Day 359 - 1st Year Round-Up - Top 5 Favorite Foods

Today's first time parenting tip - Give your baby his favorite, healthy foods and encourage him to try new ones

It may take up to ten tries for a baby to learn to like a food, so when you get success with one it's tempting to serve that up every time. It's always good to have some old, reliable comfort food you can count on him to eat, but it's also good to introduce new foods to give him a wide, varied palate.

The eating habits you set up in the first two years are the one's they'll have for the rest of their lives. So my son will probably enjoy these 5 foods well into his adult years. They're all pretty safe, but if your infant hasn't tried them yet, give it a whirl.

• Bananas


• Cheerios and Goldfish


• Eggs with and without vegetables


• Spaghetti


• Yogurt

Honorable Mention - Wheat Bread

Parenting, Favorite, Food

Day 355 - 1st Year Round Up - How Much Should Your 12 month old be eating

Today's first time parenting tip - Serving sizes for a twelve month old are different than adults

As part of the first year round up, I'm going to look at taking stock of where your baby is at. Keep in mind that these are averages, and they could fall above or below these ranges and be perfectly fine. The numbers are meant to give you a general idea of what your baby should be doing.

Your baby's eating patterns have probably changed quite a bit over the last year. They went from all breast milk to fruits, veggies and crackers in no time. So how much is too much? At this age, your baby is still probably too young to eat just for the sake of eating.

If he's hungry, he'll eat. If he's not, he'll stop. If you think your child has a weight problem, first take stock of what you're giving him. Is it unhealthy foods with lots of fat and sugar? Or is it healthy fare, like veggies and fruits.

If that's not the problem, your baby could just be naturally bigger. You should never underfeed your baby or try to put them on a diet. At this age, they still need a high-fat diet for brain development, so consult your pediatrician before making any diet changes.

Here's how much your baby should be getting from each food group:

• 3 oz. of grains (1 slice of wheat bread = 1 oz, and 1/2 cup of cereal or pasta = 1 oz)


• 1 cup of raw or cooked vegetables


• 1 cup of fruits or fruit juice


• 2 oz of meat/beans (2 tablespoons of lean meat is 1oz, and one egg is an ounce

Parenting, Food, Average, Vegetable, Fruit, Diet

Day 330 - 1st Birthday Ideas Part 1 - The Food

Part 1 - The Food - Part of the 1st Birthday Ideas Series

Today's first time parenting tip - Pick foods that are easy to prepare, easy for baby to eat and that can be made ahead of time

The 1st birthday is right around the corner! Are you going to plan a birthday bash for your little one? They may not be big enough to remember yet, but you and everyone who attends will. That's why its important to keep the day as stress free as possible so you and everyone else can enjoy it.

First, what will everyone eat? Since you've got a lot to deal with just getting your baby ready for the party, you'll want something easy to make that allows people to serve themselves. And you'll want the baby to be able to eat with everyone too!

Here are some food ideas:

• Fruit tray with bananas, apples, strawberries, kiwi with some low fat yogurt dip


• Vegetable tray. Unless you cook these, this'll probably be an adults only tray


• Cheese and cracker tray


• Bread and hummus tray
• 
  
• Finger sandwiches with meat, cheese and lettuce. Mustard and mayo optional


• Taquitos or Flautas. These rolled up Mexican appetizers taste great and are easy to make


• Macaroni and cheese. Not the kraft kind, but the kind you make with noodles, real cheese with bread crumbs sprinkled on top


• Birthday cake of course. Cupcakes are also another excellent way to go

You get the idea. With a menu like this, it already starts to feel like a kids party and it will remind your guest of the parties they had as a kid.

What kind of food do you serve at your kids' birthday parties?

Parenting, 1st, Birthday, Party, Food

Day 328 - Ten Super-Nutritious Foods for Your Baby

Today's first time parenting tip - Feed your baby these ten foods and you'll be giving them some great nutrition

Kiwi - More vitamin C than an orange, it also comes with a good amount of fiber and potassium. Plus, according to a study by Thorax, it helps prevent asthma.

Apricots - Vitamin A and dietary fiber. These were my son's favorite flavor of baby food

Raisins - Packed with the all important mineral, iron. There's a reason all baby formula and food is iron-fortified.

Bok-Choy (Chinese Cabbage) - This veggie has calcium for your child's growing bones

Wheat Germ - Bread, bagels and cereals made with wheat have even more vitamins and minerals for your baby, especially vitamin E. Serve them exclusively.

