Toddler Food
Wow, it has been a long time since I've blogged about anything. I need to do some catch up!! There's a lot I want to write about to let you guys know what we've been up to, as well as for documentation purposes for me to look back someday. Some of these topics include:
- traveling with baby (summary of our Florida trip)
- holidays with baby (Christmas and Birthdays - yes, plural)
- discipline (napping and going out)
- Kira's development (details from her 12-mo appt, new stuff she can do)
- thinking about going back to work (and starting day care for Kira)
For now, my new obsession is researching toddler nutrition. I've been scouring the web for information about how to feed my baby. There's so little out there!! Right now, Kira is in a "transitional stage", where she is no longer dependent on formula, and she is starting to eat more adult foods; however, there are still some foods from which she needs to stay away. Confusing already, huh??
So, for the first 12 months of life, babies can survive on breastmilk and or formula. The introduction of solid foods is just to get them accustomed to eating, as well as for supplementary nutrition. After 12 months of age, babies can start drinking cow's milk! Babies (or, toddlers I guess is the correct term for this age) need to drink whole milk because it contains extra fat, which babies need for development (e.g., forming myelin sheath around newly formed nerve connections). Cow's milk, however, does not contain 100% of the nutrition that babies need. This is where the info starts getting scattered. What else should I feed my baby/toddler?
The best way I know how to feed Kira is following the basics of the food pyramid; this basic scheme is also how I decide what to feed myself and Trevor. Thus, I make sure to give her carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables, and proteins, three times per day. Most of these elements come from fortified cereal and jarred baby food. This is the way I've been feeding her for the past 4 months. I never really counted the number of servings from each food group for Kira because it's not something I do for myself either. I just assume that it all works out in the end. Furthermore, up until this point, solid foods was just supplementary, so I focused more on just getting the food in Kira's mouth, and less on quantity ingested.
I'm not sure the method mentioned above was sufficient because at Kira's 12-month doctor's appointment, her pediatrician told me she is underweight. He recommended that for the next three months, until her next appointment, I should do my best to increase her calories. If she increases the rate of weight gain, then we know that she was not getting enough calories before and that I need to remember to maintain a minimum calorie intake. If she does not increase the rate of weight gain, then we can assume that genetics is the dominating reason for her small size. So, now I'm on a mission to find high-calorie baby food, a task that has proven to be challenging. Most of the information out there is geared towards preventing childhood obesity. Here I am trying to fatten up my Kira. Additionally, a lot of the information out there is for older children, e.g., age 2-5. Several sources do acknowledge that toddlers age 1-2 do require extra fat intake and that parents should not restrict the fats. But that's all they say. Where do we get the fat?
Kira's doctor recommended butter, avocados, and egg yolk. Ok, that's a start. On babycenter.com, I read a q&a answer from another mom that suggested adding olive oil to everything going into baby's mouth. I'm skeptical of that because it sounds gross and it's not coming from a doctor. After searching for hours, I decided I only want information from doctors. So I went to the AAP website. Their website sucks. I found almost nothing there. Instead, I searched for "nutitrition guidelines" and I ended up at an old favorite: the National Guideline Clearinghouse. Unfortunately, there were no useful guidelines there, but it did lead me to other useful websites (some of which are not US-based):
- traveling with baby (summary of our Florida trip)
- holidays with baby (Christmas and Birthdays - yes, plural)
- discipline (napping and going out)
- Kira's development (details from her 12-mo appt, new stuff she can do)
- thinking about going back to work (and starting day care for Kira)
For now, my new obsession is researching toddler nutrition. I've been scouring the web for information about how to feed my baby. There's so little out there!! Right now, Kira is in a "transitional stage", where she is no longer dependent on formula, and she is starting to eat more adult foods; however, there are still some foods from which she needs to stay away. Confusing already, huh??
