Feeding a toothless toddler
We didn’t necessarily plan it this way, but Rich and I have divided labors so that I’m in charge of baby input and he’s in charge of baby output. That means that Rich washes, dries, stuffs and preps the cloth diapers for day care and I buy, prepare and package Ian’s meals for day care. We’re both still responsible for actually getting food into him and dirty diapers off of him as needed.
Since our son is 11 months old and has just started to show the tiniest buds of bottom teeth, he hasn’t really been able to chew much that’s tough. The larger issue is that he wants to feed himself but we need to make sure he won’t shove an entire steak down his gullet. I’ve tried a few of the pre-packaged toddler meals and they are absolutely disgusting. I have a firm rule that I won’t feed him anything that I wouldn’t eat myself.
I’m not into making tons of food and freezing it, for whatever reason. I much prefer the “crap, I need something for Ian’s food tomorrow, what’s in the fridge I can prep real quick?” plan. So below are some of our favorites.
Meats
Rotisserie chicken. I buy one every Sunday and use it to dice into bite-sized pieces for him all week.
Thinly sliced deli turkey, cut up
Crab meat. Not krab meat, mind you, but the real stuff. This is only on special occasions since it costs approximately $1000 per pound. That reminds me, I need to make crab cakes with the rest.
Fruits and Veggies
Half a banana.
Strawberries or blueberries (only if in season)
Grapes cut in half (such a pain to make, though)
Sauteed spinach. Each leaf is a mouthful and Ian loves it!
Sauteed mushrooms, cut up
Sauteed squash. I buy one and it lasts for a week of lunches.
Baby carrots. I take 4 and put them in a bowl of water in the microwave for 2 minutes.
Broccoli florets, boiled til very soft
Sweet potato. I put one in the toaster oven for an hour to bake it and then cut it up over the week.
Snacks
Puffs. Thank you Target for all those little rice puffy things. The little fruit flavored ones and the larger veggie ones are big hits. They also have these Mum mum veggie rice surfboard shaped things that are tasty.
Rice bars. If you break it into little pieces, it helps.
YoBaby yogurt. This stuff is so tasty! They sell a 12 pack of them at BJs Wholesale Club for $6.49 but it’s hard to find in my regular grocery stores. Ian eats one every afternoon for a snack. Other yogurts gross me out because they’re so sugary.
Fig Newtons. This is a recent discovery and he does pretty well with self-feeding. Though I did notice some fig residue on the back of my sweatshirt the other day.
Dining Out
Panera will sell you an extra baggie of chicken like they put on the salads for $1. It’s free-range, hormone free and very tender. I used to share the chicken with Ian out of my salad til I realized he was eating almost all of it!
When we get sushi, Ian gets a little bowl of sushi rice and a few slices of avocado. I’ll also give him a piece of tofu out of my miso soup if I’m feeling generous.
Most restaurants have broccoli cheddar soup and Ian loves it. I’ll add it to my meal for a small fee and it fills him up.
Experimental
I’ve tried scrambled eggs and cheddar cheese but Ian doesn’t seem to be a fan. I did make cheese toast (cut up small) once and he liked that but WOW that was a lot of work for not much food going in his belly. We also tried pork chops the other night, which he liked but I had to pre-chew to get it tender enough for him. Not really something I can tell the ladies at day care to do!
What are some other ideas I can use for feeding our growing boy?
P.S. In case you didn’t see my Twitter/Facebook updates, my post about two shirts got syndicated at BlogHer.com. Check it out!
It was great seeing you last Sunday. I was sad I didn't get a chance to catch up with you before you had to go. Time just flew by!
I was wondering what kind(s) of cloth diapers you are using? I've been looking at the Fuzzi Bunz and some prefolds myself but I would love to hear your opinion!
Genie Reply:
October 1st, 2010 at 5:35 am
I love Fuzzibunz! The snaps are far superior to velcro. Velcro wears out, sticks to everything in the dryer and eventually your baby learns how to open the diaper!
We started out with disposables for the first month or two just til we got our wits about us (and waiting for his umbilical cord to fall off).
We use 24 diapers on rotation and they accept them at our day care. I think it makes it much easier for other care givers if the diapers are all the same.
If you're interested we have 24 medium diapers that Ian has outgrown if you'd like to buy them at crazy discount prices.
We buy our diapers from DiaperJunction.com and have been very happy with them.
Genie Reply:
October 1st, 2010 at 5:35 am
I love Fuzzibunz! The snaps are far superior to velcro. Velcro wears out, sticks to everything in the dryer and eventually your baby learns how to open the diaper!
We started out with disposables for the first month or two just til we got our wits about us (and waiting for his umbilical cord to fall off).
We use 24 diapers on rotation and they accept them at our day care. I think it makes it much easier for other care givers if the diapers are all the same.
If you're interested we have 24 medium diapers that Ian has outgrown if you'd like to buy them at crazy discount prices.
We buy our diapers from DiaperJunction.com and have been very happy with them.
I used to make "grilled" cheese sandwiches in our Foreman grill, then cut them into strips with a pizza cutter – I guess you could do squares, too.
Another easy-and-not-unhealthy meal is whole wheat rotini pasta. If you cook it, then put unheated sauce on it, it cools down right away so he can dig in.
Evie loves black beans – pretty much straight from the can – I just rinse them and put them on her tray and she gobbles them up. We've had several lunches this week that consisted of black beans, cut up tomatoes, corn and green beans.
Some days she really loves slices of cheese, some days not so much. What else? I make this avocado, tomato, corn salad with lime and cilantro that she adores. Oh! We discovered Evie loooooves quinoa – many times we get the Trader Joe's frozen quinoa duo (it has roasted butternut squash and zucchini in it ) She gets so excited that she claps between bites. She can self feed it, but it's less messy when we feed her it on a spoon. Pasta and sauce is another messy one, but a huge hit at our house. Same goes for fred's homemade chili – normally the ground beef/turkey in that is tender enough that it doesn't require teeth.
For snacks she loves rice cakes and freeze dried fruit – we do fresh stuff as much as possible, but freeze dried apples and blueberries and strawberries are a big hit and so easy to keep in the diaper bag. Oh and in the fresh fruit arena – cantaloupe and honeydew when ripe can be pretty soft. I was going to suggest steamed or roasted green beans and asparagus which are two of Evie's favorites, but he may need more teeth for that. I think peas would be soft enough though.
One tip I got from a coworker which was great was to use scissors to cut up food – it's so much faster, and you can get things into tiny pieces if needed – especially tough meat. I keep a pair of scissors in my diaper bag for eating out at restaurants.
Hope this is helpful! It was fantastic seeing you last weekend!