Week four and we are doin Fish as our allergen introduction. We love fish here, so we are both excited to share fish with Malina as well as see what preferences she has as we go along.
As you might know, cooked fish is very flaky for the most part. This makes it harder to eat for a baby like Malina who is still developing her pincer grasp. So my solution was to make fish cakes.
The rules for making any type of meatball or patty are simple. You have your meat, a breading, and a binding agent. I found a ton of recipes but they all require more prep than I had time for. So instead I improvised a recipe and got lucky that it turned out.
Today we had tuna cakes, plain goat cheese, and blackberries.
To make the tuna cakes I drained a can of tuna, mixed in some japanese mayonnaise, and then mixed in panko until I got the right consistency.
Next, I heated a bit of olive oil in a pan and added my patties once heated. These don’t really need to be cooked as much as warmed and when they were ready after about 3 minutes per side I severed them up.
Malina took in her spread and decided to start with her tuna cake.
I wish I could say it didn’t fall apart quickly, but Malina is skilled in tearing her food to bits. I also wish I could say she ate some of the tuna, but she avoided actually eating a single bite as she tore it apart and tossed pieces to Pluto.
There will be plenty of time later to try tuna again, and there are still other fish to get her to try as well. So I just accepted this one as not working and waited for Malina to try the next food.
She decided to go for the plain goat cheese.
We are also big cheese fans here. We also haven’t found a second cheese Malina likes, so we went with the next one on our list. Goat cheese. It’s a lightly sour with hints of sweet creamy cheese. Sometimes it can be more crumbly light gets as well, but the one we got was a slightly creamier texture than cream cheese.
Malina loved it.
My bet is that the sour was her favorite part and then the consistency was next. She ate it well enough with her fingers and enjoyed it though.
Riding the success of the cheese, Malina went for her blackberries last.
Again, she enjoyed it. I cut them into quarters lengthwise and she has just a small amount of difficulty picking them up. Just not enough to stop her from enjoying the berries.
It’s unfortunate that the tuna didn’t work out but honestly just seeing her handle it and eat the rest of her breakfast was good enough for me. Like I said, there is plenty of time to try again.
So remember, even if baby doesn’t eat what they are supposed to, you are still doing great and you’ve got this!
-Erica
Malina’s BLW Food Adventures 