Little Foodie

We have seen such a difference in how Claire reacts to food since we first tried her with some at five months. At first, we only gave her plain cereal which tasted pretty much like her formula but with a different texture, but then we started adding some pureed food to the cereal to give it some extra flavour. At first, she didn’t eat much. She would take a little bit, then would grow bored and refuse to open her mouth for the spoon despite the myriad train, car and horse sounds I would make to entice her. Most of the time, she was still hungry, but instead of having to work for the food, she just wanted to lounge on my lap and drink from her bottle.

She also wasn’t a big fan of some of the pureed food we first gave her. In particular, she didn’t really like the applesauce or pureed banana (for some reason, there was lemon juice in the banana – weird). When we tried her with squash, however, things started to look up! For awhile, we focused more on veggies because she seemed to like them better. But now I have found that she likes other fruits, such as apples and blueberries, apples and apricots, banana and mango, etc.

Now, she knows to open her mouth wide when she feels the spoon against her lower lip, and she even leans forward sometimes when she’s really hungry! There are times when she’s even too eager! We don’t have a special bowl for Claire; we have white Cornelle dishes that don’t break and we just use those for her food. We also use them for soups and frozen yogurt. The other night, Neal and I sat down at the table with our frozen yogurt and Claire started to FREAK.OUT when Neal started to eat his, thinking he was eating her food! Maybe we’ll have to buy her some dishes of her own…

I keep thinking about making my own food. A lot of mothers I know do, but honestly, she just doesn’t eat enough right now for me to get out the blender to do it (I don’t have a food processor). Soon enough, she’ll be eating non-pureed food, and then she can eat whatever we’re having, but for now, the jars are just easier. Luckily, the grocery store we go to (Atlantic Superstore) carries organic baby food under their own brand that cost the same as the non-organic. I check the ingredients listed on the label, and only buy those that have the food you want. For instance, I think they carry a “blueberry dessert”, which I’m sure Claire would love, but I won’t buy it because it has sugar. Um, no, she gets enough natural sugars in the fruit she eats. And the other thing that’s nice is that when it’s the applesauce, they use organic apples, not the ones chock-full of pesticides.

Am I taking the easier way out? Yes. Do I sometimes feel guilty for not taking the time to make my own food for her? Yes. But then I remember that that’s time I spend with her when she’s awake and yes, taking time for myself when she’s napping.