Day 17 – Breakfast

The tofu expired! Oops. I call this mom fail time, but we are going to keep pushing on with the soy. Just not obvious soy. It’s times like this that it freaks me out how many things you wouldn’t expect certain allergens in that have them. And that makes me grateful that I don’t have that concern but also feel empathetic towards those who do. So today our soy is hidden again.

Breakfast today was potato hash browns, baked pork bacon, mixed berry yogurt, and mandarin oranges.

Guess where the soy is?

The hash browns! There is soy flour used in these according to the ingredient list. Not sure how much but enough to have the allergy warning and to count I would think.

So I served this up and waited for Malina to strike. And our first item was bacon. This was my first time baking bacon. I baked the bacon because I was worried about the grease and how her stomach would handle it. I laid the strips on a grate over a drip pan and tossed them in the oven. It also made making breakfast easier.

Malina has a lot of fun breaking and ripping the bacon apart, but she did eat a couple pieces and enjoyed chewing on it. Overall, I think she likes bacon.

The next thing she went for was the hash browns.

The hash browns were harder for her to hold onto without breaking and as a result she also had a hard time eating them. She did manage to get a couple bites of each piece but that was all. She seemed to really like it and was upset when they fell apart on her.

The next thing that Malina decided to eat were her mandarin oranges. She’s been enjoying snacking on them and having them with her breakfasts so far. Plus, I have a ton of them so when I need quick fruit right now I’m giving her these. She still chews on them to get the juice and discards the pulp though.

The last thing Malina tried was the mixed berry yogurt. I forgot to grab her more plain Greek yogurt and decided to give her some of my fruit yogurt. The sugar level was low and she wasn’t going to eat much of it anyways.

Of course she liked it and ate two spoons of it before tossing the spoon off the side. The second spoon met the same fate without her eating any of it so we called breakfast as being over.

So today, everything went over well with Malina. She tried bacon and hash browns for the first time. She seems to like crunchy things as well and that was good to learn. This whole thing is an adventure for Malina but a learning process for me and so far I feel like it’s gone well.

So remember, even as you learn new things, you are doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica

Day 16 – Breakfast

Today we didn’t have soy. I got the tofu and meant to prep it but I didn’t get around to it. But as I mentioned previously we’ve accidentally introduced soy before, in our bread. Yup. The whole wheat bread I buy also has soy flour in it. Go figure. So I guess we did have soy, just not the way I had originally planned.

So today we did pumpkin french toast, homemade unsweetened whipped cream, and mandarin slices.

The french toast is actually a recipe from one of my BLW cookbooks. It uses pumpkin purée, eggs, milk, and a few spices. I just want to say it tasted amazing. Like pumpkin pie and the whipped cream was a great addition.

The whipped cream is pretty straight forward. I had heavy cream and I decided to take my electric whisk to it for a few minutes until stiff peaks formed. I’ve made it before, usually with sugar and vanilla extract, but since this was for Malina just the cream did fine.

So once our decadent breakfast was served Malina dove straight for the mandarin oranges.

We’ve offered oranges and mandarin oranges before with mixed results. But me and my husband snack on them during the day and Malina has shown a lot of interest when we are eating it and we’ve been sharing. She loves them. She gnaws on them, extracting all the juices, and then discards the chewed up pulp. So citrus is good here.

The next thing she went for was the pumpkin french toast sticks. I made sure to cut them real thin for easy handling and watched as Malina tried them.

She liked it! Two for two so far. Malina picked up the sticks and tore off chunks and ate them. She is getting better at chewing and swallowing the foods. She is also getting better at spitting things out, so when she’s done chewing and extracting the flavors there really is a 50/50 chance of either happening. Still, I’m happy that we’ve crossed from trying foods to eating them. I didn’t realize there was a real difference until she started to eat more of a thing and not just move from one thing to the next.

She did try the french toast with the whipped cream, on accident, but she also tried it on its own. She seemed to like the texture as she put her fingers in it and played with it. She ate some of it as well and seemed to like it like everything else.

