Help with My 15 Month Old Diet

Dear A.,

I'm going to put out some info on milk not commonly mentioned. All milk (organic or not) has hormones in it. How much influence they have is still under research. Cows are milked (in this country) throughout most of their pregnancies, so hormones levels rise as the pregnancy continues A scientist in Mongolia (where they milk only 3 months a year) found much lower levels of hormones in Mongolian milk, compared to US milk.
It is said that the fat in the milk carries more hormones (why cheese can be an even more concentrated form), so ...maybe try skim?
Commercial baby food is not so trustworthy in my opinion. Companies are out to make money...if you can do anything to cook at home, it is probably better. Just keep trying stuff out. Veggies can be an aquired taste. The ancient Greeks complained that kids did not like vegetables...and they had little junk food competition.
I think there was a study that showed if you include something sweet with a new food, a child might form a more positive association with it, and be more likely to eat it again. I should have written that study/site down. darn

You can get hormone free cow's milk. I believe either Kroger (Fry's) or Publix has it just in their regular store brand. I do organic but hormone free isn't hard to find now, you just have to ask. As for Gerber- I keep some for emergencies, but I try not to make them into every meal for him. Here is some of what I fed my son at that age:

For veggies- I keep lots of bags of frozen veggies on hand, and steam them at mealtime. (In the summer I do use fresh.) I just pop them in the microwave in glass bowls with a little water and they are done in about a minute. Then I cool them off, and sometimes I season them. Sweet baby peas are his favorites.

I also will make a little homemade chicken broth gravy or white sauce with milk and parmesan cheese and freeze them in ice cube trays, and then I add them to rice, noodles, or his veggies. (If I am making any sauce or gravy for dinner, I made a bunch of extra and there is no extra work.) This makes the veggies go down easier sometimes. Whenever I make pasta I make extra and freeze some in portions for him, then I just thaw one portion with some sauce and he can feed himself the noodles.

For fruits, when it isn't summer, I will use the frozen bags also. Just pull out a few peaches, mangoes, berries and let them thaw in fridge for later that day and cut them up. Those bags of "smoothie mix" work great. I also use the canned if I can find the kind that are labeled "LITE" and dont have them soaking in syrup. They should be soaking in their own juices or pear juice. Pineapple tidbits are great.

Mine also loves grilled cheese with a slice of ham, quesadillas (so easy) frozen whole grain waffles (sometimes I put fruit-only (no sugar) jelly or cut up berries with them, sometimes he eats them plain), scrambled eggs, and mac & cheese. Pasta with spaghetti sauce is great too. I use whole grain stuff whenever I can, he doesn't know that white bread/pasta tastes better because he has never had it. Hummus is really healthy and easy to make.

Good websites to use, even if you don't make your own babyfood and/or your kid is older:

http://www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/index.html

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

http://weelicious.com/ (updates on Facebook now, you don't even have to remember to read it every day)

They all have lots of ideas and good recipes and such. The top two have great ideas of which foods to combine to make them tastier (and therefore maybe hide the not-so-favorite one.) The frst one has a montly newsletter. Hope all that helps!

I don't think you're doing anything wrong. I had my kids on cow's milk by the time they were 12 months and they are just fine. I don't see anything wrong with the gerber graduates either. Unless your dr says something is wrong, I wouldn't worry about it.

Absolutely on the milk front! It is safe, but if you are concerned and can afford it, you can always try the organic brands. My son is 15months, also and is a very good eater! Even with all of the things he does eat, there are still days that he refuses food. I think it's just part of being a kid! My doc has always said, give a variety of foods and if they are hungry, they'll eat. My son eats all table foods, some things he likes to eat are -- breakfast: waffles, pancakes, eggs, oatmeal, yogurt, dry cereals; lunch - soups, sandwiches, leftovers, all fruit, lunch meats and cheeses; dinner - he'll usually eat whatever we're eating or pasta, veg soup, applesauce, bread, pasta salad with beans, tomatoes, cheese. In between meals he'll always eat fruits or he loves rice cakes and graham crackers.
I may be blessed that my kids eat everything, but I have noticed that if he won't eat it one day, I still offer it again another time. It takes there taste buds a few times to "like" new foods.
As for milk, my son still won't drink it out of a cup. He was great when he drank it from a bottle, but now that he doesn't take the bottle anymore, I still can't get him to drink it. My doc says don't worry and he'll get all the nutrients he needs from foods and other dairy items.
Good luck!

