The diversity of food…

We’ve alluded to this in a couple of previous posts.  Now it’s time to tell the whole story about Mike and his journey towards food diversity…

In the beginning, it was all easy.  Breast milk from the breast.  And there is variety here as the flavor changes according to what mom eats.  Or at least that’s what the lactation folks say – we never actually ran that experiment.  For us, it was simply breast milk from the breast.

Then there was the time of Mike’s surgery.  Because of the general anesthesia, the doctors wanted to make sure he was hydrated enough and told us to give him some pedialyte before the surgery.  We were worried – after all, he had only had breast milk.  But Mike had no worries.  He gulped the pedialyte down like a cold glass of lemonade  on a hot summer day!

Then came the time when Mike’s appetite increased more than mom’s milk supply.  Time to supplement with some formula.  Again – we were worried.  After all, he had only had breast milk and the one “dose” of pedialyte.  But Mike had no worries.  He gulped it down like a glass of cold water after mowing the lawn.

Switching from Similac to Enfamil?  Nope – no big deal there either…

Time for rice cereal?  Mike says “YUM”!

Add some Oatmeal?  Mike says “Get in my BELLY”!

So how about adding in some vegetables?  Maybe we’ll start with Mom’s favorite – carrots!

 Carrots?  Are you sure?

Now, we are fairly sure that starting Mike on a new food won’t be a big deal.  After all, he has had a variety of foods (even if the variety was small) and he has loved each new food.  So why would carrots be any different?

So, in a build up of excitement and anticipation, we put the carrots in a small bowl (Mike’s favorite “blue” bowl), set Mike in his favorite eating chair, gather up the camera and camcorder.  Dip the spoon in the bowl and bring out some carrots.  Mike’s mouth is already open with great anticipation.  Dump the carrots over the gums and……

Here is the best way to describe this.  Close your eyes – well maybe you should keep them open so you can keep reading.  But try and visualize.  Remeber the last time you accidentally swallowed a bug?  The horrible gagging, coughing sound you made - “ack…  uck uck… ACK”!  Yep – that’s the sound.  Now, imagine a facial expression that flows smoothly from “what is this” to absolute disgust, horror, pain, and pleading “why – oh why???”.  Now, imagine that face with carrots running out of your mouth.  It would look something like this…

 

Wait a minute – this isn’t oatmeal…

Whoa – this is DISGUSTING!

Get it out.  GET IT OUT!!!

Wow – that wasn’t the response we were expecting.  But we are fairly determined folks, so we tried it again the next day…

Please mommy – not again!

…and again for a third day…

You’ve got to be kidding me…

Yes indeed.  Three evenings in a row.  We brought our son to tears (literally) with a tablespoon of carrots.

So we took the rest of the week off and reverted back to cereal and all was right with the world again.  But we can’t just ignore vegetables!  So, what should we try next?  We didn’t want to skip to fruits – we were afraid that his reaction to the carrots combined with the sweetness of the fruits and he may never ever eat his vegetables.  And we thought we should probably try something a little less intense in the flavor department.

What we decided on was squash.  And the result?  Some excited anticipation (“maybe it’s oatmeal again!”)…

…followed by shock and horror…

…followed by squash on the chin (and a few “sympathy” tears just for good measure).

 

 

Two new foods in a row.  We need to try a different approach!  So we talked it over (it actually dominated our conversation) until the next evening.  We eventually decided to try giving him a few bites of oatmeal and then slip him a spoon full of squash.  Then repeat and repeat and repeat.  The result?  After a few rounds – Mike starting acting as if he liked the squash!  We decided to give him two spoonfuls in a row.  And he ate them both!  Then a bite of oatmeal – and THREE spoonfuls of squash!  He likes it!  Mikey likes it! (perhaps we should try “Life” cereal next – for those of you who are old enough to remember the commercials…).

Now we have a system.  Cereal or oatmeal with the veggies.  Next on the list?  Sweet potatoes!  Our method was again successful.  As it turns out, sweet potatoes are at the top of Mike’s “favorites” list!  After a couple of days with the cereal / sweet potatoes combination, we decided to try sweet potatoes alone.  And he gobbled them down followed by a satisfying “BURP”!

This week has been green beans.  Not as good as the sweet potatoes, but he will eat them until the bowl is empty.

So what’s on the menu for next week?  We are going to try carrots again.  But we are going to use the “spoonful of cereal – spoonful of veggies” trick.  Stay tuned, we will let you know how it turns out…