DC Moms - Your LO's Lunch

[yummeecookee]

What sort of foods are you all sending to daycare with your littles? I find it challenging bc obviously I want to send things that are going to keep/be semi-fresh/don't require tons of prep. And since I don't BLW, I don't want to send large chunks of food.

[sassypantzz]

We started BLW, but since he now is getting lunch at DC, I get nervous that we won't be watched closely. I just make purees in the morning of whatever I have on hand. Today is strawberry and banana oatmeal.

[kensie5226]

We pulled the trigger and started letting DC feed her from their menu. She's doing really with it. They let her feed herself up to a point, but if it's taking too long they'll take over and get her fed. If something is on the menu she can't eat (like Cheez-its) they substitute with graham crackers or yogurt.

[fightersince83]

I've been sending my frozen purées I'd made and they thaw it there. I've been saving the soft solids for home since before she was still gagging on them quite a bit. That seems to have gotten much better so I started sending puffs, mum mums & yogurt melts. I make sure to send 1 veggie purée, 1 fruit purée and one solid food. She enjoys eating like a if girl for quite a while she was watching the other kiddos eat cereal or finger foods at the table and now she has her own. I also froze strips of baked squash that I give her. She likes to gnaw on them even when frozen since she seems to be teething. I imagine you could do the same with baked sweet potato or regular potato. Pasta would be another easy food to send

[yummeecookee]

Yea, my DC keeps asking about the center food and I just don't think I'm ready.
At home, I give him lots of different table foods but I'm able to mince it up and be right here, helping him. I'd like to see him self-feed a little better before i "turn him loose" on center food.

[kensie5226]

yummeecookee, we've been giving her regular food since 6 months. It wasn't until she got her pincer grasp and literally started taking food out of my hand to feed herself. The DC ladies were skeptical, but it's been going well. They had us highlight the food on the menu she could eat. Maybe you can look at it and see if they have some yogurt, cooked veggies, or fruits that he could start with.

[flyliceandcoffee]

I'm probably the outlier but we send K with regular table food all the time and have been since he was like 6 months old because he really did not like purees. It might just be our daycare, but if they think something is too big for him to eat, they'll make it smaller. And they always have one person monitoring when a kid is eating so if there are issues with gagging, someone is always right there. In our case, because K was getting finger foods from 6m on, they're kind of used to him gagging because he'll gag, spit out whatever he was gagging on and pick up something else to eat. He has no teeth yet either (damn those teeth) so he's actually the "example" they use in his class for babies and finger foods haha.

With my daughter, when she first started eating food, we'd send a couple ounces of purees at a time and as she got better with that, we'd start sending more. Pouches are really good to have handy there as well as then they can control how much they want to eat at a time. Once she got her first set of teeth we cut down on the purees and sent things like steamed carrots that were super soft and easily smushed up into a puree until she got better at chewing.

[allycat]

Team regular daycare lunch here. F has been getting it since he started in his current room, right around 6.5 months. At first they'd only bring him the fruit/veggies and cut them up really small, but now they give him the full menu and let him go to town. She said he eats most of it most days.

[yummeecookee]

Jul 19, 2016 10:08:46 GMT -5 flyliceandcoffee said:

I'm probably the outlier but we send K with regular table food all the time and have been since he was like 6 months old because he really did not like purees. It might just be our daycare, but if they think something is too big for him to eat, they'll make it smaller. And they always have one person monitoring when a kid is eating so if there are issues with gagging, someone is always right there. In our case, because K was getting finger foods from 6m on, they're kind of used to him gagging because he'll gag, spit out whatever he was gagging on and pick up something else to eat. He has no teeth yet either (damn those teeth) so he's actually the "example" they use in his class for babies and finger foods haha.

With my daughter, when she first started eating food, we'd send a couple ounces of purees at a time and as she got better with that, we'd start sending more. Pouches are really good to have handy there as well as then they can control how much they want to eat at a time. Once she got her first set of teeth we cut down on the purees and sent things like steamed carrots that were super soft and easily smushed up into a puree until she got better at chewing.

What sort of table foods are you sending?

