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