Baby Food Part 2: What I'm feeding him

I wrote a panicky blog post a couple of weeks ago about feeding a baby. You can read it here.

That crisis may have been the first time I cried about the stress of being a mom in a long time. Kennedy and I had a conversation a few days after things had settled down in which he reminded me that I tend to freak out a little at every new stage, and it always ends up working out.

I agreed, and decided I'm a little bit like Chicken Little. But it is my right as a mother.

ANYWAY, I decided that one day, when there's another little Dean baby (No, I'm not pregnant), I might want to freak out again about this feeding thing. So I'm going to make a list of things I'm feeding Campbell now for reference later. Hopefully this list will help some other people as well! And if you have other food ideas, feel free to share them in the comments below, because Lord knows I'm making this up as I go along.

First of all, Campbell is a vegetarian. It's not that I haven't tried to give him meat, but he's not all that  interested. So I'm not going to force the issue because he is getting lots of protein elsewhere right now.

Secondly, now that Campbell is comfortable with feeding himself, he prefers it. It's getting harder and harder to spoon feed him, but I do it because he is a slow eater. I can shovel a lot more in and make sure he's getting enough if I spoon feed him some foods. (Otherwise, we'd spend his entire awake time watching him eat.)

Breakfast:
-1-2 slices of canteloupe
- Handful of cheerios
- Fruit-ish/yogurt/oatmeal mixture ("Fruit" includes pureed pumpkin, pureed pears, or a smoothie mixture*)

Lunch:
- 1/2 piece of string cheese
- Handful of cheerios (he LOVES feeding himself and if he doesn't have something in his hands, he won't let me give him anything on a spoon)
- Veggie/yogurt mixture (Veggies include some combination of mashed sweet potatoes, cut up carrots, cut up green beans, white potatoes)
- Beans (I usually mash them up a little and mix it in with the veggies)
- Some kind of fruit chunks (canteloupe, strawberries, pears, steamed apples, bananas, etc. Not ALL of those at once, but one or two types of those fruits.)
- Pureed prunes (for regularity)

Dinner:
- Whatever he doesn't get at Lunch, he gets at dinner
- Plus some kind of fruit/milk/oatmeal mixture

*Smoothies for Campbell are my way of sneaking things into his diet. He LOVES fruit, but not many veggies. So I will put 3-4 different fruits in, plus a big handful of spinach and some whole milk. (Also a great way for me to sneak whole milk into his diet!)

Snacks: (Campbell doesn't snack much, but I take these things with me when we're out because they're portable and don't make too much of a mess/ they keep him busy if he gets antsy. Is it terrible that I give him food when he's bored? Oh well, whatever works!)
- Yogurt melts
- Cheerios

I got this smoothie idea from my friend Laura at foodnobstl.com. Our babies are only a couple of days apart, so I have been reading her blog/sending her facebook messages asking for advice! She also has great adult recipes, so definitely go check out her blog!

Campbell is old enough to eat pretty much anything (except for nuts and honey, obviously) so we are starting to let him try things off our plates as well. I know I am wayyyy behind many parents on this. A lot of people start their kids on table foods much earlier and are very successful.

But if you remember, I freak out easily when it comes to feeding this child, so I have been paranoid for the past year that he would eat something and have a terrible allergic reaction. (That's because Kennedy has several allergies, so it could be possible!) Better safe than sorry in my opinion.

Anyway, what a fun, exciting post! (Not.) But hopefully it'll be helpful to you, and to my future self! My goal now that I have this written out is to keep adding more and more foods to his diet. Mangos! Tomatoes! Asparagus! MEAT! The possibilities are endless.