Feeding your little one can feel overwhelming, confusing, and even scary. Along my journey of introducing solids and common food allergens to my son, I documented many meals and had the opportunity to share with you all via my Instagram! I'll be sharing a few "episodes" below! I hope you use these as examples and brainstorming ideas to help take some of that burden off your shoulders! As always, please consider the age of your child / development of your own child when feeding. If you have questions or concerns, always speak with your Pediatrician!
Before we get started, let's take a look at a few quick tips when it comes to starting solids!
Introduce Foods Slowly: Start with one food at a time to spot any allergies.
Start based on Milestones rather than age! Can baby sit up and hold their head for extended time?!
Prioritize Iron-Rich Foods: Offer iron-fortified foods, pureed meats, and legumes early on.
Vary Textures Gradually: Transition from purees to mashed & soft finger foods to develop chewing skills.
Include Common Food Allergens: You can start introducing these as soon as you start solids! In fact, it is beneficial! Don't shy away!
Follow Baby's Lead: Let your baby decide how much they eat and avoid forcing them.
Stay Patient & Positive: Make mealtimes enjoyable, praise progress, and be patient with messy moments. It's normal!
Alright, so we are ready to start introducing those solid foods!
But.. what can baby eat?!
Read on to check out some recent meals we've had and gather some ideas along the way!
What W Eats: Introducing Wheat
Let’s stick with our theme this week, Introducing Common Food Allergens & take a look at Introducing Wheat🌾🥐🍞
Wheat is one of the current top 9 most common food allergies in children.🍞
(This is not exactly the same thing as gluten/Celiac Disease. I can share more about this in the near future!)👀
Wheat is an easy one for us to get in personally.✅
Especially because this Dietitian Mom here LOVES pasta 🙋🏼♀️🤪😍🍝❤️👌🏼🤷🏼♀️
Many Wheat foods are extremely versatile!
• Pasta: 🍝add any sauce or other foods to it! Marinara, Alfredo, Cheese, BBQ..Add veggies, meats, other grains. Literally, do whatever! It’s a blank canvas😍
• Waffles or Toast with toppings 🧇 I shared this on my story yesterday too- again you can add nearly anything to these! Nut Butters (thinned 🙏🏼), Puréed Fruits, Cheese Spreads, Butter, Avocado, Seasonings such as Cinnamon. Another blank canvas for flavors! (🛑 Remember: NO Honey under age 1! 🛑)
• Muffins: 🧁🥞by far a favorite in my house! Yet another super versatile option! You can make sweet muffins, savory, small, large. We love apple cinnamon, blueberry, and egg muffins especially!! 😍
• We don’t eat much Cream of Wheat, but that is a favorite option as well! Easy to include early on in your feeding journey and you can add more flavors or allergens as you want!👌🏼
You can start including wheat once you are approved to start solids, so don’t hesitate to add it in!!🤩🧇🍞🍝
What W Eats Wednesday!! 🥳🥳
March or April typically mark our first week back into “busy season”. My husband and I both work jobs with flexibility in some ways. He paints water tower logos and other industrial type logos and lettering. & we live in Ohio. So as you may imagine, he is very busy and productive for ~9 months each year. Our busy season.
During this time, I shift myself in a few ways.
1- when I make meals for us, I try to make enough for leftovers. That means I’ll have 2-3 meals covered versus just 1.
2- Allow for some extra “special experiences”. This usually buys me extra time for meal prep while my oldest sets up a picnic or movie night or whatever fun you may be into.
3- accept that chicken nuggets may be the staple meal for a while. Add and mix the veggies, fruits, and other sides! It will be just fine 👌🏼
So what did we manage to eat this week?!👇🏼
• Apple Cinnamon Roll 🍎🤤 while watching the cars and planes
• Blueberry Pancake + sliced Blueberry + Mixed Veggies & Strawberry Yogurt pouch 🥞🫐🥕🥦🍓 & whole milk
• Leftovers! Homemade Chicken Nugget + ABC Pasta + Blueberries + Mixed Veggies with a peach bbq sauce 🍖🍝🍍🥕🥒
• @udfofficial donuts with daddy 🍩
• @tombstonepizza 🍕
• Baked Chicken Pasta + Yogurt + Banana 🍝🍌
Whatever your week looks like- you’ve got this 💪🏼👏🏼
What W Eats Wednesday!! 🥳🥳
This week has been a fun week for us! The Cincinnati @reds Opening Day Parade is like a national holiday. The whole city celebrates! ❤️⚾️ & to add to our fun, my oldest is now on spring break!! 🥳
Here are a few things we’ve eaten this week! Has it been our healthiest week? Probably not. But we’ve had a mix of some really fun days & some really sick days (😩)… and we are surviving just fine 👌🏼
• Reds opening day = PB & J, blueberries, and @goldfishsmiles picnic 🥪🫐⚾️
• @happyfamilyorganics Creamies + “Berry Bites” + Banana 🫐🍓🥐🍌
• Dino chicken nuggets + Colby Jack cheese + berries & banana 🦖🍗🧀🍓🫐🍌
• Pasta with Meatball + Grapefruit 🍝
• Red donut from @udfofficial for Reds opening day! 🍩
• @officialskylinechili Crackers & Chili Cheese Sandwich💙
Quick Reminder! ❤️
We’ve all seen the art gallery-worthy food shapes and characters on IG.
As someone who is not naturally artistic in the typical sense, those accounts have always made me feel a bit down honestly. I KNOW food. But am I a bad parent because I didn’t serve my daughter’s turkey sandwich in small heart and star shapes?? 🤔💜⭐️🤔 What if she sees that at school?? Or that I didn’t make a full on dinosaur out of my son’s waffles this morning?? 🦖🧇
No. Not at all. I don’t find full joy in serving foods often in that way 🤷🏼♀️
I do find joy in finding fun in simplicity though! 🤩😍
I served this snack last year to my daughter & called it “her apple flower” 🍎🌼
She loved it! In fact, as I was putting this picture all together.. She saw it over my shoulder and said “my apple flower!!”🥺🍎🌼❤️
She’s even served her brother “Apple Flowers”🍎🌺🍏
Food can be fun in so many way & on so many levels! 🙌🏼
I hope you find some fun in your foods this weekend!! - whatever that may mean to you
*Note: this was served to a 6 year old! I would not serve this snack prepped in this way to my 18 month old!
PB and Apples can both have choking risks for young ones! ⚠️
What W Eats Wednesday!! 🥳🥳
A favorite #throwback of mine😂😍
W age ~18-19 months old
🍽️🤤🍜⤵️
• Crockpot Pork + Raspberries + Strawberry- Banana Yogurt🍗🫐🍌
• ‘Deconstructed’ Stuffed Bell Pepper + Strawberries + Cottage Cheese 🫑🍓🧀
• Chocolate Donut treat at sissy’s art show 🍩
• Chicken Nuggets + Greek Yogurt + Pineapple Popsicle 🍗🦖🍍
• Fries + Peanut Butter Bar + @happyfamilyorganics Creamies 🍟🥜🤷🏼♀️ (sometimes, it is what it is 😜)
We’ve gotten a bit more back into our groove which feels nice. But sometimes, fed is best, even for our older kids too! ⚠️ Use caution with pork or meats that tend to be tough. I’ve worked up to W taking pork in this way. And I only serve to him if it is tender enough 🗣 tough meats can be a choking risk! ⚠️
I hope you have some fun with food this week!!
❤❤
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Jessica Enderle, R.D., L.D.
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