Potatoes!

Today we fed the Dude white organic potatoes.My mom made the food again, same as with the congee, but instead of rice, she put potatoes in. I had to use the hand blender to chop up the peas to smaller pieces, otherwise he couldn't eat them.

This is the first time he's had food that wasn't runny, other than banana, and he's had a bit of a hard time with the consistency of the food. While it's mushy like a banana, it's not as sweet, or as slimy. He choked on it several times, although it may also have been the bits of peas and chicken in it as well. Needless to say, he wasn't terribly impressed with his food, and ended up only eating half of it. But my main concern is that he allergic or react to the potato, so he's going to have to put up with more potato the next couple of days. Saturday we're having turkey Christmas dinner, so yep, the Dude will be getting potato and turkey. Good times!

Breakfast: Earth's Best Apples and Peaches Oatmeal with Olympic Organic Yoghurt
Lunch: Leftover Chicken and Peas Congee
Dinner: Chicken, peas and potato

Turkey and Yoghurt

So I've been a little behind updating this blog. First, the Dude's food.

We tried turkey, and it was a huge success. In particular, PC Organicis Pureed Mixed Vegetables (Green Beans and Carrots) and Organic Turkey. The Dude wasn't too keen on eating this at room temperature, but took to it well when it was warmed up. He had it for dinner tonight, and we had a virtually non-fuss dinnertime. It was a real treat for me not to have to bribe him to eat, or even better, to have the food spat back in my face.

The other new thing that he's been trying is yoghurt. I bought some Olympia brand Plain 3.5% Yogurt and mixed it with some of the Blueberries and Pears. The Dude didn't really like it that much, but my main thing is that he doesn't react to it. So far, so go. I actually was racking my brains as to how to feed yoghurt to him, then realised that they usually mix some sort of fruit flavour in with plain yoghurt, and that's how I normally eat it. Duh!

Speaking of blueberries, it doesn't look like he's reacted to it, so that's good. I'm still keeping an eye on it, but so far, so good.

Second, I actually made a dish of scalloped potatoes a couple of nights ago for a Christmas party potluck. It turned out okay, but I was quite frustrated with the process. But that's for another blog post.

Congee!

Today we fed the Dude congee (rice porridge for those of you who don't know what congee is). My mom made the congee, so I can't claim that I cooked it. She put in small chunks of organic chicken and carrots into the congee. She used organic white rice that I had bought a couple weeks ago. The Dude seemed to like it enough, although I didn't feed him the chicken, he's not able to chew and swallow that yet. However, the rice grains and carrots were mushy enough for him to eat and swallow, although the lumpiness of the food took a little getting used to. Also tried giving him water with a sippy cup, he wasn't too gung ho about that, but we'll try again.

Breakfast: Homemade applesauce with oatmeal cereal
Lunch: Mushy banana
Dinner: Congee with chicken and carrot

Blueberries!

Today the Dude had blueberries for the first time. I'm not certain if he really liked it as I wasn't feeding him. However, I noticed tonight that his eczema's flared up again. I'm really hoping it's the cold weather we're having and not the blueberries.

Breakfast: PC Organics Blueberries and Pears
Lunch: Mashed Organic Banana
Dinner: Leftover (1/2) Sweet Potato (My Organic Baby brand), (1/4) Carrot - home made, (1/4) Zucchini - home made, thickened with organic rice cereal.

I'm thinking that the Dude doesn't like the My Organic Baby Brand, so I'm going to give that a pass for sweet potato.

Carrots

Today I made more carrots. I also realised that I didn't feed the Dude and cereal, doh!

Breakfast: Apples and Apricots (jarred)
Lunch: Banana
Dinner: Chicken and Sweet Potato (jarred)

Chicken!!

So yesterday BabyL tried his first protein (not including formula of course): Chicken! I gave him President's Choice Strained and Pureed Organic Chicken and Organic Sweet Potato. He seemed to like it, and more importantly, hasn't shown a reaction yet, so this is good.

