Trying to Feed My One-Year-Old Baby

Moving from teat to table has been somewhat of a process for us over the last half-year. We patiently waited the first 6 months recommended before offering our wee one her first taste of textured edibles – steamed broccoli and mashed sweet potato. Her reaction was something like “Alright, this is weird.”

Since then it’s been mostly slow-going with solids, partly because Z hasn’t been a big eater, and partly because I have realized I’m one of “those” moms – the kind that sees every possible way every little moment can turn drastically wrong and have been positively terrified of my precious darling choking to death.

Over time we’ve progressed from only mashed foods, to cutting things up into itty bitty barely there pieces, to giving her whole crackers and large chunks of fruit to gnaw on. I’ve realized that her little body is actually a lot more capable than I had given it credit for, and we’ve only had to whip her out of the high chair and practice the baby-saving first-aid move of tipping her upside-down to clear a stuck chunk of apple once (we’re off apples now).

“Food before one is just for fun” has been a motto I’ve clung to in order to help myself relax when I would start to have mini meltdowns that my growing seedling wasn’t getting enough “real food” to eat. Breast milk is amazing, and remembering that my nursing daughter’s body was still receiving the many nutrients and benefits my body provides, catered special to what she needs at the time (isn’t nature magical?), helped calm my anxieties. I have learned to trust that she will eat solids if she really is hungry, but have also been trying a variety of foods and ways of getting my little one to eat more of what we offer.

Here’s some of what we’ve had success with.

Self-feeding

I am a big promoter of teaching kids self-help skills. When at preschool, I’m always asking the children to “show me how you’re trying first” before I jump in and offer my advice and hands-on support. The more that children are able to be actively impactful on their own life, the easier tasks will eventually become for parents and tots, and it builds that confidence that I feel is so important to all the other areas of life. At first it’s always hard for adult-hands to hold off and let their kidlets try (especially when they’re trying a solution you know from experience isn’t going to work), but sparing the time for learning now will ultimately help in the long run.

As much as possible, we offer our tiny human food she can pick up and put in her own mouth. This way she’s not only learning hand-eye coordination and experiencing how different textures feel in her hands, but this independence always works much better for her deciding that she would like to put the food into her mouth, and not wriggle away as if we were trying to maim her.

As an added bonus, this way I actually get to eat my own food before it gets cold or mushy, while she’s eating hers. Family meals for the win!

Distractions

If my munchkin ain’t munchin’, I’ll often use an intriguing visual distraction that she can focus on while I spoon feed her whatever she can’t pick up by herself, yet. The best distraction for us, so far, is the fish tank that is next to the dining table. The bubbles from the aerator are positively fascinating, and Z has gotten quite used to watching for and waving at the fish within. Usually a simple turn of her chair to face the tank changes her mouth from puckered tight to accepting of incoming mush.

Mmmm… Delicious

I’m sure everyone’s probably tried this in their own attempts to get their babe eating. If I sit down and eat some of what I want my little one to try, then offer it to her – intently watching how much I enjoy it – as if it were an afterthought, I sometimes have success.

The Force is Strong with This One

Alright, firstly I have to say that forcing a child to do anything that is not necessary to save them or others from immediate harm goes against everything I believe in as an ECE and a human. Using force is just so disrespectful to a being, and leads to further problems around independence, self-confidence, trust and more down the road. That being said, I feel that this little trick isn’t all bad, and if it doesn’t work on the first try, I stop immediately and let my daughter have control of what she wants in her body.

This is what I mean by “force”. If Z is refusing to try a first bite of some form of mushed up nutrients, turning her face away from the spoon, I try to quickly put a little bit on those closed-for-business lips. Most of the time, once she licks her lips and tastes the previously unwanted nourishment, she changes her mind and decides it’s actually quite delicious after all, and will open her mouth readily for spoonfuls.

I don’t blame her for the initial unwilling reaction – some of this baby food gruel looks pretty unappetizing.

Make a Joyful Noise

I just realized that unless you’re familiar with the Seventh-Day Adventist Hymnal, you might not get the reference in this title. Oh well, I like it so I’m leaving it.

This is something new I’ve been trying in my attempts to fill the growing belly, and I still have some big reservations about whether this is something I should be encouraging or not. Being noisy at the table isn’t a big deal for our family at home, but some people feel strongly about what is and isn’t appropriate for meal-times. I want Zaiya to understand that each family is entitled to imposing their own rules about table manners, and to respect those rules when we’re in an environment that differs from our own, and I can see this particular trick becoming a problem – especially when we’re out for dinner at a restaurant. Generally, people don’t want to hear squealing and “kid sounds” coming from the table over when they’re out for a romantic meal or a business luncheon.

That being said, this trick has been the one that’s been helping me get some food into my sick with a stuffy-nose and not-so-eager-to-eat baby, so I’ve resorted to making noises to get her to open her mouth and change her mood from protesting to accepting. I’ll make a squeak, quack, or squeal, she’ll turn to me and smile, then open her mouth to make the noise, and when she’s done I quickly deposit a bit of mush.

