WHOLE FOODS NUTRITION FOR MY 15-MONTHS BABY

When Taj started wanting foods early on, and as Taj has moved from pureed foods to mashed foods to finger foods, I have always given him the foods Brock and I eat. We don't sit down to steak and roast veg and feed him fish fingers and potato chips. Taj is a little human. HUMAN. So his nutritional needs are the same a big humans (in fact he needs better nutrition and more nutrients as he is growing at such a phenomenal rate). I'm not talking macros, micros, calories and so on. I'm talking REAL FOOD. He needs real food to thrive just as I do. And that's exactly what I feed him. So after my last blog outlining what and how I started feeding Taj from 6 months of age, I wanted to dive deeper and share what I'm doing with him now that he is almost 15 months young.

I once read that what a pregnant woman eats whilst pregnant has a huge impact on the growing child in terms of their tastebuds during their lifetime (of course we know what mama eats impacts bubba directly for many reasons, but tastebuds was a new thing to me). Essentially I recall this study presenting facts to show that the wider range of TASTES mama eats whilst pregnant will mean bubba is likely to eat a wide range also. When I was pregnant I was sure to eat sweet, salty, bitter, sour, meaty, fermented and so on... and besides being an already wholefood-eating-family, I feel this has made a big impact on the fact that Taj has always been an incredible little eater.

Whole foods. Home made. Varied flavours. Real food.

When offered, kids will eat whatever nutrient dense food is in front of them. I couldn't believe last week when we went out for Indian food with Brocks family visiting from America, to see chicken nuggets on the menu for kids! I mean... I'm at an Indian restaurant. We ordered a mild goat curry, butter chicken, peshwari naan bread and plain rice and Taj ate all of it just as we did.

Breakfasts

I find breakfast is the trickiest with Taj as more often than not he won't eat what I give him. And perhaps he's just not hungry for food as soon as he wakes up (he has boob in bed first so...). So I don't get bothered by it as he's not wasting away and when he's hungry he will let me know. He just started trying to pull himself up onto his high chair (Sign #1 I'm hungry mum) and today brought me his food plate winging (Sign #2 I'm hungry mum) so pay attention to what they are trying to tell you.

Typically I'll give him 2 or 3 options in his plate. These may be toast with butter and avocado or nut butter and berries. Pancakes (made with coconut flour or protein powder, eggs and banana) and berries or nuts. If it's not cold I'll make a smoothie. I've also had a slice made packed with all seeds, nuts, coconut oil, cacao butter, honey and goji berries he loved (and highly nutritious).

Lunches and Dinners

Taj's favourite foods by far are slow cooked meats, veggie-mash through gluten free pasta, avocado, roasted broccoli, green smoothies, and he loves nibbling on nuts (which I am always sure to watch him eat closely). He also loves saurekraut! So when I look at that, not ironically at all, his favourite foods are all his parents favourite foods. He is a great eater and I have no troubles feeding him. You'll see from the photos above what I typically do for these meals.

Snacks

This is when I'll offer fruit mostly (besides berries at brekkie which he loves and is always a sure thing if he eats nothing else). I don't like to give fruit with meals, and not usually after a meal as this could foster that sweet-treat-after-a-meal that ends up becoming ice cream and dessert in later years. So... fresh fruit, carrot sticks, celery and nut butter (he loves this), home made muffin or bliss ball or slice (I try to not give too much dried fruit). And things I give him that I don't make would be mini rice cakes or an organic gluten free cookie (the Byron Bay Cookie Company do a great kids one and they taste amazing!) I try to limit these processed foods to times when I've no other option, so always have and offer fresh foods first. And be sure to read the ingredients of any store bought foods (look for real foods no numbers and fake foods, aim for minimal sugar, and organic where possible).

My tips to foster better eaters:

• Eat with your child. I kinda think this one is a big one and one most parents miss, especially at dinner time. As I cook for the three of us, dinner is had (usually) all together, somewhere between 530pm and 630pm. And Taj is much more likely to eat well when we are too. And if Brock or I are still hungry later we'll have a snack.
• Eat mindfully with no distractions. No TV, laptops on, phones beeping, nothing.
• Allow them to play with their food. They are discovering tastes, textures, colours. I know cleaning it up can be a pain in the ass, so you can always pick your battles. Some days I'm fine with the mess and other days I don't have the energy for it - so spaghetti bolognese will not be on the menu!
• Don't force them to eat. Do you like being forced to eat? I know I don't. I tell Taj that if he doesn't want to eat something he doesn't have too ("but please don't throw it on the floor" - we're working on that one). Kids are smart. And if you're feeding them nutritious whole foods you never have to worry about them not wanting dinner, but asking for dessert. If they're hungry they will eat.

Meal Prep Ideas to Save Time

• Make a Broth. Find my recipe here. Make it on the stove top or in the slow cooker. Keep a container worth in the fridge and freeze the rest. This is incredibly nourishing for their growing bodies, immune system, gut health and more. You can add this to mashed foods, and even make a plain one (no onion or garlic) and add an ice cube worth to smoothies.
• Veggie Mash. Steam (or boil in a small amount of broth) a buttload of different veggies, add to the blender and blitz with a good dessert spoonful of organic butter, add some sea salt and dried herbs. Pour some of this straight into moulds for the freezer. Keep some in a small container in the fridge for the next few days. When Taj was littler, I would spoon feed this to him. These days I add or mix this into anything (he loves it on quinoa pasta) for extra veg intake.
• Slow cooked meats. Lamb, beef, pork, chicken, just be sure to vary it up. Throw this in with broth, maybe tin tomatoes (depending on bubs' age as earlier than 1yr can aggravate their skin - Taj got red nappy rash too early on eating tomato), herbs and spices and that's as simple as it can be. If you like, add onion and garlic too or root veg. Taj loooooooooooves this!
• Liver puree. I'll do this as needed which could be once a month or even less. Here's my liver pate recipe and here's my baby liver puree recipe. You can also add small chopped liver to mince and no-one will know (same goes with heart which is super high in CoQ10 - an essential nutrient for, you guessed it, heart health)
• Stewed fruits. I no longer do this as Taj doesnt love it, and I prefer to give him fresh fruit anyway, but if you bubba loves it go for it! Chop fruits in season, add to a saucepan with a little water and cinnamon, stew til soft, blitz in the blender and voila! Pour into freezer moulds. Yummy combos are apples, plums, pears, prunes, cherries. These are a change from fresh fruits we can give as finger food (eg, banana, watermelon, kiwi fruit, dragon fruit, etc) and also great stirred into yoghurt or porridge if your kid won't eat fruit otherwise.

Feed a kid incredible foods, and he will only ever want to eat incredible foods.

I'd love to hear from you and what you feed your kids. What are their favourite foods? 

Do you a special recipe they adore? Or has it been challenging for you?