Wednesday, March 14, 2012

all about C and advice is welcome if you have any....

I am not known to do weekly or monthly posts BUT our booboochicken Culley has had so many milestones since turning 10 months that i just have to post on our sweet baby boy....i mean BIG boy!  In the past 2 weeks a lot has changed...

C has learned to crawl...
and he gets into EVERYTHING, toys are in the past, he prefers anything but them! ;)

C has learned to pull himself up on furniture/toys...

C has learned to walk along furniture...

C also learned how to "talk on the phone", ha!  B gave C one of his old phones to play with and he instantly put it to his ear...

C also is getting 3 new teeth!  His two front chompers and one on the bottom. That makes 7 teeth!

C has decided that he LOVES soft puffcorn and it's about the only thing he eats....
This was the other night when C had a high temp and he got to the point where he was only happy watching bubble guppies and eating puff corn so baby got what he wanted.

C discovered the kitchen which includes the tupperware cabinet AND he is just dying to get into the trash can cabinet and tip the can...

C is always smiling, even with a runny nose...

C loves looking out the window...

C loves playing with his daddy...

C also loves his blankie and paci...
Cullen has a paci in A LOT because he grinds his teeth and that noise is like nails on a chalkboard, gives me the chills.


C eats well for his 3 meals a day with baby food (as long as he is not teething) but he seems to have a texture issue.  He will not touch or eat anything that is not rough to the touch....he LOVES gerber cheetos and puff corn but he will not eat waffles or pancakes, I think it's because they are soft.  He eats yogurt for breakfast and then 2 chunky baby foods a day and I usually add tiny star pasta into the food to make it more chunky and filling, he also has snacks in between which usually is cheerios, gerber baby puffs, yogurt bites or puffcorn/gerber veggie cheetos.  He loves his baby food and I still nurse him throughout the day.  He has a bottle before bed and usually wakes anywhere from 1-4 times a night, not necessarily to nurse/have a bottle, he just isn't the best sleeper.  He will not eat any solid veggies, fruits or meats, I've tried chicken breast and multiple veggies and fruit).  C loves noodles and I've added them to his baby food but he will not touch them.  He likes bananas and sweet potatoes and many other fruits/veggies but he will not touch them, when he touches them he cringes.  I'm nervous about this going forward since C is almost ONE :(   If he stops nursing and goes to whole milk, is he supposed to stop eating baby food and only eat solid "people" food?   I think I will have to keep feeding him baby food if he doesn't eat the "people" food.  He won't even eat it if I try feeding it to him, he gags and then won't open his mouth for another bite.  Also, C won't drink from a sippy cup himself.  He tries but he doesn't understand that he has to tip it, if I tip it he will drink from it.  He doesn't understand how to use the straw sippy cups either.  Of course I'll keep trying when it comes to that.

If any of you have advice on anything I wrote about above, I'd love to hear about it!

How did you transition your baby from baby food to whole foods?  
What are/were some of your babies favorite foods?
Was weaning from nursing easy for you?  
Did you give your babies bottles of whole milk or just use a sippy cup?  
Was it easy for your baby to use a sippy cup?  Which one was their/your favorite?  

28 comments:

MLBarajas said...

My oldest (Lincoln) is 19 months old and we still give him baby food sometimes. He is very picky and has a lot of texture issues. my husband and I talked with our ped. about all of this and he said to keep trying. He also said it was good to keep giving him the baby food to make sure he is getting the nutrition he needs. Lincoln just recently started eating spaghetti but he has to feed himself. If we try to give it to him he refuses to eat it. Lincoln would much rather just drink milk all day and eat pizza for every meal.

B F said...

Babies and toddlers are just picky in general! It's like pulling teeth to get my 2 1/2 year old to eat ANYTHING besides snaky food. It's just a process and you have to be sneaky with it! I don't have much advice on the food stuff because I'm still learning!

But.

With sippy cups. Both my girls had a hard time transitioning too. The Nuk soft top transitioning is the best because it kind of gives them a bottle like feel. My girls weren't completely off their bottles until about 15 months so I wouldnt stress too much! Just try and give it to him a little at a time and he will get used to it! And then eventually you might just have to completely take the bottle away altogether. (like i did!) and surprisingly they do just fine :)

Hope this helps! This parenting thing can be hard sometimes amen?!

Aishlea said...

I am a very picky eater myself, and I am lucky in that Cohen has turned out like his Daddy and will eat anything! He's not picky at all and I haven't found much that he won't eat. He refuses to eat any baby food now. He loves the applesauce in the squeeze pack. Have you tried that? I'm no real help with that issue.

But, we started giving Cohen a sippy cup with water really early- around 5 months. He didn't know how to use it by himself at first, but quickly picked it up, so I'd say just keep doing it everyday.

Also, we started giving him one sippy cup of whole milk everyday when he turned 11 months to start transitioning from formula. We stopped bottles cold turkey two days after he turned one and he had no problems because he was so accustomed to the sippy cup.

Ashley @ The Hagaboaters said...

Rather than answer your specific questions, I'll tell you what we did/still do.
Atticus turned one last week. He never had baby food. We did BLW starting at 7 months or so. It took him a couple months to get the hang of it, but he now eats everything except for lettuce. (Even gross things like anchovies, chopped black olives, and asparagus). His favorite food is collard greens. He "eats" at every meal with us and still nurses 5-7 times a day. He eats what we eat. He's never had puffs, cheerios, or any other baby food type products.
He has never used a sippy cup, and we don't intend to introduce one. He drinks water with meals out of a regular cup. We do have to help him, but he's getting better.
I don't intend to encourage weaning for at least another year. He still loves it and depends on it for nutrition, which our ped said was absolutely fine. If we are both willing, which we are, human milk is much better for him in the second year of life than switching to cow's milk. It's not for everyone, but you don't have to wean around a baby's first birthday.

I know it seems that I've done exactly the opposite of the questions you've asked, but maybe a different perspective will help too.

Good luck!

Unknown said...

Hey girl,
First of all, I can't believe both of our babies are getting so big - where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday I was reading your pregnancy milestones and comparing them to mine!

On the food, I asked the "how long do you give baby food" question recently too and I had a mixture of answers. Some moms said that they continue some amount of baby food through 18 months, some said they went to straight table or finger foods at a year. I think it is just important to do what is right for you and C. Personally, I think I will continue w/ a mixture of baby & table for at least a few more months.

For the sipyy cup, I just continually gave a cup to Emmalee and she eventually figured it out - but it took several weeks. Even now she sometimes doesn't get it right away, but she keeps trying to get her drink. I think this is definitely a skill that takes some time. ( and FYI - she didn't understand the sippy straw cups, either).

The Rest is Still Unwritten said...

OH my goodness! He is getting SO big!!

Rachel said...

I have a 8 month old and we started giving her a sippy cup when she was 5 months old. She knows how to use and it was super easy for her to learn. I recommend giving C a sippy cup during meals so gets accustomed to using a sippy. Plus, the sooner you get him a sippy, he'll be easier to ween off of milk. We give our daughter juices in her sippy cup and a couple of time have given her formula when she wouldn't drink out of her bottle.

Katie S said...

C is just the cutest thing!! you guys make cute babies! Have more soon! :)

Kelly said...

Ooooobviously I'm not able to answer any of your questions, but I have to say that you have the cutest little guy!! Love those photos side by side of him growing. Just PRECIOUS :-D

undomestic mama said...

My boys are 14 months and we still give them purees, partly because it's easier, partly because I'm so picky they wouldn't get the variety of food otherwise. My boys also just figured out straws. We had to take the "no spill" stopper out of their sippy cups in order for them to learn to use them and just recently put them back in. Try and be patient, each baby learns differently and will pick it up when they're ready. As far as texture, maybe try making some things with puree in it? Our Baby Bullet came with a cook book that said you can put cauliflower puree in mac n cheese, maybe you can find recipes to mask the softness he doesn't like? And just keep trying. My ped said sometimes babies have to try things 20 times before they like it, Eli hates scrambled eggs butI just keep trying.

Stacey said...

Hi, have been checking in on your blog occasionally but never said "hi" so here is my first official "hello."

My background is a speech language pathologist who also did feeding therapy. I also have an almost 2 year old and another on the way so I have that angle too now!

From reading through your post on what he will won't eat it sounds more like it could be not a problem at all with anything but just typical development. C sounds like he is letting you know what he is able to comfortably feel/chew and what he isn't he won't eat. Even though pancakes and waffles are soft they are a chewy texture which takes a lot of oral motor control to chew and swallow.
As far as nutrition from food sources he still is nursing and taking a bottle and that is where his primary form of nutrition is coming from and everything else is suppose to compliment add to those. So if it were my child I would continue to encourage playing with a variety of textures, colors, tastes, and if he eats it cool, if he puts it in his mouth and tries it great and if he spits it out no big deal :-)

My son who is still nursing to sleep (yep, never thought I would be that mom :-) really was not a big solid food eater until my supply dropped off. Up until that point he would have things here and there but never would consistently eat much...that all changed when he was 18 months, had most of his teeth (no molars) and a good rotary chew pattern (side to side tongue movement).

