A lunchbag stuffed to the brim

Do you remember me telling you about sending little c to "school" with almost a complete Thanksgiving meal back in October, and how his "teacher" said that was the first time she'd seen one of the babies show up with pie for dessert? Well, a couple of weekends ago I made pancakes for all of us on Saturday morning and had some left over, so I sent little c to "school" with one on Monday morning. Again, Phyllis said that that was a first.

I started to think, "Am I feeding little c the wrong things? Should he not be eating a lot of what I'm giving him? What are the things he should be eating that I'm not feeding him?" So I turned to one of the resources I have, apart from my friends and family, "Super Baby Food," by Ruth Yaron.

So here's what the book recommends on a daily basis:

1. 4-5 servings of vegetables and fruit (each serving is 3-4 tbsps). Ummmm, little c definitely has 4-5 servings of v & f and has WAY more than 3-4 tbsps at a time.

2. 4 servings of super porridge cereals (each serving is 1/4 - 1/2 cup cooked). Well, he has cereal every morning for breakfast, except when I feed him waffles or pancakes, he has cereal added into his vegetables or fruit, and he has at least 1 slice of bread per day. Add in the puffs and he's at 4 servings easily.

3. 2-3 servings of legumes, nuts or seeds (serving size varies). Okay, I fail here. I don't give him any, except when I give him lentils. Ummm, doesn't this author know about nut allergies and we aren't supposed to give babies nuts until they're like 1 or 2?

4. 1 serving of dairy per day. Little c eats yogurt every day now that he won't eat cheese or cottage cheese anymore so I think we're good.

5. One egg yolk every other day, 3-4 egg yolks per week. Little c eats about 4 per week and eats the whole egg. I didn't realize that egg whites were a major allergan. Oops! I I guess he's not allergic to them.

6. Nutritional enhancers (1/2 - 1 tsp of brewer's yeast and a pinch of kelp and 1/2 - 1 tsp of desicated liver). I'm not a hippie living on a commune in Montana. I will not add this to little c's food, even if you pay me. It's too far outside my comfort zone. Desicated liver? What in the world?

Also included in the book is a summary schedule for introduction of foods during baby's first year. Nowhere is hummus, pancakes, or pumpkin pie, but tahini, an ingredient in hummus, was listed for 8 month olds, as are garbanzo beans in month 9, so I'm thinking hummus is good. And you know what? I see no reason why pumpkin pie and pancakes are so strange.

All in all I think little c is getting his nutritional needs met. He eats until he shakes his head no or til he starts pulling it out of his mouth or letting it fall out onto his placemat. He eats a lot more than his nemesis, N, who weighs a couple pounds more than little c. I really do think he's got a high metabolism because he should weigh about 25 lbs based on how much he eats.

So, the long and drawn out point is this: I think little c is doing fine and I think I'm doing a fine job of giving him what he needs. I'm not going to worry about his teacher's comments anymore and will continue sending him to "school" with whatever I fancy. Maybe I'll send him with sushi tomorrow just to see what she says!

Regardless of what he eats, the kid is so freaking cute, as evidenced below. Enjoy and bon appetit!