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 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 40 – Breakfast

So we can probably rule out a possible shellfish allergy but I am trying to be thorough so we are still introducing more , plus more exposure is supposed to be good in helping her not developing one as well supposedly.

So today we’re repeating the shrimp gyoza, with steamed green beans, and fresh strawberries.

All of these she’s had before now and she’s liked all of them so I was really curious what she’d go for first as well as how much she would eat today.

And the first thing she grabbed was a green bean.

She does the cutest thing when eating long foods, she’ll grab both ends in her hands and chomp on the middle. She really enjoyed her green beans again too. She munched on two of them before moving on.

Next was the gyoza.

Again she ate the insides and seemed to like it still. She ate most of the filling out of the first piece and then picked at the second.

The last thing she ate was her strawberries. She had a better time picking them up and eating them today. Whether that’s because of her skill or the size I don’t know.

So all in all a good and successful breakfast.

So remember, sometimes you have to just repeat what works and it’s okay to not always try new things, you are doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica

Day 39 – Breakfast

The only problem I have with seafood is the occasional smells that can come from it, not the bad smells of fish turning but the strong smells from how it’s prepared or packaged.

That was probably Malina’s problem with the canned tuna. I was expecting to run into issues today as well since we were doing another canned item, oysters.

Now, I’ve never had canned oysters before. I have eaten plenty of oysters though. So I wasn’t sure what I was getting us into. They were smoked and on olive oil, both sounded good to me and so we opened the can and found a very light smell.

I was now not so worried.

The rest of our breakfast was toast with butter, banana, and grated mozzarella cheese.

And the first thing she went for was the banana. I tried cutting it the BLW suggested way and we had more success with it today than previously, probably because Malina’s hands are bigger now.

She was able to gnaw off chunks of it and stuck at it for a while, that is at lest until she got the idea to throw it at me.

I did not catch it.

And so the banana was gone, since it touched the floor I wasn’t going to give it back to her.

Malina didn’t seem too upset though as she went for her next item. Toast.

We’ve have on and off success with toast. Malina seems to like it when it has something on it more times that when it’s plain. She also seems to not like the crust as she makes a face when she tried to bite the ends that she doesn’t make when she bites the middle. She also seems to prefer the toast just lightly crispy verses toasted.

It’s really amazing how she communicates using body language and facial expressions. It’ll be interesting when she can actually give me more input as well. Right now it’s a lot of trial and error still and sometimes it doesn’t make a lot of sense.

But today she liked her toast. Was it the butter? Was it the right level of crispy? Or was it just because she seems to be done teething for now?

The next thing she picked up was one of the oysters.

“Look, I’m not trying to be shellfish here.”

She shoved the first one in her mouth and I waited.

Then she went for a second one and in it went.

Again I waited. I expected her to spit it out. Even just a small amount like almost every other food. Instead, she reached for the third one and I stopped her to make sure she wasn’t just stuffing her mouth like a chipmunk.

The oysters were already gone and the only sign was a bit of the munched up paste they became in her mouth.

So I guess she likes oysters. A lot.

I grabbed this picture as I realized my awe had interrupted taking photos and was amazed once again. She had no problem eating and swallowing the oysters. She always had some level of difficulty with swallowing, she’s still learning that part of eating, but with this it was easy.

She had messed with the cheese throughout the meal but never really tried to eat it. So we called breakfast as being over without it.

So remember, even baby can give you good surprises every now and again, but even if it’s not a good surprise you are doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica

Day 37 – Breakfast

We are starting the second from the last of our allergens: shellfish.

Now there are a lot of things that are considered shellfish. Shrimp, clams, muscles, scallops, lobster, crab, and many more than that.

I love seafood. It’s amazing and I love cooking it. But it’s hard to think of things to feed Malina that are easy for her to eat and easy for me to serve.

When I talked about it with her doctor he said there is no rush and just wait until she’s older and can handle shrimp easier. Because his thought on feeding shellfish was go inexpensive.

I don’t care if I pay for something like crab or lobster and she ‘wastes’ it. I got it for her to try and that’s the price so be it. It’s not like I’m giving her $20 or even $10 of food on her plate.

So I thought of ways to serve her shellfish and while at the store came across a solution.

Shrimp gyoza.

These things have a filling with small pieces of shrimp as well as vegetables. They steam fast and cool quickly. And they are soft enough for her to eat.

So breakfast today was these gyoza,thyme pan seared zucchini, and watermelon.

Malina has been the most interested in the new foods and was quick to pick up one of the gyoza.

(Note: I removed the watermelon fork so she would try the other foods first.)

“This tastes good. Still don’t see any shells, mama”

She loved it. She ended up eating the insides and then attempted to swallow the whole dumpling skin. This led to three rounds of gagging and eating again before she managed to eat it.

Next, after munching on the other gyoza pieces some, she went for her zucchini.

She slapped the pieces around and only ate a couple small (even for her) bites. She did not outright seem to dislike it but she wasn’t interested in it either.

So I gave her the fork with watermelon last.

She really likes her watermelon. She nibbled the edges until the piece was rounded off and fell from the fork. It was really sticky too (did someone say bath day?).