Today's menu:
- Breakfast: Homemade Applesauce and Oatmeal
- Lunch: Banana
- Dinner: Leftover Chicken, Sweet Potato and Zuchinni

Sweet Potato and Zucchini

Was okay, not his favourite, but he ate all 6oz! I was very surprised as I made 2 parts sweet potato to one part zucchini. But it was really, really runny, so it may be why he ate all of it, it's probably 75% water. Hopefully the fibre will help with his pooing.

Today's menu:
Breakfast - Homemade applesauce with oatmeal
Lunch - Banana
Dinner - 2 parts sweet potato to one part zucchini

Burnt

So I'd managed to burn the sweet potato I was trying to make for BabyL. So not impressed with myself. I also almost burnt the pot it was steaming in. Lucky for me I didn't burn the pot, but the house smells burnt. I'm in the process of airing it out right now. Also lucky that Hubby isn't too attached to the pot that I almost burnt.

So I still managed to make some applesauce and zucchini. The sweet potato was supposed to be mixed in the the zucchini, 2:1 ratio. That also didn't happen, because, well, I burnt the sweet potato. Apparently I didn't need to keep the heat on max after the water was boiling. But I did, and water boiled away. So hate cooking. Prep sucks.

Today's meal plan:

• Breakfast: Pears - jarred
• Lunch: Banana - mashed
• Dinner: Leftover Carrots and Rice Cereal - carrots mashed and heated
  

Oatmeal

I tried baby organic oatmeal today with BabyL. This morning I mixed it with leftover apple sauce and for dinner, homemade sweet potato. He ate both, so it was a hit!.

The oatmeal was Healthy Times Oatmeal Baby Cereal.

Zucchini

I made some zucchini a little while ago, and gave it to him to eat. I had to use the hand blender to puree the zucchini further as I had left the seeds in when I mashed it. It didn't go to well the first time when I tried feeding BabyL half-sweet potato, half-zucchini, both home made. I had decided instead to do a 2:1 ratio of sweet potato/carrot (jar) to zucchini, and he liked it better.

The hand blender is pretty sweet to use, I find destroying food satisfying, but the feed solids to a partially reluctant baby who isn't always wiling to eat stressful.

Mango and Carrots

BabyL had mangos for three days now (apples and mangos to be exact), and his eczema has flared up big time. I've noticed some small hives as well, so mango is a no go for now. Booo!

My mom had steamed some organic carrots and we'd mushed it up and mixed it with rice cereal. I think we made the carrots too thick because he didn't like the texture too much. Must puree more.

Real Food!

I bought a tray of Baby Cubes in an attempt as making and freezing my own baby food. I am worried that BabyL will get too used to the watery consistency of jarred baby food and not want to eat lumpier food. It has been known to happen.

So the other day I'd bought organic zucchini and organic sweet potato. I steamed both separately and mashed them up with a fork to a very mushy consistency. Now I don't know if I had mushed the food enough.

I had some leftover sweet potato and decided to use that as BabyL's dinner. Well, you should have seen the look on his face, you would have thought that he was suffering every time he swallowed! I think it was like trying to swallow really lumpy gravy, for him anyways. I think I was feeding him a little too fast because he eventually ended up gagging and throwing up everything that I'd fed to him. I was frustrated and wanted to cry at this point. Oh, did I tell you that the food prep took about 1.5 hours, and I was ready to throw in the towel then and there. This also made me hate cooking more!

The Dude has to learn to chew his food, otherwise, he won't get past the stage of eating more than watered down pureed food. Anyways, my mom came by and she fed him the rest of it. He eventually ate the rest of it without mishap. While I was eating my dinner, I was purposely showing him how to chew his food. I don't know if he got the concept or not, but I suppose he needs to practice.

I'm hoping that the next time we try this, it will be better.