So all in all today was a major success. Malina liked everything and ate a good amount of all of it. She’s improving her ability to handle foods as well as her palate for different foods and textures.

So even when things are going really well, it’s a good idea to remind yourself that that you are doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica

Day 15 – Breakfast

On to our third week of our BLW adventure and we are doing the soy introduction. Soy is an interesting ingredient as it’s in the obvious things but also in a lot of surprising things. For example, the whole wheat bread I routinely buy has soy in it. the things you learn when you look for specific ingredients in your foods, but I digress.

Today’s breakfast is chorizo and eggs with tortilla and white cheddar cheese. The chorizo is made with tofu instead of pork and there in is the soy.

I almost forgot to snap a pic of the plate before Malina dove into it, since she was extra eager this morning. Probably because most of our teething is behind us for this tooth.

Soy chorizo and eggs on our new plate and frozen banana in our new feeder.

The first thing she went for though was the flour tortilla strips. She gummed on them and tore them apart, eating a few bites.

She did try to mess with the chorizo egg mixture but she had a hard time getting bites and wasn’t as interested in it as everything else. So the next thing she actually tried was the cheese.

Still a no go on the cheddar though. She took her bite and then rejected it. At least there is still mozzarella.

The last thing she went for was our new silicone feeder with frozen banana.

Of course she loved it when she got the hang of the feeder and ate almost the entire three slices of banana inside. I was super surprised and impressed. Malina really likes banana.

So it was a good morning and Malina ate a good amount. She keeps getting better with the foods she likes and I hope she continues to be open to trying the new things I have planned for her.

Just remember, even if baby eats a little or a lot, that you are doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica

Day 14 – Breakfast

We have a tooth! Malina has been teething for almost a week and yesterday we got to see the tooth make its appearance as it cut through the gums. Now that the supposed hard hurting part is over I’m hoping Malina gets to relax and not be in so much pain. In helping with that I made her some easy to mash foods for her to chew on for breakfast today.

We have cauliflower pancakes, meatless breakfast patties, frozen blueberries, and yogurt.

It’s fun eating what she’s eating. Or is it her eating what I’m eating? Eh, same difference.

Malina was not eager again but with some coaxing she grabbed one of the meatless patties first.

And she loved it! She ate about a quarter of a full patty and it broke up easy for her as she ate it. I was happy to have a success and to see some of her appetite coming back.

Note on items being served: I shop at a bunch of different places for our family but one of my favorites is Trader Joe’s. The reason why is the portioning of their products. I can buy something that is intended to feed two people easy without worrying about leftover or reheating things. The same is true for individual portions. Plus, I’ve ran into way more things I like that they sell than things I dislike, so I always feel confident buying something new. So both the meatless patties and cauliflower pancakes come from there. I checked the sodium and sugar levels before I bought them too and was happy I could share them with Malina.

Malina enjoyed her meatless patty so much that she got excited and tossed the other one while hitting her tray. Pluto was the victor of that half, it was gone by the time I bent to look.

Continuing on, she grabbed for the cauliflower pancake and before I could decipher her reaction she’d tossed it with a yell and grabbed the second one to do the same. I can’t say I blame her, they weren’t all that great.

Mid toss of patty two, because why fight her about her dislikes.

I guess we’re at the tossing phase now. At least I have a dog for cleaning the mess. A dog that is going to get fat and then need to go on a diet, I remind myself. Or maybe Malina will start crawling and that will give him his exercise. Lol.

So the next thing I tried to get her to eat was the frozen blueberries. She tried it too, but apparently she dislikes blueberries more than she likes the cold.

I wish I could say that she ate the yogurt again, but she was irritated and threw the first and second spoon before I gave up on that endeavor.

So I cleaned Malina up and called breakfast as being over. Meatless patties were a win, everything else not so much. It will probably be a while now before I try blueberries again since she obviously didn’t like them.

So whether baby is picky, has preferences, or hates everything just remember that you are doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica