transitioning to solids being chief nutrient

[s_gosney]

I'm kind of freaking out about this. Kylee has never been really gung ho about eating her solids, but she LOVES nursing...not even a hint of a nursing strike here ever....I've not really pushed a lot of solids because I knew that BM could be her main nutrition up to 1 year. Well, now we're there, and I'm worried about providing enough nutrients through her food. We're not weaning, and I don't plan to at least until April because I'm trying my darndest to keep her sick as little as possible. Her ped isn't as pro-bf as I would like, and I have a feeling he's going to give me an earful at her appt if I tell him how little real food she's eating. I think one of my main problems is just that I don't eat good meals regularly, so I don't always have something from what I'm eating to offer her. For instance, I eat fast food for lunch more often than I would like, and I certainly don't want to feed her my McD's french fries. DH and I don't eat a wide variety of veggies, so dinner doesn't even always provide a good variety. Kylee loves to eat green beans and she loves loves loves crackers. But, I'm sure she needs more nutrients than this! I never thought this would be so tricky! She's refusing to be spoon fed these days for the most part, but she still gags more than I would like too. I guess I'm just looking for tips for convenient, nutritious foods for her. Thanks for your help!

[annex]

Sounds like she's pretty similar to my DD at 1 year. I never really pushed her into solids, she eventually gradually started eating more and more food. The only pushing/trickery I did was to turn on the tv during breakfast and lunch to distract her so I could spoon cereal or slip finger food into her mouth. I also did/do give vitamins since she ate such a limited variety of foods and was anemic.

The convenient or quick/easy cook foods that she would occasionally eat for me at that age were: yogurt, little pieces of cheese, cheerios, baby cereal mixed with OJ, applesauce, Pirate Booty, macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese, scrambled eggs, hard-boiled egg, omelets, graham crackers, bananas, toast strips

Hope this give you some ideas. I wouldn't stress about it. The ped probably won't ask, I find they tend to just assume most kids are eating enough variety of solids by that point.

Anne

[new_mommy25]

Sherri, I'm dealing with the same thing. Noah still nurses practically every two hours as if he were still a newborn. He used to be pretty gung ho about solids but now he is getting really picky! We don't do any spoon feeding.

Here are things I have learned.

Always have fruit in the house. Fruit is the one thing my DS loves and will always eat. Grapes keep really well and I cut them into quarters. Other favorites are watermelon, peaches, plums, strawberries, and banana. I don't really care for fruit myself, but it's a quick an easy lunch for DS.

Cheese. DS loves all types of cheese, especially cheddar, colby jack, and Mozzarela. I cut it into cubes. You could shred it to. I don't like to buy the packages shredded cheese because I think the powder stuff on it is gross.

There are days when Noah only eats fruit, cheese and cheerios for EVERY meal. I don't sweat it because I suppose it could be worse. Obviously I don't eat the same thing as him and I just make sure his meal times are consistent. I also offer 1-2 snacks in addition to breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Oh and I just bought some of that soy nut butter that I keep hearing about. It really does tast like PB. I made DS a soynut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch and it was a great hit.

And I don't think there is anything wrong with crackers. I do make an effort to buy healthier crackers with no trans fat. It does require a trip to the health food store which is 30 minutes away so sometimes we just do Ritz :)