Archives for January 2012

I’ve been meaning to record what G eats in a day, just so that I have something to look back on when Snowcone/Anthony reaches this age. Obviously, every kid is different with a different appetite, but it would be, at the very least, fun to compare someday!

Breakfast:

The moment I get G out of his crib, I slightly warm up a 10 oz. bottle of organic whole milk. We only give him organic because of rBST (a growth hormone given to cows) and antibiotics (gives to cows after the infections caused by rBST). While he drinks it, I bring him to bed with me for some extra snuggles and snooze time.

In his high chair, he gets 1 cup of dry cheerios, usually organic, to limit exposure to GEIs (genetically engineered ingredients), although his grains aren’t 100% organic all of the time. We just try to do the best we can, since we don’t know how his body will react.

Snack:

For his mid-morning snack (about an hour after breakfast) he ALWAYS eats a banana, sliced up and self fed. It’s gotten to the point where if I forget to give it to him, he walks up to the bananas on the counter and says, “please? please?” until I stop what I’m doing and get it ready.

Lately, I’ve been pairing his banana with an avocado. Yes, this kid eats one banana and one avocado in a sitting.

We don’t buy organic for either of these. The peels are thick enough that I am comfortable buying regular, and on a limited budget like ours, we have to pick and choose. In a perfect world?….maybe.

Lunch:

I like to pair something iron-enriched with something full of vitamin C. If this kid is anything like me, he will tend towards anemia his whole life, so I want to make sure he gets lots of iron (and, since he doesn’t like meat at this current juncture!….). I wait to give him this until it’s been a few hours since his morning bottle– calcium gets in the way of iron absorption. So far, it’s worked– the pediatrician said that his iron levels were fantastic.

My favorite pairing is applesauce with iron-enriched oatmeal.

 

We always keep these two things on hand, because they are super easy and quick, especially if we’re running out the door. Both are very reasonably priced (I can get a jar of the organic applesauce for only 50 cents more than a normal jar of Motts. Definitely worth the extra $2/month).

Afternoon snack:

We often do dairy in the afternoon, more out of lack of time to prepare anything else. It’s also easy to have “to-go” yogurt on hand. We buy either Trader Joe’s greek yogurt or “Yo-Baby” organic yogurt from Stonyfield Farms. I usually steam a handful of frozen organic berries (I’m sick of buying fresh organic produce– it goes bad sooo super fast! For now, I’ve been freezing it immediately) and add them to the mix.

Often, he also gets a piece of Havarti cheese (he LOVES Havarti…) and a few more cheerios.

Dinner:

Dinner takes the most preparation and effort out of any of his meals. If we’ve failed to get any of the major food groups throughout the day (usually veggies and meat, since he despises both), we try to get those in.

Usually, he eats 1 hardboiled or scrambled egg. He will ONLY eat his egg scrambled if I make it super dry (aka, no milk) with lots of pepper and cheese. Don’t ask me why! Sometimes, if I’ve just made a batch of Lentil soup, we’ll give him a big bowl of that (although his poo is sooo nasty the next day…!)

He also gets 1 cup of peas and carrots. Other than sweet potatoes, these are the only veggies he will eat. Case in point, after one bite of broccoli tonight, he threw the rest down to Claire.

If we’re eating something when he’s eating (his dinner is often at around 5pm, since he goes to bed between 6-7pm, so sometimes we haven’t even finished MAKING dinner for ourselves yet!) he gets a serving. Sometimes it’s Annie’s Mac and Cheese (okay, it OFTEN is…he takes advantage of his momma’s preggo cravings), sometimes it’s something spicy that Jesse’s made.

Bedtime Snack:

Right before we brush G’s teeth, we give him 6-8 more oz. of whole milk. If we’re on the way home from a basketball game or someone’s house, he always gets this while sitting in the car. If we’re at home, one of us rocks him.

Overall, we aim for things with as high of a fat (good fat, that is) content as we can, since his brain is growing so fast right now and needs all the fat it can get. We try to limit the pesticides whenever possible for the same reason.  We hardly do any juice– at most, he gets 2-3 oz. every other day, watered waaaay down (30/70). He has access to his water filled sippy cup all day long, since he gets super thirsty with all of his basketball playing 🙂

I want to try making smoothies for him, as I’d like to mix in things like broccoli and spinach, since they are also high in iron. Perhaps I could sneak some blended tofu in there? He also LOVES corn on the cob, but it’s so “carb-y” that we don’t give it to him very often.

Any suggestions for how to get more protein and veggies in his diet?