Cheffing for a toddler - and our wonderful food journey
First and foremost if you don’t want to or don’t have time to read this whole blog post, go download Solid Starts and follow them on IG (this is not sponsored)! This app helped me through so much stress and anxiety as a new mom starting solid foods!
Baby Led Weaning - huh?
When I was pregnant I was all like “oh yeah at 6 months we’ll start solid foods and we will for sure go right to baby led weaning so she can be more independent with her food and blah blah blah”…. Fast forward a YEAR and I still feed my toddler sometimes. Why? Because I can AND sometimes it’s the only way I can get her to eat and that’s OKAY.
How much anxiety did I have starting solids with my 6 month old after exclusively nursing for half a year? A ridiculous amount. So we decided we were comfortable starting with purées…
The pureed life was a good life. I decided that I was going to make her food and not do the store bought jarred baby food because that’s just who I am (that’s another topic for another day). I bought a little baby blender and POW immediately felt more comfortable feeding our daughter. Why take on more anxiety - as if the anxiety of everyday life isn’t already there?
The incredible thing about babies, is that they are literally created to pick up and learn at their own pace. She’ll eventually learn how to eat solid foods. There’s no need to rush. She’ll learn how to feed herself and hold her own spoon, but I wanted to be present and enjoy exploring new tastes before new textures. We wanted to enjoy feeding my baby and I am so glad we did just that.
Purée with intent!
We started with veggies and green food around 6 months. Her first purée was peas. Good ole peas and breast milk. We usually stuck with one food and one taste consistently for a week, then moved to the next. Since she was still mostly nursing, we’d do one maybe two different “snacks” of purées but it wasn’t her main source of nutrients.
We intentionally introduced her to all of the vegetables and beans without adding any type of sweet anything (except sweet potatoes). We did all puréed peas, butternut squash, spinach, chickpeas, avocados (a favorite even still), green beans, carrots, potatoes, and then gradually started fruits… mostly apples. We didn’t even do bananas until we started giving her actual solid food. Crazy right?
So around 8 months we decided (and she was so ready) to start giving her some solid food and purées. The anxiety of this is another level of fear I’ve never known. We started with smashed everything. Oatmeal first, smashed broccoli, tofu (just plain tofu) in small chunks - still a Pri favorite. We did smashed butter beans, smashed chickpeas, again all of the food was smashed and plain. No seasonings.
Fast forward to today, she eats what we eat most of the time. I’ve found ways to add vegetables and things that might be harder for her to chew - but she still eats spinach with olive oil and vinegar.
We are very fortunate to have a baby and toddler who LOVES to eat. We haven’t had any big issues other than her stuffing her face and gagging out the food… because same.
I know our food journey may look and feel very different to other families out there but just know that you are your baby’s biggest role model. Our babies admire and look up to us! Some of the food choices I’ve made have been better and that has been to show her that eating healthy is GOOD, green food is great, and when I am full or done, I am done.
I am writing this post to hopefully help another mama through the anxiety of the food journey. It’s SCARY. I’m here to say that you know your baby. If you’re not ready to start them on solids right away, that’s okay! Heck we all survived puréed food from a jar!
I’m going to add two of my favorite go to toddler friendly and approved recipes because I know it’s hard out here! Let me know if you want more!
The other night I didn’t know what to make, I was exhausted. Pri was hungry but not super hungry… so we had bread and pesto. YEP BREAD AND PESTO. I felt great about this because the pesto had peas, spinach, hemp, and almonds in it! Full of nutrients and she loved it! The pumpernickel bread was lightly toasted. Added pesto on it, cut it up to slices and pow. Dinner. It was so simple and quick and HEALTHY. I ate the crust of the pieces I cut for her and had a whole slice for myself 😂
For the pesto:
Fresh basil leaves (a bunch or two)
1/2-1 cup of Olive oil (add more as needed)
2 Pinches of salt
Lemon juice (I use a half of a fresh lemon)
Handful of Almonds (or pine nuts)
Parmesan cheese - grated (optional - I usually do not add)
PEAS and SPINACH
Blend with an ice cube and add as a pasta topper, bread topper, broccoli sauce, it’s a hit!
I also add hemp seeds for extra protein!
On days where I’m pretty hungry and I have the energy to cook BUT not a ton of food and don’t feel like going to the grocery store, I make bean bites. This bean can be whatever canned bean you have in the fridge, some flour and seasoning. I like to make an aioli dip for my bites if I’m feeling zesty, but this one is quick and easy, and doesn’t take much time to clean either! Also I think it’s fun to make different sizes of these bites. I break apart the bites for my daughter but as she gets older I can make little shapes. 💕
Chickpea bites, black bean bites, whatever canned bean you have available - quick mom and toddler meal edition that I don’t measure.
1.5 cups cooked chickpeas 1 can of chickpeas (or any bean in the pantry)
2 large garlic cloves, chopped grab a TBSP spoonful of minced garlic
3-4 tbsp flour, to thicken mixture for shaping
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Roll in breadcrumbs before baking
ADD HIDDEN VEGGIES HERE - spinach or broccoli are great options for this dish, just chop it enough so your toddler doesn’t notice!