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Food A baby food debate

Discussion in 'Tilted Food' started by genuinemommy, Oct 19, 2013.

  1. genuinemommy

    genuinemommy Moderator Staff Member

    As promised, this thread is a spinoff of a thread I started on Extended Breastfeeding.

    As posted by snowy and Fangirl :

    You touched on one of my pet peeves with parents. I dislike when parents cook special meals just for their children. Of course, I'm too courteous to say so to them, but in general, I feel like doing so just encourages picky eating. Some kids are destined to be picky eaters; there's no need to reinforce it by catering to their whims. This piece from the NYTimes on French children and their eating habits sums it up pretty well: http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/13/why-french-parents-are-superior-in-one-way/?_r=0 I really like it when kids eat whatever their parents eat.
     
  2. Borla

    Borla Moderator Staff Member

    Unless an allergy is involved, I think I would feel the same way. Maybe if some rare things are truly horrible to the kid you only make them take a couple of bites (that's how it was with liver, beets, brussel sprouts, and lima beans for me as a kid), but you make them at least eat some. That's what I was made to do. And today many of those things that I used to hate I actually like, if not at least tolerate. I also think it made me far more willing to experiment and at least give things a shot, which has lead to some awesome eating that I might not have been brave enough to try otherwise. :)
     
  3. GeneticShift

    GeneticShift Show me your everything is okay face.

    This bugs me too. I have two young cousins (7 & 4ish), and basically the only things they will eat are chicken fingers, fries, and pizza. They're both really active kids, so there aren't health issues yet, but they're so picky it's scary.

    Anytime there's a family get together, even thanksgiving and Christmas, my uncle has to bring bags of other food to make for them.
     
    • Like Like x 3
  4. snowy

    snowy so kawaii Staff Member

    Here are some things I learned from working in the toddler/preschool environment and being responsible for lunch service there:

    1) Serve food family-style if possible, as soon as possible. Kids learn important skills when they serve themselves.
    2) Require that the kids take at least a taste-worth of every item. They don't have to finish what they take, but they do need to try it.
    3) Provide ample seconds of fruits and vegetables, but not the mains. One of my co-teachers had a really hard time with this--"We can't not feed them!"--actually, we can and should, as once they've had their USDA required serving of the main, we're not required to give them any more, and it's not regarded as punishment to withhold foods if they've been served. Plus, should we really be feeding three-year-olds 4 large chicken strips or fish sticks? I don't think so.
    4) Provide colorful options when it comes to fruits and vegetables. Red peppers were always a popular choice due to their color and sweetness.
    5) Provide tasting opportunities outside of meals.

    One thing from nannying: Always have fresh fruits and vegetables at the ready. Kids are more likely to try foods if they're sitting out, ready to go and munch on. Kids ARE grazers; grazing should be refocused on to those fresh fruits and vegetables when possible.

    I have worked with a lot of picky eaters, and using these guidelines, I can usually get kids to try new foods. When I have kids, I'm going to do what a friend of mine does--she purees whatever she and her husband are eating for baby food.
     
    • Like Like x 2
  5. genuinemommy

    genuinemommy Moderator Staff Member

    I have spent considerable time reading all of the baby food labels in Babies R Us. I couldn't believe the ingredients. Even upon cursory glance there was nothing that I would feed my child. Upon further investigation I grew even more disturbed. Everything that might have challenged the palette was paired with something overwhelmingly sweet. Carrots & Sweet potatoes, mango and broccoli, peas and pears... Even the organics had nothing appealing to feed my child. The only savory options had meat. So disturbing.
    "Feeding Baby Green" is a book that I modeled most of my prenatal nutrition and now baby food choices off of. Though I also incorporated many baby-led-weaning concepts.

    We feed littlegirly whatever we eat. I keep some aside, raw and cooked, without our usual over-seasoning. She eats her food as we eat ours. She is exposed to as many tastes, textures, and flavors as possible.
     
    Last edited: Oct 19, 2013
    • Like Like x 3
  6. FreeVerse

    FreeVerse Screw Tilted, I'm all the way upside down.

    Location:
    Suburban Chicago
    I come from the land of "you feed your child whatever the hell the doctor tells you to feed it until its time for them to eat what you're eating in little bits" so I'm no help. I will say however I stopped feeding my child anywhere near my parents after seeing my mother putting butter and salt into a jar of baby peas for my daughter that she had just warmed up, because "you cant feed her whats in that jar, YOU wouldn't eat it like that!"
     
  7. genuinemommy

    genuinemommy Moderator Staff Member

    We skipped cereals. The closest she ever had was spoonfuls/fistfuls of oatmeal from my breakfast bowl. Our pediatrician didn't agree with our food choices, but she does like our results.
     
  8. Fangirl

    Fangirl Very Tilted

    Location:
    Arizona
    When it came time to introduce solids, I went two very different ways with my spaced-ten-years apart children.

    Child #1 would not drink cow's, soy or any other milk. He had watered-down juices and became a raw veg junkie (loved to gum green bell peppers). We moved in with my mom when he was 19 mos. old and for the next 12 months I did my best to counter-balance what my well-intentioned mother gave him. By the time he and I moved out on own own when he was 2½ he had some bad habits that for various reasons including being the child of a young, single mom going to college and working three jobs--without any family interference or help as they had moved 700 miles away--I tended to cave to whatever he would eat. He didn't want "meals" he wanted mac n'cheese, cheese pizza, hot dogs (sans bun) and raw veggies. I would cook two full dinner meals trying to get him to eat, then cave and give him what he wanted! It did him no favours as he was a terribly picky eater until he was well into his teenage years.

