Day 29 – Breakfast

Malina was sick and recovering all day Saturday starting a few hours after breakfast. It was the same thing as last time and she was better by early evening, though we kept her low energy and relaxed. As a result I didn’t notice that I hadn’t submitted the previous post or the summary post. Then I ran out of time to write this one up and get it up. So I’m a bit behind.

For breakfast we started our ‘new’ allergen, peanuts! The best way to do this is using peanut butter and other smooth, ground, or powdered sources of peanut since the whole but is a choking hazard. I wanted to introduce it in a new way though and quickly came to a solution.

Waffles. Peanut butter waffles.

So I made my normal waffle batter and then incorporated some thinned and softened peanut butter into the mixture.

Note: to soften and thin peanut butter I mixed equal parts hot water and peanut butter together. It’s less sticky and easier to incorporate into the recipe this way.

Then I heated up the waffle iron and moved onto our sides.

I’ve had a hard time working in vegetables lately, and ran into the same dilemma today. So instead I decided to not worry about it and got some frozen banana and put it in the silicone feeder. Then I fried up an egg for a more familiar protein and called it good.

The first thing Malina went for was her bananas.

She focused on them until she was finished with them and I bet you can guess where the feeder ended up.

On the floor.

Classic Malina. Finished the food and tossed the leftovers to Pluto. He hasn’t gotten fat yet, but he is trying.

The next thing she went for was the waffles, but I forgot to take pictures as things divulged into a sticky mess because I gave her a small amount of maple syrup with the waffles.

She liked the waffles though and ate about three squares worth of the sticks.

She did not attempt to eat the eggs today and instead flipped the plate onto the floor.

I must have not secured it to the tray right, and what a mess that was.

Still, she ate the waffles and seemed to like them a lot. So that is something I’ll be repeating, since I personally prefer waffles to pancakes any day.

So remember, even when there are too many messes and they are just popping up everywhere, you’re doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica

Day 28 – Breakfast

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Today is also the last day of week four and I am hesitant to say it but the end of our fish allergen introduction. Malina’s eaten enough of the fish the last few times and not had a reaction. I’m going to still find other ways to work different fish in and hopefully we find something that we can use often enough to keep an eye on her exposure, since fish is not a regular part of our diet, yet.

That being said, today’s breakfast was a repeat of our previous success, trout cakes. I served it along side frozen strawberries (because teething), lime yogurt, and potato latkes.

Malina was really irritable this morning though and being extra clingy. These have been good indicators that she might be teething again, as we’ve been able to see a second tooth poking up under the gums, and so I set her up with her frozen strawberries right away.

She loved them. By the time I got the rest of her breakfast in front of her the two strawberries inside the feeder were almost completely gone.

If only she liked the frozen blueberries I have an entire bag of 😭

With her meal set down she grabbed a latke right away. It’s been awhile, but I think she remembered them.

Yeah, she loves these still too. Smashing them in her mouth and tearing them apart with her tooth. That tooth is scary by the way and it’s not even halfway out. I can’t begin to imagine how it will be when she has two.

She took a break from the potato latkes to eat a trout cake next.

“Someone said something about plenty of fish, but I like my trout well enough.”

She was a little hesitant but she still was willing to eat the trout cakes. Which makes me happy and hopeful as trout isn’t too hard to get.

Last we had the lime yogurt. I gave Malina her spoon with some on it and let her set the pace.

“This is the type of bittersweet I like.”

She liked it. I wasn’t too surprised as she’s been gravitating towards sour and bitter foods. It also gives me an idea for future vegetables to try that kids normally don’t like because they are bitter. (Hint: bell-peppers)

She ate a couple spoonfuls and smashed, tore, and nibbled on the rest of her food until she was done and started to play with what was left. so I chalk this up to a good food day and a nice completion of the month.

I’ll be posting the summary shortly, but until then- Remember, you are doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica

Day 27 – Breakfast

So last night we had sockeye salmon for dinner. I had the great idea to cut a small part of the fillet from the cooked meal and put it away for today’s breakfast for Malina.

What I did not think to do was cut myself a small fillet and so this morning she gets salmon while I sit back and have my own separate breakfast.

That’s one of those BLW ‘rules’ that I think get taken too seriously. “You eat what baby eats and baby eats what you eat”.

Everyone doesn’t always eat the same thing at every meal. There are diet restrictions, food limitations, and other things that get in the way. What I think is important is taking the time to sit and eat together.

But I totally would have eaten salmon this morning if there was some for me.

The salmon was steam baked with olive oil, parsley, and fennel. It reheated fine at a low temp in our toaster oven and the herbs smelled just as good as last night.