Yogurt - Lots of calcium and the active bacteria in yogurt helps prevent yeast infections in a dark, wet diaper.

Raspberries - Another great source of vitamin C

Mango - Filled with vitamin A and vitamin C

Pinto Beans - A little Mexican flare is a good source of protein for your baby

Breastmilk - Hands down, the best source of nutrition for your baby

Always, always make sure these foods are small enough to not be a choking hazard, and watch for food allergies.


Parenting, Nutritious, Food, Nutrition, Healthy

Day 318 - Signs of Food Allergies

Today's first time parenting tip - As you give your baby more and more regular foods, keep a close eye out for food allergies

Your infant is probably getting to the point where he's trying all sorts of new foods at your house, at other houses, at a restaurant, at daycare, etc. Since you don't know how they are prepared or what foods may have been mixed with them, its important to keep an eye on your baby for food allergies.

Here's how to tell if your baby is having a reaction.

• Wheezing or difficulty breathing


• Itchy skin rashes


• Hives


• Vomiting


• Diarrhea


• Nausea


• Stomach pain or discomfort


• Swelling around the mouth and throat

A sever reaction is called anaphylaxis, and the symptoms include difficulty breathing , swelling of the airways and low blood pressure. In this case get medical attention immediately.

If the symptoms are less severe, call your pediatrician or the nurse at your local hospital for advice. Be sure to tell them what your child ate over the past 24 hours and how much they ate of it.

Parenting, Food, Allergy, Symptoms, Signs

Day 313 - How to Teach Your Baby to Use a Spoon

Today's first time parenting tip - Patience and imitation are your best friends when teaching your baby how to use a spoon

Using silverware is the next step for your baby after they learn how to eat with their fingers. Since it requires fine motor skills, balance and coordination, you can expect the process to take a little bit of coaching. Here are some important tips to remember:

• Be patient. They won't get it right away, and getting frustrated won't help them learn


• Teach through imitation. You can do this by eating with a spoon out of your own bowl or plate. If they're eating something you don't mind stomaching, you can even spoon up their own food to show them how


• Let them experiment. There will be a fair amount of dumping food on the floor, their head, the cat, etc. It's O.K., your infant is exploring this new tool they've found.


• Get a baby sized spoon. It's smaller and will be coated in a soft rubbery material that's easy on the teeth and easier for them to handle

Parenting, Teach, Spoon, Feeding, Food

Day 302 - Recipe for Veggie-Eggs

Today's first time parenting tip - Mix vegetables in with eggs for a high-protein, high -vitamin breakfast for your infant

Having trouble getting your infant to eat their vegetables? Try mixing them right in with some eggs and watch them gobble it right up.

Ingredients:
1 large egg
1 heaping tablespoon green beans
1 heaping tablespoon peas

Directions
1. Puree the vegetables with the egg
2. Scramble or fry the egg over medium high heat
3. Cut up into bite size pieces and let set for a few minutes to cool

Parenting, Eat, Egg, Food, Recipe, Vegetables

Day 286 - Trick for Getting Your Baby to Eat

Today's first time parenting tip - Feed your baby off your plate, or eat off theirs

Here's a quick tip if you're struggling to get your baby to eat food rather than play with it.

I've found our son sometimes doesn't want what's on his plate, but he'll scarf it down if he thinks it came from our plate. Or, he'll be more interested in what's for dinner right in front of him if he sees us eating it as well.

Try putting some of his food on your plate and eat a little bit of it. If he leans over or wants to grab at it, try feeding it to him. My wife had a salad and he ate nearly half of it.

Other times he thinks that fruit or cheerios are things to mash around and throw on the ground. If I start eating pieces off his highchair tray, he'll pick up a couple pieces and start eating. It only takes a few tastes of the things he likes to get him started, after that he's all about feeding himself.

Parenting, Food, Feeding, Difficulty, Eat,

Day 269 - Keep a Log

Today's first time parenting tip - Keep track of minor preferences and events in your baby's day-to-day, they could be significant.

There are so many different things to keep track of in your head when you're raising a baby, schedules, food preferences, medicine, doctor visits, day care, etc. And it only seems to get more complicated.

