Mmmmm... Garlic...

So we've tried onion, fish (specifically sable fish and salmon), garlic, and cinnamon. I can tell you the Dude doesn't like salmon. He's also breaking out into a bit of a rash. I'm uncertain as to what's causing it. It may be the cinnamon, it may be the salmon, or the combination of the two. It doesn't look too bad, but the Dude is bothered enough to scratch it as it is itchy for him.

Needless to say, no more salmon for awhile.

I'm trying to move towards foods that we commonly eat, so next up is beef. I had to wrack my brains as to how I was going to prepare the beef. I think I have something figured out, will blog about that soon.

The 11 Best Foods You Probably Aren’t Eating - Article

Since this is primarily a foodie blog, I decided to post this article here instead of my other blog.

The 11 Best Foods You Probably Aren’t Eating

• Beets
• Cabbage
• Swiss chard
• Cinnamon
• Pomegranate juice
• Dried plums
• Pumpkin seeds
• Sardines
• Turmeric
• Frozen blueberries
• Canned pumpkin
  

Even more food!

The Dude has had a few more food items since I last wrote. He's had cottage cheese, onions, mushrooms and today, wheat. I gave him some finger O's that are designed for babies. It's supposed to "melt in the mouth" instantly, which it doesn't, I've tried them. I even gave The Dude a few to feed himself. I don't think he has any idea of


Here's an updated list of his food adventure.

• Apples
• Apricots
  
• Bananas
• Blueberries
  
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Chicken
  
• Green Beans
  
• Leeks
• Oatmeal/Oats
• Parsnips
  
• Pear
• Peaches
• Peas
  
• Pear
• Potato
• Quinoa
  
• Rice Cereal
  
• Sweet Potatoes
• Turkey
• Yoghurt
• Zucchini
  

Had a reaction to:

• Squash - will try again soon
  
• Prunes - broke out in hives
  
• Mango - broke out in hives
  

Not certain about:

• Egg Yolk - must try again soon, not certain of eczema flareup. 

Pretty impressive list if I do say so myself!

After wheat, we will be giving him foods that we commonly eat day to day. We're moving towards feeding him what we eat, so that we don't have to make separate meals any longer. It'll be such things like beef, fish, tomatoes, spinach, asparagus, cheese, oranges, grapes, pork, ham... that's what I can think of off the top of my head, but I'm certain there's more. Stuff like milk and strawberries, since they are the top allergens, I'm holding off until he's at least a year old.

Roasted Fruits

I found this recipe on this site that I've been getting email newsletter from for a while. I have to say that this site rocks, and even though her recipes are very simple, they certainly give me plenty of ideas to work with. Dude didn't notice a difference, but he didn't hate it, so it's all good. I have been mixing it with yoghurt though, so it does take away from some of the flavour.

The Dude's tastes are definitely being refined. I'm still trying to work through the baby food jars that I'd bought, but he's beginning to reject them for real home cooked food. While I think it's great, it makes it harder for me to bring food out for him. That means that I have to bring his favourite (banana), or pre-make food and bring it in a thermos. I was planning on doing so anyways, but I haven't had a chance yet to purchase a thermos.

Anyways, the Dude's been eating cottage cheese for the last couple days. So far, I don't think he's reacted to it. I don't think he's that gung ho about it either, but it's more about what he can eat as opposed to what he likes to eat. Next will be mushrooms and onions.

Quinoa and broccoli

The Dude has now had the following new foods: broccoli, leeks, quinoa and parsnips. The broccoli we added to foods that he's already eaten, mostly to mask the strong broccoli taste and to make it a little more palatable. Needless to say this has made the poo situation more interesting.

I bought the Dude some of the Bobo Baby Quinoa and Mixed Vegetables. The Mixed Vegetables are zucchini, leeks and parsnips. I was taking a big chance on introducing three new foods at once, but I really wanted to buy some of the Bobo Baby to try it out. Based on the Joneja Food Allergen Scale, quinoa and parsnips very low on the allergen scale, meaning that the likelihood of the Dude reacting to it is rare. Leeks are not on the scale, but like I said, I was taking a bit of a risk. So far, so good. I also know the owner of Bobo Baby, and had her home cooked food before, she's definitely makes tasty stuff!

Yesterday and today, my mom made some quinoa in chicken stock, and added bits of chicken to it. I've noticed that the Dude's appetite has increased quite a bit, so we added to the packages that were already defrosted.

In other news, the Dude can now eat banana straight from the peel, like how most people eat banana. Of course, he needs assistance, but I'd figured since he now has 4 front teeth, biting should be a skill that he needs to learn. He's definitely getting the hang of it, and he mushes the banana in his mouth, a precursor to chewing skills, which is awesome. I'm glad his eating skills are coming along famously. Next, I'm thinking cottage cheese, but we'll see...

Lumpy food and other such stuff.

Since last posting, I've given the Dude egg yolk and cauliflower, both which he ate with no problems. With both, I had mixed it either in potato, peas, carrots, and chicken, or made some sort of congee with peas, carrots and chicken.

Next will be broccoli. I'm trying to add more fruits and veggies to his diet so that he will have a variety of stuff to eat. The hope is that before he's one, he can eat about 75% of what we eat, I can more or less stop giving him jarred stuff, and simply just make one meal, putting stuff aside and making it lumpy enough for him to eat it. Since his molars aren't in yet, he's not able to grind up the food, so the food still needs to be in small bits for him to digest and not choke on. Still a bit of work, but I will feel better once he's able to eat more and eat what we eat.

I had made a batch of potatoes, peas, carrots and cauliflower and frozen some of it. Tonight I made applesauce. I'm finding it easier to make some stuff as a base and use the jarred baby food as a backup, as making baby food is still very time consuming. I still loathe cooking.

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!