Day 49 – Breakfast

Today marks the end of seven weeks into this food adventure. Malina is just a couple weeks away from being eight months old and starting to do two meal a day of solids.

Even though the technical point of two months will be the end of week eight, I plan to count by the actual day of the month to the following day of the next month as far as tracking from here on out.

With our major allergens all introduces I am also going to stop thinking about what week it is since now we have free reign. I’ll still be keeping an eye out for reactions of course, but being able to relax a little and not worry about making things around one ingredient will be a big relief as I serve Malina more food.

Doing eight allergens in seven weeks was interesting and exceeded the plan of eight weeks. But honestly that was a mistake on my part more than anything when I introduced wheat without giving it its own week.

So as our last day of tree nut introduction I wanted to do a mini celebration for Malina and made her something special.

Almond biscotti!

I love biscotti, they go great with tea, coffee, or just by themselves. They are a hard biscuit cookie that are a perfect size for Malina to pick up and hard enough that she’s not going to break off a piece easy or eat too much of it.

That being said, I did soften one slightly with hot water so she could get some of the exterior off easily and actually try it.

The rest of her breakfast was baked apple slices from yesterday, goat cheese, and mashed peas.

So as you can see in our first picture, Malina was eager to start breakfast. And the thing she was going for was the biscotti.

And apparently Malina preferred the hard biscotti to the one I softened for her. She gnawed on it until it got soft on the outsides and she ate what came apart. She really seemed to like it though and I am glad.

When she was done with the biscotti she moved onto the goat cheese.

Malina has gotten better at eating things like the goat cheese with her hands. She gets it on her fingers and brings it to her mouth well enough. She’s even figured out how to open her hand and put the food in her mouth. I’m so very proud of her and her progress.

Also, she liked the cheese.

After a little bit of time she decided to mix things up, literally mixing bites of cheese with the apple.

I did the same and it’s a great combination. The savory cheese brings out the apple sweetness while playing off its tang. It was so good.

Finally, when she seemed done with the apples and cheese I switched out her plate for the bowl of smashed peas.

She was not impressed with the peas. She ate the first bite and then played around with the mush. They were good peas, just not up to Malina’s high standards apparently.

So remember, even when baby is being more of a fine connoisseur, you are doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica

Day 46 – Breakfast

Today I did not have anything planned.

So to clarify, I usually have a meal plan calendar. It’s 6 weeks long. We just hit week 7 though and I haven’t filled out a new calendar. This means that my planning, as little as it is, is basically nonexistent at this point.

So when I looked at the full calendar and realized there was no plan and that I did not really prepare anything I got creative.

Today for breakfast we are having Joe’s O’s mixed with mixed nut butter, Korean scallion pancakes, and frozen cherries in a silicone feeder.

While she was waiting I gave her the cherries.

Malina really likes her cherries. I think it goes beyond the fact that they are cold and feel good for her teething too.

She chewed on the feeder for five minutes while I finished preparing breakfast. By the time she tossed it aside there was only a small amount of cherry pulp left.

I am kinda curious how these things work but I haven’t had the time to try it out myself. I assume that the food gets pushed out the holes but I put fairly solid pieces of frozen fruit so I don’t know.

The next thing she went for were the scallion pancakes.

She still loves these things. I can’t blame her, so do I. The crunch, the savory onions and vegetables, and they have a surprisingly small amount of sodium.

She chewed on them for a while. I actually noticed today that Malina has been getting better at taking bites and chewing. She will do so and chew in an exaggerated manner while smirking at me. She shows me the food in her mouth and then either swallows or spits it out. But she’s learning.

I guess that whole mimicking “monkey see, monkey do” stuff works pretty well.

The last thing she tried was the cereal mixed with the nut butter.

Sadly she quickly decided that the work required to grab the cereal pieces and put them in her mouth wasn’t worth it. She picked up some cereal and at least one piece made it into her mouth, but she wasn’t interested enough to try for more.

So remember, even when baby doesn’t want to put in the work to eat the food, you are doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica

Day 45 – Breakfast

Malina hasn’t had any reaction to the tree nuts and so we are continuing exposer today!

Because she’s showing signs of teething I gave her frozen cherries in a silicone feeder and we offered the leftover spinach pancakes on the side with some of the mixed nut butter.

Malina always goes for the feeder first and today she did not disappoint.

She really likes the cherries. These frozen ones are super sweet and the cold probably feels really good on her sore gums.

She gnawed in it for a while before she tried the pancakes.

Unfortunately, she played with the pancakes more than she ate them.

One wound up on the floor right away and then the second was thrown at me.

She only played with the third for a bit and took a small nibble before swinging it around more. You really can’t win them all.

So remember, even when baby rather have a good fight than eat, you are doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica

Day 42 – Breakfast

Friday marks the last day of this allergen week, but I didn’t have anymore shellfish to introduce and so we skipped it.

Instead, I wanted to try out a recipe that some moms in my BLW group swear by.

