Aquanatal and Operation: Popeye

Aquanatal is simply wonderful.  I went to my second class last night.  The regular instructor-midwife was out last week because her sister was in labor, but she was back this week and worked us a bit harder than her substitute.  Plus, the regular instructor-midwife's accent was softer and easier for me to understand, so I was able to keep up with the routine and conversation better.

Even though I'm not the slimmest mum in the class, I seem to be the most fit.  I attribute this to keeping up after my son.  For the arm strength exercises, I wasn't having any issues while my exercise partners were wincing.  My years in competitive swimming has also been showing through in exercises that require just arm strokes or leg cycles, or in relaxation floating.  A bit of a compliment too-- the instructor was asking if I'd still be swimming competitively if I wasn't pregnant.  "Oh hell no... I haven't swum competitively for years and years, but it just sticks with you.  I hope all my babies are water babies."

And then my age showed when we were asked who were first time mums and who were already mums.  Most of the class raised their hands to first time mums.  "Who has one or more?"  Only mine and one other hand was up.  "Who has two or more?" That question left only my hand up.  "Boy or girl?  How old are they?"  I grinned nervously and answered that one's a girl and she's off to college (its usually quicker and easier to just say that since we're supposed to disclose all completed pregnancies to midwives)... the next is a boy and he's 16 months old.  And this next one is a girl.  The stares from the other mums are all shock: what an age gap!

The class is very enjoyable-- I'm getting a lot out of it and feeling good about myself.  I'm meeting other mums and sharing stories.  I think once both kids are at nursery, I'll look into a water aerobics class-- it's just been that good.  And its just a great break from having Arthur to myself for the full day, at the end of it.  If I have any frustration from our day, I can work it off then and come back home feeling refreshed mentally and physically.

The biggest frustration lately:  I'm embroiled in that age old parent versus child war on veggies.  Arthur used to be great with vegetables.  I was so proud when he got excited and even grunted for his broccoli.  Since he had that stomach bug weeks ago, however, and I gave him whatever he could keep down, he's decided he doesn't want his veg anymore and its been difficult to even get him excited about fruit now.  Its been bread.  Bread. Bread. Bread.  Crackers, breadsticks, toast, muffins... that's about all he'll take with the same enthusiastic gusto that he used to have for fruit and veg.  It breaks my heart and sometimes I can't even bear to watch him eat all that 'junk' while dumping all the 'good stuff' onto the floor.

Meanwhile, hubby says, "He's just being a typical toddlers.  He's still thriving.  He's still slender and active.  He'll outgrow it.  Just relax."  Well, maybe.  But I still have this overwhelming urge to ensure that Arthur's getting the most nutritious diet possible.  There is so much conflicting information out there on the subject.

A lot of parents have resorted to offering nothing but vegetables, or else sending their kids to bed hungry.  I just can't bring myself to do that.  I think its cruel and there are too many kids in the world who doesn't have a choice in going to bed hungry.  What a terrible luxury it is to have that as an option!  Most wouldn't do that to an adult, why do it to a child?

I wrote an article about Picky Toddler Eaters a while back, but it seems like the rules have changed.  I've research and referenced Dr. Sear's Feeding the Picky Eater: 17 Tips.  It is reassuring to read about toddler food binges.  We've tried the nibbler tray, but again, Arthur's reaching for only breaded items from the tray.  I've tried dips, but so far they just make Arthur gag.  Spreading and topping have similar results.  So, I'm giving 'Drink it' a go.  Today, I've added a new tool to my arsenal.  I now own a hand blender.

Besides bread, I can get Arthur to take drinkable yogurt in his sippy cups.  So, I have devised a plan for hiding veg in his eats... we're making smoothies and I'm adding spinach to them.  Plus, if I'm serving food with a sauce, that sauce gets treated as well.  I got three sippy cups ready to go.

Here's the quick recipe, if there's any interest...

• 1 small cup of yogurt
• 1 small banana
• 2 tablespoon scoops of blueberries (wonderful superfood)
• Eyeballed equal portion of fresh spinach leaves with their stems removed
• Splash of milk to consistency

And blend it with the hand blender.  Quick clean up.  Small footprint for storage and counter space too.  If I had known about this hand blender before getting the food processor-- because it does come with attachments for chopping-- I wouldn't have bothered with the food processor.  Since its smaller, its just perfect for preparing quick, fresh, single sized children meals.  It's going to get a lot of use after Victoria starts on solids.


Hopefully, I'll have some good news to report on Operation: Popeye.

Picky Toddler Eaters

After the elation of watching your sweet toddler explore all of the wonderful flavours and textures that the world of solid foods has to offer, it inevitably happens.  Your little muncher who so impressed you with her huge appetite begins tossing food aside.  Or spits it out entirely.  Or offers the food to the pets.  Or does a number of other things that ultimately result in becoming a picky eater.

The best advice anyone has for this is to just keep offering foods and fallback on the favourites.  Even the pickiest toddler has a few favourites they like to eat, such as bananas or pears, or cheerios, or even toddler snackie foods.

• Eat with your toddler to encourage eating by monkey’ing you.  
• Make sure there are no other distractions at meal time such as the television running.
• Relax.  If you’re stressed about your toddler eating, he’ll know it.  Mealtime is time for sharing, enjoying each other’s company, and enjoying the meal—emphasize that about the time you’re spending with your toddler.
• Encourage food play.  Maybe by accident your toddler will manage to get something into her mouth!  And then decide it’s not so bad!  I did this with my son just last night when he was acting like, “Ewuh, this spinach ricotta canolli is sticky!  Oh hey, it tastes pretty good!”
• Try preparing the same food, but a different way.  My son will have little to do with sliced bananas, even though bananas are one of his favourites.  If I break the banana into bits, he's able to hold the bits easier and eat.  Try rolling food in 'cheerio dust' if you suspect its a problem with being able to hold the food.  So sometimes, something as little as piecing out the food differently makes all the difference.

Most of a toddler’s nutrition can still reasonably come from breastmilk, follow on formula, and whole milk.  And while variety is one of the keys to better nutrition, don’t stress out if your toddler goes through stints of ‘eating bad’ for two to three days.  You can resume perfectly balanced healthy foods as soon as the picky behaviour ends.

Causes of Picky Toddler Eating

Wonder Week – sometimes when a toddler is hitting a developmental leap, a slight eating regression happens.  If your toddler is cranky, clingy, and crying (per the Wonder Week website and books) and you’ve ruled out everything else, it’s likely that your toddler is embarking on a mental leap.  These typically last for about two to three days, at most five to seven and your toddler should resume his old eating habits afterwards.

New Stress in Household – toddlers will regress not only eating, but also other behaviours if there is significant stress in the household.  If you are seeing picky eating in addition to other behaviour regression—say for example, you’ve taught your toddler to stop biting others, and she decides to take up biting again—it’s more likely the result of some new stress in the household.  If you address the stress, your toddler will likely revert back from regressive behaviours.

Teething – if it hurts to eat it, your toddler won’t.  Look for the classic signs of teething such as swollen gums, ruddy cheeks, drooling, runny nose and light cough, slight fever and address those with an infant pain reliever or cold teething rings.  Try offering foods slightly chilled that’s been mashed up a bit more than usual.  I don’t recommend oral teething gels in general; some contain an ingredient known as ‘benzocaine’ (ethyl p-aminobenzoate; trade names Anbesol, Cepacol, Lanacane and others) which has shown to be linked to SIDS.

Cold or Sickness – if the toddler’s nose is stopped up, it’s trickier for her to eat since she’s having to take food and breathe through her mouth.  Also, if she’s not feeling at her best, your toddler may simply not have the patience for newer foods and may simply be reaching for what she knows as comfort foods.  Treat the cold or sickness as normal or according to your doctor’s instructions.  Your toddler should be back to loving food as soon as she’s feeling better!

Asserting Independence – it might be that your toddler is simply exerting his independence.  This is a good thing!  When toddlers are able to express their likes and dislikes with comfort and confidence, it’s a sign of a child who’s very secure in himself and in his relationship with you.

If your toddler’s pickiness with food lasts for more than a week, contact your doctor for advice.

Easy Table Foods to Start With

Multigrain Cheerios – I think this is an easy stand by in any house hold.

Toast, Margarine, and Jam – Make it just like you like it.  Remove the crusts.  Then pull bits from it that are the size of your thumbnail at first.  Later as your baby gets better at eating, pull larger bits.  Even later, make Toast Fingers.

Ripe Pear – And when I say ripe, it’s ripe enough to shave pieces off with a spoon.  Rather than cutting up slices or cubes, just eat the skin off and use the spoon to make thumbnail sized shavings to offer.  Later, include the skin.  And then when your baby is really good at controlling their portions, offer whole slices.

Banana – Break the banana up with your fingers into thumbnail sized bits.  Later, when baby is confident with controlling how much goes into her mouth, offer larger pieces.

Steamed Broccoli Florets – The florets are the ‘green leafy part of the broccoli.  Steam these on the stove or in the microwave until the florets are brightly fresh colored and comes off of the stem easily with a fork.  Flavor these as you would your own steam broccoli with margarine and spices (but hold the salt!).  Offer the florets to your baby.  Later when baby is a better eater, offer some of the stem.

Steamed Asparagus – Same instructions as Broccoli.