Apples and Apricots

Tried Apples and Apricots today, and he seemed to have liked it. Definitely no reaction which is good. However, it took a while to feed it to him, and while he ate the whole jar, I don't think he was too thrilled with it.

So far....

The reason why I haven't been blogging much is because we've been on vacation for 19 days, then when we got home, I've been sick. However, while I haven't been blogging, BabyL still has been eating solids. Here's a list of what he's tried so far:

Likes

• Apples
• Bananas
• Carrots
  
• Pear - well, he's meh about them, I think they may be too tart for his tastes
  
• Peaches
• Rice Cereal
  
• Sweet Potatoes
  

Dislikes, but still has to eat:

• Green Peas
• Green Beans
  

Had a reaction to:

• Squash - not certain what kind, but he loved it (too bad)
• Prunes - he was meh about them, but he broke out in hives, and is still recovering from them, sigh.

Banana is a lovely fruit that he can eat without having to steam it first, it can be prepared with a fork and plate, and pretty much eaten anywhere. I love banana, it's easy to port around, BabyL loves it, and it's pretty much an easy no-brainer.

However, I had a question of how much I should be feeding BabyL. Apparently, breast milk/formula should still be his main source of nutrition, up until about 11-12 months, with the solids making up about 1/3 of his nutritional intake for the day. I have noticed in just the last couple of weeks alone, BabyL is eating way more breast milk, but I don't know how much more, so I don't know how much more I should be feeding him.

I'm now trying to mix some of the foods together so that he has a bit of variety. For instance, today he had Apple and Banana for breakfast, Banana for lunch and Sweet Potatoes/Green Beans/Carrots for dinner, and yes, he ate the whole thing.

I'm still using jarred food, but it has become clear to me that he will benefit from some real food with a bit more texture. Right now, the only "real" food he gets is banana. To that end, I've bought a baby foods recipe book. I bought it mainly so I can get some guidance of the amounts he needs to eat, but also to get ideas of what to feed him.

This is all so confusing!

Green Peas and Triple Argh!

We gave BabyL Green Peas today. He made a face when we first fed it to him, so we tried it ourselves. Let me tell you pureed peas when not warm takes gross! So we warmed up the jar in a bowl of hot water. That seemed to make it more palatable for BabyL because he started lunging for the spoon after a while.

We also gave the squash one more go. He still has a slight reaction. I'll try another brand to see if it's truly the squash that he's reacting to. I'm thinking about writing the company and asking them what sort of squash they'd put in there. I had realised that there are many types of squash, and to put down "organic squash" as an ingredient is too vague in my books.

Double Argh!

So we had been double-bibbing BabyL because he makes such a mess; the second bib is there to protect his clothing. Well, now we think that it may be the double-bibbing that's causing him to turn red. BabyL is very sensitive to heat, and when he's hot enough, he will fuss! But even when he's not that hot, he gets a heat rash as his body temperature rises.

How did we figure that out? Since we thought he was reacting to the squash, we'd decided to give him sweet potato instead. After all, he went four whole days without a reaction. We didn't heat up the sweet potato, it was room temperature mush that we fed him, and he still went red. So that's why I think it's the double-bibbing.

Tomorrow, I'm going to try the squash again, this time with just one bib, and hopefully that should give me some answers. Argh!

Argh!

So he had a reaction to squash. Bah. Will try again at a later date. Sigh.

Squash!

Today we tried squash with BabyL, and it was an even bigger hit than the sweet potato. However, he turned red the second time we fed it to him. This morning, I had fed him the squash by itself and didn't notice a reaction. This evening, it was squash with rice cereal mixed in. The same rice cereal he's had for a week with no reaction. The only thing we could conclude was that we had heated up the food in the microwave, and something within the microwave had contaminated the food (eg old food stuck on the microwave walls, etc). I'm going to try the squash again tomorrow to see if he really is sensitive to it or not. Squash is a hard vegetable to be allergic to, so this is a little puzzling.