I blanked on making a veggie as I peeled some mandarins to go with the salmon and so Malina only had the fish and mandarins for her meal. I’d be more worried about something like this if she was relying on solids completely, but she isn’t and she doesn’t even eat most of her food anyways.

Baby girl knows what she likes and went for the mandarins right away.

“The last of the mandarins, so bitter sweet.”

She actually did what she did yesterday and focused on the mandarins until the salmon was the only thing left.

She even went through the same behaviors, picking up the salmon and smashing it before trying some of it.

“Oh, you wanted me to eat this salmon stuff. Okay.”

The salmon did not elicit a reaction from her like the trout, but she did eat two bites before deciding that the salmon was more fun to play with than to eat.

Can’t win them all.

She still liked the salmon more than the tuna and that is a place to start. So I’m going to mess with my preparations of it and we’ll see what Malina ends up liking.

So remember, even if you decide to eat something separate from baby, you are doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica

100 Foods by 1

There is a food challenge for introducing foods to baby. It’s called one hundred foods by one.

This food challenge is just that. A challenge.

It’s not some necessary thing. It’s not a “if you can do it you’re an amazing mom” thing. It’s not about shaming moms who can’t do it for one reason or another either.

Premie babies don’t always start solids at the same actual age as their peers. A lot of them and their parents wait until their adjusted age is 6 months. Then there are the babies with allergies. It’s difficult to introduce 100 different foods when baby is allergic to entire groups of things. And that’s without getting into reasons such as money, resources, time, etc.

This is a challenge that you can not do or even start and not finish and you’re still a good mom. I promise. Honestly, it’s more a “fun” challenge than something to stress over. With a baby you don’t need any extra stress, but if you approach it as fun then it might help with things.

For me, this challenge is fun and gives me more ideas for foods to introduce to Malina. Foods both a part of our culture and not.

When I did all my research into baby led weaning I also looked into food introduction around the world. It’s interesting the types of foods that different cultures introduce as a first food to their babies. In France they focus on vegetables, in several different Asian cultures they start with rice porridge, in our own Hispanic culture we introduce beans, tortillas, and rice early on.

It was while doing my research that I even came across this challenge. And even then, depending on the source or even the person the challenge lists different items and rules on how to complete it.

For example, some people only count eggs once. It counts as one thing no matter how you cook it, but it does not count if it’s an ingredient in a larger thing such as a muffin.

Because of arbitrary ‘rules’ like this the challenge gets very complex, convoluted, and confusing.

I’ve seen entire arguments between different moms arguing for why they think a scrambled egg should count separate than a fried egg or omelet. I’ve seen the same mom told all types of mean things about her choice to count that way.

In the end, you can count however you want though. This is a challenge and not something anyone’s going to tally up and tell you if you passed or failed.

The actual goal of this challenge isn’t really 100 different foods either.

The actual goal is to introduce different textures, different tastes, and just a variety of things. It’s about expanding babies pallet early and opening a door to what everyone hopes is a good eater who likes a diverse array of foods and isn’t picky.

Though there are no guarantees that this will be the case. I’m sure that everyone, even as as adult, has had a phase where they want only one food and eat it without getting fed up (It’s pasta for me).

There are so many different vegetables, fruits, seasonings, meats, and just foods in the world. Different cultures cook on different ways and have different things to offer outside of what you might consider your norm.

Lotus root is amazing for example, but I’m so used to eating it in Thai and Japanese food that I wouldn’t expect to eat it outside of those cultures plates (though I have seen it elsewhere and it’s still good). So when I decided to introduce lotus root it will probably be in a dish from one of these cultures.

My husband is El Salvadorian. In his culture there is yucca (casava) root and it is served in a traditional dish. I’ve only ever had it in this dish and it will be how Malina is introduced to it as well.

Neither of the last two examples are on any of the hundred food less I’ve seen so far. Which is further proof that there is no right or wrong way to do the challenge.

So it’s up to you if you want to try it out and if it’s something that you feel would be a good addition to your baby’s food introduction journey.

Again, this is not something that is mandatory. It’s for fun. So I hope you and your little one have fun with it like we plan to.

So remember, whatever choices you make, you are still doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica

Day 26 – Breakfast

Today is our fourth day trying the fish allergen. Malina hasn’t really eaten enough of any of the fish presented so far for me to rule out anything, but I had high hopes it would change today as we tried the trout cakes I mentioned yesterday.