    Child #2 always wanted what we were eating so we did do a lot of setting the main meal aside without the seasonings when prepping to cook it. He has always eaten almost everything and is quite willing to try new foods. He's adventurous, even.

    So, two very different feeding and eating experiences.
    The eldest spent more time in day care and he still tells stories of how he was forced to drink milk and eat peas. I never forced him to eat anything. I can't say I would ever force a child to eat a particular food but I do believe in grazing, keeping healthy veggies and keeping fresh fruit at the ready. I don't like food wars at the table--no tears or threatening or making deals. I think we digest better when the dinner table is free of tension. ;)
     
  9. mixedmedia

    mixedmedia ...

    Location:
    Florida

    They encourage the cereals at 4-6 months because they are iron-fortified. I'm glad everything worked out ok for your child, but children start to run out of their stores of iron at about six months so it strongly suggested that you start supplement with iron-fortified cereals at that time to avoid anemia which is actually pretty common in young children.

    From the CDC website: Nutrition for Everyone: Basics: Iron and Iron Deficiency | DNPAO | CDC
    Maybe you found another way to supplement for iron?
     
  10. genuinemommy

    genuinemommy Moderator Staff Member

    Yes, we had her on iron vitamin drops.
     
  11. fflowley

    fflowley Don't just do something, stand there!

    No he doesn't, he chooses to.

    I have a few thoughts on this topic from my experience with my kids.
    We had twins first, then a daughter 2 years later.
    With the twins we tried the baby food mill, made all kinds of baby recipes. We were nervous first time parents and we followed the recipes and recommendations to the letter. They ate well.
    We were totally relaxed when it came time to feed #3. When it was time for her to start solids we just took what was on our plates, texturized it for her needs, and fed it to her. She ate really well too.

    M wife and I are healthy eaters. We make one meal for dinner. That's it. It almost always has 3 or 4 items as part of the meal. There is no plan B, no alternative menu to choose from. Our kids eat what we eat. They may prefer one or two of the food items and that's fine. If they don't eat any of it they can eat fruit. Then they go to bed and wait for breakfast. Are they ever a teensy weensy bit hungry when they don't eat their dinner? Probably. Do I feel bad about that? Not at all.

    Is it hard and time consuming to cook actual meals for your kids? Yes. Do I think it's worth it? Yes again. Cook my kids disgusting, fresh from the chemical factory processed crap like the glow in the dark mac and cheese? Not happening.
     
    • Like Like x 3
  12. mixedmedia

    mixedmedia ...

    Location:
    Florida
    Excellent. I only mention it because there is a lot of misinformation out there regarding children and nutrition - particularly infant nutrition. You can't do a google search on the subject without pulling up a laundry list of websites telling women things like: your baby will get all the iron they need in the first year from your breastmilk. Which is, of course, not supported by scientific evidence. What makes it most irritating is that there are so many places in the world where mothers don't have easy access to iron supplementation in any form and their babies just go without and suffer from completely avoidable illnesses. So I think a complete picture is a good thing. :)
     
    Last edited: Oct 20, 2013
    • Like Like x 1
  13. genuinemommy

    genuinemommy Moderator Staff Member

    Yes, I appreciate you adding this aspect of nutrition to the discussion.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  14. Jay

    Jay Vertical

    Location:
    Gilbert, Az
    Adelyn eats whatever we eat, for the last few months, before that sillygirl made homemade apple sauce, all her baby food was homemade until she started eating what we eat, she absolutely love veal, lamb, she's definitely a carnivore, but we equal it out with fruits and veggies, the little girl eats like a champ.
     
  15. curiousbear

    curiousbear Terse & Bizarre

    Our toddler has texture issues . Throws up now and then. He mostly eats out of obligation. He is such a nice guy.

    My wife prepares special home food for him every meal ... Overdoes caring him and exhausts not being able to anything else in life.

    I strongly prefer same food for all with exceptions like how Borla mentioned
     
  16. genuinemommy

    genuinemommy Moderator Staff Member

    I'm coming back to this thread... because I'm eating my words!

    Littlgirly is 3 now. She has sensory overload issues. She can't stand the smell of food cooking, and can't stand the smell of warm cooked food. It disgusts her and takes away her appetite. It's a burden that we're working on getting her acclimated to. But we know that it is a long road ahead. We cool her food significantly prior to eating, we also are in the habit of preparing cold, non-smelly things for her to enjoy. She's pretty good about trying everything now, and tolerating smells for brief periods, but she'd much rather play outside while we cook and eat at a different table, away from smells.

    I don't see her as a picky person, though. And now I see the struggles that other parents face and am way less likely to judge.
     
    Last edited: Aug 8, 2016
  17. snowy

    snowy so kawaii Staff Member

  18. genuinemommy

    genuinemommy Moderator Staff Member

    This is great advice.
    Her pediatrician advised us to "stop caring" about whether she sat with us for meals or not. That was similar, and very helpful advice.
     
    • Like Like x 1