Welcome
Well, here we are, my first official blog post! There are so many topics I am excited to discuss and to share with all of you! And maybe, hopefully, even help some of you along the way! As I sat and wrote down ALL of the things I want to share and write about, I thought, what’s a better place to start, than a topic that I am currently experiencing myself! None other than, feeding my 9 month old!
I’ve been making a huge mistake!?
Just when I thought we had a schedule down: formula every 4 hours (give or take), oatmeal most days and a fruit or vegetable to keep her occupied during dinner time. Ironically, I was even patting myself on the back for introducing a sippy cup before her first birthday. Her 9 month well check visit would reveal that my little one should be eating 3, well balanced meals, a day! (and 2 snacks!) We have been giving our little one purees since she was 6 months old and had started exploring some age appropriate puffs and whatnot, but I definitely wouldn’t say she was getting “3 meals” a day outside of her formula.
That’s when the mom guilt set in. Was I not giving her enough food? Was I depriving her of new food textures? experiences? Was I unintentionally, setting her up for a life of food sensitivity and creating a picky eater before I even had an “eater”?
No, but at that moment I was spiraling and after hitting the web for ideas and advice, I didn’t know what to think or where to start. That may sound a bit dramatic, but seriously, there is so much out there on when, how and what to feed your baby! Some say babies should be eating what the rest of the family is eating, seasonings, sugars and all. Others say babies should never eat table food!
Gathering Info/Finding What Fit for Me
After reading so many ideas and looking at recipe after recipe, I had time to come back down to reality (thank goodness) and felt like I had enough understanding to try and tackle a plan on how to introduce new foods and textures to my soon to be toddler.
“Soon to be toddler” is such a crazy thing to even write. Time definitely flies! Here were the most important pieces that I took from my research:
- 1. Meals should be balanced
- 2. Solid foods allow baby to practice self feeding skills (pincer grasp and other important milestones)
- 3. Increasing solid foods naturally decreases the amount of formula consumed during the day
That’s it. This list of the most important factors and the goal of solid foods at the 9 month mark, made things much more manageable for me when trying to plan out my babies meals.
Making My First Plan
Next, I made a list of foods that I felt comfortable with preparing for my little one. I decided which foods I would want to try and at what meal I wanted to them at. Then I narrowed it in even more, what ONE new food or texture did I want to introduce the first week during breakfast, lunch and dinner? I have read that you do not want to give too many new food items too close together incase there is an allergic reaction.
Next, I found a weekly meal plan page and began to plan out meals for the upcoming week.
Click below to download a FREE meal plan page to get you started!
- List of foods to get started:
- Oatmeal
- Oatmeal Pancakes
- Banana Pancakes
- Whole Milk Plain Yogurt
- Variety of fruits (cut or smooshed into bite sized pieces)
- Fruit purees
- Scrambled or Boiled Eggs
- Hummus on light toasted bread
- Variety of vegetables (cut or smooshed into bite sized pieces)
- Pureed Veggies
- Rice Cereal
- Beans
- Whole Grain Pasta
- Potatoes
As I was planning out her weekly meals, I wanted to include a solid food that would allow her to practice picking up the pieces and self feeding AND a pureed food or something spoon fed so I knew food was actually making it into her system. I also wanted to make sure that to keep the meal well balanced, that each meal was served with 2 ounces of formula.
I have included the example from my first week of solid foods. Maybe it will be helpful if you are looking for a place to start with your little one.