Squash, Carrots, and other Nutrient Dense Roots – Steam, boil, or roast until these are soft enough to mash with a fork.  You can leave these as chunky or as mashed as your baby likes it.  Flavor these as you would eat them.

Other Tips…

I found that if I was eating at the same time as my son, he'd monkey me more and do much better.  I had to slow down my eating quite a bit and I've started including things like clementines and oranges into my meals (not his, not yet, their too acidic and cause diaper rash) so I have to take time peeling and eating for myself while he's eating.  Our meals generally took at hour at first.  Now we're down to about 30 minutes until he seems done.

Anything you can put a light gravy or sauce on to help make it slippery is great too.  You can get very small sized pasta, prepare it like you would for yourself.  Take a tablespoon of cream cheese.  Grate a kids snack wedge of cheese.  Melt those in the microwave and add whole milk to consistency and you've got a great, easy to eat baby pasta.  Just add or take away sauce to your baby's preference.

We went a long time too where I was offering a full range of foods.  I offered a puree or yogurt, a helping of 10 month chunky jarred food, and something off of my plate and I went with whatever he seemed happiest eating.  A lot of food ends up on the floor or goes uneaten, but this is how learning happens.  If I was anxious about my son not getting enough fruit or vegetables, I'd stir in a little vegetable puree into whatever he was eating.

When I was seeing next to no gagging, I gave my son larger bits and now he has a really good handle on how much he can put in his mouth or bite off.  But he still sometimes tries to bite off a little bit more than he can chew.

Just try to relax and keep working with it.  The doctor might prescribe your baby some vitamins if you're concerned about nutrition and may recommend that you stay on the formula until your baby comes around to eating more solids.  Technically, babies are still suckling well into 2 or 3 years of age and many can expect to have primary nutrition coming from breast milk or formula until then.

The Basics in Transitioning (or Starting) with Solids

I’ve always been big on nutrition.

During pregnancy, I was advising other moms on healthy diets—how to cook and eat whole foods (not the organic store chain, but rather brown rice instead of white, using more legumes, etc).  I was super annoyed when my pregnancy blood work came back showing me borderline gestational diabetes and borderline anaemic in spite of my stellar eating habits.  I’m proof positive that hormones can and will screw you over in that department anyways, but it’s still no excuse to slack on a healthy diet!

Later, I was huge on breastfeeding (or rather, exclusive pumping), taking vitamins and continuing to eat right in order to provide my son with the best nutrition—putting wheat germ on my cereal… the whole nine yards.  It shouldn’t have been any surprise to friends after that I’d be super keen on my son’s diet when he transitioned from breast milk to foods.

The question always comes up: what do I feed my toddler?  And there are many answers to that with a whole array of options that can sometimes be confusing or difficult to break down.  The purpose of this post is an attempt to make it all a little simpler.

First, I want to put down some ground rules that seem to get forgotten in all of the hoopla on toddler nutrition.

Until your baby is 18 months to 2 years, breast milk and/or baby formula will very likely be your baby’s primary source of nutrition and calories.  So if your six month old isn’t keep up with the champion Baby-Led Weaners eating chicken straight off the leg, you are so far from alone… and in fact, the six month old eating chicken straight off the leg is the odd ball out.  So up until 18 months to 2 years, solids are for fun.  Relax, introduce them and see how much enjoyment your baby gets out of them!

Variation is the key to better nutrition and to keep things interesting.  But always have your fallbacks ready.  Try introducing a new food, or an old food presented in a new way, every week.  Some things will fly, some won’t.  A lot of food ends up on the floor.  Don’t sweat any of that.  Now is not the time to be talking to your baby about starving children in African nations.  Now is the time to keep eating interesting and fun.

Don’t be afraid of mess.  Fearing the clean up after only holds your baby back.  It may seem like a lot of work at first, but once you’ve done it a few times, you’ll quickly see how fast and easy post meal clean up can be.

Encourage without pressure or stress.  Babies are little empaths, reflections of you.  If you’re stressed over meals, that teaches baby that meals are meant to be stressed over… and they’re not.  If you’re having difficulty with the process (fear of gagging, fear of baby not being able to control their portions, etc.), take a break from trying to re-examination in yourself what the issue is and try to overcome that on your own before trying again.  Or sometimes a little exposure to the issue helps.

For example, I had a great big huge fear of my son gagging and choking and I wouldn’t be able to save him.  It would keep me up at night with worry.  What I discovered was that I was PPD and I couldn’t find it in myself to trust my son with his food.  So when I got treatment for the PPD and when I did other activities with my son so I could learn to trust him better, I was able to trust him more with his food.  Now I fully know that he knows how to handle himself with his food.  It took some time and a little exposure, but under different, less stressful circumstances.

So with those ground rules in place, on to the adventure of eating!