Down the Hatch

As of a week or so ago, Elijah has a little eating routine down.  Here's what we do. 

In the morning he gets fruit.  The ones we've done so far are banana, avocado, pear, apple, and papaya. 

In the afternoon he gets veggies.  So far he's had green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, carrots, and pumpkin.  Sweet potato seems to be his favorite.

While we're eating dinner I put a piece of banana in one of those net things with a handle so Elijah can eat along with us without anyone having to feed him.  He does pretty well now, but at first he kept wanting to suck on the handle instead of the fruit end! 

We've decided to hold off on cereals/grains for now and focus more on produce after some reading we've done.  Though, I think some crackers will be great for our upcoming travels by plane so we'll do that then.  I just brought Elijah to the doctor.  She's really great - a very natural type doctor, yet very down to earth too.  She suggested I add some leafy type greens (spinach, kale, broccoli, etc) to the mix every day as well as some meat or fish.  I'm a little hesitant with the meat because who wants to puree that???  She also says to feel free to add herbs/flavor his to food as well as a little olive oil and sea salt.  After reading a great book called "Real Food for Mother and Baby" I have to say I agree...I've just been lazy!  But I'll work on it. 

Here's what I've been doing to make the whole thing easier.  Whenever I have a veggie or fruit on hand for me and Jeyson to eat, I buy a little extra for Elijah.  I cook it up and throw it in the food processor with a little water.  Then, I divide it up into these little disposable espresso cups that are all over the place here in Brazil.  They're the perfect size!

 Rather than pouring into ice cube trays which you then have to wash, I just flash freeze the cups and store in these ziplock bags.  One is for fruits and the other veggies.  Then I just defrost a cup and serve right out of the cup and throw it out!  It doesn't get any easier than that!  Elijah is now eating 1 cup of fruit in the morning and 2 for lunch.  I might just make a half sized meat cups to see if he'll take one with lunch too, but I'm not going to stress if he doesn't like it.  He doesn't really need meat yet.


As far as drinks go, I'm trying to get Elijah to like juice, but so far he's not impressed.  I think it'd be great for him to like it so I could leave a bottle of juice at the nursery, etc instead of having to pump or leave food.  I've only tried carrot juice (just blended/strained carrot with water), but maybe he'll like fruit juice better.  He's still nursing great, though the addition of teeth has not been fun for me!  He now has 6 teeth and isn't sure what to do with them.  :)

I was dragging my feet about feeding Elijah since life was so simple before.  But I have to say, it's been pretty fun now that he's swallowing well and it's really not a big deal with freezing.  I'm excited to get to finger food and the new fun that will bring!