As a dietitian and self-professed foodie, starting my son on solids has been an exciting adventure. The ability to introduce my son to an array of tantalizing flavors of all kinds of foods, is akin to an artist staring at the possibilities of a fresh canvas. His untainted palate will be shaped by the foods we introduce him to, our reactions or lack of reactions and the general atmosphere during his meal times.
With my education, one might think that I would inherently know what to do. While I feel confident in my nutrition knowledge and knowing what foods to introduce and when, the actual practice of it is something quite different. We’ve been trying various cereals for a month now and Cameron generally ends up with more on his face and bib than actually goes in his mouth (and STAYS). He has only finished his small bowl full (about a tablespoon of dry cereal) on 1 or 2 occasions. I guess this is to be expected to an extent. So yesterday, I decided it was time to try vegetables in the hopes that Cameron likes them more than cereal.
I started with sweet potatoes. I’m making my own baby food for the most part as I can better control the ingredients. I peeled, diced and and steamed a sweet potato. I then pureed the sweet potatoes using the cooking liquid to get it to the right consistency. And he loved it! He ate the the whole bowl – granted it was only about a tablespoon worth. But more was swallowed than in the past. Hopefully he’ll continue to like his veggies and tomorrow will be just as good.
If you could go back and re-train your taste buds to like certain foods, what would they be? I wish I could eat peanut butter – it would be a convenient source of healthy fats and protein, particularly after exercise, but alas, I cannot stomach even the smell of it. But more on that subject another time…
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