Pacman likes to eat. And I like cooking. We are a good team.
His meal plan typically goes something like this:
Wake-up – bottle with hemp milk
Breakfast – fruit, home-made bread, eggs scrambled with greens, puffs
Post AM nap – bottle with water
Lunch – fruit, veggies, puree mash-up
Post PM nap – bottle with water
Dinner – meat, veggies, fruit, avocado, pasta/puffs
Bed time – bottle with hemp milk
Breakfast is his biggest meal by far, and lunch is his smallest. Dinner is usually comprised of leftovers from his earlier meals and parts of our dinner since I feed him while it’s being prepared/cooked. He rarely eats snacks – the exception being if we are out and about and he seems hungry and/or he hasn’t eaten much previously due to my schedule (meaning I make him eat a meal at a time when he isn’t showing hunger signs but it’s the only time it will fit into the day). Trying to feed him when he’s not hungry is something I avoid as best I can but it happens. I think it’s best he (we) learn now that life doesn’t revolve around his eating/napping schedule – I tell myself it’ll help with flexibility later in life, right? Anyway, I give him hemp milk when he first gets up in the morning, which holds him over for an hour while I work out, shower, etc. And then he gets hemp milk again before he goes to sleep at night. The rest of the day he drinks water (including a bottle of warm water after he wakes up from each nap).
I aim to get a balance of macros in each meal. Carbs are easy because he loves pretty much all fruit – the more expensive, the more he likes it (of course). Grapes and blueberries are his current fave, although bananas are still an easy go to. He’s also really into melon (cantaloupe) and blackberries right now. He lives for eggs though. I save them for the end(ish) of the meal otherwise he wouldn’t eat anything else, but as soon as he sees the carton and frying pan come out, it’s game over. Eggs NOW, mom.
Lunches are usually mash-ups with grains of some sort. Quinoa and brown rice are pretty much the only grains I’m doing now. I stopped oats because he was having eczema flairs which I suspected were due to the oats, and now that I’ve eliminated them his skin has greatly improved. I bake with coconut flour too, so aside from his mash-ups he’s almost grain free. I am hoping that this will benefit him in the long run by allowing him to develop a healthy gut that can tolerate grains (and much more) in the future.
I try to limit meat to dinner, but every once in a while I will give him some with lunch too. It depends on if his lunch time mash up has quinoa or anything else substantial. If he won’t eat anything but grapes I’ll offer chicken (because I know he will be hungry again two seconds later if all he eats for lunch are grapes – which he’d be perfectly content to do). Like eggs, he will never turn down chicken. Or any meat really. Recently he discovered how wonderful bacon is. Dinner is also avocado town. He’s got an expensive appetite, I tell ya.
There are a couple of things I make a conscious effort to do for meal times; (a) I give him as long as he wants to eat and (b) I let him set the pace and when he stops showing an interest in food, the meal is over. He is very clear when he’s done! And if that means a 2 second lunch or an hour long dinner then that’s that. I’m optimistic this will help his relationship with food stay as healthy as possible. That said, I’m not above tricks to get him to try things. It’s all about the balance of coercing him into eating what I know he would want or like vs. force feeding him when he’s clearly not into it. Like I said though, he’s very clear about his preferences, so I try to honor and respect that (within reason).
Despite everything I’ve just shared, I’m actually not as neurotic about his eating as it may seem. Yes, I try to have everything prepped and tupperwared in the fridge in advance, but I’m not super mom so admittedly it doesn’t happen 100% of the time. I also try to keep his protein sources diverse (one meal with eggs, one with meat, and one vegetarian), but it’s not super rigid. And then there are the sugary things. I try to keep them out of his diet, but he had a GI bug last week that really did a number on him, and I was so desperate to get anything in his system I was considering things I’d ordinarily keep away from him as long as possible. In the end, I just listened to his body and kept him hydrated but it was a real mom test! Anyway, I just added coconut milk yogurt into the mix and so far he really likes it, but of course he does, it’s sugar central. I use it as a treat and only give a few bites when I’m struggling to get him interested in a meal. Namely lunch. Because I sometimes struggle to come up with things on the fly when he’s turning down whatever I do have ready. I attempt to begin meals with the least sweet item or least preferred food because he’s more likely to eat it (a) when he’s hungriest and (b) before his palate has been ruined by being reminded of how sweet food can be.
