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Original poster

does REAL food take more energy?

28 replies

LoveMyGirls · 04/09/2006 12:29

dd2 is 11mths old and as its been 6 yrs since i did all this with dd1 i was wondering what your opinion is on giving "proper" food? i have been giving her weetabix, bread, cheese, cucumber, tomates, fruit, biscuts etc but am still sticking to jars and yogurts for lunch and tea as i like to measure how much she has actually eaten rather than trying to work it out from how much is left in chewed up lumps on the floor (i know im being silly and its time to give her proper food the majority of the time) im a bit nervous about it and just need a few words of encouragement.

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Twiglett · 04/09/2006 12:31

I'm not sure I know what you mean

do you mean just give her whatever the rest of the family are eating? in which case .. gawd yes go for it

you don't need to know how much they eat .. they will eat enough to keep themselves going ..

Original poster
LoveMyGirls · 04/09/2006 12:32

oh yeh meant to add (sorry getting distracted with kids) dd2 has been waking in the night for about a month i think her teeth are bothering her but im also wondering if i gave her more proper food she would then need to use up more energy first chewing it and then digesting it, does anyone think this is loopy logic? or does it make sense? so she would therefore sleep sounder?

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MerlinsBeard · 04/09/2006 12:32

i jar fed ds1 but with ds2 i took the plunge and altho it was scary at first (for me) i used to just give what it said on the jars. for exapmle if one jar said chicken and sweetcorn then that it was i cooked and pureed, that way i was giving "real food" but it was ok becauzse hipp/cow and gate/heinz did it

does that make sense?

have to say, ds1 is terribel with food and will only eat certain things whereas ds2(17 months) will happily tuck into most things

Iklboo · 04/09/2006 12:33

We make a big batch of veggies, meat, potatoes etc on a saturday or sunday when we've got time and freeze portions in ice cube trays. We can monitor how much DS is eating and we know it's healthy for him. We do give him the occasional jar - when we're out visiting people etc

MerlinsBeard · 04/09/2006 12:33

tbh i don;t think it tales up more or less energy to eat jars or real food, its what they are digesting that matters. they will tell u when they are full as well as when they are hungry

Original poster
LoveMyGirls · 04/09/2006 12:34

i think im looking for ideas as to what to give her as well.

also she eats at different times to the rest of us eg.

breakfast 7.30am (we have ours at 8am after i've fed her)
lunch 11.30am ours at 12.30
dinner 3.30 (so we have more chance of getting her to drink her milk at bedtime thouygh 9 times out of 10 she will end up having weetabix before bed because she hates milk and wont drink it on its own!)
we have out dinner at 5pm

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meowmix · 04/09/2006 12:38

best bet is to make things like mince or chicken stew, fish pie etc and puree or mash it down and freeze in ice cubes - ie if you cook something then make a bit extra and freeze it. At 1 ds got about 2 ice cubes worth per meal.

Also couscous is great for kids and you can just add tomato/veggy sauces etc.

JessaJam · 04/09/2006 12:38

Cook a little extra of whatever you have for dinner, pop in abowl ( chop/mash or blend, whatever you feel it needs for her to be able to chew it) and stick in fridge, give for lunch or dinner next day.

Last night i cooked for DS. Cook some pasta...one or two adult portions. Chop 1 courgette, 1 red pepper, 1 small onion, clove of garlic. Pop oil in frying pan, heat up, add veg and stir fry for baout 3 mins, then add half a tin of chopped tomatos and juice, simmer for further 4-5 minute s until veg all tender. Mix this veg stuff in with pasta.

Chop as needed, fill bowls. I froze loads of this.

JessaJam · 04/09/2006 12:38

Cook a little extra of whatever you have for dinner, pop in abowl ( chop/mash or blend, whatever you feel it needs for her to be able to chew it) and stick in fridge, give for lunch or dinner next day.

Last night i cooked for DS. Cook some pasta...one or two adult portions. Chop 1 courgette, 1 red pepper, 1 small onion, clove of garlic. Pop oil in frying pan, heat up, add veg and stir fry for baout 3 mins, then add half a tin of chopped tomatos and juice, simmer for further 4-5 minute s until veg all tender. Mix this veg stuff in with pasta.

Chop as needed, fill bowls. I froze loads of this.

Flamesparrow · 04/09/2006 12:40

Am I a bad person for not really paying attention to how much DS is eating I know SOME is going in because I can see it coming out again iyswim...

I have just been giving him what we're having and letting him get on with it.

Original poster
LoveMyGirls · 04/09/2006 12:44

ok i suppose i just need to get into the habit of it, it would be nice to stop buying jars all the time. we're having beef bourgingnon (sp?) tonight with jacket potato so i could start with that - i will need to find space in the freezer and buy some ice cube trays

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Original poster
LoveMyGirls · 04/09/2006 12:45

flamesparrow of course you're not bad!!! i think im just a bit ott i need to chill!

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JessaJam · 04/09/2006 12:48

How much of a jar is your dd getting through each meal? Because, to be honest, ice cubes amy be too small, fiddly and short lived at this age...ds is one and he eats LOTS of ice cubes worth of food at each meal. He has a good dollop of savoury and then the equivalent to a whole medium sized apple for pudding. I freeze dollops in lidded bowls.