If you're looking for some order, or are wondering if there's a pattern to your baby's behavior, you might want to keep a little log of it. It doesn't have to be anything complex, just a little notebook and a pen. Write a short note with a date and time on it, and it's probably a good idea to keep the things you're tracking separate. i.e. All the notes about food preferences are together, all the notes about medicine together.

My wife and I just started our son at a home day care, and he came home today with a rug burn on his chin. The woman running the day care didn't mention it until we asked, and she said she didn't see it happen or hear him cry.

It could all be on the up-and-up, but we just want to make sure there's not a harmful pattern in this new environment. A rug burn here or a bump there isn't a big deal by themselves, but if we notice lots of them over time there's probably something going on.

That's what we plan on using it for. What are you going to track?

Parenting, Track, Activity, Food, Preferences, Organize

Day 265 - Baby's Diet

Today's first time parenting tip - Look at what your baby is getting to eat by the week, not by the day.

Getting your baby the proper nutrition is extremely important, but a huge challenge as their tastes go through phases. Pears might be something they gobble up one day, then the next they won't touch them.

Some days they might not want to eat any solid foods. Some days, they might scarf it down. As they get older, start looking at the big picture. Did they get enough and a variety of vegetables this week? The same for fruits? And what about meats and breads?

While its important to give them tastes of everything everyday, its ok if they pick at some things. As long as they get a taste of a healthy diet every day, you've got them on the right track to developing good eating habits.

Right now their too young to be consistent, and are more than likely going to be finicky. Don't stress, if they didn't go through phases like picky eating, you'd probably be the first one, ever.

Parenting, Food, Table, Feed, Eat

Day 264 - Eat as a Family

Today's first time parenting tip - Eat with your baby to encourage them to eat, not play

I've already written about the behavioral benefits of eating as a family in my "Get in the Habit" series. But we've realized another nice side effect of eating together.

Lately my son has learned that swiping his food and throwing it on the floor is fun. Even if he's hungry, he'll mash it around. But if my wife and I encourage him to feed us (which he LOVES), he'll get in the mood and start eating himself.

And when he eats lunch with the other kids at daycare, he has no problem chowing down on things we struggle to get him to eat at home, like veggies. The social aspect of eating is a great motivator for him to follow the other kids' lead.

So if you run into trouble with your child feeding himself, try making it a family activity. He might be encouraged to eat himself if he sees others around him doing the same.

Parenting, Food, Table, Feed, Eat

Day 257 - Mixing and Matching Foods

Today's first time parenting tip - It's OK to mix vegetables with other foods like cheese or bread

If your baby is like ours, then he might not like vegetables by themselves. Old favorites like green beans, peas, etc. Now get spat right back out, and he just pushes them aside until they're mostly on the floor or all over his clothes.

We were sort of at a loss, until we started mixing his vegetables with eggs, noodles, cheese, bread, chicken, beef, etc. we noticed he had no problem gobbling them right up. We felt sort of bad, until we looked at our own plates and realized that neither of us usually eat veggies on their own.

So if you're having trouble getting veggies down, try matching them with another taste to see if they enjoy it. Don't feel like you've given up and failed as a parent like we did for a minute. Very rarely do kids eat the strong vegetables like broccoli, some adults never develop a taste for them.

If you can find a way to get your kids to eat this very important food group and enjoy the taste, you're miles ahead of lots of other parents. And of course, if you're wondering if your baby can have foods like cheese or meats, ask your pediatrician.

Parenting, Food, Table, Feed, Eat

Day 256 - Eating at the Big Kids Table

Today's first time parenting tip - Baby refusing spoonfed jarred food? He might be ready for table food.

There was a period of about a week or so where our son absolutely would not eat spoonfed, jarred baby food. Old reliables he liked: green beans, squash, pears, peaches, etc. now became battles of us cajoling him to get his mouth open, only to spit food back in our face.

We'd been feeding him cheerios and small bits of very soft fruit. He seemed to have the whole chewing and swallowing thing down pat. We discovered a trick to get him to eat the jarred stuff - put cheerios on the high chair plate and sneak in spoonfuls.

This got old pretty quick, and then our pediatrician told us that he was probably ready to go for table foods.

It worked like a charm. Sure enough, he just wanted to be able to feed himself. Every once and awhile now, he won't eat what's on his plate and we'll spoonfeed him something, but by and large, he's self sufficient now.

There are some things he can't have though, as I mentioned earlier.

Parenting, Food, Table, Feed, Eat