[flyliceandcoffee]

Jul 19, 2016 13:24:56 GMT -5 yummeecookee said:

Jul 19, 2016 10:08:46 GMT -5 flyliceandcoffee said:

I'm probably the outlier but we send K with regular table food all the time and have been since he was like 6 months old because he really did not like purees. It might just be our daycare, but if they think something is too big for him to eat, they'll make it smaller. And they always have one person monitoring when a kid is eating so if there are issues with gagging, someone is always right there. In our case, because K was getting finger foods from 6m on, they're kind of used to him gagging because he'll gag, spit out whatever he was gagging on and pick up something else to eat. He has no teeth yet either (damn those teeth) so he's actually the "example" they use in his class for babies and finger foods haha.

With my daughter, when she first started eating food, we'd send a couple ounces of purees at a time and as she got better with that, we'd start sending more. Pouches are really good to have handy there as well as then they can control how much they want to eat at a time. Once she got her first set of teeth we cut down on the purees and sent things like steamed carrots that were super soft and easily smushed up into a puree until she got better at chewing.

What sort of table foods are you sending?

he eats almost everything we eat, with the exception of saltier foods so he usually gets leftovers from the night before. Yesterday he got spaghetti squash with red sauce, today he got sloppy joe bake. Last week I think he had meatloaf for one meal and a chicken curry with rice for another. I usually send a "main" item and a side of veggies or fruits like steamed carrots, steamed broccoli, black beans, peas, blueberries, mangoes, whatever we happen to have. For the veggies, I steam up a whole bunch at once and freeze it so the night before all I have to do is grab some from the freezer, stick it in a container and put it in the fridge for his lunch the next day. We've overall adopted our cooking to be things that we can cook quickly and we just leave out the salt or look for low sodium/no salt options for the ingredients we use. One of the driving factors besides K not wanting purees to begin with, is that at our daycare, they move up to the next classroom around the time they turn 1, and when they go to that room purees aren't really allowed because kids have to be able to feed themselves. the teachers at our school encourage parents to starting sending non-pureed foods sooner rather than later so they were more than happy to accommodate his refusal to eat purees. They have a couple kids in his room now that turn one in August who are just starting to get into finger/table foods rather than purees and everytime the parents start to freak out about whether their kid can eat what they send, the teachers point them to K and are always like "he eats chicken no problem and he has no teeth. I'm sure your kid will be just fine"

[yummeecookee]

Ok, I think I need to work more on the steamed fruits/veggies and less on the purée forms.
I try to send at least one table food and one purée, but so far all my table foods have been very simple- yogurt, rice etc. Whereas at home I've given him chicken, beef, crab, toast, any bits of what we're eating really.

[rachaeleigh]

LO gets a mix of purees and whatever is being served for their regular lunch.

[tarheelmom]

We started on the daycare menu at the beginning of last week. Our state (NC) pays daycare/preschools for food, but also restricts what the must feed. At 8m, my son is supposed to have rice cereal, infant meat (whatever that is) AND a fruit/veggie for lunch. I asked that they limit the rice cereal (DD never had any), especially when he is getting an afternoon snack of puffs or mum-mums. So he has been getting just fruit/veggies at this point.

DD didn't do "real" food at DC until after 1 year, but she was more receptive to food at home (DS only wants BM). If you are breastfeeding, solids are really optional in the first year. I have let DC give DS more food than DD because he is bigger, hungrier, no reflux. And honestly, he is my second, so I am more relaxed and know that he will grow as he was meant to and will let us know if he needs more or less food.

[yummeecookee]

Jul 19, 2016 23:17:54 GMT -5 tarheelmom said:

DD didn't do "real" food at DC until after 1 year, but she was more receptive to food at home (DS only wants BM). If you are breastfeeding, solids are really optional in the first year. I have let DC give DS more food than DD because he is bigger, hungrier, no reflux. And honestly, he is my second, so I am more relaxed and know that he will grow as he was meant to and will let us know if he needs more or less food.

Hi, life twin. I was just saying to MH yday how I remember my DD still being on only purees at 10mo when she started DC.  Whereas, I am so much more relaxed w C - not to mention he has a bigger appetite/interest than she ever did.

[ashleymarie26]

I was sending purees but about 3 weeks ago she started the DC food. It's easier for everyone. She gets a fruit and a grain for breakfast, usually toast or cheerios. For lunch she gets a fruit and a veggie. At 9 mos they start giving her a meat at lunch too. Every couple weeks I'll send a canister of puffs/mum mums/ other snacks and they give those to her whenever, either as a separate snack or like a dessert to her lunch.

[fuzzylogic]

Thanks for the reminder to check in with my DC and see what they want us to do.