If you have been following along on my insta stories over the last month you’ve probably seen little Miss C playing around with a whole mess of food on her high chair. She has gone from slamming the food down onto her tray to make a funny noise, to singing and mmmming herself through an entire meatball and macaroni dinner. The transformation from refusing anything that wasn’t pureed within an inch of its’ life to going to town on anything that’s put in front of her, is a remarkable difference. It just goes to show you how when these little ones are ready for something, they’ll let you know.
A little background, at around 8 months, I started to panic that she was never going to eat “real” food because she refused anything that was put in front of her that wasn’t pulsed, blended, and watered down. I started to play the comparison game after listening to friends and seeing other babies her age chowing down on full broccoli stalks and chicken breasts. I thought I was failing her as a mother by not teaching her how to eat yet. This is such a dangerous game to play! I should’ve thought to myself, I’m feeding my child, I am doing the right thing, but we all know that nagging voice in the back of our heads. Anyway, I started pushing food on her when she clearly wasn’t ready for it. Eggs, avocado, banana…C was not here for it. So, with a big move ahead and a major adjustment for her, I decided to back off and stick to what she liked for the next two months.
The reason I started showing C at meal times and
#scenesfromthehighchair was more to make myself accountable for introducing
more finger foods into her daily meals than anything else. She was
turning 10 months old and finally becoming interested in the foods we were
eating and wanted to take part in all the fun! Already, she had taught me
a big lesson when it comes to these babies; listen to them and watch for their
cues, they’ll show you when they’re ready for more. Once she started
reaching for things on our plate and letting us feed her pieces of our own
food, I knew we could start experimenting.
wasn’t allergic since we had tried it before. They were soft, easy to
gum, and could be easily made! For the first time, she was loving them!
I was so happy. I made some for myself too so I could show her that I was
eating them with her and had a puree pouch of bananas and blueberries ready to
go if she wasn’t into them. That’s something I continued to do at the
beginning. I would have something pureed or a baby yogurt on hand just in
case she wasn’t interested in the finger foods. That way, I knew she was
getting the calories she needed, but still experimenting with new textures and
helping with pinching and grabbing.
I went to Babybel cheese next broken up into small bits, shredded mozzarella,
green peas, cut up blueberries, halved raspberries, and Puffs. Once we
got those basics down I started to incorporate more of the food that we
eat. She tried rice and beans for the first time two weeks ago and I’ve
never seen her happier! So now, whatever I make for us, I make for C but
in smaller portions or with less seasoning. She has loved her chicken and
turkey meatballs, chicken and bean burrito, and even tried steak for the first
time over the weekend. Little Miss is becoming such a chow hound and it’s
so much fun to see!
Some of the foods I started out with and had success with were scrambled eggs, then hard boiled eggs, babybel cheese, blueberries (halved or quartered), raspberries (halved), and black beans. She has become obsessed with black beans and rice for dinner, it’s so fun to watch! Then we moved onto more steamed vegetables like peas, carrots, and broccoli. All soft fruits are easy to start with too like bananas even though little Miss isn’t such a fan. We’ve also had a lot of success with elbow macaroni, chicken or turkey meatballs, and cheerios!
What I’m trying to focus on now with C’s meals is to have fun with it and allow her to explore different tastes and textures. I try and feed her healthy and well balanced meals and keep it as simple as I can. The only food the doctor said was off limits for now was honey so everything else is fair game!
My biggest lesson so far has been to keep trying. C was clearly not ready before this month and I needed to respect that. Now, that we’re at this point, I wish I could tell myself to sit back and enjoy the ride. Let’s see how well I do with that in the future.
I’d love to hear what your little ones enjoy in their high chairs!
5 Comments
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My LO is 20 months now so he eats pretty much anything! But when we first started, he loved soft fruits, cheerios, sweet peas, and for some reason, broccoli! Your list is awesome and healthy!
I had the same issue with my second. My first took to food instantly… he was chowing down on EVERYTHING by 6 months. My second spat EVERYTHING out until about 10 months, when he started to come around to the idea of eating purees, now he's 17 months and eats more then his brother most of the time!
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