Last thing! I plan meals that we are all going to be able to eat. I decide on our menu for the coming week on Friday – based on Kyle’s work schedule and any social plans we have – and then I grocery shop and prep on the weekends. This is also when I make big batches of hemp milk, quick breads, muffins, etc. I pick things that make sense in terms of ingredients that can be used for multiple meals to save money (ie ground beef, beans, muchsrooms, tomatoes, etc.) , but I also pay attention to make sure we can use the same ingredients for P’s meals as the adults’ meals. Things like GF pasta are so hit and miss with pacman that I’ve learned to only cook it when it’s in the meal plan for Kyle and me so it doesn’t go to waste (well, it would never really go to waste, I’d just ended up eating it myself for lunches throughout the week). The same goes for introducing new foods (mango, melon, etc.). I only buy things if I have a backup option for if he rejects it.
On a semi-related note, if any other moms (or not moms!) out there know of good blogs to follow for family meal planning, making baby/toddler/kid food, and/or allergy friendly cooking can you let me know? I’m doing my best, but kitchen inspiration on the web is so welcomed.
He looks so big, it’s crazy! But sounds like he’s a pretty good eater!
Here is a site I usually browse http://weelicious.com I think she hits a few of your criteria
Thank you for this! My little one is almost a year and it is so easy to fall into a pattern with their food, so this gives me some great ideas. One question, do you feed him the mash-ups with a spoon? I know it’s silly but my guy is refusing to eat anything on a spoon, he only wants foods he can pick with his hands which makes stuff like quinoa and brown rice difficult to say the least!
You’re so good offering variety. I usually give my son (10.5 mos) what I am prepping or had for dinner the night before, but his lunches and breakfasts don’t have much variety. I made a big pan of small dice roasted veggies with coconut oil and he’s been having those with chickpeas and/or chicken, some sort of diced fruit, cheese or avocado and a couple gf crackers or a bit of a mini muffin. It’s tough because I send that to daycare in a container and our provider says he eats it all. Some days, I find that hard to believe 😉
OT…did P go through a screaming phase? My son E screamed for a month around 5mos and again around 8mos. Now at 10.5 it has started back up. I know he wants to communicate and he actually has a lot of words for his age, but the screaming is really tough for me. He isn’t usually upset when he does it. It’s more like he’s done or bored, but he also does it while playing.
This happens with my 10.5mo too. I wanted a way to feed him oatmeal, yogurt and some purees once in awhile, so I got some little green pouches because their spout seems nice and big and they hold a ton, but I’ve seen some silicone ones as well if you’d prefer something like that. If I were doing rice or quinoa, I’d probably pulse the mix a little first so it would work.
He shows interest in using a spoon…but once I hand it over, I realize quickly that nothing is making it into his mouth for awhile 🙂
I really like the blog “Tiny Sneakers” – her son has some allergy issues. I especially make her “baby muffins” often. They have only a few ingredients, and I’ve been adding things to them as my son grows. They also have no sugar, just bananas, so I like that too!
thanks jen! looks like a great site!
i do feed the mashups with a spoon. he is into both finger foods and being spoon fed so i basically just alternate. I’m not sure when i should begin trying to let him feed himself actually…he wouldn’t get any quinoa in his mouth if i let him do it himself now, thats for sure!
that sounds like great variety to me!! give yourself some credit lauren – your kiddo is eating such quality foods! or else the healthcare peeps are 😉
as for the screaming i don’t think so but i also could have blocked it out of my memory! its crazy how fast you forget some of that stuff…if you’ve ruled out teething or any other kind of pain, and he doesn’t seem too bothered by it, id say don’t worry about it??
My 15mo is eating with a spoon now, so he might be ready soon as well. When he shows interest in the spoon (i.e. wants to grab it from you!) let him play with it and hold his hand while he holds the spoon so he learns how to go from the bowl to his mouth, etc. I let my daughter play with a spoon and an empty bowl for a while before I gave her any food in it. Be prepared for mess! The more ‘porridge like’ the consistency of the food is the better, because it sticks to the spoon and makes it to their mouths! It’s messy but fun!