CorrieDale · 04/09/2006 12:53

The big advantage of giving her exactly what you are having (i.e. without blending or mushing it up) would be that she could eat with everyone else. Which is great for letting babies feel part of the family and also imo reduces fussiness. At 11 mo, DS could cope wtih everything we had and if your dd can cope with cucumber, then i expect she could manage most other food. not whole nuts or honey or low fat food. watch out for salt. i don't intend to let ds have sweeteners but i reckon a bit of sugar once in a while doesn't hurt. the disadvantage is that you don't know exactly what they've eaten but i think so much of being a parent is about not being in as much control as you'd like, that this just starts getting us used to it.

Original poster
LoveMyGirls · 04/09/2006 13:01

corriedale - she only has her two bottom teeth so can only have cucumber without the skin at the mo. i could save some jars and use those to freeze the food in couldnt i? then i know she's having the same amount but its not costing a fortune and its the same as what we're eating

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Elibean · 04/09/2006 13:07

I had very little energy to spare when dd1 was small, and did a mix of jars and fresh finger food(usually when on the move) and blended fresh food (at home). If you mean how much energy does the child use, I'd say the same either way - less energy with jars for the mother, but not much if you keep things simple and get in the habit.

We were given a steamer/blender thingy specially for babies by my Mum, and it was brilliant - even if we were eating something un-dd-friendly, it would take minutes to chuck some carrot and chicken/fish/sweet potato in the steamer then whizz it up in seconds.

I found the fruit puree jars the most useful, if you use both, as lots of the fruit didn't take kindly to our blender or vice versa - whereas veggies and meat/fish were easy.

FWIW, dd at 2.8 is and has always been a good eater - tbh, I think its more down to luck and eating most of her meals with us, than it is to jars v fresh, though a wide variety of tastes is supposed to help!

JessaJam · 04/09/2006 13:09

Not really good to put glass in a freezer...

You could use the jars to measure the food out with though, to give you a rough idea of ammounts, before freezing in something else...

Bozza · 04/09/2006 13:13

TBH when my children were 11 months old, they ate what we ate and when we ate. So that was breakfast at 8 ish (although with milk prior to that), lunch at 12-1 ish, dinner at 6 ish with a mid-afternoon snack to keep them going and milk at bedtime. I would definitely have given beef bourgignon with jacket potato at that age. And not mushed - just chopped up.

Flamesparrow · 04/09/2006 13:17

DS has no teeth and still has pretty much anything...

Original poster
LoveMyGirls · 04/09/2006 13:20

she has a nap from 12pm to 2pm (i really dont want to mess that about as she is then a nightmare) so she eats just before 12 but then if i dont feed her dinner at 3.30 she would have to wait til we eat at 5pm and then she wont have her bottle or even weetabix which means she goes to bed hungry..... (i have tried feeding her later and it does result in her not eating before bed)

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JessaJam · 04/09/2006 13:22

I would give beef bourg and pots just chopped up myself BUT if LoveMyGirls' dd is used to jarred food, she may struggle at first with roughly chopped food, especially meat...so it may be worth starting off with more finely chopped or mashed and working up to 'lumps'. Could try lumps of potatoe but more mushy meat?

Snozcumber · 04/09/2006 13:23

I have always used fresh just because I found it easier. We use what we had for dinner the day before with dd1 (20 months) and have done for quite a while.

I also have a slow cooker and used to buy frozen veg empty a couple of bags into it with water. You can then leave it to cook all day so your not watching it or having to stand over it.

Then make it into all sorts, broccoli and cauliflower with cheese. Stew. Vegetable lasagne. Etc.

Also my sister bought my Lorraine Kelly's baby cookbook and I must admit I was sceptical, but its got really good simple food in it. To the point that we all often eat recipes from it .

Very handy for someone who usually needs a map to find the kitchen

Original poster
LoveMyGirls · 04/09/2006 13:27

i have a slow cooker too so putting veg in is a good idea. hopefully as the beef has been in since 8.30am it will be nice and soft

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lazycow · 04/09/2006 13:29

lovemygirls

I know what you mean about eating at different times. I really tried to get ds to eat with us but he needed to sleep at certain times and they were almost always at our meal times so I gave in and fed him a bit earlier then he slept while we ate .

Now he is older he eats with us more as he needs less daytime sleep but I rememeber desparing that ds would ever eat lunch at 12pm instead of 11 or 11.30am or tea later than 5pm . Now at 21 months he can wait until 1pm sometimes or until 6pm at night.

As for the original question I really didn't worry about how much he ate really. I let him take the lead though I did a mixture of my own cooked food and finger food (and some jars when out) - if he refused food from me I figured he either wanted to feed himself or he wasn't hungry. I have no idea what ds weighs or how much he eats - He seems energetic and happy and is growing so I assume he is OK.

lazycow · 04/09/2006 13:30

Oh and at 11 months I did usually put aside a portion of what we ate for dinner for his tea or lunch the next day. Less cooking for me