stay put bowls

are my favorite!

This stay put bowl and cutlery set was such a good idea.

Baby girl wants to be a big girl. She wants the spoon when we try to feed her so we give her an extra to hold, which inevitably leads to the game. The one game where parents always loose. You know, the one where they drop something and you pick it up, and they drop it again and squeal in delight and you pick it up, and they drop it again and you bump your head on their high chair as you're bending down for the 14th time. I've played that game before with my first child and now with the second I'm just not in the mood. 

I'm liking the new game a lot more. It's called sticking the stay put bowl and cutlery sets on the table and watching baby Maria enjoy her food. 

Smart products make me happy.

what fruits are safe to introduce to my baby?

Champagne grapes

equals

baby['s] grapes.

I recommend introducing these as soon as you find them in your supermarket. These tiny seedless grapes were a total find on my Saturday afternoon market run. Baby Maria loves her fruit and these are perfect for her tiny fingers to grasp. Just wash and serve. None of this cutting and then still freaking out that she might choke. 

Sometimes people ask me if such and such thing is safe to feed their 8 month old. The answer to that question is "yes, no, maybe so." First, I am not a nutritionist. Second, I don't follow too many rules. Third, even if I do follow food restriction rules in North America it all goes down the drain when I go to South America, where fruits are different and other restrictions are the norm.

I stated feeding baby Maria strawberries when she was 7 months. Some people like to wait until they're 1 year. I gave Enzo mangoes for the first time when he was 7 months and he had a horrible allergic reaction. I thought I had ruined him for life. Nope, not yet at least. When he was a little of over 2 years old someone feed him mangoes and he was fine. 

This is my rough guide on fruits that are safe to feed babies 6-12 months. I like the "wait three days rule" before introducing a new food but normally I do a "wait 1 day rule". My personal experience has been that if a certain food gives my kids an allergic reaction, even a mild rash, or an upset stomach I will know within 24 hours. However, as a parent do whatever feels most comfortable to you.

schedule for introducing fruits during baby's first year

6 months or older

pureed avocados

pureed bananas

pureed papayas

pureed pears

strained apricots

cooked peaches

cooked prunes

cooked plums

7 months or older

cooked apple

strained apricot

watermelon

8 months or older

chopped apricot

chopped cantaloupe

chopped honeydew

plums

quartered seedless grapes

champagne grapes

9 months or older

chopped bananas

chopped avocado

chopped cherries

chopped

slices of plums, apricot, peaches

strawberries

blueberries

black berries

raspberries

12 months or older

pineapple

mangoes

citrus fruits

Are there any other fruits your baby likes to eat and if so when do you recommend introducing it?

baby's first bento

and first exposure to Engrish

(It's o.k baby bear, my grammar is nothing to boast about either!)

Baby Maria got bento-ed today. 

Because we were in a hurry. 

Because she was taking a nap when Enzo and I were having lunch. 

Because Enzo could not wait one second longer to get to the pool. 

So I packed her a baby lunch and made her first bento to take with us to open swim.

If you're familiar with bentos, Baby Maria's lunch will be totally underwhelming to you. Keep in mind that she is 10 months old and only has 3 teeth so everything has to be kindda plain and kindda small. 

Menu:

tiny quesadilla triangles

very soft pieces of chicken

small pieces of strawberry

small pieces of cantaloupe

She thought everything was very delicious. 

She told me so herself, in plain Engrish.

Foodie Babies {feeding your child from 0-12 months}

I know that the only people in the world who find food encrusted babies cute are parents.

In particular parents of their own food encrusted baby.

Just give me a second

so I can get this cuteness overdose out of my system.

baby Maria was born in September, about the same time when I started neglecting this blog. Before her arrival I posted a lot about cooking with kids, in particular cooking with my son Enzo. Baby Maria is 9 months old and this is the first post dedicated to babies and food. Sorry it took me so long.

Alas, here are my 2 cents about feeding little tiny humans.

Breastfeeding:

My fave (I wish). I was able to breast feed Enzo no problem for over a year. Baby Maria has been much harder. Early on it was difficult and awkward. Lactation consultants are so great and I highly recommend seeing one or two or three. They helped and they soothed. In Santa Cruz I was able to get help from Sutter Hospital. You can find help by calling your local hospital, they will be able to direct you to a lactation center. Better yet, ask a friend or a mother that you trust for advice. I wish I had done this sooner. If your next door neighbor has kids, chances are that she's had trouble breast feeding. If she hasn't then the next door down from her guaranteed has had trouble. Breast feeding can be really hard and it's good to find a support system. 

Formula:

Enzo never had formula and I'll openly admit that I thought the stuff was made out of poison. I was such a breast milk snob. For the last month I've had crazy nipple infections. It bleeds and cracks and bleeds and cracks and makes it impossible to breast feed. The worst part was the guilt. At first I felt guilty about supplementing with formula and then I felt guiltier for enjoying bottle feeding. Feeding my baby without having blood come out of my nipples is magic called bonding! So, if you're a new mom or a second time mom like me and you need to supplement with formula, oh well, it's o.k. On Monday I went to the doctor again and I am now on 3 different medications to try and heal my nipples. If it happens great if not, oh well, she'll just bottle feed, bottle feed formula not breast milk. I tried pumping but it's impossible. I can't pump and parent two children simultaneously. I started her off with soy-formula  but my doctor recommended not giving her soy so I switched to milk based formula. I buy which ever organic brand is on sale. Do you have a favorite formula brand? I'm new to the formula world.

Solid Foods:

With Enzo I made all of his baby food, daily. It was seriously all I did. I was paranoid about what he ate (still slightly am) and was anal to the core about it. I don't miss that at all. Baby Maria has had store bought baby food. I like Earths Best. However, mostly I just make food for the family and use KidCo Baby Steps Food Mill, with Carrying Case , 1 food mill. If I was planning ahead I would make large batches of puree using the food processor, but no. The Food Mill is cheap, no more than $15, and works great. If you want to go fancy I've heard nothing but good things about Beaba Babycook Baby Food Maker. However be prepared to spend close to $150. It's a big investment.

Sippy Cups:

Baby maria can use a sippy cup all by herself. She's been able to for a couple months now. There is only one sippy cup I recommend it's called Tilty and it's genius. I've looked for it at toys R us and Taget but I've only been able to find it online. You can get it on Amazon Tilty Ergonomic 2 Pack Sippy Cups - Makes Drinking Easier for $11.00. Even my 4 year old loves the Tilty. There is really no better sippy cup. 

Snack Food:

There is more to baby snacks than Cheerios. Don't get me wrong, Cheerios is classic but they get sick of it. If I can sit down and help her eat and If I'm not worried about her making a mess I give her fresh fruit or frozen berries. If we're at church or out and about I like giving her freeze dried yogurt and other easy snacks. Here are a couple of her faves (click on individual pictures for more info).

  

Final Word of Advice:

• If you eat it they will eat it. I tried to shield Enzo from eating sugar and I was successfully able to do it for a while. However, Christian loves to bake (yes blame him) and is always making cookies and pies and other deserts. Enzo wanted in, not only on the cooking part but also on the eating part. I haven't given Maria a brownie, yet, but I know that inevitably she will eat sugar. However, kids can be a good motivator to change your diet.
• Ask for help. Ask moms for recipes, look online, go to the library and check out baby recipe books, ask me for recipes I have tons. There are a million (probably more actually) resources for easy ways to make and store baby purees, rescources for places to buy local baby food, rescources such as WIC to help you purchase organic baby food and charts that help you figure out when it's safe to introduce certain foods. Keep in mind that these charts are very American centered. I say this because I know I have Brazilian readers who give their babies cheese before they turn one or introduce other foods earlier. It's good to be informed, wholesomebabyfood.com is a good place to start, but don't be too uptight about it.
•  Relax and trust yourself. Feeding another human is nerve wrecking. If you are breast feeding you need to trust your body and your baby. Babies will not starve themselves. Sometimes babies eat like a truck driver and sometimes they refuse to eat. Take a deep breath. 
• Bleach=fun. Clorox is my best friend. It removes all stains, even those naughty blueberry stains. Eating is an experience like no other. Let them get dirty, it's so fun.