The trout cakes utilize the same mix of ingredients as the tuna cakes except they have trout instead of tuna. This recipe is actually from one of my BLW cookbooks (—) and I altered the recipe to allow for the tuna cakes (halving all ingredients between two bowls and adding 1 egg). I also baked everything (350F for 30 minutes) instead of pan frying. I have to say though that these things have kept well in the fridge, reheated well, and taste good. Especially the trout ones.

I also served mandarin oranges today and lemon yogurt (being mindful of sugar and sodium).

I think Malina might be teething again, though not as bad and hard as when she cut her last tooth. It would explain her reluctance to eat that she’s displayed recently.

I coaxed her into starting breakfast by offering her a spoon of yogurt though and she was quick to take it and chewed on the spoon between bites.

She liked the lemon yogurt it seems. She ate about half of what I offered and even saved the spoon from an accidental fall all by herself.

Now that she was interested and eating she moved on to the mandarins herself.

She still loves those too. She chewed on them and ate the insides before discarding the pulp. I’m starting to feel like I should offer her more slices because the juices are not as filling, but I’m holding back until she’s eating more of everything on her plate.

She went through all her mandarin slices and then went back to the yogurt. Only when she’d eaten or dropped most of those did she turn her attention to the trout cakes.

Personally, I think she’s avoiding the fish on purpose. Probably because of the smell. I’m going to have to figure out another way of approaching this now that I think I know what’s going on.

“This fish is good. I only want good fish now.”

Malina was hesitant to bite into the trout cake even after she picked it up. She started to pull it apart first and smash it on her tray. But she did get curious enough to put a piece in her mouth.

Then there was a change.

She ate a bite and then put more of the cake in her mouth. She was eating it. Finally, she was actually eating fish! She then spent some time shoving pieces in her mouth, spitting out some of it, dropping other pieces, but still chewing and eating enough of it up for me to count this as a success.

Tuna, bad. Sardines, bad. Trout, good. Very good.

I’m so thrilled she ate the fish, but I’m also worried now because she has all day to have a reaction and to get through. I’m almost certain she’ll be fine though. She hasn’t had a reaction so far and breakfast is two hours behind us as I write this.

So remember, even if you have to try something over and over again to get a success, you are doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica

Day 25 – Breakfast

Meal prep is amazing. I knew it was. I still remember how happy I was when Malina was born that I’d done enough meal prep while still pregnant to cover dinner for the first three months. Yeah, that was amazing.

I’ll probably do something similar later when I get a better idea of what things Malina likes. Also, I still have these allergens to introduce and make sure nothing surprises us.

So I did meal prep for this week. Yesterday evening I spent about an hour making our fish for this week. We are doing more tuna and trout. I’ll probably give her some sockeye salmon too, but I didn’t get to dealing with that yesterday.

So today we are trying tuna again and this time it’s in these mini cake patties that I made in my mini muffin tin. These things are made with tuna, potatoes, spinach, sour cream, green onion, and egg. So there is a lot of good stuff here.

The second part of breakfast this morning was banana rolled in crusted animal crackers. The crumbs make it easier for baby to grab and hold.

Malina wasn’t really into breakfast this morning however.

It too some time and a lot of miming, but she did inevitably try the bananas after about ten minutes.

She ate about two, maybe three, bites of the banana before it devolved into smashing.

The smashing turned into throwing though and that is what ended up happing to the rest of her breakfast. That was one mess I couldn’t use the dog for.

So today was a bad day for food and we still haven’t gotten her to try the fish we’ve offered. I’m still hopeful and hope that persistence will win out.

So just remember, even when baby destroys the kitchen redecorating, you’re doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica

Day 24 – Breakfast

Our fish today is sardines. I love fish, but it wasn’t until I was in college that I got to try sardines and anchovies (probably will introduce time Malina in the future, just not this week). I found out I liked them both and wondered why my family acted like they were bad.

I hope by introducing them to Malina that she will make her own decisions about it and have a more open mind to food as she grows up.

The rest of breakfast is as follows: sardines in water, steamed broccoli, blackberries, and cinnamon bread.

Eric made us cinnamon rolls and before we iced them I tore off two of the tails of the buns to offer to Malina. The sardines were from a can. The rest is fairly straight forward.

Malina touched everything on her plate when I set it down. Toying with me about what she would try first. Looking more for my reaction than caring about the food.

What she decided on though was her broccoli. But she had a hard time grabbing it at first and attempted to get it directly to her mouth in what she thought would be an easier way.

She had little luck though and tried again with her hands, finally getting one of the green trees with a little help.

She liked her broccoli. It had been a while but she still liked the tops more than the stalk. Still, she tried to eat them whole as we watched on.

Malina went for her cinnamon bread next. Grabbing one piece and chucking it off the side before grabbing the other and tasting it.

