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

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

Day 13 – Breakfast

Almost done with week two. Which was supposed to be only the dairy allergen introduction, but has turned into both dairy and wheat. There is no right or wrong way to do this I suppose, since there is no history of food allergies in my or my husbands family and since our doctor okayed everything.

Still. I liked my original plan.

One major allergen of the eight, done for a week each week for the first two months. Nice and simple. I had a meal plan too for all of this, but life happens and things don’t always work out. At least Malina hasn’t had any more reactions beyond that one time (which I’m still curious about since it hasn’t happened again).

So in these two weeks Malina has been exposed to eggs, dairy, wheat, peanuts, and soy in varying amounts. Well there goes five of eight. This does not mean she isn’t intolerant or allergic, since a reaction doesn’t always happen the first or even hundredth time. I’m not going to worry or get into that right now however. Instead, I’m going to give myself some leeway since there are so many combo foods and trying to do individual ingredients is crowding Malina’s plate and my fridge.

So, today we did one of those combo foods as a part of our breakfast: Potato latkes. Also, because I have an inkling that Malina would like the applesauce without cinnamon, I’m offering plain applesauce as well as a side of sour cream to go with the latkes. Finally, I offered Malina her mesh feeder for the first time with frozen bananas to help with her teething.

Since this was her first time with the mesh feeder, I helped her grab it correctly and showed her how to use it. It took a couple tries, but she got the relative hang of it.

She munched on those bananas for about five minutes and enjoyed it so much. She ate about half of it I found out when I cleaned it and was impressed.

The next thing she went for were the latkes. She didn’t try to pick it up the usual way she reached for things, instead today she picked at it with her fingers and surprised me by getting a piece and bringing it to her mouth.

She developing her pincer grasp! Now I don’t feel so bad about having her practice with the small pieces over the last two weeks. I’m so proud of her and happy because she keeps developing quickly and surprising me with all she is capable of.

And she loved the latkes. I mean it is potato and potatoes are awesome. She picked at them a while and ate about one slice worth between the three over her entire breakfast time.

I got her to try the sour cream in the middle somewhere hoping to get her to see the flavor combination. Instead, she just wanted to eat the sour cream. I guess I should have expected that.

Next, I offered her a spoon of the plain applesauce. I had high hopes. I thought I figured out her problem with the apples I’d offered so far. It had to be the cinnamon. Apples taste good. Applesauce is good.

“Why do you keep doing this to me, apples?”

Does that look like the face of a baby enjoying applesauce?

Nope, I didn’t think so either.

She did much better with the cinnamon one. So I’m back to square one. I’ll probably go for green apples next. Find one that’s tart but not sour.

Malina spent the rest of her time eating and taking apart the latkes and putting her fingers in the sour cream. She also munched in the bananas a bit more but they were starting to be less frozen and less pleasing to her. So that was our morning.

Malina likes her mesh feeder and she enjoyed the frozen bananas, the potato latkes, and sour cream. And we had more setbacks with apples, but I’m not giving up.

Despite any setbacks it’s always important to remember that you are doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica

Day 10 – Breakfast

So yesterday afternoon Malina was sick. She remained sick for six hours as she did nothing but wake up, vomit, and sleep. Then, just as suddenly, in the late evening she woke up as of from a nap and acted normal. Honestly, I was freaking out and stressed the whole time. Then completely caught off guard when she bounced back.

This morning she woke up and continued to act normal. We went through our routine and then I made breakfast. Today I decided to do something as plain as possible while keeping it interesting to her and hopefully help out with any lingering stomach issues. Toast three ways.

Banana toast, plain toast, and avocado toast.

So you want your toast to be crispy but not hard and thinner than I originally cut it for easy handling. Next, I made mashed banana and mashed avocado and then spread them on the toast. Then we were ready to go and Malina was eager to start.

The first thing she did was fumble with the toasts size. This was when I realized that they were just a bit too thick. So I took them aside and re cut them (though I let her keep the plain ones so she didn’t fuss too much as I took the others).

Thick toast sticks too big for little hands.

Now that they were more manageable she went at them in earnest. She grabbed the avocado toast stick and chomped on it until she got some avocado off in her mouth. She seemed to like it, though she ate only a bite and a half at most.

She ended up loosing both avocado toast pieces as she messed with them. One went to the floor and to our dog, then the next found it’s way to the sides of the high chair. (I’m already used to cleaning this thing daily). With only banana toast left she grabbed a stick and started her inspection.

The banana toast went over about just as well. She sucked on it and gummed it, getting bits of banana off and that was about it. She soon got agitated and wanted nothing more to do with the toast so we cut breakfast short.

I am just happy she is feeling better this morning and that she had an appetite for both her breastfeeding and breakfast (even if it was a few bites).

So remember, even when baby isn’t feeling well and you are frazzled, you are doing great and you’ve got this!

-Erica