There are few things more frustrating than putting in all the work that goes into making a meal (from shopping, to prepping food, to cooking, to setting the table, etc.) only to be met with “I don’t like it” from your toddler (who doesn’t even bother trying it).

How do you motivate little ones with finicky palettes to eat something other than Mac n’ Cheese and energy bars? Don’t just hide the spinach in the sauce… Instead, teach them about the importance of nourishing their bodies with nutritious wholesome ingredients and about what different foods do to our bodies. In the long run, extending nutritional know-how will help our children take care of their bodies on their own and have a positive and intentional relationship with food.

See also: How to Feed Toddlers & How To Include Kids in Mealtime.

It turns out, learning about food doesn’t have to be limited to the dinner table. In fact, there are many tools that can help you in your quest to make mealtime battles a thing of the past. One of them: media and playtime. That’s right, Elmo & Co have a thing or two to teach all of us about nutrition.

Here are some of our favorite shows, books, gift/subscription boxes and toys that revolve around food, nutrition and the importance of trying new ingredients.

Shows & Series

Waffles + Mochi

Two food-obsessed puppet pals take our kiddos around the world to explore cultures, foods and the art of cooking with fresh ingredients. When they try new food? They go beyond “I love or don’t love it” and talk about their experiences with the foods — taste and textures alike. It’s a sweet, inclusive show with a roster of names you’ll likely recognize.

Daniel Tiger Tries a New Food

This episode, along with “Be a Vegetable Taster,” shows the importance of testing new foods. If you’re trying to avoid screens or simply prefer to read with your little one, it also comes in book format.

Sesame Street: Healthy Foods episodes

Sesame Street has a bunch of episodes tackling the importance of healthy culinary decisions. If your kiddo is a fan of Elmo and the whole gang, this may be an easy sell.

Ask the StoryBots: Why Can’t I Eat Dessert All the Time

“You are what you eat!” In this episode, a piece of broccoli and a cupcake explain to the StoryBots about proper nutrition, how the digestive system transforms food into energy, and how what you choose to eat correlates with how healthy your body is.

Books

Cook in a Book: Tacos! An Interactive Recipe Book

This interactive board book walks tiny readers through how to make tacos. We love the colorful and playful visuals AND the fact that it’s a *real (simplified recipe). This book is part of a series, which comes complete with Pizza! and Pancakes!

I Can’t Eat this Stuff

Do you have a picky eater? Louie (the cutest little elephant) to the rescue! In this book, Louie helps children find the courage to reach the milestone that is trying a new food… one tiny taste at a time. We love the rhythm and rhymes of this book, as well as the cute illustrations.

Get Your Dragon to Eat Healthy Food

We love the My Dragon book series. In this volume, Dragon only eats junk and processed foods and eventually learns the value of eating healthy, varied foods — and children follow along on his journey. *This book is a particularly good choice for those snack-lovers of ours who may need a little nudge (and a fun role model) to stop asking for snacks.

Subscription Boxes

Raddish Kids

This monthly subscription box teaches kids 4 to 14 (parents encouraged to help younger children) cooking skills and instills confidence in the kitchen. Each monthly box features a unique culinary theme and comes with 3 recipe guides, a shopping list, kitchen tools and other crafty goodies.

Eat2Explore

This subscription box is catered for the whole family: it offers easy-to-follow recipes from all over the world that parents and children can make together, and includes some fun extras like cooking tools, activity sheets, and a culinary passport to keep track of the different cuisines you’ve explored.

Kidstir

A cooking kit box that gets all the praise from parents of picky eaters! Kidstir recipes are easy to follow, and each kit comes with stickers and other fun activities, a shopping list with digital links for dietary substitutions, and more: membership also includes access to video tutorials, games, and STEM lessons to take your cooking to the next level.

Toys

Little Passports: Food Around the World Kit

Sushi, crêpes, pho and more… This international food kit comes with felt ingredients from all over the world, 3 plates, a menu/food assembly guide and more. Such a great way for our budding sous-chefs to learn about foods from new places.

Farmer’s Market Color Sorting Set

A great play set for toddlers to learn their colors AND become familiar with fruits and vegetables.

Cooking Utensils Set

We featured this set in The Upkeep series, and for good reason. It’s got everything your little ones will need to help chop, cook, bake and more. We love that it’s “real” (aka for actual use in the kitchen) and toddler-safe; and toddlers love that they have their own special things.

What media or toy have you used to encourage your kiddos be more adventurous at the dinner table?

The post Toys and Media to Get Kids Excited about Food appeared first on Lucie's List.

While none of these products will help you decide what to make for dinner (this isn’t The Jetsons….), some of them can do some pretty heavy-lifting while others can help streamline various cooking tasks. And when it’s the witching hour, we’ll take any help we can get…

Here are some of our favorite kitchen tools for cooking followed by the best food storage systems for busy parents:

Food/Meal Prep Tools & Gadgets

Chef’s Planet Clip-on Strainer ~$14

This little doohickey is surprisingly useful and so much easier than a separate colander. I use mine almost everyday for straining everything from veggies to pasta to beans.

DASH Egg Cooker ~$16

Make perfect soft, medium, or hard boiled eggs with no hands-on work with this 6-egg cooker (or you can poach 2 eggs with the separate poaching tray). Great for breakfasts, easy snacks, etc. *Be warned, the timer is LOUD — as one reviewer hilariously put it: “a fire alarm mixed with a nuclear missile alarm, but 12x louder.”

OXO Good Grips Veggie Chopper ~$22

A total lifesaver in the kitchen, this handheld chopper cuts slicing/cutting work to almost nothing. The capacity is a bit small, but if you tend to make dishes that involve lots of cutting, this will save you so much time. *Dishwasher safe.

(If you want something with heavier duty and additional blade options, try the Mueller chopper, which is also very well liked.)

OXO Good Grips Cutting Board Set ~$24

A good cutting board is an underrated kitchen tool, IMO. I love a wooden cutting board, but the ability to throw these ones in the dishwasher saves so much time. If you need it, there’s also a larger carving board size.

Over-the-Sink Mesh Colander ~$24

This mesh strainer has adjustable handles to fit over your sink, and it seriously streamlines washing fruits and veggies.

Victorinox Fibroom Pro Chef’s Knife ~$43

If you don’t already have one, a decent knife can make or break food prep. This is a great multi-purpose knife that comes at a reasonable price point.

Braun MultiQuick Hand-Held Immersion Blender ~$64

This immersion blender allows you to blend and puree liquids in a place, which prevents untidy transfers. It’s perfect for soups, sauces and anything in between solid and liquid.

KitchenAid Mini Food Processor ~$69

A very versatile kitchen appliance — this 5-cup food processor chops, purees, and whisks. Especially handy for making spreads, dips, dressings, salsas and the like.

Crockpot ~$99

If you don’t already own a slow-cooker Crockpot, you are missing out! Throw in your ingredients in the morning, and let it work its magic through the day — dinner doesn’t get any easier.

InstantPot ~$99

Although it’s similar in nature to the Crockpot, the Instant Pot is a pressure cooker — it cooks fast. With multiple settings and the ability to compress cook time down to nearly nothing, it’s perfect for all the those nights when you don’t have time. (Every night??)

Food Storage

DuraHome Food Storage Set ~$22

This 44-piece set with universal-sized tops (THANK YOU) is BPA-free, microwave- and dishwasher-safe, freezer-safe and leakproof. If you’re sick of mismatched pieces and want to get one set to replace them all, this is it.

Mason Jars ~$19

These classic canning jars are also perfect for leftovers — thought I prefer these lids for ease of use.

Glasslock 24-Piece Set ~$47

If you prefer glass, this sizable set is beloved. The pieces are stackable and safe for use in both the freezer and the oven.

Pyrex 18-Piece Set ~$38

The Cadillac of food storage containers, this glass set from Pyrex is top notch.

Zip Top Reusable Bag Set ~$89

These dishwasher-, microwave-, and freezer-safe silicone food storage bags are SO awesome — they keep food super fresh, double as snack containers for camp and school lunches, and solve the ever-annoying problem of Finding The Lid. For a more wallet-friendly version, try these.

OXO Good Grips 10-Piece Food Storage Set ~$112

This dry food storage set is great for pantry items like cereals/granolas, grains, legumes, nuts, and more. Check the seal when you first order, as some reviewers have noted that the tops can arrive broken.

Do you have a must-have for busy parents? Leave us a comment below ~ Cheers!

The post Best Kitchen Tools for Busy Families appeared first on Lucie's List.

Parents everywhere know it: the stress that goes hand-in-hand with deciding what to make; the time it takes to actually prepare and serve something at the table; the whining that inevitably reaches a high-volume, high-pitch level *right before mealtime; the incessant questions: Can’t I just have ONE snack? What are we having for dinner? Why can’t we have [anything else]? And then there’s the eating itself (complete with the anticipation: are they actually going to eat it??), and the clean up afterward… 

It’s hard to have a conversation about The Dinner Problem in isolation — because the reality is that it’s not really about dinner. 

Let me tell you what else it’s about: the second shift, work schedules, grocery shopping, mental fatigue, budgeting, PRESSURE, time — so much time — and… everyone else. 

There is “invisible labor that goes into planning, making, and coordinating family meals. Cooking is at times joyful, but it is also filled with time pressures, tradeoffs designed to save money, and the burden of pleasing others… Cooking isn’t just about the time it takes to prepare the meal.” 

~ Sarah Bowen, Sinikka Elliot, Joslyn Brenton, “The Joy of Cooking?” in Contexts

I’m guessing I’m preaching to the choir here… You know: when you have children to feed, the kitchen suddenly becomes a completely different place. I can’t tell you how many articles I’ve read over the years that start with some variation of “I used to love cooking — it was such a joy! Then I had kids…” 

At the risk of overgeneralizing, this is also a problem that hits women — and working mothers in particular — especially hard. There is the late-afternoon/early-evening time crunch; there is the fact that perhaps you haven’t seen your child all day; there is the fact that you still didn’t finish what you needed to at work; there is the fact that everyone is tired. (And more.)

As Daisy Howling explained in the Harvard Business Review: “what presents as a straightforward, practical problem — meal prep — is actually a psychological, emotional, and even physical one, too, and it hits working parents when we’re the most vulnerable.”  

These struggles are magnified for two-working-parent households, single-parent households, and families in which one or both parents have an irregular, unpredictable, or shift- work schedule, because every day may look different. 

“The message that good parents — and in particular, good mothers — cook for their families dovetails with increasingly intensive and unrealistic standards of ‘good’ mothering.” 

~ Sarah Bowen, Sinikka Elliot, Joslyn Brenton, “The Joy of Cooking?” in Contexts

While foodie influencers post idealistic, stylized shots of family mealtime, this imagery is a far cry from the reality most of us know. And the gap can be hard to stomach, for so many reasons. 

We’re not going to sugarcoat anything here, friends — if you want pretty pictures, head on over to your favorite social media platform [snort] — and we won’t pretend we have anything close to a one-size-fits-all solution to The Dinner Problem.

Instead, we’re here to say that it’s not just you, and to share some general tips and strategies for revamping your approach to feeding and dinner. In this series, we cover everything from reframing dinnertime (see below); to feeding toddlers (it’s an art, really); meal planning made easy (because as cumbersome as it can be at first, meal planning has the potential to really streamline things for you); food media for kids; and our favorite kitchen gadgets and storage containers.  

Rethinking Dinner Time

We have three main pieces of advice when it comes to reframing dinner, two of which are more philosophical and the third of which leans practical:

1. Reset Your Expectations

As mentioned, there is a wide gulf that separates the ideal family dinner from real family dinners. The former tends to be highly romanticized, which easily leads to disappointment. (This may be all the more true with young children, who can be notoriously fickle dinner companions.)

We see the ideal family dinner on social media and food blogs, in cookbooks and Netflix series; we may hear about it from our neighbors down the street who share a four-course meal with their toddlers (who also helped prepare each dish) every night, or our well-meaning parents-in-law who are prone to wax nostalgic about the bygone days. We can even see it in academic journals and our favorite books. Together, all of these depictions imply not only that it really isn’t that hard but also that falling short is a moral failure. 

This feels like… a lot. 

I spent some time dwelling on all this, and even more time talking with my mom friends and family members, and in doing so I realized I needed to completely retool my mental approach to feeding my kids dinner. 

And actually, these ideals are so deeply ingrained that they color many of our own memories. For example, I have so many fond recollections of loud, crowded, bantering family meals with my parents and siblings, and instead of reflecting back on those moments with joy, they’ve only made me feel guilty that I don’t eat dinner with my children.

I reasoned that I must be depriving my kids of that same experience — but then I spoke with my mom, who reminded me that she and my dad also did not eat with us until we were much older (as in, high school age) and that even then it was usually only on the weekends, since my three siblings and I had various practices, games, and engagements at alternating times on the weeknights. “Actually, you guys sometimes ate one at a time,” my mom told me. “It’s just how all your schedules lined up.” 

How did I forget this?

Instead of trying to conform to some elusive ideal, I needed to figure out what would be best for my family. In reality, there is no one “right way” to have dinner (or serve it). Some people eat with their children; others don’t. Some people eat early, others eat later. Some folks have elaborate dinners and some prefer little-to-no prep.

Dinnertime may “work” better when you let it be what it needs to be. And when you stop expecting perfection — from your family and from yourself — it’s akin to dialing down the volume on a too-loud stereo (which is to say, it’s a relief). 

This brings us to our next point: 

2. Let [All The Guilt] Go

It’s easy to succumb to guilt about feeding our kids. SO easy. 

May we suggest: throw that out the window. 

I know, I know — it’s easier said than done. But if you can remind yourself, daily, that dinner need not be an idyllic, unachievable fantasy, it may help you loosen your own aspirations to (try to) pull just such an orchestration together. It’s not an easy thing to do, nor a one-time consideration — it’s a process — but letting go of the *need for dinner to look or feel or happen a certain way can be so freeing. 

If you derive joy from preparing meals, we certainly don’t want to take that away from you — that’s wonderful! But if you don’t, that’s not something any of us should feel guilty about. We have enough on our (proverbial) plates already, don’t we? 

Researchers who studied mothers’ experiences cooking for their families noted: mothers especially “felt responsible for preparing healthy meals for their children and keenly experienced the gap between the romanticized version of cooking and the realities of their lives.”

In many ways, simply acknowledging the space between the ideal and reality goes a long way. 

3. Consider Timing

Lastly, before we dive into meal planning, one simple (and obvious) piece of advice I read made a surprisingly HUGE difference in my house: coordinate an afternoon snack time with dinner. (I’m embarrassed to say that I wasn’t really doing this…) 

The idea is this: if there’s generally a good amount of whining near and around the dinner hour in your home, consider whether you can’t adjust a snack to work to your advantage.

For some, this may entail having a regular, light “appetizer” available pre-dinner when it’s needed. It also may entail checking in with school/day care about when exactly your child last ate. In my case, I realized that my daughter was almost always either eating her afternoon snack so early that she was starving and HANGRY by 5pm, and we were all limping through till 6pm, or that I caved and fed her a snack so late that she barely ate her dinner. Simply by making sure she’s had a hearty, filling snack at the “right” time (for us this is ~2-3 hours prior to whenever meal time is), we are all so much better off. 

Alternatively, you might find that adjusting your meal timing (rather than a snack) would be ideal for you, and that’s great too. But having a hungry, hot-tempered toddler on hand (say that five times fast) while you are also trying to deal with *all things dinner is no fun… if there’s an easy enough way to reduce that one piece of background stress, it’s definitely worth a try. 

Another way to tame cranky kids: get them to help! We have a whole guide devoted to including your kids in the work of mealtime, and there’s something for every age group.

Stick with us for how to feed toddlers, how (and why) to meal prep, a culinary media for kids round-up, and the most practical kitchen gear for families.

The post The Dinner Problem appeared first on Lucie's List.

If I had one day’s meal plan for every time I’ve sworn to the gods on high that I’m really going to start meal planning — FOR REAL THIS TIME — and then quit after one over-hyped meal-gone-wrong, I’d probably have a month’s worth of menus mapped out. 

Maybe you’re thinking: why would I get meal planning advice from you??

Fair point.

But I actually think that, having given up so many times before, and being the kind of person who feels inclined toward meal planning but apparently isn’t (obviously), I may actually be a decent conveyor here. (And for the record, I actually do now meal plan…) So there.

I’ve culled the depths of food blogs and influencers, nutritionists’ and dieticians’ advice, and spoken with countless friends and family members about meal planning. The following tips come from various avenues, and you don’t need to use all of them. Rather, I suggest you pick and choose what resonates with you. Start small and keep it simple, friends. Don’t go all Martha Stewart from day one. Take it from someone who’s been there: overambition is a fast track back to square one. 

Benefits of Meal Planning

Once you get over the initial hurdle, there are so many great things about meal planning. Let’s review, in brief: 

1. That question — “what’s for dinner??” — is no longer a sticking point. My kids used to ask me this all the time, and I would stall, and they would keep asking, and I would get (unfairly) annoyed at them for continuing to ask, and the cycle went on… Now, no more. They ask; I check my chart; I answer; and that’s that.  

2. All complaints can be directed at the meal plan — not you. (As in, “sorry, I didn’t decide we’re having steel cut oatmeal for breakfast, that’s just what’s on the list.”) 

3. It resituates the burden of deciding what to have when for what meal from a high-stress time (namely, the evenings) to a lower-stress time when it feels like less is on the line. It’s TIRING to decide what to do for dinner, especially at the end of the day when between work and home you may have already made a thousand other decisions about things no one else pays attention to… Not having to make one more choice in the moment truly feels like a gift. 

As one mother told a group of researchers: “It’s not the cooking as much as it is the planning that makes me dread the 5 o’clock hour (sorry Jimmy Buffett (RIP)). When I’m organized enough to make these decisions the night before, or in the morning, and take advantage of the two Crock Pots I own, I feel better about dinner.” Amen. 

4. You can incorporate more balance and greater variety. Kids learn to like new foods simply by trying them; and by planning things out, it’s much easier (possible??) to keep track of what your children have eaten in any given week.
   
   For example, before I was meal planning, I remember realizing at some point that my kids had had toast for every single breakfast for as many days as I could remember. It was easy, I admit, but less than ideal… Similarly, if I’m planning things out from more of a bird’s eye perspective, I can make sure I don’t schedule bagel sandwiches for breakfast and paninis for dinner on the same day (because, let’s face it, that’s an awful lot of bread…). When you see what you’re eating/serving on paper, it’s an automatic invitation to be more mindful of choosing balanced menus and working in a greater variety of foods.

Okay, let’s get to it, shall we?

1. Wade In

At the risk of repeating myself… it’s easy to burn out quickly if you dive in the deep end. Meal planning need not be an all-or-nothing endeavor, nor must it look pretty. (The last thing we need is yet another exhibition to keep up with…) 

Especially if you’re just getting started, you want to strike a balance between planning things out specifically enough that it’s actually helpful (i.e., we’re having baked chicken with roasted rosemary potatoes and green beans rather than we’re having meat, a starch, and a veggie) but not getting too far into the weeds (aka, meals that involve multiple new time-intensive recipes). Nay, to begin, keep it realistic. 

There are multiple ways to start small: 

• Pick themed nights, such as Taco Tuesday or Stir Fry-days.
• Pick one meal to focus on — i.e., breakfast, lunch, or dinner — and plan only that meal for one week.
• Pick your busiest, most stressful nights and start by just planning meals for those nights. 
• Divide and conquer — if you have a partner in parenting, divvy up the days (ie, someone takes M/W, someone else takes T/Th – and eat out on Fridays!). This has the benefit of spreading the work equitably and you always know who is responsible which nights. There is no ambiguity!

A note: Meal planning involves making a map of menus for some predetermined period of time — it’s not synonymous with meal prepping, which entails actually getting food ready/prepared (washing/cutting/chopping/cooking/mixing/etc) to eat later on.

2. Make Time to Plan

This, I think, may have been my biggest problem getting started — and I doubt I’m the only one. I greatly underestimated how long it takes to plan one week of meals.

Part of the reason meal planning is hard for most of us is because we’re consolidating a lot of thinking and strategizing — one week’s worth — into a single block of time. I expected to whip up a meal plan in minutes — and while this may be possible for recipe gurus or veteran meal-planners, it’s not usually true for beginners. 

Meal planning takes time —  this is where most people fall short and it’s also why they give up. 

For your first foray, try to find a reliable chunk of time (some writers suggest 20-30 minutes, but my first few weeks, it took me nearly an hour) to sketch things out. One common piece of advice is to turn meal planning into a kind of self-care session (“enjoy a glass of wine or a cup of tea,” “turn on relaxing music,” etc.) — and while I think this is a fantastic idea, I also think it overlooks the fact that recipe-hunting and menu-scheduling may not be at the top of everyone’s list when it comes to “Me Time.” Not to mention, not everyone has the time and/or resources to devote to meal-planning in this way. 

For me, knowing this^ actually made the task more enjoyable: I felt grateful to be able to do it in the first place. 

In any event, when you first start out, expect it to take longer than you think. 

3. Document, document, document

Keep records of everything. If you find a food blogger whose recipes you love, mark it down. If you discover a salad recipe your kids like, mark it down (and please, please, tell me what it is). If you have meal ideas that aren’t tied to any specific recipe, mark those down too. 

You need to make note of: 

• Recipes to consider trying
• Recipes you’ve tried and liked/would “keep” (aka recipes that your kids actually eat) 
• Weekly menus
• Grocery lists (keep an eye out for ingredients you don’t have on hand or usually buy — it stinks to forget!)

You can do this however you like, of course, so long as you do it. Some folks find that a formal record-keeping mechanism sparks inspiration and also acts as an accountability check.

If you like writing things out by hand, you can use notecards for recipes, simple PDF printouts for weekly menus, or pick from any number of meal-planning notebooks available online (such as this one, which has handy tear outs for grocery lists). 

For those who prefer to store these things digitally, there are some great apps and online tools available (Plan to Eat, Prepear, MealPrepPro, and Paprika recipe manager are oft-mentioned favorites). 

Personally, I am a pen-to-paper kind of person, but I’ve actually found that I do best to use a simple Google Doc for meal-planning. I like how easy it is to add to, edit, and markup. Plus, I love that I can click through to recipe links right from my plan. I only plan breakfasts and dinners, BTW, and I set it up with an easy outline on the side, like this: 

For each week, I have a simple chart I fill in for my kids’ meals (please, friends, spare me your comments on the specifics here…): 

I keep a printed copy of these charts on my refrigerator door for easy reference. 

The point is less how you keep track of your recipes and menus than that you do it. There’s no right way. 

Some parents like to make a little more of a display out of things, which is also great for kids, who like to see what’s going on. You could always use a simple whiteboard, but there are lots of fun, pretty options available on Etsy if you’d like something a little more decorative.

4. Consider Your Calendar

This is HUGE, friends. You want to make a meal plan with your schedule at your side. For any afternoons/evenings when your kids have something scheduled and you know you tend to be running late, be sure to pick something quick and easy. If you have a huge deadline coming up at work and need to get in early, consider quicker, on-the-run breakfasts. Alternatively, if it’s going to rain on Saturday and you don’t have plans, maybe that’s a great time to try a more time-intensive recipe that your kids can help with. 

Seasonality plays a role here, too — I find that it always feels like I have more time to cook in the winter (it gets dark at like 4pm where I live…), so I’m more willing to feel good about cooking projects in the afternoons than during the summer, when it’s nice and everyone wants to just stay outside forever. 

In short: consult your calendar and choose menus that fit your timing. 

5. Find Your Trusted Recipe Reserves

Like a microcosm of meal-planning itself, this is extremely time-consuming on the front end, but a major time-saver in the long run. Try to find a few different go-to spots you can turn to for recipes or inspiration, otherwise it’s just too much. Because there is SO MUCH out there. It’s easier to check one, two, or three places you know and trust for a good recipe for black bean burgers than it is to google “black bean burgers recipe.” Talk about going down the rabbit hole…  

Here is where you need to know yourself: personally, I’m terrible at following directions, so I need recipes that are low-ingredient and pretty straightforward. My family is also vegetarian, so I favor sites that cater to that. And some of it just boils down to personal preference, of course. It’s hard for me to get excited about a recipe when it’s buried in an all-text cookbook and I can’t envision the final product; and I cannot stand food blog recipe pages that are cluttered with ads and pop-ups, slow down my device to a standstill, and demand that you scroll through 4,000 words of their life story and background information on the making of the recipe. But some people enjoy those details (I presume?). 

Don’t forget to ask around! Solicit recipes and suggestions from your parents and friends — I spent an embarrassingly long amount of time scouring the internet for a simple, no-frills lasagna recipe before it occurred to me that my family is Italian, and maybe I should just call my mom. Especially if you have a friend with a similar palate, exchanging recipes is a great way to beef up your repertoire with little to no effort.

If you’re looking for a great place to start, I might point you to The Kitchn, which not only has an incredibly rich online recipe book and fabulous recipe roundups, but is *very-user friendly in its presentation. Each recipe page has a “jump to recipe” button up top that takes you straight to the actual recipe, and it also includes the ingredient amounts in the recipe directions so you don’t have to constantly look back and forth, which is just straight up genius. 

In short: find your recipe people. 

6. Take Shortcuts Where You Can

Don’t make meal-planning any harder than it needs to be. There are so many ways you can cut corners. For example: 

• Use leftovers! They count! (I use leftovers for my kids’ lunches, and therefore feel exonerated from planning lunch entirely, hah.) 

• Reuse your own meal plans. If you had even a few weeks built up, you could easily recycle them or swap out just one or two meals if you wanted to try something new. Don’t feel like you have to reinvent the wheel every week. 

• Many bloggers and food writers share weekly meal plans — consider using a pre-made meal plan from any such spots. 

• Take out counts!

• Trade with a friend — make a week and swap with a friend. Two for the price of one. 

7. Don’t Stress, & Leave Room for Flexibility

If you miss a few days or even a week — or stray from your plan in any way — don’t worry! It’s totally fine. Life happens, I think we all know by now… The whole point of meal planning is to make things easier. So if something else comes along that presents as easier, go with what works. And don’t think twice about it! 

If there’s ever a week you just can’t find the time to plan things out, refer back to a previous week (this, again, is why it’s so helpful to keep track of things). Or, you could plan a “safe week” of easy, crowd-pleasing menus that you can always fall back on if, say, someone gets sick, or there’s a snowstorm and school’s closed for three days, or it’s just one of those weeks.

Likewise, if you find yourself in the need of swapping something, or trading in one thing for another, that’s fine. Don’t sweat it. We also have a few “always yes” foods at our house that my kids know I will pretty much always agree to serve alongside the regularly scheduled menu (edamame, apple slices, beans, hummus, and an egg — not all at once!). These are all foods they (usually, hah) like, so it takes the pressure off anything new/unfamiliar, and they’re quick, filling, no-prep additions.

Friends, we’re not going to pretend that a menu chart can or will “solve” The Dinner Problem — because this isn’t just an “individual, family” problem. Something so many of us share in is not individual. This is a social thing, a cultural thing, an economic thing; a time thing and a money thing and a women’s right thing (though I know families where the men do ALL the cooking too!). 

It’s not merely us. 

And it’s not merely dinner.

And maybe there’s no real solving the “problem” anyway. 

Making a menu map isn’t a quick fix. But maybe it can help in the meantime. 

The post Meal Planning for Busy Parents appeared first on Lucie's List.

They happen on repeat… But (hopefully, lol) these are temporary endeavors that we will soon (gasp) miss doing.

Not so with one of them, though — feeding. 

We will be feeding our kids until they set off on their own (so, like, what, ‘til they’re 32?). Yes — feeding is one of the most constant and… grueling aspects of parenthood. It may change over the months and years, but it’s always there. On a positive note, it’s also something many families look forward to continuing to share even well into adulthood. 

For so many, many things, as parents, we feel the urge (need?) to turn to various sources for help and guidance. We rely on what our friends or our own parents or our pediatricians or that book you read last week tell us — but the food “situation” (ahem) in our country right now is such that it often feels like there’s different information coming at you from every angle. 

Plus, we don’t, as a nation and a culture, share any unified vision of children’s feeding and nutrition, which maybe isn’t that surprising… Big food companies and lobbyists help to shape nutrition science and guidelines; fast, crappy food is over-available everywhere you look; advertising of said crappy food skillfully targets impressionable young children; and we’re inundated with a glut of conflicting, dated information on what constitutes “healthy eating” on the daily (remember when they used to tell us that fat was a no-no — but don’t worry about the sugar??). 

