That video is great. I love how she’s so obviously copying the family at dinner: take a bite of food, chewchewchew, swallow, chatter happily, repeat. She looks quite pleased with herself.
I didn’t realize there was a name and a philosophy behind this. Most kids in my family have gotten mushed baby foods around 5/6 months, but then a few months later get started on things like chunks of cooked vegetables. When my brother was 1, my mom would quite often make a can of mixed vegetables, toss in some chunks of cooked chicken, and they’d both have lunch. He loved eating the same thing and would often ask for “mama beggies” for lunch.
Good luck. While I never bought into the whole “babies should be fed bland icky shit” mentality, I also don’t really like the idea of just letting the baby play with food. Both of my children ate directly from my plate (spices and all) as soon as they showed interest, but only with me handing it to them. My reason? To teach them that only the things Mom says is ok go in the mouth. Neither of my kids had a problem with picking things up and putting them in their mouths – well, except for the fact the older one liked to eat spiders, but ok, whatever – of course, YMMV, but it worked for me.
I really think it’s healthier to be safe and yet allow the kid to experiment and learn what he/she likes or not. I also tend to think that younger kids, when offered healthy choices will make the “right” choice more often than not – again, there is personal bias in that statement, neither of my kids even liked candy until they got into middle elementary school levels and it became more available. My son (aged 8) prefers mandarin oranges or yogurt in his lunch to cookies or pudding. For his “healthy snack” this week, he has chosen sunflower seeds – I don’t say “here are your options, pick one” I say, “what do you want for snack?” Having been brought up with the healthy options readily available, he tends to prefer those, although he does have a fondness for Doritoes (but really, who doesn’t? )
Yeah, I don’t know, I’ve had three now. The first one, I did more or less classic baby food feeding, starting with spoon-feeding simple purees, moving up to mixed veggies/fruits, etc. The second started out the same but graduated to self-feeding finger foods a lot earlier. The third did pretty much all table foods and no “baby food” at all. And every single one of them went through a stage of putting inappropriate objects (carpet fuzz, marbles, Daddy’s action figures, etc.) into their mouths. I think it’s a developmental thing.
Just chiming in to, well, pretty much agree with everyone! Niamh, having spectacularly rejected breastfeeding, followed this up with spectacularly rejecting my carefully pureed baby mush. I swear I spent the week before we introduced her to semi-solids mushing and freezing like some demented Annabel Karmel (is she a UK thing? baby feeding guru/harpy if you don’t know her). I think Niamh allowed about 4 days worth of purees before she just flat out refused any more. Of anything.
We switched to finger foods and she’s still on them 18 months later. Thank the gods that she got teeth early or I dread to think where we would have ended up. She tends to eat smaller portions of whatever we have where we can. She loves strong tasting food - mature cheeses, small amounts of smoked fish and so on - but she can’t stand mixed foods like stews or things in sauces. She doesn’t eat much of anything and it can be hard to think of a good variety of foods she can eat with her fingers.
I did a lot of research when it became obvious we weren’t going anywhere with purees and I was happy that going straight to finger foods would be ok for us.
Niamh’s now 22 months and she’s been happy to feed herself with a spoon (but mostly only yoghurt) for a long time. She also tries to copy any older children she sees with a fork, with very mixed success. I’m pretty relaxed about it now, although it’s taken a loooooong time to get to that point. I’ve come to the conclusion that she’ll progress when she’s ready and I don’t know many 16 year olds who can’t use a knife and fork!
Yeh, not to say they never did it, it just wasn’t as big of an issue as I’ve seen with other kids. I don’t know what other parents do as far as feeding, but honestly, when I’ve been around other kids (supervised or not – meaning either the parent was right there going “no, johnny, don’t put that in your mouth” or it was a daycare and the parent was nowhere around) it has just amazed me how other people’s kids will pick any-and everything up off the ground and chow down. My kids just didn’t do that that much.
Charley, that philosophy applies to so much, I think. I mean, how many kids go off to college with a pacifier/security blanket/need to be rocked to sleep/cry when separated from Mommy/wearing diapers, etc.
All things in good time. Let the kid lead most of this stuff and they’ll give it up when they’re ready. Lots less stress that way.
Heat oven to 350. Grease a baking sheet. In a skillet, heat 1 T. olive oil over medium heat. Add 1 10-oz. package chopped frozen spinach (you can use fresh too but I don’t usually have the patience for the chopping); 1 clove garlic, chopped; 1/2 small onion, chopped; 1/2 t. salt; and 1/4 t. pepper (or to taste). Cook 3 minutes, or until spinach wilts/completely thaws. Cool 5 minutes and transfer to large bowl. Stir in 3 cups cooked rice, 1 1/4 cups shredded mozzarella, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan, 2 large eggs, and 1/4 t. dried Italian herbs. With wet hands, roll about 2 T. of this mixture into a ball and place on a baking sheet, pressing to flatten slightly. Repeat until you have about 22 “cookies.” Bake 20 minutes or until firm. Serve with tomato sauce for dipping.
I think your approach is terrible, and you are clearly not qualified to be a parent. I demand that you hand that baby over to me right away. You, too, stargazer and MsWhatsit and MaxTorque. All of them, over here, NOW.
You’re welcome to him at night! He’s a great sleeper, you won’t even notice he’s there, sleeps right through… no, really! …You sure you won’t take him? Not even for one night?
Unauthorized Cinnamon, I just watched the videos, and Jonah came over and waved at and “talked” to Claire when he heard them playing.
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