Feeding Your Little Ones & Keeping Them Nourished
The moment you become a mother, you have a whole new list of things to worry about. You are responsible for another human being!
During pregnancy, there are some foods that could potentially harm your baby, not to mention the prenatal vitamins that should become a habit. During my first pregnancy, I’ll never forget my first midwife appointment when she asked if I was taking folic acid. I looked at her like she was speaking Aldovian. I told her no – I thought we’d chat about all the prenatal care stuff at the appointment.
She told me it is highly recommended for all women of childbearing age to take prenatal vitamins daily (even before becoming pregnant). I remember thinking, wow I’m not even 8 weeks pregnant and I’ve already managed to not properly nourish my child (and I’m a nutritionist!).
Whether you chose to follow the eating guidelines for pregnant women exactly as suggested or not, your baby’s nutrition is something you constantly think about. For instance, will my baby suffer if I eat the entire cake or should I just stop at half?
Well, unfortunately, the constant worry doesn’t end once your baby is born. There is such a huge focus on your baby’s weight gain in the first few months, that so many moms struggle with the question of whether their baby is getting the right amount of nourishment. I’m a huge supporter of fed is best.
I understand that breast milk has many benefits, but shaming a mother for the way she chooses to feed her baby seems counterproductive. Remember the saying “It takes a village” – it may be cliche, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t true.
Some women have no interest in breastfeeding and that’s their decision to make, while other women want to breastfeed so badly but they can’t.
I understand the struggle, with my firstborn (X1) we had a bad start. It was a learning curve for both of us and he had a small tongue-tie. I had many emotional breakdowns and my husband was supportive – he never let me feel like I was in any way letting our son down if we needed to switch to formula.
In the end, we ended up giving him one bottle before he went down for the night. After a long day, I appreciated the break and my husband loved being able to feed him just before bed.
As a new mother, your body has been through a traumatic, albeit beautiful (or so they say) event. The list of physical and hormonal changes to your postpartum body is endless, and breastfeeding can add a lot of stress to an already overwhelmed mama!
Introducing Solids to Your Little One
Once you finally get the hang of the feeding situation (boob or bottle), after 4-6 short months it’s time to introduce solids.
I have to first say that we didn’t start solids until 6 months with X1 and will be doing the same for X2 (in the next few weeks), but check with your GP to see what they think is suggested for your little one!
Since the introduction of solids is supposed to be for fun and experimentation – it’s recommended you get creative! I have to admit, I did a fair bit of research on baby led weaning (BLW) vs purees, and I so badly wanted to dive into BLW. I quickly changed strategies when my little guy started gagging big time on his first attempt!
Gagging (for all those who don’t know) is completely normal and is a natural reaction to help teach baby where the food should be on his/her tongue. I knew this, and I thought I was prepared for this – until it happened! At the time, we were eating a Whole Food, Plant-Based diet and we pureed any fruits or veggies (or beans) we had for meals and my little guy happily munched on things most people wouldn’t peg as “kid-friendly” choices.
Well, I’m sure some kind of switch flips as soon as they find their voice because my super easy going eater (who was a serious fan of lentil and cauliflower soup) started protesting mealtime.
Welcome. To. Toddlerhood.
Now, I returned to work after my maternity leave and we got busy. So not all his pouches were handmade by me anymore and out of convenience, we found a few snacks that were our go-to on the go snacks (like Annie’s Organic Cheese Bunnies or Pressed by Kind bars). There was a constant power struggle of us wanting him to eat a healthy meal versus his toddler brain wanting to only eat bunnies and watermelon.
Note: I’ve managed to find a few recipes to ensure he gets some nutrients into his body (but I’m always looking for new ideas – so feel free to drop a link in the comments for any winning recipes you’ve found)!
One evening as I was perusing Pinterest in a desperate attempt to find some hidden veggie recipes, I came across a post suggesting that you serve your toddler their snacks in a muffin tin. It’s such a simple solution – but it is genius! You can see the original post here!
I can get my little guy to eat pretty much anything this way! We have a deal in our house that he has to eat the whole tray before he can ask for any specific snacks. So any time he’s hungry – he can eat anything available on the muffin tin until everything is gone. It seems to have solved a lot of our snack time nightmares as he gets to decide which foods he wants to eat and when (power struggle solved)!
Travelers Tip – Since we have yet to break out the Baby Bullet for X2, the silicone tray we got with our bullet (that comes with a lid) works as the perfect traveling snack tray!
Have you used the muffin tin snack time trick? I’d love to see photos of what you put in yours!
XO,
Emma
