouches of fruit/veggie mix a day at 3 yrs old. I never had any hard and fast rule as to when "baby food" had to go. If he'd eat it now, I'd give it to him. I'd just let him feed himself.
I think waiting to 6 mo was the best "rule" you could stick by but beyond that its all trial and error. And the honey thing is because of botulism I think. I'm pretty sure I gave him peanut butter on his 1st bday but had given him soy butter before that. I may try almond butter now that I'm thinking about it.
Good luck. Food and kids is HARD.
I 100% agree with you on this. I just had a moment of doubt and needed some reassurance. He is still totally in love with my boobs (the break-up will be hard this summer) and nurses or takes a bottle about 6-8 times in a 24-hour period (damn night wakings), so I know he is getting enough nutrition (see arm rolls for evidence).
I'm definitely going to stay away from shellfish, nuts, and honey until at least a year. Cow's milk will wait until then just because I'm planning on nursing until a year, so I'll wait until weaning to introduce it. I know citrus can cause rashes but I might try it before a year anyway. Eggs will probably happen before 12 months just because we eat a lot of them.
Just like others have stated, we just started doing what you did and giving her our food. She's 16 months now and is still the same way, always wants what we're eating. She pretty much eats anything now. She tries absolutely anything and doesn't seem to dislike much. She LOVES scrambled eggs, those puffed veggie things they sell at Trader Joe's (they're like puffed spinach, carrots and potatoes, like sticks), chicken/turkey in any way shape or form, etc.
We waited on certain dietary stuff like dairy and grains. She still hasn't had corn, I don't think, but we started some grains after she was about 14 months and she eats them but it's limited. She still doesn't do dairy except the goats milk we make in her formula.
ETA: She loves citrus as well and it doesn't give her a rash but sometimes we have to take it down a notch because it will give her bad diaper rash when she goes through an orange phase. I noticed E hated the purees until we either started putting some chunky food in it or doing the the stage 3 foods and stuff.
"If you wanna win then you shoulda put a hat on it. Don't be mad when you see a knit cap won it. If you wanna win then you shoulda put a hat on it."- Fenton
E won't eat eggs in any form. But he won't even taste them. So he might like them, he just doesn't know it. Same with a million other things. If he had tasted a bite of the chocolate pudding B offered him the other day he probably would've liked it, but his loss.
I gave him cow's milk on his 1st birthday and he's been a milkaholic ever since. He uses a straw cup and sucks like 8 oz down in minutes. I nursed but could only do it like 5.5 mo because I had NO supply. Never did, even in the beginning. A lot of times I was pumping to up the supply and it was straight up blood. So he was on formula. I couldn't wait to get rid of the formula (expensive & smelly) so I was happy to give the cow's milk. I never thought about shellfish because it's not like I'm cooking something like that, so it just never occurred to me. He'd never eat it now. He JUST started eating pizza.
I actually have a blog entry of all the food he eats so if any are helpful- have at it.
http://knowitallinnj.blogspot.com/2011/08/i-had-playdate-with-friend-today-who.html
don't take this the wrong way, but i can't emphasize how relieved it makes me that alison isn't the only child plagued by a deep involved love of raisins that is at constant odds with the resulting searing diaper rash.
Holy hell, what is it? he sneaks them too from kids at school since it's a regular snack. But what in a raisin is so awful to the butt?
i assumed it was because of high acid content. and they apparently don't get completely digested.
but the real mystery is why she obsesses over them so much. i'll ask her if she wants oatmeal "-with RAISINS!?!?!" she'll answer.