Sunday, March 6, 2011

My baby STILL doesn't really eat solids: Baby Led Solids

Baby led solids.

Baby led weaning.

Infant led solids.

Whatever you want to call it, that's what we've been doing baby led solids with our daughter for almost two months now. I posted on this topic 2 months ago and some have asked for an update on how she is doing with solids.  After thinking about all the exciting things I can tell you about, I've decided to stick with this! :-)

India wants to eat EVERYTHING that I am eating. Which was a bad deal the other day when I ate an entire package of Double Stuf Oreos. Yep. I did. You can close your gaping mouth now.

Ahem, back to eating healthy. Stop gasping. DO it.

India wants everything, but will only eat a bite or two of everything. The other night we were out for pizza, and she whined and whined and tried SO hard to get out of the nasty restaurant-provided highchair, to have a taste of my pizza. I brushed aside the jalapenos, and gave her two pieces of sliced black olives. When she was about half way done with the second, she saw me eating pizza crust and attempted to squirm her way out of the highchair again to get a couple of bites. And a couple of itty, bitty bites is all she wanted.

2 olive slices, and a quarter-sized bite of pizza crust later, she was satisfied. Hmmm, sounds like a celebrity diet.

So yeah, she still doesn't really eat solids.

The foods that she has tried, liked, fed herself and not choked (whew!) on:

-avocado, apple, banana, beans, egg yolk (this is her favorite), yogurt, mango, sweet potato, squash, olives, carrots, coconut oil, cheese, stew meat, 2 whole wheat pasta noodles (we're thinking about mostly avoiding grains until amylase levels have gone up, around baby's first birthday, and maybe even longer. This is HARD because flour is in everything!), and a couple spoons of oatmeal (again, avoiding grains, but curious girl wanted to try it. She liked the taste, but it made her sick. Boo, oatmeal!)

Foods that she has not liked, or she has choked on:

-organic baby food pears from a jar, frozen in a cube - throws her mesh feeder on the ground

Well, that's pretty uneventful. Baby led solids has worked out exactly as it says: baby led. If you are as confused as I was in the beginning, here is a great article on baby led solids.

When we sit down for supper, India joins us in her booster seat, with her food and feeds herself bits of whatever we are having. If we have taco soup, I squish up some beans. If we eat something with eggs, I make a yolk for her. If we have tacos, I give her avocado.

Pretty simple. It works nicely. No extra preparation of food and we can all eat together, at the same time.

Some may wonder why we don't just feed her ourselves and make her eat.

1. We've tried, she's not interested. At all.
2. The benefits of Baby Led Solids - hand-eye coordination, child determines fullness, learns how to clear throat at an early age to prevent choking, eats because they are hungry-not enticed by caregiver, family eats healthful foods together, no extra preparation, etc.
India 'eating' a banana
In all that, we've got a foodie on our hands. She is willing and wanting to try everything, unless it's baby food, because she just throws that stuff on the ground. Can you blame her? The girl knows what's up. But she definitely isn't interested in eating very much of anything, my little food snob.

She hasn't had a lot of green foods yet. I'm having a hard time finding organic produce in my small town.  We need to make a plan on how to get fresh, healthy produce here in the winter (I'm in MN, aka the arctic tundra). If anyone has any great ideas, I'm very open to suggestions! I'm hoping to get some organic broccoli (wish me luck) to make sure her iron stores are competant, and I will also continue to give her meat from my parents grass fed beef.

The gameplan: Same as before. I'll let her keep on trying foods that are appropriate, and she'll probably continue to eat a few bites, then enjoy them as her new plaything, all while this new mama chants the mantra the Dr told me, 'under one, food's just fun'.

And I promise to hold off on the Oreos, for both of us!

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6 Comments:

At March 6, 2011 at 9:12 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

This sounds wonderful, and similar to our experience. Ella loved everything, especially curry with rice. Unfortunately we are in toddler-mode and she has a few favorites that change every week.
If you are looking to boost iron try cooking in cast iron, we also would add spinach or swiss chard sauteed with eggs. Azure standard is an organic food company that delivers fresh food around the country, check their website to see if FF has a drop site.
Www.icpa4kids.org is a phenomenal resource for wellness,health and other family articles& research.

 
At March 6, 2011 at 10:39 PM , Blogger Uniquely Normal Mom said...

That is funny about Ella! I was offered a cast iron pan when I was pregnant but I couldn't even think about food, so I passsed on it and now I'm kicking myself for not just taking it!

Azure is a great idea! I have checked them out before but the FF site was full. Maybe they'd have an opening now! :-)

I will check out the other website. Thanks, Natalie! :-)

 
At March 6, 2011 at 11:00 PM , Blogger Gretchen R said...

So that's what I've been doing is called!

I tried force feeding my kids baby food. With each of my kids I've tried. Some took it, others didn't. I've tried less and less with each of them because I don't have TIME to spend 30 minutes trying them to eat squashed green beans. So Elias had a total of 2 jars of baby food, and then I finally just squished up whatever we were eating and put it in front of him. With Solveig I plan on doing the same thing. Squish up supper, see what she thinks looks good. For me, it was just "I don't have to bother shoving a spoon in their mouth for something they don't need and don't want." I just thought I was being lazy. You make me feel smart. ;)

 
At March 7, 2011 at 11:55 AM , Blogger Kelly said...

Jamie is not interested in jarred food either. Again not that I blame him. We practice baby lead weaning, and let me tell you the things he has eaten and tasted is amazing! He will suck and munch on broccoli, green peppers, anything orange, all fruits and veggies. He does not care for avacado much but give the boy a piece of tomatoe he is a happy man. He likes eggs, and meats of all kinds. Granted he has no teeth yet, but he is one healthy and happy baby boy.

 
At August 9, 2011 at 12:12 PM , Anonymous Kelly said...

Jamie is not interested in jarred food either. Again not that I blame him. We practice baby lead weaning, and let me tell you the things he has eaten and tasted is amazing! He will suck and munch on broccoli, green peppers, anything orange, all fruits and veggies. He does not care for avacado much but give the boy a piece of tomatoe he is a happy man. He likes eggs, and meats of all kinds. Granted he has no teeth yet, but he is one healthy and happy baby boy.

 
At August 9, 2011 at 12:12 PM , Anonymous Gretchen R said...

So that's what I've been doing is called!

I tried force feeding my kids baby food. With each of my kids I've tried. Some took it, others didn't. I've tried less and less with each of them because I don't have TIME to spend 30 minutes trying them to eat squashed green beans. So Elias had a total of 2 jars of baby food, and then I finally just squished up whatever we were eating and put it in front of him. With Solveig I plan on doing the same thing. Squish up supper, see what she thinks looks good. For me, it was just "I don't have to bother shoving a spoon in their mouth for something they don't need and don't want." I just thought I was being lazy. You make me feel smart. ;)

 

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