This makes the task of feeding kids even more of a challenge. 

Of course, the story is more complicated than this^^ — and we’re not suggesting that we simply turn back the clock (or even can) — but we mention “the problem” because it’s hard to fully and completely separate HOW we feed our kids from WHAT we feed them. (Though, as you’ll soon see, we’re going to give it our darndest…) 

We’ve had a lot of parents ask us to extend our baby feeding guides (on breastfeeding, setting up some semblance of a “schedule,” and starting solids) into the realm of the toddler years — and here it is, at long last. 

According to parent testimonies, at least 25% of children have feeding problems — and we’re guessing it’s not all smooth sailing for the other 75%, BTW.

Wherever you fall on the spectrum (from its-going-great to holy-cow-what-just-happened), this guide is for everyone, and we hope it is as much a help to you and your family as it has been to all of us in putting it together. 

A Toddler Feeding Guide — What you’ll find, and what you won’t 

What this guide IS: a go-to source for information and advice about:

• Why it matters how we feed our children;
• What’s reasonable to expect from your child in terms of eating/table manners;
• An introduction to the “division of responsibility” approach to feeding children; and, the main course, if you will — 
• How to feed toddlers/children. 

Note that we put this guide together for feeding toddlers (usually defined as 1-3 yrs) — but you can actually use and tailor it your own for children at any age. IOW, the guidance and advice here isn’t specific/unique to toddlerhood, and you can continue to rely on these principles beyond then (and/or start implementing them even if your child is older than 3). 

What this guide ISN’T: a nutrition handbook. Nowhere here are we going to go into any depth regarding what to feed your child (ok, maybe just a couple of side-notes).

There’s a wealth of incredible resources and information available on this, and every family is so different in terms of circumstances, allergies, preferences, budget, etc. that we’re leaving that to you (for now, lol — maybe we’ll weigh in on this another time). Right now, today, we’re going to focus on the HOW of feeding rather than the what of it. 

That said, I can’t help myself from mentioning a couple of notes: 

1. The most important aspect of nearly every nutritious dietary approach, ranging from veganism to keto to paleo and all the rest, is to eat real (whole) foods.

2. It may sound obvious, but kids eat what they like to eat (go figure); serving them good food (would you want to eat it??) can go a long way.

Why Feeding Matters

Babies and toddlers learn SO much about food and eating every single day — and those lessons may stay with them through childhood, adolescence, and even into adulthood. 

As many of you may already know, taste preferences are forming during these early years, but so too are eating habits, ideas about food and attitudes toward eating, and the seeds of body image. From the get-go, there’s a lot going on throughout the seemingly simple rituals of feeding. 

In short, to feed children is to teach them, and we parents are the professors. 

When they’re devising courses, teachers at every level map out the big picture — they don’t just prep individual lessons, come up with daily activities, or devise assignments on a whim — they have some broader sense of purpose and learning goals into which all of those things not only fit but also contribute. 

The same goes for you, as your child’s food/nutrition/eating educator. What do you want your learners to learn? Think about: 

• What overall approach toward food do you want to convey to your child?
• Why should they eat? 
• Why should they eat certain foods, or avoid others? 
• How should they think about eating? Talk about it?
• What are mealtimes like? 

Having some answers to these questions will help you implement the suggestions and advice in this guide much more effectively (and with greater resolution). 

Parents’ Expectations About Feeding Toddlers — What We Think vs. Reality

To a certain extent, many of us approach the toddler years with somewhat misguided ideas about feeding and eating. 

The Early Days: Feeding on Demand and Growth Stress

Personally, I think that many of our misconceptions emanate from the stress that tends to surround feeding and the emphasis we put on *growing* in the first year of life. 

When we bring our babies home, we’re taught to feed them on demand (“Yes, whenever! Wherever! Even if it’s 10-12 times a day! The more the better!”), and to feed-them-as-much-as-you-can-so-they-grow (and sleep). 

We stress about how much milk they’re getting (because is it really enough?) and how are they progressing on the growth curve, and how much weight have they gained, and dear god will that pacifier ruin my dreams of breastfeeding until they turn X-months-old and how many ounces did they take this time and how many ounces did we make this time… the list goes on. 

Here’s the kicker: Nearly none of this translates into toddlerhood. 

My point is — we’re conditioned from the beginning to be… edgy about our children’s eating, when what we actually need to do is SETTLE DOWN about our kids’ eating. Because many of the things that we worry about don’t actually make that much sense to worry about. I’ll tell you why…

How Much Should a Toddler Eat

Probably the number one point of concern regarding feeding a toddler is the overall AMOUNT they eat — which may appear either too little or too much. But here’s the thing: we don’t really know how much a healthy, growing child “should” eat. 

Yes, there are recommended portion-sizes and daily intake numbers for this and this and this, but the fact is that children can eat far off from those guideposts — in either direction — and still be very healthy. 

Toddler Weight Curve

Another thing (again, a misperception based on early infancy, when babies are progressively eating more): we assume our toddlers need to be eating more over time.

They don’t.

Toddlers don’t ramp up their food intake in linear fashion as they grow. If you like graphs, picture a scatter plot. 

Moving on — many of us are under the impression that our children should follow their CDC growth curves like assigned lanes in a track race. This is not how it works. Children don’t necessarily stay in the same constant percentile as they age (though sometimes they do, and that’s great too!). Many children bounce from one curve to another multiple times, and there’s nothing wrong with this. The CDC growth plots are averages, not real-life examples. 

Just to be clear — I’m not saying that growth is never a health concern. Of course it is. But we parents are susceptible to obsessing over our children’s status on the growth charts unnecessarily. This is where your pediatrician can help you discern whether there’s actually anything to be worried about.  

Most nutrition experts will tell you, the vast majority of toddlers are indeed getting plenty of food; and most pediatricians will tell you, where a child stands on a growth chart can only tell you so much.

Meal-by-meal Thinking and Toddler Nutrition

Similarly, many parents focus on their children’s eating on a meal-by-meal basis, rather than over the long haul. In fact what matters more than any meal or even day is days at a time.

As Stephanie Middleberg (MS, RD, CDN, founder of Middleberg Nutrition and author of The Big Book of Organic Baby Food and The Big Book of Organic Toddler Food) put it, “we adults look at our nutrition over the day — for little children, we’re looking at nutrition from the weeklong perspective.” 

This makes sense. Children are using their bodies and their instincts to make decisions about eating — not cultural norms or food plans or any schedule we may set. 

For example, telling a child to “eat now so you’re not hungry later” or “no, you can’t have a snack right now because dinner is in ten minutes” is like speaking to them in Latin — it just doesn’t resonate. All they know is that they’re not interested now (scenario 1) or that they are very hungry RIGHT NOW (scenario #2). 

Put another way, we adults adhere to cultural norms about when it’s appropriate, what or how much it’s appropriate (or necessary) to eat, etc. 

Children don’t. 

They don’t care (or even know yet) about what’s culturally appropriate. They’re adhering to (their) biology. And that’s okay!

Toddler Serving Sizes

Related to these notions^^, we have adult ideas about what a plate of food looks like. But a toddler is not an adult and does not need adult-sized portions. (We’re not saying to limit kids to these portions — not at all. Rather, we’re pointing out that we need to let go of our expectations regarding how much our kids eat.)

In fact, as we’ll describe further later on, offering smaller portion sizes (and/or letting children decide their own serving sizes) can be a great strategy to improve mealtimes and eating generally.

Why are we telling you all of this? Much like with discipline, simply knowing what’s reasonable to expect of your toddler can go a long way. The better we can understand how toddlers eat, in real life, and that there is no uniform “normal” amount they should eat, the better teachers we will be. 

As Stephanie said, the honest truth is this: you’re not going to have the perfect scenario with your toddler (she’s a toddler). If we accept this up front, we’ll do better down the road. 

Here are some other notes that may help you to align your feeding/eating expectations with reality: 

As eaters, toddlers are: 

• Skeptical — Yes, they are.

• Unpredictable — Every parent has a story about “that food” their kid LOVES but randomly “doesn’t like” (if you’re lucky the opposite also happens sometimes!). When I serve my kids eggs, I never know what to expect. Some days they tell me they’re — and I quote here — grossy, and other times they’ll eat 6 eggs between the two of them. This is very common and is normal.

• Inconsistent — Kids may eat a lot one day (or at one meal) and then eat hardly anything at all at the next; in fact, kids can vary their caloric intake by up to 300% from one meal to the next or day-to-day.

• Opinionated — It’s either cute or infuriating, depending. 

• Imperfect communicators — Toddlers don’t… have all the words. They may not know how to tell you something (“I would eat this if only it were a little warmer”) or tell you the “wrong” thing (“I don’t like this” rather than “I don’t want this right now”).

• Carb-seekers — No, it’s not just you. Don’t disparage. 

All of this^^ can be immensely frustrating. But it helps, I think, to know that it’s all normal, and it’s all to be expected. Learning about these norms helped me reframe certain things from frustrating-as-hell to par for the course — or even funny. It also helped me have more patience with my kids, because I didn’t interpret a negative response to a dish or an effusive rant about something as a problem with them (my kids), per se.  

A couple of other totally normal behaviors you have surely seen (or surely will): 

• Spitting out food (and maybe even re-eating it, cool) — This is actually part of the “food acceptance process”; toddlers do it to get comfortable with new foods, and they may even do it repeatedly (as in, up to 15-20 times). So glamorous. 

An exercise: try considering this^^ with some empathy. When was the last time you tried a new food? How do you feel about trying new foods generally? How would you feel to try a food without knowing where it came from, what it was, what it might taste like or how it was prepared? 

Toddlers have to use their senses to explore foods, and when you really think about it, it’s not that hard to see how they might be nervous about giving it a shot (and/or to be surprised enough about certain tastes and textures to spit something out spontaneously). 

• Taking a bite that “doesn’t count” — To an adult, trying something means taking a full bite of it and swallowing said bite. But to a child, trying something may appear the smallest taste, to the extent that it might come across as insufficient (aka “that doesn’t count”)…  but it’s not insufficient! It does count! When it comes to tasting, Dina Rose, the author of It’s Not About the Broccoli, says we need to “think micro… A single shred of cheese, one sunflower seed, or one-quarter of a pea are appropriate [tasting] portions.” Jeah. 

Another exercise: think about context. We tend to be more conscious and understanding of the fact that our children might not be on their A game if they are tired, hungry, have been cooped up all day, are overstimulated, too hot, too cold, etc. But we almost never take these factors into account when our kids sit down to eat. 

Yet, just like anything else, our kids might not “perform” very well at the table because there’s something else going on. Maybe they are tired. Maybe their high chair is uncomfortable. (Experts’ fave is the Stokke Tripp Trapp, btw, because it puts baby at the table right from the start — and we love it too. Abiie makes a near-identical version for about a hundred bucks less.)

Maybe your child is being a grouch and isn’t eating at mealtime because she’s hungry. Sigh. Point being — keep timing and circumstances in mind when things start to derail, and take note of them when they go well (more on this later). 

• Playing with food — babies and toddlers play with their food (as a rule, lol), and it’s not necessarily a bad thing. We’ll circle back to this later on, but for now, know that this is to be expected, and that the best thing for you to do is to not really react to it. 

A final note here before we dive into the main events: remember that kids are picking up everything, so the ways we talk about food and eating are important. Language is important. A few suggestions from the pros: 

• Avoid labeling your child as an eater — don’t say your kid is a “good” or “bad” eater or a “picky” eater. Children pick up on these descriptors and may internalize them.

• Talk about (and ask questions about) food with more depth than “I like it” or “I don’t like it.” Ask: “why do you like it?” or “what do you like about it?” Talk about: taste/flavor, texture, appearance, temperature, smell, other foods a food is like or not like, etc. 

• Discuss satiety with more depth than simply “hungry” or “full.” Try to ask questions that prompt your child to describe their physical sensations and state in more detail. (We’ll talk more about some specifics for this in the “how to” section.)

Division of Responsibility: The Satter Approach

The “division of responsibility” framework (DOR) for feeding toddlers and young children is nearly universally accepted and recommended among nutrition experts and pediatricians. (In fact, I learned about it originally from my kids’ pediatrician’s office.) Here’s what it says:  

Parents are in charge of the what, when, and where of feeding children; 

Children are in charge of whether and how much they eat. 

The architect of this framework, Ellyn Satter, named it the “division of responsibility” because she truly thinks about the set-up in terms of the separate roles parents and children play: parents provide food, children do the eating. 

These roles are distanced by a hard and firm boundary that is not to be crossed. IOW, it’s two distinct circles, not a Venn diagram.^^ 

Satter says that problems arise when parents stray outside their role — by trying to do the child’s job (i.e., cajoling children into eating certain foods and/or certain amounts of food), or by letting their kids do the parent’s job (i.e., make the decisions about what to eat). 

The beautiful part of the DOR approach is that it recognizes children as capable eaters (they are!) — it gives them the benefit of the doubt and assumes that as human beings, children have instincts about regulating their own eating (they do!).

It trusts that children (yes, even fickle toddlers), actually have their own budding competency we can nurture — indeed, it’s us parents who often have control problems when it comes to food. 

“Children have finely tuned mechanisms for determining how much they need to eat, mechanisms that automatically take into account variations in the food they eat as well as in activity, growth, body metabolism, and body chemistry… Your child’s body will regulate if you let it. Your job is to support that process.” 

~ Ellyn Satter

Isn’t that refreshing? 

When we spoke about this concept of trust with regard to the DOR, Carol Danaher (MPH, RDN, and faculty and board member at the Ellyn Satter Institute) explained it to me like this: we parents trust our children as capable learners in all different aspects of life — walking, talking, reading, singing, throwing a ball… everything. 

But we don’t do this with eating. 

We don’t trust our children to learn to eat on their own. 

We pressure and bribe them, we stress about how much or what they’re eating — and they pick up on this. 

We act in ways that clearly show we don’t trust our kids to learn to eat, and they internalize that message. 

Remember how patient you were when you taught your child… anything else (LOL!) — you likely expected it to take time and practice and patience. The same goes (or should go) with eating. 

“It’s hard to sit back,” Stephanie admitted to me; “it really is… but if you can, it really becomes a beautiful thing.” 

The DOR approach also affords toddlers something they want and need as much as air: autonomy. And granting a young child autonomy over their own eating helps diminish the power struggles that so often accompany mealtimes with toddlers. 

If you are skeptical about stepping aside and letting your child sit in the driver’s seat, consider this: does the cajoling/bribing/offering rewards to eat/try a new food/etc. work? Is your strategy leading to improved eating? Pay attention to what happens afterward, and ask yourself honestly: is this helping? “How much your children eat is something they have to decide for themselves,” Dina Rose says. So really, if what you’re doing isn’t working, shouldn’t you consider other options? 

 “Almost anything parents do to control how much their children eat will ultimately lead to out-of-whack eating.”

~ Dina Rose

The What and When 

The other half of this, of course, is that you play your role: decide what food to put on the table and when. This is the piece where you have the control, and you shouldn’t share it. 

Like it or not, your child knows better than you what he likes/dislikes, how much he feels like eating, or whether he feels like eating in the first place. So that’s all up to him. But YOU know best what foods to serve, so don’t take orders or let your kids pick the menu. 

Taking this a step further, the DOR approach is adamant that we parents don’t cater to our children and their food preferences — in France, as described in hilarious detail in Bringing Up Bebe, there’s not really any such thing as “kid food.” Kids eat what the family eats, which is, ideally, good food (as in, food that tastes good). 

There are two sides to the coin here, and both are equally important — when I asked Carol Danaher about it, she told me that the piece most parents struggle with is the concept that their children can choose whether and how much to eat. “But you don’t get the benefits [of DOR],” she said, “unless you maintain both sides.” 

Now — much like with discipline or roping your kids into helping around the house, it’s never too late to hit the reset button on your approach to feeding. Whether you’re just starting solids, plodding through the toddler years, or you have school-aged kids and are looking to make a change, you can do it!

Now (finally, phew!), here’s some advice on how to go about this whole feeding business:

Feeding Your Toddler 

Remember: you, parent, decide what and when and where to eat — your child chooses if and how much. 

The following advice borrows from the Satter division of responsibility, from nutritional experts’ advice, from interdisciplinary perspectives on feeding and nutrition, from cross-cultural parenting practices, and from “real life,” as it were. It’s not a prescription or a strict single-minded approach, but rather a synthesis of frameworks, strategies and hands-on techniques for coming to the table — take it as inspiration rather than dogma, and certainly (as always) pick and choose what works for you. And have fun!

Follow along or skip ahead to advice on: 

1. Keeping a predictable routine
2. Making mealtimes pleasant
3. Staying in your lane (aka, not cajoling your child in eating anything)
4. Playing it cool
5. Serving tips
6. Dealing with panhandling
7. Feeding picky eaters and teaching children to love trying new foods 
8. Adapting expert advice to your family

1. Decide on a predictable meal/snack schedule — establish a routine.

Children thrive when they know what to expect and understand the day’s structure. This applies to feeding as much as anything else. When they know the routine, children are free to work within it (and not worry about what’s coming next and when). 

For most families, such a schedule boils down to breakfast, a morning snack, lunch, an afternoon snack, and dinner; but there are also many families who only have one snack, or none at all (more on that below). 

Having a set routine also makes it easier for you to answer questions, because this is the schedule we decided on. Much like using a timer to announce bedtime or clean-up time, having a schedule to fall back on takes the pressure off. 

Most young children understand a “schedule” in terms of befores-and-afters, rather than actual times of day — and using this kind of language will likely be a more effective way to communicate the rhythm to them. For example, most kids understand that breakfast happens after they wake up in the morning; you might explain that morning snack comes after playtime and storytime, or that lunch happens after outside playtime, or dinner after evening clean-up (or whatever you like). 

*Bonus points if you can rope your kids into the fabric of your mealtime routine — expecting them to help out with food prep, setting the table, and/or clean-up is a win-win because it helps further establish your routine and also teaches them about the work of feeding a family.

Once you decide on a schedule, tell your kids! 

Maybe you can even make a project of it — write it on a poster or a chalkboard and keep it somewhere your children can see it or follow along each day. It’s unbelievable how much better children do when we tell them what’s going on (and, depending on their age, explain why). While you’re at it, if you’re giving Division of Responsibility a go, tell your children about that as well.

You might say something like: “Guess what? We’re going to try something new and fun at mealtimes starting this week. I’ll make sure to put out a bunch of yummy things for you to eat, and you get to be completely in charge of how much of everything you have.” (Sell it! And be prepared to get called out — as I did, hah — if you step out of bounds.)

Tips & things to consider: 

• Many experts and parents like a “food only at the table” rule, which implicitly cuts back on snacking (and carpet cleaning ).

• Along those lines^^, many parents institute a “when you get up from the table, you’re done” rule — and stick to it. It will be painful at first but eventually your child will get the message. 

• If your child is often antsy/fidgety at the table, think about staging a quick physical activity right before dinner so they come to the table feeling a little less amped up, or try having them stand at the table. 

• Timing: For many of us, dinner can be tough. It’s the end of the day, everyone’s tired, there’s bedtime and tomorrow to think about, etc. — and yet for most this is the main meal of the day. If your child doesn’t seem to be eating well or trying new things at dinner, what if you tried making breakfast or lunch the heavy hitter?

In part, this kind of thing^ depends on your child. If you have a night owl who does well at dinner, great — stick with it. Maybe mornings are so crunched on the weekdays that making breakfast the main meal of the day isn’t feasible, so you do this for lunch on the weekends (or something). It’s just something to think about.

On Snacks 

Nearly every expert recommends against constant snacking and grazing. We may think our kids need to snack, but guess what? They actually don’t. 

In other cultures, snacking is simply not something that people do (adults or kids). In France and Italy, children usually have a single afternoon snack between meals. It is possible. (In France, Pamela Druckerman writes in Bringing Up Bebe, children don’t even have the right to open the fridge. I love it.) 

Here in America, though, it seems like young kids are literally eating around the clock: grazing. Most American parents aren’t going to toss snack time out the window (all the more because our kids become accustomed to it at school and daycare…), and it’s certainly reasonable to have one or two dedicated snack times a day — just try to keep them at least an hour away from the next meal. You want your child to be sitting down for meals hungry.  

The Endless Snacking Cycle 

Okay — I know I said I wasn’t going to talk about what to feed kids, but it’s near-impossible to separate The Snacking Problem in the US from the fact that so many kids are eating a diet of Goldfish and sugar-laden yogurt. It’s getting out of control — a recent project published in JAMA announced that “ultra-processed foods” constitute TWO-THIRDS of what kids 2-19 years old eat. These foods tend to fall in the high-carb and/or high-sugar category, and they neither satiate nor nourish; and because they almost universally fall high on the glycemic index scale, they inevitably leave children feeling hungrier, sooner. 

No wonder our kids are whining to eat around the clock. 

Of course, this isn’t an individual thing; it’s a societal issue. As a nation, we haven’t prioritized making healthy food equally accessible. Often, processed and ultra-processed foods are more affordable, practical, and available — especially in certain parts of the country and for certain demographics. It’s a problem.

Another thought on snacking: according to the DOR approach, children get to eat as much as they want for (scheduled) snacks. Indeed, this is the “correct” way to follow the guidelines. In my house, we follow DOR at mealtimes religiously — but not at snacktime. 

The reasons are these: snack foods are not meal foods — I’m not putting together a wholesome, well-balanced snack that mimics a meal (I’m just not, sorry); and I also don’t think it’s unreasonable to tell a child “this is what you can have for a snack right now — period.” But technically I’m going rogue here, so don’t take it as an expert recommendation, hah.

Okay — moving on… after a final word of advice on your schedule: yes, consistency is your friend, but so is flexibility. Don’t be afraid to adjust your schedule to accommodate issues as they arise. The schedule should, in fact, ideally allow for some variability. 

Here are two examples: 

• Imagine your child is regularly very hungry in the afternoons after daycare or an afternoon nap and eats so much at snack time that she never eats dinner. Maybe you decide to consider permanently swapping these (!): serve dinner at afternoon snack time, and have a snack when you’d normally serve dinner. This way, you get your child their actual meal at an opportune moment (i.e., when they’ll eat it) and don’t have to spend the afternoons “doing battle,” as I call it. 

• If your toddler is whining for a snack but snack time is still a ways off, maybe you simply move snack time up a little bit. **Don’t “cave” and offer it right now, or while she’s in the middle of a whine-fest, but you can acknowledge that she’s very hungry and offer to see what you can do about moving it up once she’s calmed down. Often, this acknowledgment alone goes a long way. 

2. Making Mealtimes Pleasant — 

The biggest piece of advice experts have about mealtime is that it be pleasant. It’s not supposed to be high-strung, stressful, or loaded: feeding will go more smoothly when it takes place in a supportive, happy environment. Having a meal is something your child — and you — should be excited about, not something to dread. 

Some advice on making this a reality: 

• Pay attention! Whether you’re eating or not, be present:
  • Put your phone AWAY and limit screens/distractions; 
  • Try not to multitask (SO HARD);
  • Sit down (if you can) with your kids (more on shared meals in a minute);
  • Model positivity.

• Don’t make too much of kids playing with their food. In the first place, it’s NORMAL. This is what toddlers do; their learning is sensory, so it’s part of how they explore. *Especially if your child is playing with a new food, consider that a win. It’s engagement, and again, it’s part of the learning process. Remember: at the end of the day, we want them to think food is fun, not stressful. 

If your kids show off their food creations, Stephanie recommends staying neutral. “You could acknowledge it,” she said, “but don’t offer positive reinforcement, and don’t be negative about it.” 

• On that note: don’t waste your energy mandating perfect table manners for little ones — you can model appropriate table manners, but part of a toddler’s learning to eat is exploring food, which entails touching it, moving it, mashing it, etc. As your child ages, it’s certainly fine to demonstrate and talk about what’s “proper” (HAH), but try not to get too bent out of shape about this.

• That said — there is a difference between “table manners” and “acceptable behavior.” You can and should insist children sit down/attend meals, and that they are “reasonably” behaved (for them) and contributing to an overall pleasant atmosphere. 

For the child who says “I’m done” after two bites: It’s reasonable to expect children (even toddlers) to remain at the table for mealtime. Here are some pro tips from Stephanie on keeping them there: 

• Use a timer: set up an hourglass timer somewhere visible, so your child can see how much longer she’s expected to remain at the table. 

• Invite your child to make a fun dinner playlist with you, and explain that she needs to stay at the table for all the songs (you could also use this to gradually build up — if this is an area of real struggle for you, maybe you start out with only 2-3 songs, then add one each week). 

• Do what you can to get your child in the kitchen — the more ownership young children have over food and meals, the more likely they are to appreciate it. (#toddlerswag? hah) 

• Whatever happens, STAY CALM. Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm.
  • *If you are anxious about something WRT your child’s eating, he will pick up on that right quick — and it’s likely going to end up contributing to an overall feeling of stress at mealtimes.
  • Don’t react to your child — remember all the wacky normal behaviors you should expect, and don’t hold those against them. 
  • Do not get yourself into a power struggle or a negotiation. You cannot reason with a toddler (as my husband often jokes, “we do not negotiate with terrorists”), and coming to the table with any sort of agenda about what and how your toddler is eating is more likely to backfire than serve you well. 

Otherwise, this happens: 

Moving on… 

3. Thou shalt not cajole your child into eating anything

This is probably the part where we lose some of you — but hear us out! From every corner, experts are telling us: don’t try to “get” your kid to eat anything. Not even one single bite! 

In the first place, trying to “get” your child to eat can (and often does) easily detract from your overall aim to make mealtimes pleasant. It can make kids reticent about eating and mealtimes in general. And as soon as meals/feeding become stressful, things can start to deteriorate. 

Furthermore, pressuring a child to eat (or stop eating) automatically puts the two of you in the position of being opponents. Who wants that? Not to mention, it threatens your child’s autonomy, and to a certain extent that’s what she’s living for right now, so why challenge it needlessly? 

We say “needlessly” because: trying to get kids to eat doesn’t usually work. 

In Helping Your Child With Extreme Picky Eating, Katja Rowell and Jenny McGlothlin call this reality the “pressure paradox”: pressuring children to eat backfires. 

One thing we hear often — the “X many more bites of this” line — is something of a parenting trope at this point. But if you think about it, how could this possibly make any sense to a child? It’s totally inconsistent, as it’s rarely the same amount of bites (and of the same thing). This mandate effectively puts kids in the position of having to ask clarifying questions (how many bites of what? Was that enough? Did that bite count?), because they clearly don’t understand and/or know what we expect of them. And remember, kids do best when they understand the expectations and know the ground rules. Things need to be predictable. 

Thus: 

• Don’t force your child to finish something or clean their plate (tell that to grandma!);

• Don’t entice them/bribe them/talk them into eating anything;
  • Avoid verbiage such as “you have to try it — you’ll love it!” or “this will make you big and strong like a superhero!” or “this will make you mighty smart!” If you’re the type who has to say something, you could just say, “Try it; you might like it.” (Be neutral.) 
  • Think about it from a child’s vantage: would you want to be bribed/harassed/harangued into eating something? 

• Don’t use food as a reward or a way to comfort an upset child — this strategy is linked to numerous unintended and unwanted outcomes, including emotional eating and overeating, and turning certain foods into forbidden fruit. (Personally, I make an exception to this rule with potty training and TRAVEL. Yes, I gave my kids M&Ms when they were potty training. And yes, IMO, food is THE best strategy for making it through travel with little kids. #Sorrynotsorry.) But for everyday life, dieticians consider using food as a way to comfort, reward, or punish your kids “risky.”

• Don’t throw a party when your child tries something — you can acknowledge them or even offer some gentle praise, but don’t blow it out of proportion. 

4. Play it cool. 

No matter what happens, be neutral-to-positive, calm, and nonchalant. Don’t be emotional. That’s all. 

5. Serving tips

There are some simple tips and tricks in the serving department that can actually make a big difference: 

• Serve foods in ways your child can handle them — think about the texture, bite size, temperature, etc. — is it right for her, developmentally?

• Let your child serve herself — yes, really! 

I have to say that I was pretty much totally resistant to this piece of advice^^ — but I (reluctantly) tried it anyway, and guess what? It went great! There were ups and downs over time (of course), but there’s no denying that I’ve literally seen the benefits play out in real time: 

• I thought my kids would take way too much, but they’ve surprised me by actually spooning themselves less than I would have (everyone told me this would happen, I just didn’t believe them, LOL).

• We’re wasting less food.

• They’re gaining extra practice with fine motor skills.

• They’re learning about polite table behavior because they see that they need to leave some for others, and to ask before taking the last portion of something. 

• They can see how much of each dish is left — in my house, we often keep the food behind the kitchen counter, where it’s unseen from the table, and my kids are constantly asking me how much of X is left. I didn’t realize it until we tried self-serving, but I think they were anxious about this, and having everything visible on the table has taken away that uncertainty for them. 

• I’m not constantly getting up every two minutes to get them more of things — I can actually just sit and chat with them, and the meal experience has been overall much more pleasant. 

A confession: I’ve used the self-serving strategy to “cheat” at DOR. For example: I know my daughter would eat an entire jar of pitted kalamata olives if I put the whole thing on the table. Instead, I put a generous amount in a small serving bowl, and she understands that when that runs out, there’s no more. *As I said, this is technically cheating — it’s not an expert-approved strategy, but I share it with you because I’ve made use of it on occasion with small indulgences at meals or snacks (dates, chocolate, etc.); and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think that at some point, no, you can’t eat the whole jar of olives — not even necessarily because “you can’t,” but because I (or you) might want some tomorrow. 

• Serve SMALLER portions. Big, full plates are actually overwhelming to small kids, so serving up smaller portion sizes can help with both under- and overeating. 

A further note on this^^: If you are struggling with a child who eats almost nothing, try serving almost nothing and see what happens. In It’s Not About the Broccoli, Dina Rose describes how one mother successfully “reversed a pattern of food refusal” by serving up meals like this: four cheerios, 2 blueberries, and 2 bites of egg; three peas, four shreds of cheese, 2 raisins, and a bite of fish. Go figure. 

6. When you have a professional-grade panhandler on your hands

As a parent, I am consistently impressed by my kids’ ability to WHINE. 

Forget tantrums (though, they are masterful in this arena as well), because I can ignore a screaming kid on the floor as well as the next — but the persistent drone of whining drives me nuts. And I don’t know about you, but food seems to be a major recurring theme. Now, my kids happen to stem from a long line of hangry-headed adults, so they really know how to put on a show when they want something to eat. 

IMO, a food outburst (whether it’s whining, crying, tantruming, or what have you) is subtly one of the most difficult to weather, because it’s so easy to give in. I’m like: if I just let her have some pieces of cheese, the noise will stop. It will be quiet (for a few minutes, hah). Wouldn’t that be OK?

But of course experts say this is exactly what NOT to do (well, assuming you don’t want to have a rewind-and-repeat scenario, like, whenever…). Instead of caving to panhandling for food, we are advised to be firm about sticking to designated meal and snack times. And, we are not to let children’s poor responses to a “no” fluster us. A child who has a meltdown about being denied a snack is looking to see what happens — does she get the snack? Does she get more attention (even if it’s negative)? Does she see that she is getting to you? 

The advice we all already know and wish was better: Acknowledge, then ignore, friends, ignore—

Until it stops. 

Like any behavioral outburst, things are often more painful the first few times this happens, but children do eventually get the message that begging, whining, crying, or screaming for food will not succeed. (There are a lot of parallels with “regular” discipline/tantrums, IMO. And, also as with discipline, staying calm, cool, and collected in these situations can carry you far.) 

BTW, if you’re worried that denying your child a desired snack/food is “cruel,” here’s what Ellyn Satter says: it is not cruel (!) — sticking to set routines is part of your job in setting your child up for success with eating. Being reliable is actually helpful, even if your hangry child can’t see that in the moment. 

7. Feeding Picky Eaters and Teaching Children to Love Trying New Foods 

It’s possible to create an environment that implicitly supports children in trying new foods without violating the central tenet not to cajole/pressure/bribe them into eating anything.

Below are some subtle strategies that can help your child learn to eat new foods — but remember that if/when you try them, you have to be 100% cool with it if your child is still reticent. The goal is to help your child gain confidence and competence eating — not actually to “get” them to eat something or like something. 

● Serve a new food paired with something familiar, but not necessarily with a favorite food, because you run the risk of their eating only the favorite food. Think of something your child usually (snort) enjoys but isn’t necessarily “special” (hummus, cottage cheese, tofu, etc.). Stephanie also suggests pairing a new food with a familiar dip to achieve a similar effect.

● Repeated exposure — science shows that we will eventually like a food if we taste it enough (and yes, this is also true for different age groups!). Just because your child doesn’t like something, that doesn’t mean they won’t like it. Keep serving it, and don’t make a big fuss about it. *Remember to let your child try it on their own, as pressuring kids into eating things actually decreases food acceptance. Prepare to persevere, parents — it could take up to 15 times before a child even feels comfortable eating something. 

Experts also note that the use of various gimmicks and trickery to “hide” new foods probably doesn’t really help much. That’s not to say you can’t “sneak” some spinach into a smoothie (or something) — go for it! Just remember that this obviously isn’t going to help your child learn to love spinach.

If you have an older child, this “foot-in-the-door” approach can actually be a fun thing to talk about — to stick with the spinach analogy, for example, maybe you talk together about mixing spinach into other foods they like, such as soup or sauce, muffins, scrambled eggs, etc.

● Try serving fruits or veggies as an appetizer — very hungry little children may be more likely to eat them first thing. (Once, in my house, this pre-meal dish consisted of apple slices — highly sophisticated I know — and my children misheard me when I described it to them as an appetizer…  and thus this part of any meal is henceforward and forever the Appletizer.)

In fact, serving meals in courses can be very fun (it’s fancy and kids love fancy!) and also work to your advantage (i.e., serving veggies as a first course). Again, this can’t come with any pressure — some kids do really well with this change-up, and others may feel stress at having veggies served first. Here is another place where you can gauge your audience and adjust accordingly. 

● Whenever you are serving a new food, make it as predictable and familiar as possible — this entails how it’s cooked/served/seasoned. If it’s your kid’s first time with parsnips, for example, cook and season them the same as you normally do with other vegetables. 

● Tell your kids about new foods! Explain what it is and what else it’s like, how it might be familiar or different to them (“This is broccoli, it tastes sort of like spinach and sort of like cauliflower, and when I eat it it reminds me of eating cauliflower, except with a different color and flavor.”), how you cooked it (“I made this broccoli in the oven, just like we normally do with vegetables, and we can season it together at the table the same way you like to season your carrots.”), etc. This simple tactic of delivering information helps build trust at the table and also makes new foods — and tasting them — feel comfortable and safe. 

Consider this, from It’s Not About the Broccoli: research shows that young children have certain ideas about how a-food-they-like should look and smell — and they are liable to reject (including without ever having tasted) foods that don’t align with their vision, whatever it is. They probably associate the food with one they think they dislike. (This is SO helpful, right? Because what parent hasn’t said, “but how do you know you don’t like it?! You haven’t even tasted it!” precisely one zillion times.) With this in mind, you can think about the qualities of foods your child likes (color, taste, texture, smell, etc.) and do what you can to make a new food similar.   

● Make a game out of your child being a food critic — offer a small sample of something and ask them to tell you about it. Kids eat this up. (Sorry, I couldn’t help it. I’m getting old and I like puns, sue me.)

● Mix up the presentation — use cookie cutters, serve food in mini muffins tins or cupcake liners, cut or slice things differently, etc. These simple changes can seriously appeal to littles. (There’s a reason IHOP started serving Mickey Mouse pancakes, right??) Another idea: chopsticks. So fun. 

● Think about timing — many of us incorporate new foods at dinner, because that’s the main meal for most Americans, but often this is not really the best time for our kids. They want to fall into something familiar at the end of the day. Maybe your child would be more open to trying something new at breakfast or lunch, or maybe even at snack time or during cooking time. Figure out the best timing for your child and capitalize on it.

● If you have a child who is super resistant to trying new foods on principle, consider introducing a “new” kind of something you know they’ll like, like a new kind of cookie, cracker, pastry, flavor of yogurt or what have you. The effect we’re going for here is to begin to build a positive association with the actual act of trying a new food. IOW, don’t always make a vegetable or [insert “risky” new food here] the new thing — sometimes everybody needs an easy win. 

One other suggestion for very picky eaters is to get them involved with food prep however you can. Whether it’s actual cooking, or grocery shopping, or picking things up from the farmer’s market, the more you can include them in the household food chain, the more willing and likely they’ll be to participate in it. 

● On that note, get your kids in the kitchen! When kids have ownership over a dish, they’re much more likely to be willing to try it. (Another lesson I was reminded of with my children’s George’s Marvelous Medicine reenactment…)

Remember — when it comes to food, little kids are the same as they are about everything else: different. Some children are just by nature going to be more adventurous eaters, and some are going to play the skeptic. 

And many kids go through phases. 

Your job is to foster a positive attitude toward food and eating and help your child learn to make healthy decisions on their own in time. We can help shape habits and preferences, but temperament and biology play a role too. 

8. Adapting Expert Advice to Your Family 

Now, much like with breastfeeding/bottle-feeding and purees/baby led weaning, following expert advice or this approach^^ need not be an all-or-nothing thing. You don’t have to pick a team, you don’t have to sign a DOR contract, you don’t have to swear lifetime fealty. We parents often fall into the trap of turning these decisions into binary choices, when in real life, we live in color, not black and white. 

The best way to “use” this advice, we think, is to apply it with some fluidity and flexibility, because every child and every family is different. We’re going to drill down on this by taking a closer look at four examples:

1. kids participating in choices about foods,
2. the “thou shalt taste everything on thy plate” rule,
3. “forbidden foods,” and (dunh, dunh, DUHN)
4. The Family Meal.  

As with anything else in the parenting arena, feeding a toddler is not one-size-fits-all.

On choices — 

According to the DOR approach, offering young children choices about food does them no favors — toddlers are still learning to eat what the family eats. But for slightly older children who have learned to eat a wide variety of foods, offering *limited choices for snacks or meals is perfectly fine — it shares a measure of control (and kids love playing their part in decision-making) without sharing too much control. 

• Do you want pear or apple slices for your snack? 
• Would you rather the potatoes cut and roasted or mashed tonight? 
• Should we make fish tonight and lasagna tomorrow, or lasagna tonight and fish tomorrow? 
• What do you think, carrots or peppers?

If you’re just coming to DOR, it’s best to start out as the proverbial dictator, but over time, children can be included more and more. Ideally, you’ll continue to expand your child’s role in the menu planning (and meal prep!) as they grow older, with the goal that eventually they’ve learned everything they need to make their own choices about food and be a self-sufficient eater “out in the real world.”

Tip: There are numerous other ways to extend children some autonomy around mealtime:

• Let them choose their own plateware/cup;
• Let them serve themselves and decide what goes where on their plate;
• Let them get their own water/milk;
• Let them help with food prep/clean up (YES THEY REALLY DO WANT TO HELP). 

On having to taste everything on your plate — 

This is an obvious no-no with the DOR framework, but for many families — and in many other cultures — the “you have to at least taste one bite of everything on your plate” rule works well and doesn’t cause any trouble. As Pamela Druckerman describes in Bringing Up Bebe, in France, children always have to taste everything served. She suggests this: “present the tasting rule to your child as if it’s a law of nature — like gravity.”

For many, this works great. It’s not a huge deal.

For others, though, it stirs up negativity. 

Our take? You know your child — if the one-taste rule is something you can implement without it being A Whole Big Thing, go for it! If instead it ruffles feathers or looks to be the first bad move in a game of chess, bag it. (You have plenty of authorities on your side, lol.) If you’re trying to figure out which camp you fall in, use the tool of observation again. Watch closely to see how your child responds to the rule: is it serving your child? Is it improving or detracting from a pleasant mealtime experience? 

**PSA: If you try this^^ at home, REMEMBER: a child’s “taste” is not on par with the average adult’s idea of tasting something — even a lick counts! (Yes!) Besides, if you’re at the point where you’re starting to haggle over this, that’s probably a sign that this isn’t working. If it introduces negativity and/or pressure, scrap it. 

On forbidden foods — 

Experts actually suggest serving treats on occasion (even without limits) so that certain foods don’t become “forbidden foods” and so that children gain practice and experience in moderating their consumption of those foods. 

Again, the reasoning here is that you want your child to be able to go off on their own and act wisely (or at least reasonably, lol). If chocolate or ice cream or meat or bread is strictly forbidden, how well could you possibly expect them to handle it when they find themselves in the situation of having unfettered access to [insert disallowed food of choice]? We’d never expect a child to be able to play a sport, or play music, or read or run or climb if we never taught them how or gave them opportunities to practice, so we do have to do that. (That’s what grandparents are for??) 

The goal is to raise a human who knows how to eat — we’re teaching these kids how to eat. We have to be teachers, and we have to be patient. It’s all… a process, and it’s always in motion. 

On “The Family Meal” — 

Ah, the family meal. Here we are. (You thought we’d sneak through this shindig without it, didn’t you???) 

You’ve probably heard/read/learned/feared that children who eat family meals with their parents grow up to have lower rates of anxiety, depression, substance abuse, eating orders, and teenage pregnancy; higher rates of academic success and emotional well-being (in high school and beyond); and improved self-esteem, resilience, and happiness. 

But wait! That’s not all! Did you know that kids who eat with their families also are 10.2x more likely to get into Stanford, 3.7 times more likely to perform in the Olympics, 7 times more likely to do a good deed for their neighbor, and 4.1 times more likely to invest wisely in adulthood?  

Okay — I obviously made up these last bits. But everything else is true — nutritionists have been telling parents to eat with their children for a long time now, and science confirms that there seem to be myriad social, physical, and mental benefits children derive from doing so. (Although, to be fair, these benefits are all correlations — it’s impossible to say with certainty that family dinners themselves are the direct cause…)

All of which is GREAT. Except — “the family meal” is not on the table for so many of us with little children (sorry, couldn’t help the pun), for all kinds of different reasons. We among our team affectionately refer to this as The Dinner Problem. 

My point here is not to guilt you into obligatory family meals. I don’t eat dinner with my kids, and I’m not going to sit here and apologize for it. I could tell you why, but I won’t, because I don’t think you need to “explain yourself” either.

The point is simply that it’s hard to deny that eating with your kids does benefit them. As someone who infrequently actually does so, however, I was eager to ask about workarounds — how can those of us for whom the family meal just isn’t going to happen reap some of the benefits of eating together? 

Here’s what I learned:

• It need not be dinner — consider whether different timing might work better for your family. For many, breakfast is a lot easier. (Though, there’s also a certain Morning Problem with getting out the door…)

• It need not be all or nothing — if you can’t share a family meal every day, consider whether you can on certain days. Maybe it’s twice a week, or on the weekends, or even once on the weekends. Do what you can. 

• Yes, in an ideal world, you’d be sitting eating with your children for a family meal, but just sitting without eating is great too. So maybe you don’t have family dinner every night, but could someone sit at the table for kids dinner? 

• Be creative — a family meal doesn’t have to be a picture perfect homemade feast. Maybe it’s leftovers. Or pizza delivered. Maybe you push bedtime back on occasion (or in general, if you want) to make it happen, or maybe you scrap the music lessons that always feel like a chore on Thursday nights. 

At the end of the day, there’s what experts suggest and there’s what works for you — however you go forward, please, please, remember, be compassionate with yourself. You can’t do everything. So do what works. And if new foods, or X recommendation, or the family meal, or broccoli simply isn’t happening right now, just think, you’ve got plenty of years left.

In Conclusion–

At the end of my conversation about feeding with Carol Danaher, she mentioned something that really resonated with me: “it takes courage,” she said. 

Well, when you put it like this. 

Feeding children well takes courage.

Be brave, parents; we’re right there with you. 

The post Toddler Feeding Guide appeared first on Lucie's List.

If you are planning on BF’ing, you will most definitely need a pump — even if it’s just a manual one. Yes, even if you are exclusively breastfeeding — and you won’t allow a single foul bottle near your precious baby’s mouth (*rolls eyes*) — you still need a pump. How else will you relieve engorgement or stimulate a weak supply?

*Before you spend your own money on any of this:

Since 2013, the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) requires health insurance providers to cover pumps, lactation consulting, and other related equipment at no cost: get the lowdown here. Every plan is different, so you need to call your insurance company to find out what your options are. It’s best to make this phone call earlier rather than later – sometime in the second or third trimester.

Furthermore, if you want to purchase a type of pump that isn’t covered, know you can use your HSA (or FSA) account.

You’ve got three options, mummy mumskins:

1. Rent a hospital-grade device
2. Get an electric pump (read: get through your insurance)
3. Use a manual/hand breast pump

1. Rent a Hospital-grade Device

Given the changes in insurance and the availability of at-home double electric pumps these days, renting a hospital pump is not as popular as it once was — but it’s still an option and some may actually prefer it. If you’re interested, it would probably be a Medela Symphony Plus (or maybe an Ameda Platinum) — both of which are no-frills, double-electric commercial-grade behemoths that are designed to be used by multiple users, so you will have to buy your own collection kit.

These pumps are available to rent either from hospitals or other third-party retailers, which used to be quite annoying, but has become easier with digital/online technology. For the Symphony Plus, you can search for locations on Medela’s website or click here to rent and have the pump shipped directly to you.

Spectra also offers a hospital-grade multi-user pump; it’s available for rent through “DMEs” — companies that rent out durable medical equipment. The “S3 Pro” is similar in design and form to the single-user Spectra pumps, but specifically engineered with higher settings. If you’ve used a Spectra pump before and are looking for a hospital-grade rental, this might be something to check out.

If you’re given the option of renting a hospital-grade pump (vs. buying a “regular” pump), there are a few things to keep in mind…

First, hospital-grade devices are hands-down more powerful than “at-home” units (yes, even the ones that say they’re “hospital-strength”) and are better/more efficient at pumping milk, which in turn means they’ll do the best job of stimulating your supply. Thus, renting a pump is a great option for mothers with specific needs, such as moms of preemies (or sick babies in the NICU), moms of multiples, or those who have a weak supply. Many a working mother also opts for these powerhouses to help them maximize their stash (yes, even if you WFH, this can be a big help).

Another plus with renting is that this is a much more eco-friendly way to go. Instead of using a single-user pump and then having to throw it out (at least, this is what the companies advise), multi-user rental machines amount to much less waste. Spectra’s reps are even excited about the prospect of placing the S3 in “lactation centers” set up across public areas and workplaces, where women could bring their own parts, pump, and depart.

Legislation is in the works in some states for this kind of arrangement, and it would be a very exciting development indeed. (Not to mention, this would also help ensure that more women have access to state-of-the-art breast pumps.) Anyway — the green factor is a definite “pro” in the rental category.

The big downside, though, is that unlike some of the higher-end “at-home” pumps (below), commercial-grade devices are HUGE, heavy, and can be very intrusive and loud (though the newer ones are surprisingly quiet). For comparison, if at-home pumps are crop dusters, commercial-grade pumps are fighter jets. They lend to neither discretion nor portability.

And, if you’re paying out-of-pocket (you’ve only been offered an outdated pump and it isn’t getting the job done, for example…), renting a pump can be pretty costly. Although rates vary across locations, the average price is at least $50/month. For example, CHOP – one of the foremost hospitals in the country – has rates of $75/month or $200/3 months for a Symphony. At retailers, prices are similar (if not more costly). Plus you need to spend ~$50 on some of your own parts (bottles, shields, etc.) Obviously, the longer you need it, the more it will cost.

*If you go this route — make sure to inquire about what your insurance covers before handing over your credit card, friends.* Another tip, if you’re interested in checking out a rental: ask if you can try one out at the hospital right after birth, where your lactation consultant can help you out and you can see how you like it.

Like we said — renting is an option, but if you plan on breastfeeding and know it, it’s more likely worth it to (also) get your own double electric pump through your insurance company. This brings us to option two:

2. Get an Electric Pump Through Your Insurance Company (or buy one on your own…):

In their first incarnation, breast pumps were clunky, loud, slow, inconvenient, and intrusive… if not downright painful. And they pretty much stayed that way… for decades.

The first breast pump was actually invented in the 1850s (!), and the design was pretty similar to every pump prior to the 1980s, go figure (it was modeled off an actual milk machine for dairy cows!).

By the way, guess who designed all the milk-making contraptions for all those decades? Men.

Yes, even up until just about twenty years ago, the absolute most innovative thing on the market was… wait for it… a double electric breast pump! Medela developed the first at-home unit in 1991, which revolutionized the world of pumping because it allowed moms to continue breastfeeding for longer (especially working moms).

In the past few years, we’ve found ourselves in the midst of another technological turning point — thanks to a huge increase in demand, engineering developments, and a surge in breastfeeding rates over the last couple decades, mothers who opt to pump now have some new options available to them. In fact, choosing a breast pump has become a tough decision, where once there was no choice to be made.

Now — none of this is to say that pumping today is a picnic. It’s not. Just because newer pumps offer more discretion and portability doesn’t make them actually truly discreet or portable.

“If men could breastfeed, surely the breast pump would be as elegant as an iPhone and quiet as a Prius by now.”

Courtney Martin, NYT

The way we see it, electric home breast pumps fall into one of two broad categories:

• “traditional” (in the functional sense); or
• “niche” (as in avant-garde and $$$$);

We’ll elaborate slightly on each below, but the long and short of these distinctions (and trying decide what might suit you best) is that a traditional pump is probably going to be the best (and primary) pump for most women. *A point: among these options, there is no single best breast pump for everyone — much like your favorite jeans, everyone has a different body and different personal preferences.

The “niche” pumps, including wearable options like the Elvie or the Willow, are marketed as lifestyle products. They may work well for some women — and we appreciate that these developers are pushing the envelope when it comes to pumping tech — but in reality we don’t see these as universally superior upgrades. They have limits: they can be finicky, for one thing, and they tend to come with a steep learning curve. Not to mention that they may simply not be as efficient or as effective at achieving their main goal: extracting enough milk.

In other words — unless there is some particular feature that is *super important to you (wearability, say, or smart data tracking — which some traditional pumps also offer), we think you’re better off shopping for a traditional (and potentially more cumbersome, yes) type of pump.

Okay, mama — here we go (are you ready??) — here are our favorite electric pumps, in order of price, lowest to highest…

Note that these exact pumps may not be available through your insurance company’s DME (durable medical equipment provider) — but they may offer a watered-down version (i.e., it’s the same pump housing, but doesn’t come with a bag, or they offer the S2 but not the S1). Often, you can opt to cover the difference between the watered-down version and the more deluxe version, if you want to. This is usually worth it, especially if you are a working mom. *And don’t forget! You can use your FSA or HSA dollars. (Get the skinny on: Breast Pumps Through Your Insurance.)

Traditional Pumps

Jump ahead to learn about our picks:

• Spectra S1/S2 — Editor’s Choice
• Ameda Mya
• Baby Buddha — Most Efficient
• Medela Freestyle Flex
• Medela Sonata — Most Comfortable

RIP Medela Pump-in-Style Advanced

For as long as we’ve been covering pumps, we’ve always recommended the Medela Pump in Style Advanced (the “PISA”) — we loved it for being a tried-and-true workhorse that had the added benefit of being widely available through insurance.

But in 2020 Medela “updated” the PISA to the Pump in Style with MaxFlow. While the newer version has a closed system, in nearly every other way it is far from an upgrade: it has worse suction, finicky technology (malfunctions often), a loud volume, and simply isn’t very effective. User reviews of the MaxFlow Amazon are scathing: “the worst pump ever,” “disappointed,” “total garbage,” “doesn’t last long,” “this is a nightmare,” “11.8% more milk my a**,” and “I hate this pump” (just to name a few).

Some insurance co’s are still offering the original PISA, and if you can get the *original PISA (left, above), we still totally love and recommend it! It doesn’t have a ton of fancy bells and whistles, but it will serve you well. Please double check what you’re receiving, though, because again, we do not recommend the new Pump in Style MaxFlow.

Spectra S1 Plus/Spectra S2 Plus ~$216/$159 — Editor’s Choice

A bit newer on the scene is the Spectra (the S1 and S2). We’ve watched this brand closely and have been very impressed. Dethroning the Medela was no easy feat, and Spectra is continuing to convert many former loyal Medela devotees.

The S2 (pink, below) is a double/single pump and the S1 (blue, at bottom) is the same, but it comes with a built-in rechargeable battery — meaning you don’t need to plug your pump in when you’re using it. Other than the color, this battery feature is the ONLY difference between the S1 and the S2. If the ability to pump without immediate access to a power source is key for you, then you probably want to opt for the S1.

The S1 and S2 are marketed as hospital-strength pumps, but for everyday, at-home use. (Spectra now also makes a hospital-grade/multi-user pump (the S3 Pro) which you can rent.)

Let’s talk about the system first – shared by all of the Spectra pumps. It’s a lightweight, “closed system” (meaning it prevents milk from flowing back into the tubing or housing, aka backflow protection) that’s easy to take apart and clean. Moms rave about the nightlight, the timer function, and the low noise level — it’s super quiet (a huge perk for middle-of-the-night pumping).

The Spectra offers customizable settings and adjustable cycles, which is important because not all breasts (or pain/discomfort tolerances) are created equal.

One of the best things about the S1 and S2 is that they simulate a nursing baby (as the company says, these pumps “suckle” — not “suck”), which aids in let-down and speeds up the whole pumping process. Some women (including our very own Charlene) even believe it has helped increase their supply.

The S1 and S2 are known for gentle, comfortable, pain-free pumping (i.e., comfortable flanges) — and we all love that!

The downside to the Spectra is that the accessories and bottles it comes with are not the greatest. The system comes with two sets of 2 flanges (24 & 28mm), tubing and valves, etc., as well as two wide neck bottles. Neither model comes with a bag/tote. Lastly, the S1 and S2 are not compatible with normal, non-wide neck bottles or Medela bottles; however, there is the option to purchase adapters for use with Medela parts.

All in all, this pump has everything most pumping mothers need, and the price is right.

Also available: Spectra 9Plus ~$180

The 9Plus is Spectra’s portable breast pump offering, and it’s pretty dec. It’s not recommended as a primary pump (primarily because it has fewer settings and less powerful suction than the S1 and the S2), but it could be nice to have around, depending on your situation.

The 9Plus is cordless and rechargeable; it weighs about 1/2 pound and is roughly the size of a passport. You can fit it in your back pocket easily and — with a pumping bra — walk around, do work, make dinner, etc. Spectra’s in-house lactation consultants tell us it’s best for moms who already have an established milk supply and want something for on-the-go and/or travel. If you know you like Spectra pumps and want something portable as a secondary pump, this might be a great fit.

Ameda Mya ~$257

The Mya is the newest pump out from Ameda. It’s small (~1/2 pound), wireless, and portable, with a rechargeable battery that’s supposed to last approximately 2 hours. But since some women say the Mya won’t quite make it that long, we do suggest keeping the power charger handy. In terms of noise, the Mya is quiet, but far from silent (users say they wouldn’t use it on a work call, for instance).

In terms of suction, the Mya is comparable to the Spectra (S1/S2), and tons of women love having the Mya as an accompanying pump to their Spectras or Medelas (although some do use it as a primary pump with great results). The LCD display shows your suction level (1-10 in expression mode) and also has a timer feature, with an auto-shut-off after 30 minutes.

Pumping moms say they wish that the Mya had a longer battery life and that it came with a belt clip, and some women dislike that the LED screen on the front is quite bright (and can’t be adjusted), especially in the middle of the night.

One other thing — the Mya is compatible with Spectra parts, and many women love using it with Freemie cups to enhance its mobility. Great idea.

*Many insurers offer Ameda pumps, and this is hands down better than most of Ameda’s other pumps. In particular, we highly recommend the Mya over the Purely Yours, which frankly is pretty lackluster.

Baby Buddha ~$249 — Most Efficient

Readers have been writing to tell us how insanely awesome the Baby Buddha is, and we agree. It’s ultra-portable and ultra-efficient — power and speed are the name of the game.

Medela Freestyle Flex ~$325

Medela Sonata ~$329 — Most Comfortable

The Medela Sonata was the first smart pump we reviewed (in early 2017). With a smaller, quieter pump motor and a smart tracking app, it encapsulates some of the new developments in the pump world… but still falls into the traditional category. It has a decent battery life and is loved most for the comfort and ease factors. Note that most health insurance plans do not offer the Sonata on the menu of choices… but some do!

Niche

The lifestyle aims with this category are admirable: no more being hooked up to wires and mechanical contrivances fit for the likes of dairy cows; no more enduring hours planted in place near an electrical outlet; no more worrying about the ridiculously-loud sound of your pump broadcasting exactly what you’re doing to anyone within a 1.2-mile radius.

We’re on board with all this (really, we are) — and innovation counts for something. But in reality, these pumps, though they DO work well for many women, are not a slam dunk. Though advertised as completely freeing (with pics of women strolling around the neighborhood, typing away at the group desk in the office, and chatting at the coffee shop), that seems to be somewhat of an exaggeration. At the end of the day, these newfangled pumps can’t change the fact that it’s still breast pumping. We get as many readers writing to tell us that they hate the Willow/Elvie and want to throw the damn thing against the wall as that they love it and cherish it, yada yada. We think you should know this before you shell out the big bucks.

Keep in mind that if you’re a first-time mom, these may be trickier to get the hang of. And if you’re a seasoned pumper, they may be easier to get the hang of but tricky all the same just for being so different from your standard.

As with any benefit, there are trade offs…

Like this (please allow us this one final note on the nature of the “breast pump tech revolution”): 

We think it’s fantastic that people are dedicating time and resources to improving breast pumps. But these little devices are not everything — renowned Harvard historian and writer Jill Lepore derided the modern breast pump as “the cheap way out” when it comes to supporting nursing moms.

As Lepore writes — many women stop breastfeeding when they return to work, and “there are three ways to bridge that gap: longer maternity leaves, on-site infant child care, and pumps. Much effort has been spent implementing option No. 3, the cheap way out.” Better ways to support breastfeeding moms, she suggests, would entail improved family leave policies, more flexible work opportunities, and universally available, high-quality, affordable child care.

We agree. 

All that said — there are women who love these! If wearability is important to you, the technology is there for you to take advantage of. Here are your options:

Freemie Liberty ~$299 — Top Wearable Option on a Budget

The Freebie Liberty is a more budget-friendly wearable breast pump (roughly $200 cheaper than comparables like the Willow and the Elvie); we also love Freemie’s wearable collection cups, which you can purchase separately and rig up with (almost) any other pump you prefer.

The Elvie ~$499

Designed to “bring women’s technology out of the Dark Ages,” this new wearable pump is all about freedom — it’s wireless, rechargeable, portable, and hands-free — but it doesn’t 100% deliver.

Willow (Gen 3) ~$499

The Willow is the new(ish) kid on the block, but it’s already changing the game, so to speak. Like the Elvie, the Willow may be worth the splurge if discretion and portability are your top priorities.

Coming soon to a theater near you…

• The Babyation ($450) is marketed as a super-quiet, super-discreet pump. Instead of attaching collection bottles to your breasts, this pump allows for easy use under a shirt because the collection bottles are distanced from your breasts. Sounds pretty great. We’ll keep you posted.

3. Use a Manual Milk Pump

In addition to an electric pump (or, for infrequent pumpers, in lieu of an electric pump), I recommend a simple hand pump that you can throw in your bag when you’re leaving the house for a long period of time.

Yes, yes, I know, it seems archaic, but believe me — it comes in handy.

Here’s the scenario: you’re going to visit a friend for the day who lives an hour away. Your baby isn’t as hungry as usual and your breasts are getting really full. Uncomfortably so.

This is the situation I (as well as five of my mommy friends) experienced on a day trip to Napa when our babes were about 5-months-old. I was DYING and had forgotten my hand pump. It felt like someone had poured concrete on my right breast and allowed it to dry. That’s what it feels like to be engorged.

A manual pump is also a must-have convenience for airplane travel. Trust me, you do not want your giant Pump In Style cement-block-of-a-bag to be your sole carry-on item. You will have lots of other sh*t that you have to carry. And if you need to pump while flying, for example… it’s all good.

I have actually used my hand pump while on a car trip — because you (obviously) can’t breastfeed while the car is moving. So, just pump in the back seat and bottle-feed! This makes men-who-hate-to-stop very happy.

Honestly, after four years of pumping, I will tell you that you can indeed get a very strong suction from a handpump, and a nice long pull.

Personally, I think the Lansinoh Manual Pump is the best manual breast pump (because the shields are very comfortable), but really, any of them will do.

Pump Parts & Pieces

Admittedly, there are a lot of bits and pieces that go along with a pump. If you’re buying a new pump, all the accoutrements should come with it.

*Note: If you have one of the new-age wireless pumps, you’ll need to consult the brand for help with parts — this is more of a general overview and only applies to the more traditional (cough — older) pumps.

You may need to spend money on more shields (see below) to get you through the day, especially if you are Pumping At Work. If you’re borrowing or inheriting a second-hand pump, you may want to buy new tubing and breast shields, or just sterilize the ones you inherited. It’s fine. Really.

Here’s what’s what:

The breast shield (above) goes over your nipple and funnels your milk into a bottle (or storage bag). It looks like a megaphone or a horn (it’s more fun to call it a horn, non?).

Your nipple goes into the horn and the flange creates a tight seal on your breast. You’ll want to have MANY of these on hand so you don’t have to run to the kitchen and wash them each time you need to pump again. OH — and, they come in five different sizes. It’s okay for them to be a little too big, but if they are too small, you will squeeze the bejesus out of your poor nipples. This can cause damage and pain, which you do. not. want. Plus, it can hinder your pumping outcome.

The default size is Medium (24 mm). This works fine for normal-sized nipples (and dainty English nipples). If you have big Italian pepperoni nipples, you need to get the larger horns (they come in 30 and 36 mm). If you’re not sure if your nipples are big or small, they are probably big.

In between the bottle and the horn is a little white piece of plastic that acts like a valve. It keeps the milk flowing in one direction. If the valve is not in place, the pump will simply not work. Before you freak out when your pump isn’t working, always check to see the valve is in place. You can buy extra valves too because they get lost easily.

All non-wide mouth bottles should screw into whichever breastshields you buy, so you don’t need to buy special bottles for pumping unless specified. Ideally, you should pump directly into the bottle you are going to use to save on dish washing.

For an electric pump, there are two plastic tubes (or one tube, if you are using a single pump) that go from the housing and connect to the back of the shield (horn thingy).

The air in these tubes creates the suction that expresses the milk. They don’t ever get wet or anything, they only carry air. You only need one pair and you can always buy replacements.

Nobody enjoys pumping, you guys. But isn’t it so cool that we can do it? Technology is so great.

The post Picking a Breast Pump appeared first on Lucie's List.

Here’s the truth: there’s one standout “true” baby food maker that we love (skip ahead to The Beaba Babycook), but in reality we think that the best baby food maker takes on a number of different shapes and sizes, depending. In fact, it might not even be a baby food maker, specifically. Hah!

Another truth: there is very little you need for baby-food-making (and some of it you probably already have around your home), but there are a few things that streamline the process. Take or leave what makes sense to you:  

Accoutrements:

• A good knife, if you don’t already own one — we suggest the Victorinox Fibrox Pro (~$38).

• A spatula — any ol’ one will do! We love this OXO set of 3 (~$20). 

• A steamer basket — we like the basic OXO Good Grips Steamer (~$23).

A Blender or Food Processor

This one is a must, folks.

For the most part, we suggest using a “normal” product here (aka, not an “actual” baby food maker), because you will be able to use it longer than a few months, and you’ll have the ability to make more in any given batch.

However, some parents prefer to make smaller batches of homemade baby food, and get well enough use from an all-in-one baby food maker — if you like to prep smaller portions and/or have limited space, this could be a great option.

Technically speaking, blenders are better for more liquid-y foods (think: smoothies) and food processors are better for more solid-y foods (think: salsas, nut butters); personally, for baby food purees, I prefer a blender. But it doesn’t really matter. You can make great baby food with either one — so if you already have one, use that.

Here are our suggestions, grouped into three budget-oriented categories and listed (roughly) in order of price, from lowest to highest:

Low-tech/Low-budget ~$

A food mill and an immersion blender are your super user-friendly, low-key options for your baby food maker. Both are great if you don’t anticipate needing a countertop blender or food processor down the road, and/or you prefer smaller-serving prep; they’re also ideal for those with little extra storage space for kitchen appliances, plus they’re handy for travel and for stashing at a grandparent’s house:

OXO Tot Mash Maker Baby Food Mill ~$29 

This little contraption is a hand-held manual food mill that works in a crank fashion. It’s decent, but we don’t recommend it as a primary device if you’re going “all in” on homemade baby food. Instead, we think it’s handy for travel or if you plan to make your own baby food only periodically. But it’s not going to give you that super-silky puree that you’ll get from an electronic device. To give an analogy, think of it as the manual breast pump of pureeing devices. 

The Original Magic Bullet ~$37

This is what I used, and it’s decent, though somewhat finicky. You have to shake up the container periodically to really get “the blend,” and given the size of the containers you can’t puree a ton at once — but it’s a budget-friendly option that does the trick.

Braun MultiQuick Immersion Hand Blender ~$64

An excellent and truly versatile option. This 2-speed hand-held blender is super easy to use and surprisingly powerful. (Note — you do have to hold the power button down continuously to operate.)

Solid Choices ~$$

Kitchenaid Mini Food Processor ~$54

This little sucker from one of the most trusted brands in food prep has a five-cup capacity, plenty of power, and also isn’t too loud. If you know you want a food processor, it’s a great choice.

Nutribullet Blender ~$79

A fantastic, full-size countertop blender.

Splurge-worthy ~$$$

Kitchenaid K150 Blender ~$199

The sleek and vintage-looking (though new) countertop blender from the beloved Kitchenaid. (Is it just me, or does the aesthetic remind anyone else of Mad Men?) It has 3 speeds, is easy to clean, and is a powerhouse of a machine.

Cuisinart Food Processor ~$220

Easy to use, doesn’t leak (this is a common problem, I’ve found, with food processors — and it is particularly a problem when you’re blending liquidy things), and reliable. 

Charlene’s Experience and an All-in-one Baby Food Maker Option:

Beaba Babycook Baby Food Maker ~ $159

I used the Ninja blender with my firstborn, but I had a really hard time with portions (always made too much) and with storage (had no freezer room to store). So with our second child, we opted for the Beaba, and I felt like I had so much more control over how much food I was making. Not only that, but it made baby food prepping easy. With the Babycook, I was able to steam, cook and blend ingredients all in one place — in less than 15 minutes. I really appreciated not having to transfer the food from one container to another to blend it. 

Note: the brand came out with a glass version (for $100 more) right when I was about done using the Babycook.

Storage Supplies:

*This is where the magic’s at, friends.

Freezer Trays:

“Regular” Ice Cube Trays ~$12

I used plain, unadorned ice cube trays for making baby food and it’s honestly what I’d recommend. (No need to get fancy with it.) This 4-pack of ice cube trays has flexible silicone bottoms (to pop cubes free — don’t do “the twist”) and a plastic top, along with (moderately) sealable lids. Trays are BPA free and dishwasher safe, and they come with great customer service.

Tovolo Perfect Ice Mold Freezer Trays ~$15

This set comes with two silicone trays, each of which contains 15 true-to-form square cubes. These offer the option of slightly increased portions, if you want that. Dishwasher safe… And you can use it for extra-fancy cocktail ice cubes later on.

Mumi & Bubi Freezer Trays with Lids ~$25

These are a long-time parent favorite — a set of two trays with 21 rounded “cube” inserts each (one cube will hold 1 oz. of food). Some parents love the circular design for making it easy to remove food one cube at a time, while others complain that it’s inconvenient since you can’t “crack” the tray to remove all the cubes in one fell swoop. It’s a nice product (and is dishwasher safe), and we certainly recommend it, though it’s on the pricier side. Also it comes with access to an ebook with some two dozen+ recipes to help you get started. 

Individual Serving Storage Containers: 

OXO Tot Baby Blocks Food Storage Set ~$11

This tray comes with 6 individual capped containers, which are perfect for storing purees in the fridge or for defrosting individual cubes of frozen food. *OXO advertises these as freezer safe, but we don’t recommend using them for freezer storage, because people seem to have a big problem with the containers shattering after being frozen. Best to stick to the fridge. Bonus: you can use these down the road for packing snacks and lunch boxes (it seems so far away, I know, but it will happen sooner than you think…). 

WeeSprout Storage Containers ~$19

This 12-pack of 4 oz. jars with screw on lids are perfect for storing purees in the fridge and, much like the OXO Tot set, will last you well into the future, doubling as a snack container. We still use these all the time for yogurt, nuts, berries, etc. You can also opt for the glass version of the same product (~$30). *If we had to pick, these WeeSprout containers are our fave. 

On pouches — because now you can buy reusable pouches for homemade purees: Experts have raised some concerns about the overreliance on baby food pouches these days, and we think they make some pretty darn good points. The basic idea is that if you use pouches excessively, babies miss out on a lot — the process of learning to eat helps build fine motor skills, expands sensory development, and lets them experience the culture of dining. The oral mechanics of eating from utensils, chewing (well, gumming) and swallowing are totally different from sucking a puree from a pouch. (As one expert said, “eating” from a pouch is more like drinking than eating.) 

Now — that’s not to say you can never use pouches. Of course you can. (They can be a lifesaver when you’re traveling, for example.) We just suggest using them judiciously — and making sure that your baby learns to eat from a spoon first.

Baggies 

Technically, you can use Ziploc Freezer Bags (I’m sorry to confess this is what I did), but in the interest of sustainability, there are much better, eco-friendly options available now: 

(re)zip Reusable Gallon Storage Bags ~$25 for 4

These have a great seal and are very durable, though they can be a bit of a pain to wash (because you have to hand wash them). Lies flat.

Stasher 56 oz. Reusable Storage Bag ~$24

These are an investment, but they’re the creme-de-la-creme of reusable bags. They’re built to last, are dishwasher and microwave safe (you can even put them in an oven up to 400 degrees and throw them in boiling water!), and stand up for easy use. A high-quality option. 

BTW, one gallon is equivalent to 128 oz. ^^

Summing Up What You Need to Make Homemade Baby Food:

*Most of this stuff is optional — you can take or leave what you will. As long as you have something to cook it, puree it, and store it, you’re good to go. And have fun with this stage, because before you know it you’ll be on to the next thing.  

Let us know what works for you! 

The post The Best Baby Food Maker & More appeared first on Lucie's List.

