Feeding Baby

Food Fight

by Dr. Perle Feldman

It is remarkable to me, considering the general abundance of food in our society and the inborn drive to eat enough to survive, that so many parents are convinced that their darling baby is about to commit suicide via slow starvation. Many parents will come to their family physician with a toddler and declare that the child “doesn’t eat enough to keep a bird alive.” On examination it becomes obvious that the child is growing well and is not underweight for their height. One must take a careful nutritional history, determining what, where and how much the baby eats. If there are no concerning symptoms such as vomiting, gagging or diarrhea, it is obvious that the child is eating adequately. So what is triggering this parental concern?

Babies triple their weight in the first 2 years of life. Growth starts leveling off at around 18 months of age. The 18 month old is no longer growing as quickly as he/she did before, and their caloric needs fall dramatically. This is accompanied by a fall in appetite. The toddlers eat less food than they did previously. This makes parents anxious. There are also two major competing drives, which interfere with a baby’s appetite. These are the desire for mobility and the desire for independence.

Toddlers love to say “NO”. They want to exert their independence and sometimes the need to be oppositional is simply overwhelming. They want control but cannot deal with too much choice. Parents are disturbed and upset by this new display of contrariness. If you can help parents understand what is happening, normalize the changes in behavior and give them a repertoire of responses to reduce frustration, you will have done a great service. Encourage parents to give toddlers limited choices. “Do you want noodles or tunafish?” is a good question. Many parents are so worried that their toddler is starving they want to keep spoonfeeding them. They develop all kinds of strategies to sneak food into their child by distracting them. This is asking for trouble. It teaches the child to ignore its own hunger cues.

While most toddlers need some help with certain foods, there should be more and more finger and spoon foods on their plates. Inform parents that when serious messing and dumping starts, this is a signal that mealtime is over. Let them get down. Do not give them any snacks for at least an hour and a half after meals. The child will learn not to eat, run and return every 15 minutes and drive their mother crazy.

For many toddlers the bottle is their security object, and they walk around with it in their mouth all day. This also allows them to satisfy their hunger while they keep playing. Many toddlers consume huge amounts of apple juice or milk in this manner using up all their caloric needs for the day. This has been shown to lead to Iron deficiency anemia as they consume large amounts of iron poor milk to the exclusion of other nutrients. The introduction of Iron enriched formulas in the first year of life delays but may not remove this risk. It is a good idea to encourage parents to wean their toddler from the bottle and to limit milk intake to less than 18-24 oz/day. If they don’t have the heart to take the bottle completely away, limit the milk bottles to morning, nap and bedtime, giving water at other times. Juice in the bottle should also be limited and/or watered down so that it does not interfere with the baby’s appetite.

Lenore’s Baby Food Recipe

Adapted from “Feeding Your Baby the Healthiest Foods” By Louise Lambert-Legace

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup (125 ml) uncooked Uncle Ben’s brown rice
  • 1 cup (250 ml) water
  • 1 lb (440 g) of tender meat (filet mignon, lamb, or veal)
  • 1 tsp. (5 ml) olive oil
  • 2 cups (500 ml) water
  • 3/4 cup (200ml) onion chopped fine (approx. 1/2 of 1 med onion)
  • 3/4 cup (200ml) carrots cubed or chopped fine (approx. 1)
  • 3/4 cup (200ml) zucchini (with peel, remove ends) cubed or chopped fine (approx. 1)
  • 3/4 cup (200ml) frozen peas

Preparation

In a small pot, stir brown rice into 1 cup water. Bring to boil, then cover and lower heat to simmer approx. 20 min. The rice is now half cooked. Set aside.

Cut the meat into pieces about 2" square. After 20 min, take a larger pot and cook the meat in the olive oil until it is brown on all sides, about 5 min. Add 2 cups of water, the vegetables (onion, carrots, zucchini, and frozen peas), and the half-cooked rice. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the vegetables are tender and the rice is completely cooked, approx. 26 min.

Remove from heat and allow to cool down a bit so that you can handle the meat. Pick out the meat pieces and cut into smaller pieces, cubed or chopped fine. Add back to the rest of the mixture and stir so that the meat is evenly distributed.

To Freeze

Put half a cup (8 tbsp) of cooked food into an 8 oz breastmilk storage bag. Roll the top down and seal with a staple in the middle. Repeat until all of the food is now in the nursing bags. Put all of the bags into a large Ziploc freezer bag and label the large bag with the type of food (beef, veggies, and rice or veal, veggies and rice, etc), the serving size, and the date that the food was made. This will keep 10 -12 weeks in the freezer. Each recipe yields approx. 12 servings.

To Cook

Remove frozen meal from Playtex bag and place in microwavable dish. Microwave on High for approx. 1 min 40 sec.

Tips

If your baby refuses to eat, try adding 2 tbsp of prepared baby food. This acts like a sauce and babies love it.

For babies who cannot chew yet, puree the food before freezing and freeze in 4 oz portions.