Comments on: Family Friday (vol. 6): What Shea Ate

By: Nicole Morrissey

Nicole Morrissey — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 01:15:53 +0000

In reply to dianna. Dianna, thank you! And she loves those darn bars. Usually I go with Kind bars, but in a pinch... ;) Thanks for reading!

By: dianna

dianna — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 00:58:41 +0000

Nicole give yourself a big pat on the back for introducing so many foods to Shea!!!
I give you a big A for your choices…Maybe A+ without the nutragain bar!!!
love your blog

By: Kim Jorgensen Gane

Kim Jorgensen Gane — Sat, 13 Feb 2016 18:21:58 +0000

I LOVE that you offer Shea adult food beyond the frozen five: frickin chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, pasta (nothing wrong with this one IMHO when variety is incorporated, like rotating whole wheat pasta, brown rice pasta, quinoa pasta, etc.), hot dogs, & pizza. So many parents think that’s kid food and because of marketing, it might be the only thing they think to offer. When my son was young, I wanted him to experience a variety of flavors and textures, so he pretty much ate what we ate, except meat he couldn’t digest yet. Then I sometimes cut up Applegate or tofu hotdogs (nothing “over-the-counter” was available yet without nitrates and nitrites then, so we were limited, now I would include AlFresco chicken sausage in the rotation, too). One of my and my son’s favorites was also pasta. He was gluten free from the time he was in my belly, because of severe morning sickness–if I didn’t eat gluten, I didn’t throw up. For variety, because I wanted to get greens in the kid, and because his skin appeared to be sensitive with a lot of tomato sauce, I mixed his pasta with a “pesto” of sorts. I pureed frozen organic spinach about a cup at a time and stored it in a container in the fridge, or sometimes I refroze it in mini ice cube trays. I warmed up cooked gf pasta in a pan with a touch of olive oil, a touch of garlic and added a cube or a teaspoon or so of the spinach puree so that it would coat the pasta. I also often mixed in cooked peas. When he was an infant, I added a teaspoon of the spinach puree to his carrots and squash and sweet potatoes, too. I got him to eat salad by chopping lettuce into tiny bits and serving it mixed into the finger veggies he enjoyed like carrots and cucumbers. So he was basically eating cling-on salad. Gradually the pieces of lettuce got bigger and bigger, and we moved up to eating it with a fork. My son is almost thirteen and he remains a very adventurous eater, and he still eats his greens! He also eats less junk food than the average kid, I suspect because he fills up on more good food.

By: Biz

Biz — Sat, 13 Feb 2016 04:11:47 +0000

I guess I didn’t realize that you had to provide your own food for daycare, but I guess it makes sense in case of food allergies. I was lucky that I had the same day care provider from when Hannah was six weeks old until she started first grade. I paid $100 a week and that included food. Um, my guess is that day care costs a little more these days?!

By: Ranjani Paradise

Ranjani Paradise — Sat, 13 Feb 2016 00:56:07 +0000

Wow, I am impressed with what Shea eats! My (almost) 2 year old is pretty picky so he eats the same thing every day at daycare – fruit and cheerios for morning snack, sunbutter + jelly sandwich on whole wheat with yogurt for lunch, fruit and cheese for afternoon snack. Luckily he loves all kinds of fruit so he gets some variety there…We try to get him to try new things at dinner, and we consider it a success if he even touches the food with his finger =)

By: Nicole Morrissey

Nicole Morrissey — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 16:35:37 +0000

In reply to Sunsine. Thank you! I don't know if you have a Big Lots near you, but that's where we get all of our pouches. With a 20% coupon (that Big Lots offers about 6x/year), they are only $0.40!!! Not CHEAP, but a heck of a lot better than the $1.20-2.00 in my grocery store!!

By: Nicole Morrissey

Nicole Morrissey — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 16:33:24 +0000

In reply to Liz K..

I would say about 50% of what I send gets eaten, on average. Some days, most, some days very little. Since she is gone a full day, I just hate to not send enough. 🙂 Regarding bottles…they will be my Achilles heel with her! We have tried everything but going cold turkey. I have a cupboard FULL of different sippy cups and she loves them…for water. She throws any of them that have milk in them. Our pediatrician is going to give me a hard time at her 18 month appointment if she isn’t weaned from bottles, but I haven’t pressed the issue much lately. But, should. In my convoluted little mommy brain I think of it as her only vice as she’s not attached to a pacifier, thumb, blanket, etc. Just bottles! 😛

By: Liz K.

Liz K. — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 14:23:53 +0000

I’m impressed with what she eats, she eats more than my 5 year old if she eats all that for lunch!!! Question: Not trying to judge at all, are you worried about her still using a bottle since she is 16 months, I have heard and my doctor urged us not to use bottles much after a year as it can cause teeth problems? I just wondered your thoughts on this, my 5 year old was done with a bottle shortly after turning 1, but I have an 8 month old also so I was wondering what you thought as we will be starting to think about this with my “baby” soon!

By: Sunsine

Sunsine — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 14:05:07 +0000

Great post! I once clicked through your IG to get some meal ideas for my own 21 month old. This gives me some new recipes to try because I struggle sometimes too. My DS loves that Yo Toddler Yogurt but I feel like between that and the pouches my grocery bill costs a small fortune ( except when I get coupons). Anyway great post ( as always- very helpful)!