For those of you who are wondering what brands I've been feeding BabyL, it's Earth's Best, Safeway O Organics and President's Choice.

Sweet Potato

We tried sweet potato today with BabyL, and he loved it! Cold too, I didn't heat it up. He ate the whole jar, that's 2.5 oz! I have three different brands, but they're all made up of the same thing: organic sweet potato (or yams as some people know it as) and water. BabyL is loving the solids thing. He has now learned to open his mouth when he sees the spoon coming towards him. I was holding the jar of baby food in front of him, and he was lunging at that too, LOL!

My only mistake was having him wear a white onesie the first time he ate any food with colour in it, how am I going to get the stains out? Whoops! Live and learn.

First Solids

Today we started Earth's Best Whole Grain Rice Cereal. BabyL loves it apparently. I've tried it and I think it tastes just slightly better than glue paste. I think BabyL thinks it's a game of some sort. We made a big deal out of it, took pictures and a video. I'm glad BabyL likes it. He even grabbed the spoon at one point! I think he's also at the stage where he likes to put everything in his mouth, because he was trying to lick the napkin too when I was wiping his mouth. Nonetheless, he's already a solid-eating champ! Can't wait for the solid poo to come, ha! Next up will be Sweet Potato.

Trying another formula

We bought another formula and tried it on BabyL. It was Nestle Good Start. This time BabyL didn't react to it. Yay! Now we have something to bring on the cruise with us!

Trying formula for the first time

So we tried formula for the first time with BabyL today. It was Earth's Best Organic Infant Formula with DHA and AHA (not sold in Canada). He drank the 2oz quite quickly, so that was a good sign. What wasn't so good was that he got all splotchy red about 4 hours later. It was isolated mainly on his face and body, and he looks how I look after having a few too many drinks.

After a lot of discussions with a number of different people, we decided that BabyL may not be allergic to milk protein (which is in the formula), but sensitive to whatever is in it. Now I have to look for another formula that BabyL can safely drink, and I had such high hopes with this formula too.

BabyL is breastfeeding, and will continue to do so. The reason why we're starting him on formula are several:

1. We are going on a two week cruise. To allow me a few hours to go sightseeing, Hubby has graciously volunteered to stay behind and watch BabyL. However, as I thought about it further, pumping logically just wasn't feasible, so we decided on formula as a solution, and because of reason #2
2. I plan on going back to work after 10 months. BabyL won't be able to drink milk before he's 12 months (and possibly later as he has some eczema), and I simply cannot pump at work, it's impossible for me. I barely have time to pee at work as it is, that's how busy I can be. So he would have to go on formula at that point any ways.
   
3. I hate pumping, and only do so when I need to or have a bit of time.
   

About this blog

I actually have two dudes: my 5 month old baby, BabyL, and my Hubby.

I don't like cooking. In fact, I will do the most loathsome household chore (like scrubbing toilets) rather than cook. I find cooking a waste of time and frustrating at the best of times. From the start of prepping for a meal until you've washed the last dish, should only be a half hour. I don't want to spend more time cooking than that. (I know, dream on!) However, I had promised Hubby a long time ago that I would learn to cook.

So this blog is more about my road towards culinary competence than it is about cooking. This also won't be a real food blog per se, although it may become one over time. I'm hoping to post some recipes, my triumphs as well as my failures. There may also be a few plugs or censors of certain foodie products, as well as other comments that float around in my head. At least that's how it's evolving in my mind right now.

Up until this point, BabyL has ingested only the following: breast milk, Children's Tylenol (White Grape, Dye-Free), Vitamin D drops and saline solution. The saline solution is not intentional, we only use it to help remove any snot from his nose, but it still can get down his throat.

As my main task in life right now is to take care of my baby (I'm still on mat leave), you will see a progression of what I've been feeding my baby as well. As my kid grows, so will my sophistication with cooking. Well, that is the plan at any rate. And that's what this blog is really about.

Wish me luck!