The swearing is because babies need more iron in their diet after turning six months and most of us don’t want to deal with giving vitamins and rather fit the iron into babies diet.

So what do you eat with lots of iron? Meats and dark green vegetables!

And this recipe is a “hidden” vegetable one, using spinach.

So all you do is mix two eggs with one banana and add in about a quarter cup of frozen spinach.

Sorry, nothing is measured in BLW half the time and the other half it’s odd measurements when you’re not making in bulk.

I also decided to serve blackberry yogurt on the side of the pancakes.

With very few options, Malina went for the pancakes.

She seemed to like the pancakes well enough and I can attest that they were more banana flavored than anything. If not for the color I don’t think anyone would bat an eye at them.

After she tore into her first piece for a bit and ate a few bites I offered her a spoon and let her go at the yogurt.

She didn’t hate the yogurt but she preferred chewing on her spoon to eating further. I think she might be teething again but there is no sign of a third tooth on the way so who knows.

So remember, sometimes baby just wants to chew on the non edible things and that’s okay, you are doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica

Day 41 – Breakfast

I’ve fallen behind with these posts. Sorry to anyone who’s actually keeping up, but I’ve just been really tired and trying to relax more lately. That and I got really into a Korean Historical Drama and spent a lot of my free time watching that. It’s over now though and even though I’m still tired (I’m sure I won’t be again someday) I’m trying to get back on top of this.

So on Thursday we were still doing shellfish and I decided to do double hidden shrimp for our breakfast.

The first thing was seafood Korean pancakes with shrimp and squid, the second was a shrimp furikake omelet, then a few strips of cheddar cheese, and a strawberry.

And Malina has a newish favorite, the whole strawberry. She went for it first and thanks to her two teeth she’s able to scrape off good sized chunks.

The next thing she went for was the seafood pancakes. We’ve had the scallion ones before and these ones I got at our local oriental market. I’m adventurous and can read the packaging, but after we started to eat it I knew for sure there was squid and shrimp in these. Also little red hot peppers, but baby didn’t mind.

She might be a spice head like me.

The next thing she tried was the cheddar cheese strips. She wasn’t really a fan though. She put the pieces in her mouth and then she spat them out.

To be fair, the cheese was sharper than I expected and she probably didn’t like the flavor.

Finally, she tried the egg omelet.

If you remember, Malina is not a fan of eggs very many ways. The omelet eggs were one of the ones she did not care for. That being said, I thought now that there had been time between then and now that she might have changed her stance.

She did try it and she did seem to be okay with it up until I took the picture.

So maybe egg omelets are still a no go but I’ll try again. It’s better to keep exposing her to the different textures.

So remember, it’s okay to introduce new and old things baby might not like it is all for their benefit after all, so you are doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica

Day 36 – Breakfast

So even though today is supposed to be the beginning of a new allergen we’re doing one more try of the peanut allergen since Malina’s been eating only a little. Plus more exposure is good.

So today’s breakfast consisted of banana pancakes with peanut butter, watermelon, and bacon.

Malina hasn’t been acting up with the throwing so we gave her the whole plate. There was also less food incase she started throwing and I was on high alert for signs of destruction.

Malina was more focused on her food and went for the watermelon first.

“I like water, maybe this won’t be too bad.”

She was enjoying the piece but it kept slipping from her grasp and she was getting frustrated. Then I had a good idea and got her one of her forks to use as a handle.

It was a great success as she was able to easily eat the watermelon and proceeded to enjoy her chunk of it for the next ten minutes.

When she’d eaten bites off of both pieces of her watermelon and discarded her fork she moved on to the pancakes.

She seemed to like them and ate three small bites before she was through.

So remember, even if baby wants to spend most of the meal eating one thing, you are doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica

Day 32 – Breakfast

I did food prep yesterday and had breakfast ready to go with little to do this morning. since we’re doing the peanut allergen I made peanut butter muffins from one of my BLW cookbooks. I made a batch of 24 mini muffins and froze half of them for later. I also made corn fritters.

So our breakfast spread was the muffins, corn fritters, sour cream, and fresh strawberries.

And being that the strawberries were prominent and she’d had some the day before, Malina went for the first.

She was quick to pick them up today and mash them into her mouth. She ate two whole slices right away and I was worried she would choke with the way she was eating. Luckily she is apparently good at eating them and I was worried for nothing.

She was all over her berries that it took a bit before she was interested in anything else.

When she was though, the next thing she went for was the corn fritters.

And this is where breakfast took a turn.

Malina was not pleased with the fritters. She was actually so upset that she threw them at me and proceeded to throw the rest of her food until she only had strawberries left. At least she looked happy as she did it.

Then she went back to her berries (I ended up giving her more) and ate another two.

To be fair, the fritters were not very good. The recipe was from one of the BLW cookbooks and I had high hopes, but it was really bad. Honestly, since I didn’t like it I should have expected her reaction. Oh well.

So today Malina only ate strawberries. You can’t win them all.

So remember, even if baby will only eat one thing, you are doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica

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 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