Toddler Dinners: Before They Were Toddlers
I thought for this week, we would take a journey back into time. Back to when Lando was just stating his journey to real foods. I know a lot of new readers weren’t around then. Through the homemade baby food and the early days of novelty foods. So I thought I would highlight some of my old posts on the subject.
First up though, some run down facts:
- Landon started solid (cereal) food around 5 months. I decided to start a little earlier to help with my dwindling pumping supply.
- Landon nursed for 18 months and I pumped for a year. We had to supplement with formula until a year when he stopped wanting bottles. We switched to milk in 1 easy transition.
- I made a majority of all his pureed food. It was simple easy and fun.
- I started finger foods before he had many teeth. I found it didn’t matter. Those little gums could go to town on mushy stuff.
- He loved eating. There was very little he wouldn’t eat.
- He started drinking from an open cup at around 9 months. I believe this helped with not fighting sippy cups later on.
- I started giving him everything I could get my hands on. Eggplant, tofu, radishes. If it was new, I tried it.
- Salad bars were my friend. Grab as much variety as you can from one for cost effective trying.
- We kept trying things. Some days they can just be fickle.
- I found mixing flavors was helpful. Pureed spinach was a no go but add with pears or apple sauce and he ate it like crazy. Get creative.
Posts to check out:
The variety he was eating around 9 months
Starting to let him eat daycare food
The Liquid Strike when switching from bottles
So are you just venturing into the world of solids? Any questions? Tips?
Toddler Dinners is my weekly series of posts to explore the world of feeding munchkins. Find out more here.
Also be sure to follow me along throughout the week with your creations on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #toddlerdinners.
Also be sure to follow me along throughout the week with your creations on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #toddlerdinners.
Totally agree on the salad bars. Jason’s Deli is our current favorite place to take Noah.
It really is the best place. I use ours at work like crazy.
My daughter ate everything we put in front her her until about 15-18 months. They she learned the word No. Le Sigh. Now I’ve been learning how to sneak veggies into different foods.
I know a lot of parents have this problem. It’s when they learn they can control something. I am convinced it isn’t taste…it is a battle for control. I have seen landon eat 3/4 of something and then turn up him nose at the next bite and tell me it’s yucky. Bullshit, kid.
I got so aught up with finger foods, I totally forgot my twins had to learn how to use silverware sometime
Ooooo good call. Another daycare advantage, they used them pretty early on. But we still struggle with this. When is it worth the battle to make them use it when they are perfectly happy with their hands. He still has trouble stabbing somethings…so i can’t say i blame him!