How did you transition your baby from baby food to whole foods? you can start now, keep trying the foods you have been, enourage play and touching and just exploring the food. Then you can also try shredded cheeses, soft cheeses, soft veggies that are frozen or in a can and just keep letting him explore.
What are/were some of your babies favorite foods?
Was weaning from nursing easy for you? No-still working on it :-) My son was still hungry at night every 3-4 hrs until 19 months old and then he slowly started to add time and now will sleep 8-9 hour stretches.
Did you give your babies bottles of whole milk or just use a sippy cup? Start the sippy cup now, BUT be careful with sippy cups they still do create an inmature suck pattern. Start introducing an open cup too!
Was it easy for your baby to use a sippy cup? Which one was their/your favorite? Try taking out the stopper so he can learn the cause effect relationship of tipping means something will come out. With the no leak valves kiddos still need to suck which is unnatural with cup drinking. My favorite are any sippy cups that can keep the lips as close together as possible. Hope some of this helps :-) But remember all sounds well and just like he is learning to explore new foods and figure them out. If he was almost 2 and we were saying this it would be different, but he's still a little/big guy :-)
Stacey www.stacey-ourjourney.blogspot.com

Meagan said...

Annie, I could have wrote this post myself! Our little boo boo chickens have the same stuff going on! I follow some baby food expert on Facebook and just this morning at breakfast was considering asking her about Chase's texture issues. Gerber snacks are the only finger foods he will eat. Just chews on the sippy cup. I'm scared to wean until he figures those things out. I'm guessing the answer to our problems is the same one all along that they will figure it out eventually. I know the baby whisperer says to stick with one sippy cup (no juice) for a month. We've tried one for like 4 days and I'm ready to give up! Please let me know if you get any advice that is helpful.

Shannon said...

Hi Annie!
My son Everett is just a couple weeks younger than Cullen, so naturally I have LOVED reading your blog throughout our pregnancies and beyond. My little guy is also very picky- but in a different way. He will have nothing to do with baby food, never would! So frustrating! What I did was cut up bananas and roll them in crushed cheerios, so they weren't wet or slimy to the touch. I did this with avocado too. He loves it and can pick it up.
Is Cullen the type of baby who will put everything in his mouth? My son is so maybe thats why he will try everything, but only likes very few things. He loves:
black beans (they are like crack to him)
cut up blueberries
cheese
grilled cheese sandwiches (have you tried this? or toast?)
chicken

Does he want what you eat? Maybe he is just not interested in solids yet. I would still introduce new things on a regular basis, at meal time, but follow his lead.
I will keep checking back as I need sippy cup and weaning advice too! :)

Shannon

Miss Amy said...

oooh teeth grinding is horrible to me too!!! He is a DOLL! i love the one of him watching a movie and your hubby watching TV too! So funny and cute!

Dear Boys Love Mom said...

He is so precious!

My kids both refused baby food around 9 months so we moved right in to table food. My kids really loved mashed potatoes and spinach. We pretty much started feeding them everything that we would eat.

I was so nervous that they would get stuck on a bottle if I started that so I went straight to the sippy with whole milk. Aiden (my only year old) is having a much harder time with the sippy, but I figure if we keep offering it, he will pick it up. I really like the Nubi ones.

Shannon said...

thanks for the heads up on the no-reply thing, I had no idea! I think I fixed it! :)

Modern Camelot said...

I don't have any advice from experience, but I would just keep offering him different foods. Bottom line is, I've never met a kid in school that only ate soft food, so at SOME point, he'll come around. As long as he's gaining well and healthy, he's fine! My neighbor only breastfed until her son was 14 months (not even cereal!) and he's a perfectly fine 17 month old now...they learn quick when they are older!

Are you weaning because you want to? You certainly don't HAVE to use cow's milk...you're fine to nurse if thats what you like doing!

And Guinevere sucks at the sippy cups, the only one she can sorta figure out is the NUK. I'm currently trying to get her to use one with a soft straw, I have this one: http://www.amazon.com/Playtex-First-Gripper-Trainer-Colors/dp/B004E2H3PA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1331746717&sr=8-3

Jax said...

I can't believe how much he's grown up before my blogging eyes! That's so fantastic! He's such a gorgeous little guy. :) I love the picture of him with the pacifier. I dont have any advice to offer b/c the only kid I have is my fur kid..haha.. :)

Aliya said...