Her enjoyment probably made her regret her first reaction to the pastry but I couldn’t know for sure. She ate about an inch off the end, doing a good job of chewing and softening one end as she ate it.

The next thing she tried was her blackberries.

She did not seem to like them as much today or even be too interested in them. She popped two in her mouth and that was the end of that.

Malina does a lot of touching her food. She runs her hands through it, rips it apart, and tosses pieces to Pluto. She did this with the sardines throughout breakfast. I figured she wasn’t going to even try the fish today and started to look for signs that she was finished eating as we came up on 30 minutes since we started breakfast. Then Malina surprised me. She grabbed a piece of the fish and ate it.

She did not hate it but I’m not sure she liked it either. She ate the small piece though and soon after we called breakfast as being done.

So remember, even when baby doesn’t eat what you want them too, you are doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica

Day 23 – Breakfast

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.

“Creamy and just the right mix of tart and sweet.”

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

Day 22 – Breakfast

So I hadn’t decided which of our remaining allergens to test this week before I made breakfast this morning so I decided to just make something nice with what we had on hand. Sometimes I look at our pantry and fridge and see nothing. Other times I see opportunity and get plenty of food ideas. Today was a big idea day.

Last weekend my husband made a soup that needed buttermilk as an ingredient. After he opened and used what he needed from the carton it got pushed to the back of the fridge. Luckily, I remembered it last night as I though about today and started planning for breakfast.

Buttermilk pancakes!

The recipe I decided to use is from one of my BLW apps (Annabel Karmel Recipes) that I have on my phone. But be warned, the recipes from here are in metric so you will need a scale and appropriate measuring equipment. I’ve been cooking a long time though so switching between different measuring systems I can handle.

These pancakes came out amazing too, by the way. I added about a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the batter but followed the rest of it to the ‘T’.

I also made my own mixed berry compote. I just tossed about a cup of frozen mixed berries into a sauce pan and heated on high until bubbly. Then I mashed up the berries to make a smoother texture and let it simmer on low until it thickened some. In the future I’ll probably play with this some. Add in some spices and what not to see what Malina likes, but spoiler alert: she loved the berries as is.

Then I served up some more homemade whipped cream without sugar and our leftover cucumbers from the other day. And somehow I managed to get this all done in 45 minutes.

Okay, it was planning and Eric holding Malina, but still I felt really good about this performance on my part.

And of course the first thing she went for was the pancakes as her other hand discovered the whipped cream. She was tentative at first, since this is the softest pancake she’s had yet (crepes are in our future) but she soon discovers that it tasted good.

“We should have started with these pancakes.”

She ate at least two strips. She loved her pancakes. Pluto was also given his tribute, though most of that was the cucumber. Malina was not feeling the savory cucumber as an accompaniment and was quick to discard them and go back to her pancakes.

She did however seem interested in the berry compote and whipped cream but unable to get any. I had the idea that she’d mix the pancake pieces in it, but that’s a skill she hasn’t developed yet. So instead I gave her a spoon and she then made a huge mess as she ate it.

As you can see, she liked it and promptly demolished it.

I feel good about this meal though. It might look sugar heavy but the only added sugar was 20g in the batter mix and she didn’t get all of that. Then whatever natural sugars that were in the berries. So I say it’s fine.

Starting tomorrow we will he going into fish as our allergen. I am planning to do some meal prep for the week with my time this weekend as well. And I’ll try to get my master post for the resources I use together.

So remember, even if you do offer sugar to baby, you are still doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica

Day 21 – Breakfast

And today marks the end of week 3! One more week and then we are officially a month into this.

So today our schedule was a bit off but somehow everything worked out for once. Breakfast was easy enough to figure out and when we got things going it was smooth sailing.

The last of the veggie nests, fried eggs, and mandarin oranges.

Nothing new today and everything served were things Malina has eaten and liked in the past. Still, repetition is good for taste development as well as continued exposure.

Not going to stand on ceremony, Malina went for her food right away and shoved a veggie nest into her face. Like she smashed it against her face and then realized “wait I need to open my mouth.” This was the second attempt and already she was doing better since her mouth was open.

It’s nice to see her enjoy her food and I am reminded of another reason that it’s good to repeat foods. When she likes something she’s more likely to eat it and more of it each time it’s offered. Including her fried eggs.

Malina also enjoyed her mandarin oranges. She’s been on and off with them recently but today was a good day and she ate two slices. Or at least she ate the juices of two slices, still not liking the pulp.

All in all a great breakfast and a nice finish to week three of Malina’s food adventure.

So remember, there are good days where things work out and even if today isn’t one you are still doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica