I’m not a nutritionist, but I have had success introducing different foods to my sons. My own free- spirited children eat almost anything. Eating starts with how we are introduced to food.

Since the beginning, my boys have had opinions.  I have never gotten away with demanding my children to do anything, not easily.  This makes me smile, because I respect that about my kids and I don’t want to take that from them. In a way, they taught me how to communicate more effectively. I learned how to talk to them, to help them understand.  While they were still nursing, I used books as a way to teach about seemingly unrelated topics- food and animals. This lead to other things…like an interest in food and animals…very young children can be resistant with food, but like and trust something about animals.  For us, animals worked like a bridge to eating well. Further down this posts, you can find simple food ideas for children.

I can’t really differentiate between the topic of food, and teaching about food. So, I’ll be writing about both.

I discovered that reading to my oldest while he was getting through nine months of nonstop crying spells (acid reflux?), helped a lot.  I sat him up, in my lap, while reading bright word books (some with food and animals).  To make the book last longer, I talked to him about what the individual animals ate.  This started at 2 months, because I was desperate to calm him. By accident, and because I had tried everything else, we sat with a book. I wasn’t in a state of mind to realize it at the time but vocab, food, and animals were covered- just by trying to address one issue.  His pediatrician wanted to put him on medication for acid reflux.  I wanted to wait, because he was a chunky baby ( so no apparent undereating issues) and he seemed to be fine the more we sat and looked at books.

I said things like, “Bunnies hop hop.  They eat lettuce.  Monkeys say Ooga ooga. They eat bananas.  Goats say MaaMaa.  They eat tomatoes (sometimes).” It’s not meant to be a perfect science.  Both of my children, enjoyed it, learned and eventually made their own connections.  One day, they told me that cows eat salads. They see me and their dad eat veggies and fruits.  They see animals eat veggies and fruits.  I talk to them about food while grocery shopping and it becomes a fun topic.  They are curious about different foods and that is the open door to their healthy diet. BTW, I also said things like, “We pet animals nicely.”  I gently petted the picture of the animal.  They laughed and did the same. I also talked/ talk about which animals can “break” us.  That is another thing you can cover…

Food is just food, not good or bad. I don’t say you have to eat this to eat that. There is a time for all of it.  Each of the boys have preferences and certain foods they just don’t like and I am fine with that…I can’t stomach seafood (not at all).

Keep it simple. It has been my experience that very young children prefer simple foods. This is great for busy parents.  Try not to make it harder, by introducing restaurant food to early.  It could back fire in more than one way, including higher food bills.

Keep the food out on a dish as they are developing a taste for it.

People are typically drawn to something attractive. Being creative when presenting food helps.

New routines might start out feeling like a challenge, but eventually it becomes easy and your go to habit.   Do it like a baby and take baby steps, because that is sustainable and manageable.

Chilled fruits and veggies are sometimes preferred, especially after being outside in the heat.

As I was weening them from breastmilk, I introduced mushed bananas, mushed sweet peas, mushed apples, mushed carrots, and different cereals.  There was resistance, but this was an important time for shaping their palette.  I kept everything very simple. No added salt, no added sugar, but maybe added fruit or a small amount of decent maple syrup.  This might sound painfully bland to you, but a child doesn’t know anything else.  Looking back, I think their resistance had more to do with having to work more for the food to go down (chewing, not the same taste, developing digestion, learning to use fingers while eating).  The key was to not project my preferences onto them.  Now, I can honestly say, they happily eat more “adult” food then I do and I’m happy for them.

 Baby cereals:

I used ground millet, or ground brown rice, mixed it with water and stirred over heat until it became a paste.  I encourage you to look up homemade baby cereals, if it sounds right for you.  They are healthy, easy, and very inexpensive.  A lot of grocery stores have bulk aises with food items you can serve yourself by scooping what you want into a bag, weighing and later grounding it in a blender or coffee bean grinder for very small portions.

Typical Tot snacks or items used in meals, for us

Cottage cheese– the boys eat this plain.  They don’t care for mixed foods as much as simple stuff.

Quinoa/Brown rice/ other grains – Rinsing this first is important for the taste.  I use vegetable broth and for most grains, I use 1 cup of the grain to 1 cup of the broth.  If I use water instead of broth, I use a little less than 1 cup.   I prefer to place a kitchen towel on top of the pot and under the lid. Bring to a boil (keep covered the whole time), then put on low heat for 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat, keep covered for as long as you can or until cool.  The grain should be firm but neither mushy or crunchy.

Chopped up raw veggies/ or fruit.  Colorful sweet peppers and tomatoes are typical, for us.  They eat kale, broccoli, pineapple, sweet peas, apples, and other random things like okra and radish. Try chopping up a variety of things and just keeping it  out and available to your children.  We got adventurous and tried dragon fruit.  That is something they don’t like.

I have looked up simple recipes for carrot cake, and zucchini bread.  Both are sweet and the boys enjoy them.

Hummus and guacamole (without jalapenos) with tortilla chips or tortillas are big in my home.

Breakfast cookie recipes can be found on youtube- these are cookies made with rolled oats banana, and chocolate chips.

Wild baked salmon– I place the filleted fish on a little olive oil on foil (long enough to fold over the fish), on a cookie sheet. Brush a little oil on the fish, squeeze lemon juice on the fish, sprinkle dill, put sliced onion and lemon on top. Cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 15-18 min.  The fish should be well done.  I have never bought fish with bones in the flesh, but be aware that some do have bones in the flesh.  This is a typical way to prepare salmon and it is easy.

Spaghetti– First, I break the pasta into much smaller pieces in a sealed freezer bag.  Be careful, because the pasta can poke out of the bag.  It is much easier to feed them with smaller pieces, and it is easier for them to eat.  There are a lot of healthier and simple recipes for tot spaghetti sauce.  If I use a prepared sauce, I try to get a healthy option, use less than normal- for the sake of my sanity and clean up.  Also, I try not to heat up food if I don’t have to. It preserves the vitamins and minerals.  So, I let the hot cooked noodles heat the sauce.

The boys love different cheeses and breads.

Meat- I cook certain recipes for my boys because they like it, sometimes. It’s hard to escape it, especially in some circles.  I truly don’t care for meat and could live happily without it.  I’m not really into it, and don’t really have much to contribute here, other then to say I think it is important to consider where it comes from and what practices are used.  Just do your best.

A quick note on hydration–

I’ve noticed that the boys and I need to drink more liquids, than most people seem to need.  Electrolytes help significantly, when we are sick or have been sweating a lot.  I don’t know how you feel about sports drinks, but they are not all the same.  I know that there have been questionable ingredients added to these drinks.  I’m still mentioning this option, because it can be an alternative to questionable medications.  Some medications, approved by the FDA, are still mysteries to us- we don’t actually know how all of them work…

The sports drink that sounds like a gator can be very helpful for headaches.  Water simply won’t cut it for some of us.  There are other ways to get electrolytes, if you want to try other things before defaulting to pain killers.  You might be surprised by how helpful it is to simply hydrate your body.  I feel that the importance of maintaining our hydration is severely underrated.   We are mainly made of water, after all.

Cookware

Nonstick cookware- Let me be frank, I don’t trust it.  Do you remember when this stuff came out?  These companies used to say (everywhere) that these pots and pans should only be used with very low heat.  Why?  Well, maybe because chemicals are emitted from this cookware with high levels of heat. These chemicals might go into food, and into the air.

Let’s go back to biology class and the lab rules.  One of the top and unbreakable rules, almost a law- Never bring food into the lab! Ever! This is practically a law in college laboratories as well.  Why, because chemicals and food really don’t mix. I don’t get why in our home labs (the kitchen) we are breaking this rule in the most extreme way.  We accept and buy nonstick cookware coated in something super questionable.

Tips for making stainless steel “nonstick”

1. Use lower heat.  Stainless steel doesn’t need much to get hot and to stay hot, for cooking.
2. Wait until your cookware is warm before using it
3. Use oil or butter to coat the pot or pan. I prefer olive oil or canola oil.  If you are worried about calories, I would encourage you to look online for other options.  However, I would not dismiss this option because of the oil, over the chemicals.
4. Cook as you normally would and remember that you may need less cooking time, because you are using stainless steel.

Side Note:  All oils used for cooking are flammable.  I know this from experience.  I want to stress that your cooking temperature should be lower when using stainless steel.  Grease fires are scary and not easy to extinguish, without the right extinguisher. Never use water on a grease fire. Don’t hesitate to call 911, if one starts.  They can spread fast.

MSG

I’m not going to say much here, because I suddenly can’t find anything, but the same repetitive “facts”.  It seems different research has been done and suggests different evidence.  This is the curious thing about scientific facts…it changes every so many years?  What is the TRUTH? MSG is a naturally occurring substance in many things.  Years ago, I had read that when added to food items, it could cause cravings, not otherwise experienced.  I played with this, because I am a curious person.  I purposely bought the store brand of my favorite chips, it doesn’t add MSG, unlike the name brand I normally bought. It tastes exactly the same.  I actually don’t crave, don’t even buy what used to be my favorite type of chips, anymore- now that is a way to watch my weight!!

What I can find on MSG now, is that it is purely flavor enhancement, and that it is safe when used in a “culturally normal” way .  Whatever that means…I know people believe what they read online, but what if we at least start paying attention to what facts change.  What if we stop blaming ourselves for everything and start questioning what we are buying, especially if what we are buying is working against us, in the name of business. Why do they have to add MSG, why do they add Caffeine to things, why so much sugar and salt?  Why are certain levels of ingredients normal?  Why are particular ingredients normal?  How did this start?  These are legit questions.

Natural Flavors

Have you ever noticed that some labels on juice beverage say, “contains no juice”.  On the same label you may notice, “CONTAINS NATURAL FLAVORS”.  It is in all caps so it may not occur to you that this is a name, and not a description- NATURAL FLAVORS.  The last time I looked, I couldn’t find much on this ingredient. I try to avoid products with this in the ingredient list- it’s a little to mysterious for my taste. I want to know more about what is going into our bodies.  FYI, it is also in a lot of foods and drinks.

Just for the sake of honesty- the boys do eat things like typical cake, bacon, dark chocolate and cheeseburgers. I waited for about 2 years before they tried these kinds of foods.  However, they do still eat fruits and vegetables easily. We also introduced them to certain foods/ dinners, solely because of our family background.  Their dad grew up in Europe and I am half Puerto Rican, so we enjoy exposing them to different tastes.  Plus, I think food has a way of connecting people, like a bridge over perceived differences.  That’s a different topic altogether, though.

I hope I helped some of you find a starting off place.  A lot of people have a lot of opinions about what to give children. It varies depending on what country you live in, and what is customary.  I’m speaking from actual experience. So, be your own authority.  I would say be sure everything is chopped well for little teeth and throats (this also helps them to easily enjoy food), softer food tends to be safer, stay watchful of your child while introducing foods (in case of allergies) and try to keep it fun. Remember, honey isn’t recommended for infants.

Have fun.  Eating should be enjoyable.