I have to say that the pieces of watermelon we got were very good despite it not being in season yet.

So remember, it’s always good to try new things since you never know what baby will like and it’s also okay not to, either way you are 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 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

Day 19 – Breakfast

My posts are all off right now as I play catch-up. Yikes do things get in the way when you have a baby. Malina had trouble last week because of teething and now she’s been having trouble sleeping. Which means I am having trouble sleeping. Symbiotic relationships aren’t always great for everyone.

But anyways, I have uploaded the last couple of days posts and am finally back on track. So today, Wednesday, we actually got some rest. I’m not sure if this is a fluke or if something changed or if Malina is back to her older schedule but I’m taking it right now.

So having slept decent I woke up before Malina for the first time in forever and went to preheat the oven for our breakfast today.

Vegetable nests, meatless breakfast patties, and frozen raspberries.

So everything today is from Trader Joe’s. I like them, they have low sodium and sugar, and it makes my life easier especially when sleep has not been guaranteed and I haven’t had energy to really cook or do meal prep.

What’s important is baby is eating anyways.

So I served this up and Malina was quick to grab the silicone feeder of raspberries. She probably thought it was bananas as she started to eat.

I wish I’d gotten a picture of her surprise but she was fast and right after discovering it was good she popped it right back in her mouth.

I think she’s gotten used to having breakfast and eating because she doesn’t jump from item to item as much anymore and instead focuses on one thing at a time. Today the main focus was her new favorite, frozen raspberries. The picture doesn’t do her justice for how red her mouth and face got from her eating the berries, but she ate almost all of them and it wasn’t until an unfortunate shake of the feeder that she lost the entire thing to the floor.

She was upset a moment but I got her to focus on all the food she hadn’t touched yet. And her next choice was the meatless breakfast patty. The first one was tossed to the floor, tribute for Pluto, though he was put away because of the onions in today’s food. The next patty she started to eat. Watching me for cues. I think it’s adorable that she sometimes won’t eat the food until she sees me take a bite of the same thing.

“If you’re eating it, it can’t be that bad.”

She ate a couple bites but she wasn’t a big fan of the patties today. With nothing else to try, she finally went for the vegetable nests.

Malina seemed to like the texture of the nests. She touched them and pulled them apart as she tried to eat it. She also seemed to like the actual vegetables, though I think she only got zucchini and onion in her bites that she took. She was happy as she ate it and I was happy that she liked it.

Today was a good day for her breakfast. She ate some of everything and seemed to really like the raspberries and vegetable nests. I’m going to have to go back over what she’s been offered vs what she’s tried and make sure we repeat what we need to and mark off what she’s eaten. I’ll probably make a summary post when we get to the end of our first month and sometime before then make a post on our goal of 100 foods before one as well as explain what that is. But for now, mama needs to relax.

So remember, even when sleep deprived, you are doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica

Note: Soy was in everything besides the fruit today and we are still reaction free.

Day 18 – Breakfast

Double posts because I forgot to publish the previous post yesterday. Meh, I was tired and busy. Today we’re continuing with soy and I am proud to announce that there have been no negative reactions to any of our allergens we’ve introduced so far. I think when that rash happened it was because of something not food related, because Malina has not gotten it again since.

So, moving on to breakfast. Today we are trying a combo food. It’s not technically the first we’ve tried but it is the first that is very obviously more than one ingredient. Our food is…

Korean scallion pancake (Pa Jeon). These have onion, leek, garlic, carrot, oyster mushrooms, and scallions in them. They are so good and honestly I should try making them at home since these packages only come with four. They are also made with soy sauce, eggs, and wheat flour. So there are three allergens in these as well.

The remainder of our breakfast was fried eggs and navel orange slices. Malina’s egg was cooked until the yoke was solid and cooked through.

When we sat down to eat, Malina surveyed her options and then stared at me. She’s gotten into a habit of wanting to eat what I have so I took a bite out of my scallion pancake and then handed it to her. Little thief.

“What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is mine.”

At least she liked it. She gnawed and chewed on the pancake for most of breakfast. She ate a few bites as well and again I was impressed by her.

She took a break from the pancake long enough to try her fried eggs, but she wasn’t that into them today and went right back to the pancake. So I turned her plate so she had easier access to them and her orange slices.

She did not attempt to eat the eggs at all again. Then the next time she tried something besides her new favorite thing it was the sliced orange. I’ll admit, the mandarins are sweeter and easier to eat and that might be what the problem here was, but Malina was not impressed with her orange. She ate two bites and then discarded it to the dog.

She went back to her scallion pancakes again and only munched on them until breakfast was over.

The point of introducing so many different textures, flavors, and foods is to help prevent picky-ness. Though after today I have to wonder if there is a difference between being picky and having a preference. Malina loves mandarin oranges but hasn’t seemed to care for the navel oranges. Is this a preference or is she being picky? Why did she refuse the fried egg today? We found she liked them better than eggs any other way but what was off today?

I guess there are really no answers until she can speak, but I can’t help wondering. In the meantime I’ll just have to keep trying and hope for the best.

So remember, even if babies tastes are hard to predict, you are doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica