Please help me with table food...

Ok...so we are having such a hard time with figuring out what to feed my boys. They are doing ok with foods such as cheese toast and bit of banana and bagel w/ cream cheese, cheerios etc. However, they don't eat close to enough to consume the amount of calories they need. So, how do you all do it? Do your kids get all the calories they need from finger foods? Or do you smash up things like pasta and spoon feed them enough....I am trying to get away from the baby food. But,The boys have to have oil and cream added to everything for extra calories. So I think I have to have foods that are able to be spoon fed. I have made mac and cheese and then stick it into a chopper to make it small enough to use the spoon to feed them. Do you all do this? or just stick it on the table and let them self-feed. Do they eat enough? Just seems like eating one piece by one piece would take forever and they won't take enough.....What do you spoon feed them besides baby food--do you just chop everything up??

Please help!!!

 

Hi Atlantagirl3, I'd assume ur boys are 1 yr old? I am still feeding (as in spoon-feeding them) my 15mths with alphabet pasta with pumpkin sauce and minced beef, and if they can't chew it well, I'll just use a grinder bowl to 'chop' it up a little manually (so it still requires some chewing but not too minced). I also give them boiled potato with cream cheese and pan-fried minced chicken with capsicum (so you can add more oil while pan-frying it?). Are you giving them polyjoule or something to add calories? I think you can add cream to any pasta, potato etc..should taste pretty good too!

I think getting enough calories into them are more important, perhaps leave the finger food to snack time, so spoon-feed them anything that's manageable by them for now? Hope this helps...I know how you feel, cos Nathan's the smaller of the twin and its tough getting enough into him!

 

All my kids were a bit different in this area so I've done it many ways. The twins were underweight at this age and so we had to make sure they got a lot of calories. So in the morning we did yogurt. I spoon fed them but sometimes they would see it coming and start fussing so I also had go-gurts. I squeezed the yogurt out but they loved it!! The twins at around 18 months started protesting anything that I fed them so from that point on it was ALL finger foods :headbang: It's extremely tough to get them to eat enough and on days that I was concerned I gave them either pediasure or carnation breakfast smoothie in their sippy cups.
Mine hated eggs but those are easy and the kids seem to like them and are easy to pick up. We did the pasta pick ups and I cut them in quarters and we did a lot of cheese. My youngest is still getting stage 3 foods off of a spoon and doesn't seem to mind them but he's not great at finger foods yet so I feel like if I can get a contaner or two into him then he'll sleep better. However I don't have to worry about his weight since he's HUGE. He weights at least 4lbs more then his sister who is 13 months younger.

 

From 12-15 months, I supplemented their finger food with baby food to make sure the kids were getting enough calories. Our pedi was concerned about their weight, so she suggested giving them cheese, butter, ice cream (full fat), yogurt to increase caloric intake. I also added Carnation Instant Breakfast to every one of their milk bottles (they were still on bottles between 12-15 months). I would say for now give them the finger foods that they will eat and also add in some spoon fed foods as well.
I also second the recommendation for go-gurt...my kids still love that stuff. Another good high calorie yogurt to try is greek yogurt, mine also really like that.
Good luck!

 

We have weight issues also. I always spoon fed my son until he wouldn't let me anymore. I would distract him with toys or finger foods and shove the spoon in. I would make things and grind/chop them up. Baby food just doesn't have enough calories. Beef stew was always a big hit. I would make a huge pot and freeze little containers for them. The blender/grinder was my best friend! I also would add cream to my son's yogurt for extra calories. Instant carnation breakfast is great too to add to milk. I still use this in his cups. PM me if you need high calorie foods. We have been dealing with this since birth! Good luck!

 

Thanks so much for all the responses. My DS with the real weight issues is on pediasure, so we have that covered. I add cream or oil to all the baby foods, including yogurt. they do love yobaby so we give them that and we do give greek yogurt if we have it. My biggest issue is what to spoon feed them if its not baby food. I have done grits (for those of you in the south w/ lots of cheese and butter. I have done some lentil type things and mac and cheese. I don't eat meat. My DH does, so i'm not against them eating it, was just going to try and hold off if I could. So things like beef stew won't work. Any other ideas would be so appreciated! I'm not the best cook in general---so really have issues of what to give them that isn't baby food type things, but that i can still spoon feed!! (AHHHHH I thought this got easier, but right now it doens't seem like it!!)

 

Anything you can cook that you can cut up or mash can be spoon fed. You can do the beef stew, just remove the chunks of beef, and either cut the veggies small enough before you cook it, or cut it up/mash it up afterwards. I like to add crackers to it so it's thicker and easier to spoon feed. I don't let mine feed themselves soup yet, but when they get older I'll add even more crackers so it's thick enough for them to pick up with fingers.

I let them finger feed macaroni and add some frozen veggies (or the jarred carrots that gerber makes). Spaghetti and sauce I prefer to spoon feed, grilled cheese sandwiches, eggo waffles or homemade waffles or pancakes I let them finger feed. Scrambled eggs, cream of wheat, grits , you can make bean chili without the meat. Anything that's too big for them, I use a potato masher to mash it up easier.

Start experimenting, they may surprise you with what they like!

 

Some more ideas, mine like honey nut cheerios (you can use plain cheerios) in milk, I spoon feed them that for breakfast sometimes. Toast with jam or cheeze whiz in the morning, I prefer to make "sandwiches" and cut it up, that way they get less jam all over the place! :lol:

 

My guys were also very small (didn't even make it onto the weight chart until they were 15 months old), so we did Carnation Instant Breakfast Mix in their morning milk sippies, fed them bits of cheese for snacks, and I supplemented every meal with a big bowl of whole milk plain organic yogurt with fruit purees mixed in. Eventually, they started to refuse the yogurt (about 14-15 months) and I was panicking about how I was going to get calories in those boys!

I finally had to let myself "trust" that they would eat enough, and step back a bit. I still offer very calorie-dense nutritious foods, but they are 100% self-fed right now.

I don't think they (or I) were ready for it at one year; it is a gradual process. The PPs have given you some great suggestions about foods. Take it slow, and realize that they *will* eventually self-feed and get enough to eat. I can tell you that my guys really ramped up their finger feeding after they started refusing to be spoon-fed, and at their 18 month WBV are now on the 10th % and 25th % for weight!!!

I had a really hard time with the transition to solid foods/self-feeding, but it does get easier, I promise!