<\/p>\nWe’ve been trying to diversify Lucy’s palate these days — by feeding her broccoli, cottage cheese, peas, even Monterey Jack cheese. (Who was this Monterey Jack, anyway? Was he some kind of hippie, Bay Area cheesemaker?) We’re making a valiant effort, but I don’t think it’s working as well as we had hoped. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
p{color:gray}. Photo: Don’t be fooled: Lucy is not enjoying this broccoli as much as it seems.<\/p>\n
Lucy had such a gradual introduction in the solid-food department. She is now an expert at feeding herself a variety of fruits. (Mangos, pears, and bananas are her favorites.) She especially loves yogurt and can hardly get enough Cheerios and buttered toast.<\/p>\n
However, I’ve been noting the distinct lack of vegetables in her diet — really, a lack of anything that isn’t starchy or sweet. How did this get away from me? Especially after all the reading I’ve done about making one’s own baby food and providing optimal baby nutrition! The truth is that I’ve been nervous about trying foods that she might not like.<\/p>\n
The turning point for me came last week when I was considering steaming some broccoli florets for Lucy to try. I looked down at Lucy crawling on the floor just in time to see her grab a big, hairy, linty wad off of our kitchen rug (how ever did that get there, oh my?) and delicately, deliberately insert it into her mouth. While digging the hairy mass out of my daughter’s mouth, I thought, “If she can eat that, she can try some freakin’ broccoli.”<\/p>\n
I’ve been trying to remember that babies sometimes need to try a food up to twelve times before actually enjoying eating it. I’ve also been trying to implement our friend “Brad’s”:http:\/\/bradfarris.com\/ house rule of “the new food must go on your plate, even if you don’t eat it,” on the theory that kids don’t like unfamiliar foods, but if it shows up on their plate a few times they might actually try it and like it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But Lucy doesn’t seem to be buying it. She’s not into the veggies, and she is also eschewing avocado and cooked egg yolk which she previously enjoyed. We are continuing with pears and yogurt while introducing a new food to her in a meal. She has gotten really good at identifying the foods she likes (and passing over ones she doesn’t). When we put a new food in her mouth, she gums it for a bit, makes a face, and then out it comes, rejected like a crumpled up dollar bill from a coin machine. (Props to Anne Lamott for that simile.) I even saut\u00c3\u00a9ed the broccoli in a little butter for her to eat — I thought she was into it at first, but the second time we tried it she would have none of it.<\/p>\n
Part of it is the issue of teeth. Lucy doesn’t have very many of them (tooth #4 poked through today, for those of you keeping track). This makes it hard to chew through many things — peas, broccoli, grape skins. I tried pur\u00c3\u00a9eing the steamed broccoli, but she didn’t like that either (and, frankly, neither did I — yuck!). I’ve heard that some babies truly prefer jarred baby food, so we tried some of that yesterday, but still didn’t get the reception I hope for.<\/p>\n
This is surprisingly hard for me! I’m trying to be patient and not show anxiety about her eating habits. But it’s gotta be my Italian heritage, or people-pleasing tendencies. It feels really important that I give Lucy food that she enjoys eating. Jon and I love to eat. We both love a variety of foods, and I love to cook. I’m really hoping to share the joy of food with Lucy, but I’m sort of at a loss at this stage.<\/p>\n
I am encouraged when I remember hearing stories of Jon’s eating habits as a child. I think he survived solely on bread and butter for an entire year, supplemented by the occasional hot dog. There is a great family story where he visited a friend’s house around age five, and when offered a hot dog at lunchtime, he inquired, “Is it an Oscar Meyer wiener?” Taking pickiness to a new level! If Jon came through a childhood of picky eating and now relishes pretty much anything, Lucy could do the same. She is her father’s daughter!<\/p>\n
(Incidentally, some of you who have known me for a long time might be interested to know that somehow, since Lucy’s birth, my once-violent aversion to onions has disappeared. I have never liked onions, and I still won’t eat them raw, but they bother me much less these days. You’ll even find me eating them and cooking with them in my own kitchen. Shocking, I know. I feel like a core part of my identity has changed, but I guess that is what motherhood does to you.)<\/p>\n
To sum up: there is hope for Lucy, but I sure would like some wisdom right now to help prepare her for years of yummy saut\u00c3\u00a9ed spinach with garlic and feta cheese or one of Papa’s stir-fries. Any tips from the seasoned parent-cooks out there?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We’ve been trying to diversify Lucy’s palate these days — by feeding her broccoli, cottage cheese, peas, even Monterey Jack cheese. (Who was this Monterey Jack, anyway? Was he some kind of hippie, Bay Area cheesemaker?) We’re making a valiant effort, but I don’t think it’s working as well as we had hoped.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kids"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}