Eating

I think one of the more stressful parts of parenting right now is eating.  I didn’t watch what I ate during pregnancy or breastfeeding and I hoped this would expose Brady to all the flavors and foods that Casey and I eat.  When she first started eating solid foods, she was at least willing to try a bite of whatever we’d offer her.  Now we’re lucky to get foods we know she likes (liked?) in her.  One of the things she likes to do right now is when eating yogurt or cottage cheese she’ll try to clap her hands on to the spoon and get food everywhere.  What she wants you to do is grab both of her wrists with one hand and then she’ll open her mouth and eat.  She laughs and carries on like it’s the best game ever.

There is just very little consistency in what she’ll eat.  She’ll drink milk, juice (V8 Fusion so at least she’s getting a serving of fruits and veggies), and sometimes water.  Foods she will always eat are Goldfish and ice cream.  She goes through phases where she won’t eat yogurt – right now she is which is a good thing since she isn’t eating much else (another fruit/veggie yogurt blend).  She refuses to eat raw or plain cooked veggies (unless you count french fries as a veggie, I don’t).  I did manage to cook up some zucchini muffins, carrot spice muffins, and blueberry waffles and she has been eating those for the most part.  Let’s see, she’ll also eat baby oatmeal, applesauce, dry cereal (Chex or Cheerios), fruit (bananas, strawberries, grapes, apples, oranges, peaches – no pears, cantaloupe, or watermelon), and sometimes faux chicken nuggets.  I’ve tried buying some new foods recently to switch things up on her and for the most part it hasn’t helped.  More no’s are turkey, turkey hot dogs, cheese, bread, tortillas, ham, and pasta.  I think the only thing that was a success was bringing yogurt back into the rotation and getting her to try a new flavor of crackers.

I do feel better now that she’s eating the muffins (we tell her they’re cupcakes) and gummi vitamins.  She acts like everything is fine and we just leave food out for her to graze at her leisure – she does not want to be strapped down to eat.  I’ve weighed her in my concern for her eating and she’s gained since her last appointment in June (over 27 pounds now) so I probably shouldn’t be too concerned I guess but I can’t help it!