Thank you for posting this! Ky is only 9.5 months, but is also weird about using the sippy cup and I think has a few texture issues as well... Can't wait to read all the responses! :)

Anonymous said...

he's getting so big and changin in so many ways! cherish those memories!

Jessica said...

Oh Kids and Food!! My oldest is now 2 use to eat anything and everything you gave him. Now he goes through spurts of eating good and not wanting anything at all. My Youngest is 9 months and only eats "table/people" food. He started just grabbing our food so we let him have it. For some reason he has to put the food in his mouth himself. So feeding him any kind of yogurt is a no go bc he tries to pull it out of his mouth to see what it is. His snack foods are still the puff type or cheerios, which I am sure he will eat for awhile bc all other snackies have so much sugar.
I can always get both kids to eat any kind of fruit. So when the 2yr old is being picky I at least get him fruit. He was also eat almost anything if we dump parm cheese on it. So a lot of his dinners are covered in Parm.
With the whole milk I only gave it in a sippy bc I wanted him to seperate the bottle from the new milk. We had to out chocolate in his milk to start with to get him use to it, then I started slowly putting less and less until he was just drinking milk, now the kid goes through at least a gallon a week! :) Hope this helps!! Any other questions I am always here to help, I can only let you know what I did and what worked!

Katie F said...

Gianna won't take a sippy cup either. And I'm also trying to wean and get her to eat more baby food. She still has no teeth and I've been afraid to give her puffs or upset melts but everyone makes fun of me for that lol. So we tried it and she had no interest in self feeding. It's so hard because you wanna make sure you do everything right for your child lol! I can't wai to read the advice everyone gives you!

Unknown said...

Noah is only 6 months today and fortunately doesn't seem to be picky with eating. I guess that could be a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it. Just a suggestion, but I make some of Noah's baby food. I will be able to control the chunkiness of it and everything which I like. Maybe as a transition from baby food to table food could be to take whatever table food you are eating or want him to try and use a baby food mill. I have the baby bullet to make Noah's food but it's not practical to use for table food. And I think those baby food mills are fairly cheap. Just a suggestion as that's my plan of attack lol. As for the other things, I'm probably going to need advice myself lol

Anonymous said...

Hi- I know you're probably getting a lot of comments and advice on this subject, but I just wanted to pass along what has been most helpful to me. When I relaxed, my son started relaxing. We went through a month or two where he would only eat 3 or 4 things, and none of them were all that healthy. His issues were more about control than pickiness. He stopped letting me feed him with a spoon and would get frustrated if he couldn't pick up his food right away, so he would quit trying. So my biggest tip would be to try and relax about the subject and know that it does get better! Once I started trying to make meal time just a more pleasant experience, it made a world of difference!

Ashley said...

FIRST- HE IS SO handsome!! does his hair have a red tint or is it just the lighting?? Anika's sometimes has a red tint..and then other times i dont see it :)
For the sippy cup issue- We are still working on it! Dont worry, they will get it. I have tried like 10 cups and a straw. Right now I have a sippy cup and I took the rubber part out of it so the water will just flow out....so she gets the idea...she is STARTING to get it but I wouldnt put anything else in it yet bc it makes a mess. I feel like all the other kids her age will use a sippy so i get discouraged. IM so Over bottles for the sitter, lol.
For the feeding thing, we mostly did baby led weaning...I did make purees for the sitter, but we did the baby led at home...so not a lot of advice there since it was always real foods.
I cant even talk about weaning :) haha

Ashley said...

ugh, And A is a teeth grinder too! IT IS PAINFUL! but she has never taken a paci so I feel bad, but I snap at her to stop and the poor thing doesnt know why im sure.

Unknown said...

Try not to stress it; he will come around to eating different things in time. He is still young & if you keep trying different things he will eventually eat them. B did well as a baby with transitioning to solids food......any solid food but now is very picky & Colton is having a hard time with 3 foods due to the texture. He gags quite a bit but we just keep mixing it with a puree fruit or veggie & it is slowly getting better. It is hard to know when they are ready but as his mommy you'll know when to try & when to just let him eat what he wants.

As far as the sippy cup; there is a nuby 3 stage cup with both boys & it transitioned them pretty easily.
http://www.diapers.com/p/nuby-3-stage-feeding-system-8-oz-1-pk-21198

Good luck & try not to worry; everything will work out & he'll be eating steak before you know it :)

LWLH said...

I can't believe how big he has gotten, such a cutie.

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