Hi A.,

Avocado and sweet potatoes are almost perfect foods. Most little ones like both of these and you don't have to go to any trouble making them. Baking a sweet potato and peeling an avocado is as simple as you can get. I would try almond milk instead of cow's milk. Almond milk is rarely processed and has many more health benefits...plus it tastes real good. As he starts to eat better, he'll crave healthier food as well. Our bodies want to be nourished...if you avoid the processed foods our bodies will only crave the good stuff.

Hope I helped!

M.

My 17 month old son loves yogurt, I normally put in some veggies (broccoli, eggplant, squash, etc), and he can still taste them, but he will eat just about anything in there. We also do a lot of different kinds of grains (cooked quinoa, puffed kamut, etc.) anything that's a little different so he has a lot of variety. Normally I just feed my guy what we are having, with some extra avocado and beans. You said you do beans, have you tried different varieties, and mixing them together? He also eats a lot of fruit, just discovered blueberries and loves them. What about homemade spaghetti, we add zucchini, mushrooms, and more to it, tastes great for everyone. You just have to try a bunch of things, and keep trying them. There are certain things I know my son won't eat, like pretty much any cold veggie, (salad, tomatoes, carrots, etc), but I still offer them to him every once in a while.

I don't do any non homemade baby food (never have) other than organic teething biscuits. Also, only do organic, hormone free milk, yogurt, cheese, meat, eggs. It normally tastes much better than the other stuff. My son doesn't actually drink milk (or any beverage other than water) often, I still breastfeed, and if you read some of the things about cow's milk, it makes you think twice. I used to drink it ALL of the time, but had to stop because I had serious plugged duct problems (so my body was obviously having issues with it).

You can give him either organic or raw cow milk - no hormones there. Goat milk is even better. Just make sure it is organic/hormone free. Jarred baby food is heated to such a temperature that it kills most of the nutrients. So if you are feeding it for nutrition, then I would try giving him fresh food only. You can make your own very easily. Around that age my daughter was really into brown rice pasta, yogurt, fresh fruit, rice, and puffed grains (rice, millet, kamut). We also have always made smoothies for her, and added flax seed oil for extra omegas.

my kids are older now.. but they loved garden burgedr patties with no bun and ketchup.

If you're concerned about your 15 month old being malnourished I would talk to your pediatrician. For babies needing to gain weight, you can focus on foods like avocados, whole milk yogurt, salmon, cheese, nut butters and of course an array of fresh fruits and vegetables. You shouldn't have any concerns about giving him milk, but I also agree that organic is the best choice. Trader Joe's sells it at a reasonable choice. -www.weelicious.com

Milk is NOT what is used to be.

As a Family Success Coach here is where I send my clients who ask me that question.

http://www.formerfatguy.com/articles/dont-drink-milk.asp

http://search.mercola.com/Results.aspx?q=milk&k=milk

Do your due diligence. My children are 14 and 10 and there is no milk, cows, goats NOTHING in this house, hasn't been for years. We use Almond milk only.

If you want a healthy option: This is my kids breakfast. http://liveitdontdiet.isagenix.com/us/en/isaleanshake.dhtml

PLEASE EDUCATE YOURSELF. Things are not as they seem.

B.
Family Success Coach

I am not a super granola person... I do want my kids to be healthy. The tough thing with organic items is the cost. I can't afford most of it. I buy milk that the label specifically says that their cows are not treated with "rbst". This is a hormone that is given to cows and not produced naturally by them. The brand of milk at Costco says this on it. Their organic is over twice the price!!! The biggest thing I try to stay away from on store bought items for my 13 month old is sugar. I was very suprised to see that it is in most baby food items. Even Cheerios has sugar!!! Some say it shouldn't make a difference but anytime my DS has sugar it makes for a rough night of going to sleep. I made his baby food and he now eats what we eat with a few exceptions. Most of the boxed items I buy for him are his snacks. I love Earth's Best, Mott's "fruit"sauces with no added sugar and Hansen's junior juice that I cut with water.

Cook healthy for your family and feed him straight from the table. He might like that he's eating the same things mommy and daddy are eating!!

I gave my son regular full fat cow's milk and gerber graduates and grew up just fine. At 2 years old we switched to 1% cow's milk. He is 7 now and still drinks it every day. He's tall and healthy. However, when he was 1 year old the doctor said to also give him what we were eating. We did that too to get him used to eating regular solid foods. You have to keep trying with some kids. It takes awhile until they get used to the texture and taste of solid foods. Have you tried string cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, avocados, mashed potatoes (home made), humus, cut up chicken, etc? Keep introducing different things to him everyday - don't take away the baby food that he likes - keep trying and try to transitioning until he just eats solids.

Good luck! Hope this helps.