Anyone else in a baby food rut?

[jillywilly]

We haven't done one of these in a little bit - I feel like I'm constantly feeding DS the same foods. Weekend lunches and daily dinners he gets whatever we're having 99% of the time, but breakfasts and snacks I feel like I keep giving him the same things and want to add some variety in. Our go-to foods lately are:

- Yogurt
- Cheerios/Puffs/MumMums
- Fruit
- Peanut butter toast/waffle
- Applesauce

That's pretty much our list - I feel like I'm not giving him enough variety, especially for breakfast. So what are you feeding your kids? Bonus points for ideas that can be put together in basically no time.

[islandgirl14]

We have a lot of "go to" items as well for simplicity sake... some of our frequent items:

Breakfast:
Right now we do oatmeal; almost every day during the week b/c it's fast. On weekends I'll give him eggs.

Snacks/sides:
Sweet potato
cottage cheese
Cheese sticks
Baked beans
Hummus & pita bread (he doesn't mind the pepper flavor, but we just don't give him the "salsa" part in the middle)
- also some of the things you mentioned; yogurt, applesauce, fruit, etc.

J is not big into veggies. Sometimes peas are okay, sometimes not. Green beans are a no-go - he can't seem to grasp swallowing the outside of the bean even though it's soft and cooked... Sometimes carrots go okay.

Hope this helps!

[musicfrk2002]

Black beans
Mixed veggies (peas, corn, carrots)
Graham crackers
Cut up strawberries, bananas, grapes
Mini bow tie pasta

[tjanca22]

Here's what is popular around here.
Breakfast:
Eggs - scrambled or hard boiled
Bel Vita breakfast bars - the soft ones
Eggo waffles - he actually has had one every morning since he was about 7mo old
Smoothies
any kind is fruit
Lara bars
Toast

Snacks:
any kind of fruit
Graham crackers or vanilla wafers
Applesauce
Fruit cups - loves the peaches
Pirates booty or any kind of puff
Goldfish
Cheese
Cottage cheese

[jillywilly]

Special snowflake question - I was thinking about doing oatmeal as a breakfast alternative, since I often have the instant oatmeal for myself. We stopped baby oatmeal a while ago because he started refusing it, but at this point, there's not any reason why he can't have instant, is there? I'd probably get the plain kind to try and avoid all the extra sugar and maybe try to stir some fruit/applesauce/cinnamon in on my own, but there's not something I'm missing about feeding regular oatmeal vs. baby oatmeal at this stage, is there?

[alayne926]

jillywilly, no problem at all with instant. DS will still gobble down oatmeal like it's going out of style. I just buy the sugar free options.

[billyhorrible]

BH eats what either LBB or I eat for breakfast. I made ricotta this weekend, so we've been having ricotta with challah and berries this week. Sometimes he has cereal (dry), waffles, toast, or oatmeal.

I stopped buying instant oatmeal because I don't find it any faster than just buying rolled oats, so I just make that for the boys. I don't add milk or water after so it's easier for him to scoop.

Snacks are usually fruit - fresh, frozen, or freeze dried, veggies - fresh or frozen (he loves frozen peas and corn), cheese, crackers. Tomorrow I'll start introducing snacks with higher sodium contents like goldfish, pretzels, veggie sticks.

[heartofglass]

Jun 8, 2016 9:49:51 GMT -5 jillywilly said:

Special snowflake question - I was thinking about doing oatmeal as a breakfast alternative, since I often have the instant oatmeal for myself. We stopped baby oatmeal a while ago because he started refusing it, but at this point, there's not any reason why he can't have instant, is there? I'd probably get the plain kind to try and avoid all the extra sugar and maybe try to stir some fruit/applesauce/cinnamon in on my own, but there's not something I'm missing about feeding regular oatmeal vs. baby oatmeal at this stage, is there?

A has been eating regular oatmeal, grits and cream of wheat for months. I only use the baby oatmeal to thicken stuff for him.

[islandgirl14]

Jun 8, 2016 9:08:41 GMT -5 carrots said:

islandgirl14 , showing my FTM here, but how do you serve the hummus and pita? Do you spread the hummus on and then cut the pita into bites? Give him the pita to gnaw on? I feel dumb but I can't picture this one. I think W would love it though!

Not dumb at all! I'll rip off tiny pieces of pita bread (in sizes that I know he can handle), and then I dip it for him, and put it in his mouth (because he doesn't know how to pick up food yet). I put a really light amount of hummus on - just enough so he gets the flavor! (Our 3yo on the other hand, has more hummus on it than bread... haha)..

Edited after to include: If you do end up doing hummus and do the pepper kind ever, do proceed with caution because there is a "slight" kick to it. When we gave DS1 hummus for the first time, we made the mistake of including the spicier salsa part in what he ate. While he loved it, it was spicy enough that when he pooped during those days, he got diaper rash... So, now with DS2, that is why we do a lighter amount of the hummus. With any other flavor though, I think it would be fine.

