Little Monkey

My child is bananas for bananas. She simply can’t get enough. ­­She will happily eat an entire (relatively) large banana and then some. There is a very real possibility that she will float away on a banana boat.

But, in an exquisite interplay between practice and her newly-discovered favourite food, Isla has learned to eat. She opens her mouth wide to receive the spoon, closes it, swallows and then repeats. No more awkward tongue thrusts or trying to suck the food off the spoon or closing her mouth too early. She has mastered the mechanics of eating. Thank you, banana.

If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again...

A friend of mine told me that her daughter just could not get enough of peas when she was Isla’s age, so I was hopeful my fancily-pureed peas would be a hit. My optimism was short-lived. The peas were a spectacular failure. First Isla grimaced, then shuddered, then spit them out and gagged in an impressive show of distaste. And who can blame her? I don’t find pureed peas appealing in the least. But I persisted. After several tries, at different times of day and at varying temperatures (cold, tepid, room temperature...), we moved onto something more palatable: organic carrots. Alas, another failed experiment. Isla rejected the carrots almost as fully as the peas.

There’s a (minor) debate about whether fruit or veggies should be introduced as a baby’s first food. Some say babies should experience veggies before creating a taste for sweeter food (fruit), while others counter that breastmilk itself is sweet, so why not start with something along the same lines?

I was interested in trying veggies first to see how they would go down, and out of the four we’ve tried, she’s enjoyed two: sweet potato and avocado (coincidentally, two of my favourite, although avocado is technically a fruit). But it's time to mix it up a bit. Because the peas and carrots were barely ingested, I thought it was safe to forgo the one-food/six-day food sensitivity rule and explore a new culinary experience for Isla.

So banana it is! As it turns out, Isla was as keen on banana as she was with sweet potato, eating an entire banana (about 70 ml pureed) in one sitting. And thank God for that. I was beginning to think she had given up on solids entirely....

The Baby Food Maker

Behold my latest toy – the Beaba Babycook baby food maker. It steams, blends, purees, defrosts and reheats baby food. Of course, I can easily do all these tasks with a stovetop veggie steamer, blender and microwave, but I love having everything in one easy-to-clean, compact package purpose-built for baby-sized portions.

Today was my first test run with the Babycook as I prepared Isla’s next food – organic green peas. Because it’s March and there are no fresh peas at my disposal, I used frozen ones, which meant I had to employ two of the Babycook’s functions: defrost and puree. I’m happy to report the Babycook does what it claims, and beautifully smooth, bright green goop will be Isla’s breakfast/lunch for the next several days. To ensure a good consistency, I pureed the peas using the left-over steaming water, adding valuable nutrients back into her food. And, just as I did with her sweet potato, I also added a bit of organic coconut oil to the mix.

I do, however, have one complaint: the puree function is only set to “pulse”. This means you have to hold the knob to puree; you can’t simply just walk away and let it do its thing. This is a significant oversight for a product marketed to moms (and dads), for whom multitasking is a means of survival. A locked position in the puree function would be welcomed.

As for the peas, in addition to being on the list of good foods to introduce early on, they’re chalk-full of vitamins A, C and K, as well as niacin, folate, potassium, iron, magnesium, calcium and zinc. Tomorrow we'll know if perfectly pureed peas go down as well as the sweet potato did.

Sweet Potato – The New Frontier

Well, after six days of avocado and no adverse reactions (in Isla, not me...), it was time for something new: sweet potato.

Sweet potato is considered a nutritional superstar, rich in complex carbohydrates, protein, iron, calcium, potassium, and vitamins A and C. In fact, the Center for Science in the Public Interest­­­­­ ranked sweet potato Number One in nutrition of all vegetables. With a score of 184, the sweet potato outscored the next highest vegetable (a plain white potato) by more than 100 points.

And just to make a good thing better, I pureed the (baked, peeled, organic) sweet potato with some organic coconut oil. Like sweet potato, coconut oil is also a wonder food with similar properties to breastmilk.

Breastmilk – considered nature’s perfect food – contains medium chain fatty acids (MCFA), principally lauric acid. MCFAs are also an integral component of coconut oil, about 50 per cent of which is lauric acid, which supports a baby’s immune system through its antimicrobial properties. MCFAs are also easily digested and are an excellent source of fuel for babies. Further, the MCFAs in coconut oil have been proven to help the body’s absorption of calcium and magnesium.

Thankfully, Isla went crazy for sweet potato with something akin to religious fervour. She practically launched herself onto the spoon, eating almost 40 ml, or more than 3 tablespoons, in one sitting. Not bad for someone who, before last week, didn’t know food existed in non-liquid form.

Success!

After two resounding failures (Attempts #2 and #3), finally success – true eating! No clamped lips, no spitting out. Isla simply welcomed the spoon with an open mouth and swallowed her lovely mix of light green goop, again and again. And I think I know why. It wasn’t because I used freshly-cut avocado or freshly-pumped breastmilk (I didn’t in either case), but rather because she was – wait for it – hungry!

I had read that I should breastfeed Isla a bit before feeding her solids so she isn't starving and/or grouchy. But this time I went straight to the "real" food and voila! A successful Attempt #4. Live and learn...

Avocado – Baaaaad

Well, what was a hit one day failed miserably the next. Isla’s appetite for avocado and breastmilk just wasn’t what it once was. In fact, yesterday’s lunch was an all-out failure, with Isla clamping her mouth shut one moment and delighting  in spitting out the little food that made it in the next.

I hear this is the natural progression of feeding an infant, but I can’t help thinking that she refused my delectable offering because (1) the avocado wasn’t freshly cut and (2) the breastmilk not freshly pumped. As such, I will attempt to step up my culinary game for today’s lunch and see if my daughter will once again ingest something other than breastmilk.

There is hope. My naturopath, in a well-timed email, sent these words of encouragement last night:

As long as you are breastfeeding, she is getting liquid gold, so you REALLY have nothing to worry about. You can enjoy food introduction, knowing if some days Isla is not interested in eating, she has lots of great nutrient value in your milk (another reason to nurse as long as you desire).

Preparations for Attempt #3 begin...

Avocado – Goooood

Isa’s lunch was delivered via spoon yesterday – her first-ever “solid” food. It should have come as no surprise that our big (at just shy of seven months she weighs 18-plus pounds), healthy baby devoured her first meal: avocado mixed with breastmilk, pureed and strained to a silky consistency.

Her meal started and ended with being breastfed, but for the main course she took to the spoon and ate until she didn’t want any more. Just as we hoped, she leaned back and closed her mouth when she had had enough.

Conventional wisdom suggests a baby’s first food should be rice cereal fortified with iron. However, I like the idea that Isla’s first bite was of whole, unprocessed, nutrient-dense food, naturally rich in vitamins, minerals and good fats. My naturopath agrees, as do other health care professionals.

This post, from Your Green Baby, called Rice Cereal vs. Real Food, has great information about some of the drawbacks to introducing rice cereal as a baby’s first food.

And in a story published by msnbc.com, Dr. David Ludwig, a specialist in pediatric nutrition from the Children's Hospital Boston, says some studies suggest rice and other highly processed grain cereals could actually be among the worst foods for infants.

“These foods are in a certain sense no different from adding sugar to formula. They digest very rapidly in the body into sugar, raising blood sugar and insulin levels” and could contribute to later health problems, including obesity, he says.

So, avocado it is for the next five or six days (to minimize sensitization that may occur when the same food is eaten for seven days straight) until Isla is introduced to a new, equally healthy food.

Solid Food Introduction (or when to say “Open wide....!”)

As with many things in the world of babies, confusion abounds when it comes to
when to introduce “solid” food. Contention surrounds the six-month mark and
whether food should be introduced at or before that time. A friend of mine
highlighted this confusion in an email describing her experience:

(With my first daughter), all I heard was “no sooner than six months!” and
simultaneously “no later than six months!” But this time I've had doctors telling me
that the public health nurses didn't know what they were talking about and babies can start at four months if they're ready.

The debate seems to center largely on the issues of developing food allergies
and/or anemia. To complicate matters, a recent review has casted further doubt
on the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a baby’s life.

As it turns out, the very people promoting the idea that babies should be
introduced to solids prior to six months may have a vested interest in such a
recommendation. Three of the four authors of the review have “performed con-
sultancy work and/or received research funding from companies manufacturing
infant formulas and baby foods within the past three years.” An excellent break-
down of the review can be found here.

Conspiracy theories aside...there are plenty of sound, well-documented reasons
for exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a baby’s life, not least of all
because the Canadian Paediatric Society, Dietitians of Canada, Health Canada
and the World Health Organization recommend it.

In the end, however, parents themselves have to decide what works best for them and their baby. I feel strongly that Isla wasn’t ready for solid foods until now (at
almost seven months old) and truth be told, I wasn’t ready to take that step either.
The complete list of what I consider good reasons to delay solid food introduction until at least six months is too lengthy to outline here, but here are some of the
reasons that make sense to me:

Delaying solids helps to protect babies from iron-deficiency anemia.     Iron absorption from breastmilk is depressed when the milk comes in   contact with other foods in the proximal small bowel;
Solid foods interrupt the full immune protection babies receive through exclusive breastfeeding, reducing their immunity;
Delaying solids decreases the risks of food allergies;
Delaying solids gives a baby's digestive system time to mature;
Solids should be delayed until your baby can sit up without support      (which Isla did for the first time two days ago), allowing her to lean        forward when she wants another spoonful and backward to refuse;       and (similarly)
Solids should be delayed until your baby can turn her head and/or       push food away to indicate she’s full.

Ultimately, after all the debate and doubt, conjecture and conspiracies, it really
comes down to whether or not Isla actually wants to eat solid foods. Because the
simple truth is that all the research in the world can't make your baby open wide if she doesn't want to...

Veggie Mommy, Veggie Baby

I am a lifelong vegetarian, married to a meat-eating man, raising a vegetarian child – though technically my daughter Isla’s vegetarian status has yet to be secured. At six-and-a-half months old, Isla is still exclusively breastfed. However, in a couple of weeks, that will all change...

I love food. Wholesome, organic, real food. I love thinking about it, making it and eating it. The prospect of introducing my two passions – my daughter and food – to each other is both an exciting and daunting one. My goal, as I’m sure is the case for most moms, is to ensure optimal health, nourishment and nutrition for Isla, through the foods she eats. An added bonus would be for her to develop an appreciation of the wonderful goodness of food, although my guess is that at this stage just getting the stuff into her will trump refining her palette.

This blog will document our exploration of food in all its many shapes and forms, starting with my daughter’s very first bite. I look forward to sharing with you!