May 12, 2015

FIAO 5.10 - Feeding The Twins - We're Officially Eating Meals!

They say no big changes happen over night and this has never been more true in my life than when it comes to helping my girls grow. After months of introducing foods, waiting for allergic reactions, watching them love something one day and hate it the next or flat out refuse anything for days at a time we are finally eating two to three good, balanced meals a day on top of nursing every 3-4 hours with one feed overnight.

Whoo hoo!!!

We start out our day by nursing at 7 or 8, depending on when they wake up. About 45 minutes later we head to the kitchen for breakfast. I tried eggs but they both ended up with redness after so we're holding off on those for a bit. I was stumped as to what else to give them since they've made it clear they hate bananas and oatmeal until I decided to try some whole milk plain yogurt. They love it! Not only that but Jules' eczema spot on her cheek has nearly disappeared since we started eating it every day. They are also finally taking to more fruits (still no banana or apple though) so every morning we have fruit and yogurt and if we're are cooking a big breakfast they will have some toast (used to be with peanut butter but again, redness, so holding off) and meat (bacon, sausage or ham). When they eat all their yogurt and fruit I will toss them a few puffs or cheerios because, predictably, they love them. Baby food companies - I swear their food is addicting for babies.

We nurse when they wake up and after naps or whenever they want to. We have our second meal of the day around 12:30. This usually consists of a steamed veggie, avocado or cheese with a fruit they will eat and crackers. They're getting better at picking up the avocado pieces but Viv still won't eat much of them. For dinner around 5:30 they will have some of our leftovers from the night before, another veggie and fruit, chicken or turkey and some puffs as their "dessert". When they finish eating I offer either a straw cup or one of their small bottles with no top with 2 oz. of water at each meal. They drink maybe half an oz to an oz then dump and play with the rest.

New foods we introduced the last few weeks (they are 9.5 months/8.5 months adjusted):

grilled cheese (whole wheat bread with aged cheddar cheese and unsalted butter. loved it.)
pasta (bow-tie, quartered) with homemade tomato sauce (loved it)
pickles (nibbled on them while at a family party but they made their faces red and I don't like the sodium even tho they love them)
black olives (another sodium concern but they just tried a sliver of one)
peaches & pears (they didn't like them fresh but they like them from a fruit cup of course)
kale and Chard (small bits just for texture and color exposure. I didn't expect them to eat it)
black beans (no go)
corn (steamed frozen. i hate it and so did they, can't wait for the fresh stuff this summer)
puffs (organic "greens" ones and some weird blueberry purple carrot mix. they love them.)
organic baby crackers (of course)
2 ingredient banana pancakes (they made them break out and they didn't like them anyway)
yogurt bites (homemade and gerber's) (eh. they don't love them and i'd much rather them eat real yogurt)
romaine lettuce (they love it...weird!)
roasted turkey (loved it)
pancakes (loved)
ice cream!

Yeah, it's not the healthiest but its varied and includes what we want them to eat and what we really eat on a regular basis so it's what they're most exposed to.

They are doing absolutely awesome eating, chewing and I trust them so much now I can almost make it through a meal without worrying.  I am so glad we went the BLW route after all. It's messy and sometimes a hassle but it sure beats sitting there spoon feeding them for an hour every day. The only thing they'll take off a spoon is yogurt and even that gets everywhere since they have to feed themselves and will only let me put the spoon in their hands. Feisty little ones we have.

I'm trying to figure out how to leave eggs and nuts out of my baking so I can make them some treats like muffins and patties and will be looking into heartier recipes soon since we've introduced most basic foods finally. I will also be talking to the doctor about an epi-pen just in case they react more severely than a skin irritation to something in the future. Allergies scare the crap out of me but we will deal.

Xo,
Maigen

1 comment :

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