What I learned from Bella’s first solid food

Image from http://www.101childrensfoodideas.com/blog/
“Bella, nak makan apa malam ni?” (Bella, what would you like for dinner?)

“Bella nak nasi, kicap and telur/chicken” (Bella wants rice, soy sauce and eggs/chicken).

Pretty much the same answer every time, just replace the protein with either one I mentioned above. Once in a while she does take some noodles, that is when you will see me silently crying out victory in the kitchen. LOL.

Sigh, my dear fussy eater.

The word vegetables and fruits are almost non-existent in her vocabulary, well not in her “what I want to eat” list at least.

I don’t blame it on her really, when I looked back at how I started her with solid foods, I think I made the wrong move.

For starters it’s the darn instant porridges like Cerelac. Yes, her first solids were actually that, which I only came to realize is an equivalent of other processed food that we adults consume. I blame it on myself, a mom who easily got enticed with the ads and ignorant to do my own homework about solids.

Bella had those instant things every day, and only eat real food at dinner (it should have been the other way at least, right?)

I should have started with real food instead. Foods like pureed fruits like apples, avocadoes, pumpkins and such.

In my defence, I did gave her rice porridge, cooked with chicken or fish and some vegetables in it. The problem is I was not creative and did not put in too many variations. After a while it became the same ol’ menu, and maybe that contributed to her lack of “adventure” in tasting food.

Another wrong move was the snacks. I failed to realize that she needed to snack on healthy foods like cut fruits or cheeses and nuts. Back in the days her snacks were mostly those baby biscuits, rusks or cookies *slaps forehead*

These days I honestly envy those mothers who do not need to struggle with their children’s food. I mean those kids; they eat fruits and veges like a boss!

I don’t mean to compare my child with others, but my point is, it all starts with us the parents. Or rather, how we eat as an adult actually plays an important role at how we build our children’s eating habit.

I have heard of baby-led weaning and teaching them to eat what we eat, but again first of all, we also need to recognize whether what we consume as an adult is actually healthy and nutritious to begin with.

I guess that’s just another lesson learned in my parenting journey.

My dear Bella, I do feel bad about starting off wrongly, but baby I will try my best to make sure that some real food goes into your system (I hope you won’t discover that I have quietly sneaked in some vegetables into your rice every time I feed you). Perhaps you will learn to love these foods as you grow older.

To my credit, even though Bella is a fussy eater, I am glad that she is not a big fan of candies and junk foods, and even sodas. That’s a great achievement for me. I’d rather make some butter toast or boil some eggs for her to snack on than having her eating all those junks. I guess that helps me feel a little better. Ehem :)

So how do you start your baby with solids? Any tips to share on how to get them to eat real, nutritious food?

Comments

LisaLisut said…
agreed. sometimes i pn rs guilty huhu. although i introduce apple puree and carrot puree dlu, tp i yg bosan n giveup. sigh.problem now dia ssh nk makan sayur.i love vegetables. but my husband xsuke.ntah2 dia ikut bapak dia. i still try to make her eat sayur. huhu. hope for the next baby we can do better kan.
Ayuni A. said…
Ha a, tu a certain extent i pun memang give up jugak kot. Insya Allah kita cuba yg terbaik utk next baby :)
harsyeka said…
the first one (U), I started off with all those purees and Annabel-iforgotthelastname recipes, he's now the fussy eater just like Bella.
second one (AI), I gave up and started off with plain brown rice porridge and eventually added proteins n veges, he eats everything now even pick those veges from my plate
third one (I), same modus operandi as #2 and at 8 mths, he's not really fussy.
hope this will make u feel better, no wrong start I guess, first one always experimental and this all depends, no baby is alike?
Ayuni A. said…
Kak Syeka...yeah I guess so. Every child is different kan. Heheh. These days kalau Bella nak try anything new it really made my day. Rasa happy sgt haha.

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