What do you think? Is a noisy meal-time something you’re okay with, or are you adamant about setting appropriate sound-limits at the table?

Successful Foods

So what, you ask, has my toddler taken to eating these past 6-months of non-mammary munching?

• Happy Puffs – These organic, whole grain brown rice, gluten- and sugar-free little circles were one of the first foods I was actually comfortable letting my munchkin eat whole and by herself. They dissolve easily, are pretty healthy, and she loves them (although not nearly as much now as she did months ago). We even served them at her 1st Birthday Party.

• Eggs – Easy to make, easy to pick up, and packed full of protein and vitamins.

• Corn – In my opinion, corn is void of nutrients and very GMO, but she sure likes eating the little kernels. Before she was eating solids, she was VERY happy to gnaw on the empty corn cobs, too.

• Lentil soup – On the spoon, or picking up pieces of vegetables by herself, I feel good about offering this healthy soup as meal.

• Beans – Black, kidney, pinto… whatever the bean, she seems to love them. I’m pretty happy with this, as they make for easy self-feeding and are packed full of protein.

• Chicken, turkey, ham – Meat in general seems to be a favourite for Z. I shred her little chunks, testing a piece of meat first to see if it’s too chewy for her teeth to work on, and let her go at it. I think she actually ate more turkey than me on Thanksgiving (I’m of much of a meat person, raised mainly vegan myself). She keeps greedily eyeing up our steaks, but can’t get her hands on one yet.

• Banana – I tried faithfully offering banana to my little one more times than I can count over the last six months, just to get a grimace and refusal each time. Finally, just in the last couple of weeks, she has decided it’s actually pretty good and enjoys holding a whole piece of banana and taking little bites off of it. I don’t know whether she just wasn’t producing the right enzyme for banana digestion yet, or if she prefers the greener bananas to the ripe ones I was originally trying to feed her, but whatever the reason, bananas are in her good books…. for now.

• Grapes – A few months ago I bought some grapes and cut them up into ridiculously small pieces for Z to try. I mean really small – 6-8 pieces per grape… I also removed the little “hard” part from where the grape attaches to the stem and the “pokey” white strand in the middle of the grape (I bet you didn’t even know that exists… yes… I’m definitely a bit overprotective at times). Now she’s hooked, eats grapes almost daily, and I’ve relaxed enough to only cutting them into quarters. And guess what? That middle “pokey” piece apparently doesn’t kill babies.

• Cucumber – Seeing as my babe is apparently quite capable of eating the big scary grapes, I thought I’d give cucumbers another shot (a previous trial left me shaky and against cucumber going near her… nothing happened but a slight gag. Sigh.). Not only does she have no problem with chewing up the small pieces I cut for her, she’s graduated to taking bites off of a stick of cucumber and is alive, well, and probably much healthier for all the massive amounts of this hydrating vegetable she can ingest in one sitting.

• Hummus – I had planned from the beginning to make all my baby’s food at home, from scratch. HA! Ladies and gentlemen, this is pretty much the only thing I whip out the food processor for right now. Protein-rich chickpeas, tahini, lemon, garlic, bit of oil and spices and I have a very happy and well-fed youngster. I still find eating hummus off a spoon a bit odd, but hey, it’s got to be better than squished up peas, right?

• Broccoli – Since her first meal, we hadn’t given broccoli many tries since the texture really didn’t seem to appeal to our munchkin, and she would gag on the little bally bits (florets?). That’s why I was very surprised when I set down some small pieces of raw broccoli she had her eyes on from my plate, and she ate every little bit, shoveling in each little green morsel before I could cut her more. Yes!

• Pear – I very recently tried giving Z a quarter of a soft pear, removing the very minimal bit of “core”, and leaving the skin on. Yep, I’m getting braver. Even with the skin left on, she is still alive. Relaaaaaaaaax, Mama.

• Squishy packs – I know a lot of people have reservations about eating anything from a package. Sure, home-made food is the best, but if it comes to a choice between eating a prepackaged meal of vegetables, fruits and grains or eating nothing at all, the package wins.     There are a lot of things I love to make, but a messy, time-consuming, anxiety inducing (why does everything always happen faster/slower than I plan on??) home-made meal is not one of them. I have been putting forth a better cooking effort since I got pregnant, but it’s still not my thing. That’s why I always like to have these easy-to-feed, ready-made pouches in my cupboard for on-the-go days and those nights where I’ve made a meal with nothing baby-appropriate to eat, or I just didn’t make anything at all and take-out saved the day.      I actually feel pretty good about giving my babe these to fill her belly. They’re made from a variety of purely organic fruits, vegetables (I choose a lot with kale and spinach), grains (like quinoa and rice), seeds (chia), and some even have yogurt. I always choose the brands that have no added salts, sugar and preservatives other than lemon juice, and the packaging is BPA-free, so how bad can they really be? Actually, there’s probably more nutrition in  these than whatever it is I’m eating.

How do you get your little one to up their food intake? Is it even a concern for you? What kinds of things does your baby eat? I’m always looking for more ideas!