- Frozen peas (warmed)
- Frozen carrots (warmed)
- Cooked broccoli
- Canned green beans (no sodium)
- Baked Sweet Potato
- Cut up avocado
- Watermelon
- Grapes
- Cheese (especially string cheese)
- Cottage Cheese
- Yogurt
- Sliced up pieces of deli meat (mainly turkey and ham)
- Pieces of chicken
- Pieces of pork
- Scrambled eggs
- Hard boiled eggs
- Oatmeal
- Bread (especially toast)
- Rice
- Black Beans
- Cheerios and oatmeal squares dry
- Cereal with milk (with help eating from mom and dad)
- Cheese Quesadillas
- Fruit Smoothies
- Gold Fish
- Crackers
- Pretzels
- Raisins
- Dried mangos (which is border line candy in my opinion)
- And of course, MILK
He's pretty good at eating whatever we are eating, but sometimes that's nothing so I try to always have easy go to's like frozen peas and lunch meat always on hand for quick meals. A few things that I try to keep in mind are
1) His food doesn't need to be salted, sugared, or buttered. He doesn't know any better, so there's no sense in introducing that nonsense too soon. It'll come
2) His meals don't need to make sense. Sometimes I look at what I'm feeding him and I'm like "that's a weird combo". He doesn't care. I'm so stuck on my own food meshing and it just isn't an issue for him.
3) Tim told me once that a pediatrician he worked with said that a child needs to try a food at least 9 times before he can really decide that he doesn't like it. So if Ollie doesn't like something I'll try again later.
4) Typically if I leave him in his highchair long enough, he'll eat his food. Sometimes I think I put too much pressure for him to finish in a certain amount of time, but if I let him do his thing, he's pretty good and getting himself fed.
And lately we've been practicing feeding ourselves with a spoon. All bets are off with that one. There is no staying neat and tidy around here and that's ok. I hope that meal time is always relaxed an enjoyable (I know what you're thinking, wait until he's older and you have more of them), because food is such a fun part of life
Anymore food suggestions that I can add to my list?
Some recent favorites over here: Hummus and pretty much anything to dip in it (cooked broccoli, pita slices, carrots), pancakes of any kind (preferably whole wheat), edamame, fruit leather, any kind of nuts, any fruit on the planet (except papaya? explain that one to me!)
ReplyDeleteIt is sometimes hard to figure out how to feed them healthy but it totally pays off when they are such good little eaters and never demand junk food. Easton really doesn't even love candy or ever ask for it. He'll eat it, sure, if offered, but he's not obsessed.