[islandgirl14]

jillywilly, regarding your question about the oatmeal - we found this frozen oatmeal at Trader Joe's that we LOVE. If there is a TJ's by you, check it out... There are two kinds, but we get the kind that is oatmeal and quinoa mixed together. I love it because I can thaw one block of it, and do a super quick re-heat over the next day or two until he finishes it. Plus, I feel good about it having the quinoa in it too!

[beersandweirs]

LO loves the egg-banana pancakes a few people have mentioned on here before, but it was getting annoying to make and flip a bunch of tiny pancakes when I was getting her meals together for the week. Instead, what I have started doing is making little egg muffins out of then and putting berries at the bottom of the muffin pan, she seems to like them just as well and no flipping!

I am bad about snacks, but her nanny gives her plain full-fat greek yogurt occasionally. We don't really do snacks at home on weekdays, because there just isn't time and on weekends we are usually out and about, so she will just have little bits of things here and there.

[dogmama22]

Thanks for posting this because I feel like I've been grabbing the same quick things lately. He does love frozen veggies and I need to buy more beans and chickpeas for him. He loves those with some taco seasoning. We do a lot of the Gerber toddler meals because they're quick and he likes them. Usually Cheerios and fruit for breakfast since he started refusing eggs. He likes yogurt, but I want to find one that I can sweeten on my own with fruit, but is still made with whole milk.

[turtle]

I feel like I am stuck in the same rut. Especially breakfast, since A is allergic to eggs.

Our usual breakfasts:
Pancakes(eggless)
Bananas
Yogurt pouch
Toast (plain)
Nutrigrain bars (his very favorite)

He likes black beanss for snack.

Do your LOs feed themselves with a spoon yet? I haven't really practiced that with A.

[beersandweirs]

LO is slowly getting used to using a spoon, we still mostly feed her if it is something that needs to be spooned, but I will sometimes let her take a spoonful herself and try it out. She knows which end goes in her mouth and get get most of it off there. I only do it with thicker things like greek yogurt or peanut butter. Peanut butter is a good one actually because it takes a little time and gives them something to do

[jillywilly]

turtle, LOL to the spoon feeding. He wants to have the spoon, but upon receiving it, flings the spoon, and any food on the spoon, EVERYWHERE. Thinking about trying again in a couple months before the weather cools again, outside, not wearing anything but a diaper.

Also, my kid hates eggs. Which I find kind of endearing, since I do too, but I also kind of wish he liked them since there are 80 bajillion breakfast foods that involve them. We just keep trying when H makes himself eggs and hoping one day he takes to them. In the meantime, I think I'm going to be buying some oatmeal and Nutrigrain bars thanks to this thread

[Deleted]

Breakfast
-bran flakes cereal or cheerios sometimes w milk sometimes just dry
-pancakes
-oatmeal w cinnamon
-yogurt w granola
-applesauce
-smoothie (you could do infinite versions of these) you could also freeze leftovers to make Popsicle sticks out of them!)

snack or lunch
Avocado on crackers or gaucamole
Blueberries
Pear
Banana
Thinly sliced Apple
Orange slices
Watermelon slices
String cheese or diced cheese cubes
Whole milk yogurt w jam mixed in
Turkey lunch meat
Cooked White beans or black beans
Diced hot dogs
Diced chicken
Thinly sliced carrot w hummus dip
Cucumber sticks
Little peanut butter and jelly sandwich
Toast w butter
Soft crackers like ritz
Chicken noodle soup
Steamed broccoli spears w Parmesan sprinkled on top

Dinner
we do a more kid friendly version of what we are eating because H and I eat spicy foods or complicated foods. So if we have spicy tacos the kids will get gaucamole and a cheese quesadilla w black beans. Or if we have sushi the kids will get edamame w rice and an avocado roll or miso soup.
On pizza or pasta night the kids eat exactly what we are eating

[billyhorrible]

turtle -BH is hit or miss with the spoon. The other night we had soup so I stood next to him, figuring he'd fling it, and he did beautifully. Two nights later I didn't stand next to him and he threw the spoon at me, then dumped his soup in my lap.

[hannahl201477]

We are in a rut mainly bc he refuses anything that isn't a butright aun bar, Cheerios, or grilled cheese, or avacodo/guacamole. It's so incredibly frustrating.

[sammyca]

Other breakfast or lunch ideas popular in my house right now:
Ham and cheese on brioche
Ham and cheese on toast
Fruit pikelets (recipe below):
1 cup flour
1 egg
1/2 cup poached and pureed fruit or just use a pouch of baby fruit
1/2 cup water
Whisk all ingredients together until well combined
Place a spoonfulls of mixture in to a hot pan (greased lightly with butter or oil if you wish)
Flip over when small bubbles form or the top loses it's shine
Cook on the other side until golden brown
Takes 5 minutes tops from start to finish

[carolyngrace]

We did oatmeal today and it was neither easy nor fast, since I had to feed it to him and he made a huge mess. He loved it though!

Just started trying with spoon feeding also. He's great at grabbing a loaded spoon but has no idea how to load it up.

[carolyngrace]

sammyca those pikelets sound awesome! And super easy.