So, for the first 12 months of life, babies can survive on breastmilk and or formula. The introduction of solid foods is just to get them accustomed to eating, as well as for supplementary nutrition. After 12 months of age, babies can start drinking cow's milk! Babies (or, toddlers I guess is the correct term for this age) need to drink whole milk because it contains extra fat, which babies need for development (e.g., forming myelin sheath around newly formed nerve connections). Cow's milk, however, does not contain 100% of the nutrition that babies need. This is where the info starts getting scattered. What else should I feed my baby/toddler?
The best way I know how to feed Kira is following the basics of the food pyramid; this basic scheme is also how I decide what to feed myself and Trevor. Thus, I make sure to give her carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables, and proteins, three times per day. Most of these elements come from fortified cereal and jarred baby food. This is the way I've been feeding her for the past 4 months. I never really counted the number of servings from each food group for Kira because it's not something I do for myself either. I just assume that it all works out in the end. Furthermore, up until this point, solid foods was just supplementary, so I focused more on just getting the food in Kira's mouth, and less on quantity ingested.
I'm not sure the method mentioned above was sufficient because at Kira's 12-month doctor's appointment, her pediatrician told me she is underweight. He recommended that for the next three months, until her next appointment, I should do my best to increase her calories. If she increases the rate of weight gain, then we know that she was not getting enough calories before and that I need to remember to maintain a minimum calorie intake. If she does not increase the rate of weight gain, then we can assume that genetics is the dominating reason for her small size. So, now I'm on a mission to find high-calorie baby food, a task that has proven to be challenging. Most of the information out there is geared towards preventing childhood obesity. Here I am trying to fatten up my Kira. Additionally, a lot of the information out there is for older children, e.g., age 2-5. Several sources do acknowledge that toddlers age 1-2 do require extra fat intake and that parents should not restrict the fats. But that's all they say. Where do we get the fat?
Kira's doctor recommended butter, avocados, and egg yolk. Ok, that's a start. On babycenter.com, I read a q&a answer from another mom that suggested adding olive oil to everything going into baby's mouth. I'm skeptical of that because it sounds gross and it's not coming from a doctor. After searching for hours, I decided I only want information from doctors. So I went to the AAP website. Their website sucks. I found almost nothing there. Instead, I searched for "nutitrition guidelines" and I ended up at an old favorite: the National Guideline Clearinghouse. Unfortunately, there were no useful guidelines there, but it did lead me to other useful websites (some of which are not US-based):
MedlinePlus (only sort of useful because a lot of the info is for babies 0-12 mo old)
babyzone (I liked this because the chart gives good examples of portions and food types)
KidsHealth (stuff about fat)
Other tid bits I've picked up along the way:
- grilled cheese (with buttered bread)
- whole milk yogurt
- icecream
- pasta and butter
I'm thinking we will have salmon tonight. I usually steam a salmon steak with soy sauce, ginger and scallions. It's something all three of us can eat. That's the other thing that makes feeding Kira so tricky; I don't want to have to cook a separate meal for her, so it would be nice to make dinners that are appropriate for everyone. At the very least, Kira's dinner has to be very quick and easy to put together.
Finally, foods to avoid. I mentioned we might have fish tonight, and salmon is okay, but there are fish that may not be good for Kira due to the mercury content found in such fish. The fish to avoid are: shark, swordfish, and marlin. Furthermore, Kira shouldn't have more than 2 servings of fish, per week. There are also foods that we've been avoiding since she was a baby (e.g., honey, milk, wheat, nuts, fish), but now she can eat them because her immune system is more developed. Still there are some foods to avoid:
- juice (gives the feeling of fullness without calories)
- high-fiber (difficult to digest, and not enough nutrients)
- foods high in salt and sugar
- spinach (contains a lot of nitrates)
I can't think of anymore right now. There are so many little bits and pieces to remember. If I think of anymore, I'll update this post. But overall, I think we're just going to have to feel our way through eating and just do our best with giving her the right things. Some days are going to be tiring and disappointing. But, I'll just try and feel good about the better days...just like everything else, right?
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