More experienced moms of the DIS..a little help here please.

[Sleepy]

TOV,

Now, back to the allergies. If you have such a family history, than you are doing the right thing. You should be careful introducting the seven highly allergenic foods (wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, dairy, eggs). Now, you see that "dairy" is in there...are you worried about the milk you are giving him as much as the wheat, nuts, etc?? Not trying to trip you up here, just want to point out that some of the things you are giving him can be just as bad as the things you are trying to avoid.

You have made a good point.....be careful. I don't think being careful includes completely blacklisting a food for a lifetime. it just means be cautious when you introduce it (especially when there is no family history).....maybe even introduce the food in the waiting room of the doctors office if you are not sure.

I knew a family who did not even consume corn....in any form. Their list of evil foods is so long I don't see how it is possible to eat. Cooking must be quite a chore......reading the ingredients of every food product. I feel sorry for the kids. They have never eaten in a restaurant because of the risk.....although I have seen them eat homemade treats, etc made by other people using those bad foods...and they were fine. I often wonder if this odd diet is fear induced or if there is a family member who will die if mistakenly given a certain food. Again, the list of foods is immense.

The reason I use fear induced as a reason to stay away from those "allergy foods" is because this family also refuses to give immunizations to their kids because they read the labels to every immunization and say the potential RISK is not worth it. Of course, this is another debate.

 

[golfgal]

One thing you have to remember is that kids don't need to eat as much as we think they do. Figure their stomach is about the size of their fist, pretty small, so 3 pieces of chicken fills them up AND provides enough nutrients to sustain them. If he is able to go 3-4 hours without eating, is full of energy and is growing, he is eating enough. A friend of mine that is the head dietition for the United States VA hospitals gave me a book called "How to get your child to eat, but not too much" and it gave you really good information about how much a child at a certain age really needs to eat. Toddlers really don't need to eat that much, the equivialant of 3 pieces of meat, 6 green bean bites and 4 oz of milk constitues a "meal" for a toddler. That isn't very much food.

I have a skinny kid too. He was 16 lbs at a year. He is a whopping 55 lbs at age 10, but he is active and growing like a weed, he is just skinny. Some kids just have that body type. As a baby, 8-9 months old, he would eat an adult size ceral bowl of baby cereal and 2 LARGE jars of baby food at one meal. He doesn't even come close to eating that much now.

OH, and for mashed potatoes, Ore Ida makes frozen mashed potatoes that you add milk to and heat. They are very easy and actually don't taste that bad. Also, just because you don't like it doesn't mean he won't. My kids love fish, seafood, etc and I hate it. If you pass your food pickyness off on your child, you are going to deal with this the rest of your life. Mixing foods isn't going to hurt him in the slightest. He should also be self feeding by now-he will get plenty to eat. I know one mom that spoon fed her 4 year old because she didn't want to clean up the mess, come on, that is IRRESPONSIBLE parenting!

 

[Minnesota!]

I know how nerve racking 1st time mommy hood is - I am living it right now. But, you need to realize that your child just MIGHT like the boxed taters. Who cares if he wants to mix his chicken - hey, he's eating right? And, MOST importantly, let him self feed!!! My son is 9 months, and he has been allowed to feed himself for a good while now. He sure does make a HUGE mess, but he loves it. He holds the spoon in one hand, and eats with the other. He makes motions like he knows what the spoon is for. Last nights dinner was spaghetti noodles cut up with ketchup on top (out of sauce), and some carrots. He had a BLAST!!!! The other day, I cut up a slice of pizza, he ate EVERYTHING except about 5 little pieces. Pick your battles, TOV.

I am/was terrified about the allergies. His daycare gave him eggs last week....he did fine. I will start introducing milk in May. On the cheerios - Lucas LOVES them! Another thing I do is ground them into powder, then roll banana pieces into them. Provides traction and he can grab them better.

 

[Planogirl]

Our son will ONLY eat the boxed mashed potatoes. He gags if he bites into real potatoes.

Betty Crocker makes a good boxed mashed potato. We get the plain butter flavor and they only take a few minutes to make. I don't eat them but DS and DH love them.

 

[Rowena]

TOV, you remind me of myself about this 9 years ago! I was so worried about what DS was eating, I forgot to let him feed himself.
He was not overly fond of the Gerber meats at that age, but once we moved to the spaghetti/lasagne type stuff with meat mixed in, he liked it. He also loved the Gerber broccoli in cheese sauce. We also used to give him lots of cheese and yogurt, but we weren't too worried about food allegies. (We did avoid citrus friuts, stawberries and nuts until age 3 though.)
You know your kid and you're trying your best to be a perfect mom. You don't need to be a perfect mom, just his mom. And, don't try to make him the perfect child, just let him be your kid. Relax a little and enjoy him. He's only gonna be this age ONCE. Mix some chicken into your own veggies...you might like it.