1. It’s really, really not hard. 
2. You don’t have to do it. 

A Brief History

Did you know there was really no such thing as “baby food” before the 1900s? There was just food (!); some of it was considered appropriate to feed to babies, and some wasn’t. (Go figure, right?). The first DIY baby food craze was actually in the 1970s, so technically, we’re in a bit of a Renaissance (snort). 

After father Harold Clapp started selling a “soup” he made for his sick baby (which apparently restored the babe’s health) in the 1920s, other manufacturers (i.e., Gerber) started making canned “baby food” too, and the introduction was an almost instant success. In just a matter of decades — by the post-WWII era — baby food was almost entirely commercialized. 

Baby foods on supermarket shelves were prepped just like every other processed, preserved food: they were necessarily packed with all kinds of stabilizing chemicals and preservatives, along with the twin food devils, salt and sugar… not to mention all kinds of baby food desserts and sweets readily available. The idea was to make a product that was easy, convenient, and that babies would eat. In a way, baby food was a classic postwar display of American greatness.

Everybody’s happy.

Well, no, not really. Cue a rising recognition of the health consequences of processed foods and chemical additives in the 1970s. In that decade, many mothers started to push back against the industry and, in protest, began to make their own food. 

They raised awareness about the health and safety concerns of jarred baby food and, in light of the consumer movement, provoked some notable changes. It took some time, but eventually most baby food makers stopped adding sh*t to their products and did away with flavors like cherry vanilla pudding and chocolate custard (yes, those were real).

Today, you’d be hard pressed to find baby food at the grocery store with any added sugar and salt. But you wouldn’t be hard pressed to find baby food that tastes like cardboard in a blender. (I’m kidding! Sort of.)

Thankfully — today’s jarred baby food does not contain unhealthy added ingredients like sugar, high fructose corn syrup, or salt. (And there are even some really excellent and healthful new products out there, like Amara.) Yet many parents still have reasonable concerns about packaged baby food (see below) and opt to make their own. 

If that’s you, great! Keep reading for the scoop on getting started.

And if it doesn’t appeal, you should know that feeding your baby jarred baby food is FINE. If homemade baby food is not your thing, then don’t beat yourself up. Do what works. 

And remember — this baby food puree stage may seem like everything RN (and yes, it’s important) — but it’s relatively short. It really only lasts for a matter of months (if that). So: on the scale of things… as they say.

Why to DIY Baby Food

The typical “reasons to DIY” when it comes to baby food purees have to do with cost, taste and nutrition, and habits. 

1. Cost

Homemade baby food is technically cheaper than jarred baby food. Think how many 4 oz. jars of peas (at about ~$1.25) you could make with a single 12 oz. bag of frozen peas (~$3). (BTW — it’s not 3. It’s A LOT.) *Of course, this doesn’t take into account the opportunity cost of making the food, storing it, etc., etc., but in the simplest of economic terms, homemade food is cheaper. 

2. Taste and Nutrition

Most jarred baby foods use high heat preservation methods (for shelf stability) that effectively nuke both nutrients as well as taste. Yes, it can be very difficult to tell the difference between a jar of this and a jar of that. With homemade food, you preserve more of a food’s nutrient value as well as flavor. (Another thing: you can adjust the texture over time as you see fit.)

The word most parents who favor homemade baby food use to describe their choice is CONTROL. It goes without saying: you make your baby’s food, you get to decide what’s in it.

3. Habits

Generally speaking, feeding your baby homemade food will help acclimate your baby to the foods your family actually eats, earlier. There’s a wealth of insanely fascinating research about how important the first couple years of life are for determining flavor preferences and eating habits, so this is an interesting premise, IMO. 

Anyone know about the flavor window?

A final note: much like with breastfeeding and formula-feeding, baby food need not be an all or nothing decision. There is no rule that you are beholden to decide whether or not to make or buy every single bite of food that goes into your baby’s mouth and then stick to that choice. Maybe you make some of your baby’s food, but not all of it. Or none of it. Maybe you change your mind. I repeat: the best method is “WW” — aka “whatever works.” 

Safety Measures

Thanks to the pandemic we are all more aware of proper hygiene than ever. But here are a couple of refreshers: 

1. Wash everything: babies can be more susceptible to lurking germs, so make sure to wash your hands and any and all produce well, cook meats or raw foods thoroughly, use clean storage containers, etc., etc. You know the drill.
2. Know how to store: when you store homemade baby food, you can generally expect that it will last 4-ish days in the fridge and about 3 months in the freezer. And once you thaw something, don’t refreeze it.

Oh! And two other things: Babies can’t digest cow’s milk, so pediatric advice is to avoid feeding babies milk — as a drink — until they are one year old. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t offer a baby any dairy foods (and it’s possible that exposing them may play a role in early introduction of allergens), and you can use it in small quantities to mix purées; but it’s best to do so more sparingly. And lastly, NO HONEY. Because, botulism. 

If you’ve heard something about nitrates (namely, that foods high in them — like spinach, beets and carrots — can cause a rare class of anemia called methemoglobinemia in infants), you should know that the AAP recommends babies avoid foods high in nitrates until they are at least three months of age. This makes sense, and it also shouldn’t pose any problems for you, since you’re giving this whole thing a go between 4-6 months, right? If you’re reticent, I suggest taking a look at Dr. Alan Greene’s “mythbusting” post on this issue.

How to Make Baby Food

It’s really, really, not hard.

Here’s the step-by-step run-down, Bop-it style (do you remember Bop-it?!:)

1. Cook it:

Prep your food — wash and peel (if applicable), and chop it up into manageable pieces.

Steam it or roast it, bake it, boil it, microwave it — whatever you choose — and lean toward overcooking, because the food needs to be VERY soft to puree it easily.

Note: Steaming preserves the most nutrients. 

2. Puree it:

Toss your cooked food in your blender/food processor (check out our recommendations for that here), and puree away. Depending on what you’re making, you may want or need to add some liquid to facilitate this step and/or thin out the puree. You can use water, formula, breastmilk, stock, etc. to adjust the consistency.

BTW — you may not actually have to puree it. There are all kinds of foods that you can simply mash up and feed to your baby, such as bananas, avocados, sweet potatoes, etc. Especially once your kiddo has some practice, this is a great and easy way to go the homemade route. (And if you want, there’s also always “baby led weaning,” or BLW, which is essentially just letting your baby feed herself… yes, there really are innumerable ways to do this right!)

3. Store it:

It’s most convenient to store your puree in small portions… someone somewhere had the genius idea to use ice cube trays for this, which we highly recommend:

Spoon out your puree into cubes (don’t fill them all the way up, though, because the puree will expand as it freezes), let them freeze (this generally takes ~4-6 hours), and then you can pop out the cubes and store them in a separate container (i.e., a freezer-safe bag).

*Tip: if you’re having trouble getting the food to pop out from the tray, flip it upside down and run a little warm water under the base of your ice cube tray.

Also! Label your puree with what food or blend it is, as well as the date. (I initially skipped this step because I just knew I would remember everything. Well let me tell you what: I ALWAYS FORGOT. You will too. Probably. Maybe.)

4. Use it:

Feed your kiddo! (Here’s how to do that part.) You can thaw frozen cubes in the microwave or fridge, or on the stovetop. Then dig in.

Most parents like to spend a couple of hours making large batches of baby food purees (i.e, steps 1-3 above) about once per month — but it really depends. If you have less freezer space, you may want to have a “prep” day more often and work with smaller quantities. If you bought an extra freezer when the pandemic hit, then maybe you have some extra room and want to prep food even less often. 

Personally, I actually prepped purees quite frequently (maybe two/three times per week) — simply because I would make different things on different days. This way, I never had to devote a full day (or even half day) to making baby food (when I read about people who report doing this, all I can think is OMG do people really do that?!?). As an example: I’d make coconut oatmeal on Monday, and then spinach on Thursday and curry sweet potato on Sunday. The next week, I’d make beans on Tuesday, broccoli on Friday, and beets Saturday. (You get the idea.) After a couple/few weeks, I had a nice array of foods so we could offer different things, and I just got into the rhythm of it. It was fun, actually. 

So play around with it, see what works for you. And again, it’s not a zero sum game.

If you’re into it, come along with us to see what you need (hint: it’s not very much).

The post How to Make Homemade Baby Food appeared first on Lucie's List.

There’s all kinds of dietary advice out there and more prescribed “regimens” than I care to mention, but at the end of the day, I’m of the mind that the biggest thing, the most important thing and the thing that really hasn’t changed, ever, is to eat real food. That’s why I also think we should try to raise our kids to eat real food as best we can. 

Starting right away. As babies. 

Without getting into the entire history of commercial baby food (suffice it to say — it’s a tale of process and packaging), the reality is that most parents who buy jarred baby food (myself included) do it because it’s easy — not because of taste or quality. 

When my babies started solids, I (probably like many families) fed them a hodgepodge mix of convenient baby purees and homemade stuff. Along the way, I tried tons of different brands and just never felt like any of it was… good. There was hardly any difference in taste between separate flavors (I’m pretty sure last time I checked carrots were not supposed to taste like peas), and there’s generally a smattering of uninspired food offerings. 

Amara Baby Food: The Overview

I heard about Amara, the new kid on the block, and wanted to give it a try. And, you guys, it’s awesome. Seriously, it’s on a whole different level than other baby food purees I’ve tried (yes, I’ve tried a LOT of baby purees, including the however-many ice-cube-filled-trays of my own and friends’ making…). 

I spoke with Amara’s founder, and my whole family tried it out, and as you can probably already tell — I’m really excited about it. (And just as a reminder, as with all of our content on Lucie’s List, this Amara baby food review is totally unsponsored.) 

Here’s the surprise: Amara baby food comes in a powder form. Now, I admit I was initially very skeptical about this — especially the claims about texture — but I promise you won’t be disappointed with the final outcome. You just dump out the powder, mix it with water, breastmilk, or formula, and you’re set. It takes all of 15 seconds to prep. Just like any other baby puree, you can heat it up using traditional methods (stove top, microwave, etc.), or, since you add liquid, the easiest thing to do is use warm water/formula/breastmilk to mix — but you can serve it at whatever temperature you like. 

If you want the quick run-down, here it is: 

• This food tastes amazing.

• It is “real food” whose nutrients and functional make-up haven’t been totally nuked by over-processing. 

• As a result^^, it has lower sugar levels. 

• It’s easy to use, at least comparable to other baby food jars (organic or otherwise), and it has such an awesome vision of changing the way we eat (more on that later). 

Preservation Method

Amara uses a special preservation method — they call it “nutrient protection technology” — that essentially takes whole foods and removes the water. The process allows for a shelf-stable food product while still maintaining the natural tastes, textures, and nutrients in the real, whole foods it uses. 

Since Amara’s process is proprietary, it’s tough to find third-party data evaluating its claims, but existing research on food preservation methods suggests that food dehydration is an effective way to preserve foods (including leafy greens) without losing a ton of nutrient content (it doesn’t retain everything perfectly, obviously — but it’s pretty darn good). Numerous institutional online course lessons and info sheets also attest to this, and heck, it’s even good enough for NASA.

Even though most mainstream baby food companies (i.e., the ones on the shelf at your local grocery store) stopped adding sugar to their baby food products, most jarred baby foods usually have a pretty high sugar content compared to the actual foods they’re supposed to “be.” This is because they use a repeated high-heat processing method to ensure shelf life, which essentially boils foods down into water and sugar. Think about the difference between eating applesauce vs. eating apple slices. WAY more sugar per serving for the former. 

Amara doesn’t use this method — and its baby foods have roughly 50% less sugar than most competitors (this alone!).

For the same reasons, Amara baby foods retain much more of the nutritional contents of their ingredients than your average repeat high heat, processed baby food. As a result of all this, Amara foods have a more “true-to-form” glycemic index.

Taste

Dude, this actually tastes good!

This is all great and compelling, but here’s the part I can’t stress enough: it actually tastes like real, rich, wholesome food. Way better than anything I made my kids when they were babies (Julia Childs, I am not).   

And given everything we know and are continuing to learn about how much is happening food-wise during infancy and toddlerhood (has anyone heard of the “flavor window”? Anyone?), food that actually tastes like, well, food, is a really good thing — and may even help you raise adventurous eaters. [See also: The Toddler Feeding Guide.]

The Convenience Factor

Many moms I know love the idea of making all their baby’s food (or least serving them homemade food, hah). But the reality is that packaged baby food is easier, and sometimes we need/want it. So we trade some things for convenience. 

Fine.

But if you — like the vast majority of American moms purchasing baby food — are buying jarred baby food off the shelf at the supermarket, Amara doesn’t feel like the same trade-off to me (though it is slightly more costly — more on that in a minute).

There are numerous instances when Amara takes the cake: 

• traveling/going out-and-about (stashing a packet in your diaper bag is also way better than keeping glass jars of baby food in there… far less can go wrong);

• keeping on hand at grandparents’ homes;

• for babysitters or daycare;

• when you are tight on space (the packets are slim and trim compared to jars)

(The shelf life is 12-18 months, BTW.)

Another neat thing is that if you have an older child, each box comes with a fun “toddler recipe” that’s simple enough for a toddler to work on independently (at least partly), like pancakes or a smoothie. It reminds me of the beautiful tradition Pamela Druckerman describes in Bringing Up Bebe of cultivating a child’s independent appreciation for what goes into preparing yummy recipes early on in the childhood years.

(To be clear — I wouldn’t recommend going out and buying Amara for a toddler — it’s designed first and foremost as a puree for babies — but it’s a nice perk if you also have an older child or find yourself with packs leftover once you’ve moved on to more exciting menus.)

Cost

The average jar of organic baby food costs ~$1.25 — 1.50 per jar (most jars are 4 oz). At full price, each Amara pouch is ~$2.50 if you bought a bulk pack (though each pouch only makes ~3.5 oz food). Amara does offer a subscription program, though, which would bring down the average price per pouch to ~$2 — which is better, but still more than what you’d find at the store. 

So yes, Amara is technically more expensive than your run-of-the-mill organic baby food jars, but the quality of the product is way ahead of the jars of baby food purees lining the shelves in your typical grocery store as far as I’m concerned, and well worth the difference if you can afford it. 

Bottom line: I think Amara is the best off-the-shelf baby food out there. Period. 

You can purchase directly from Amara, or at Whole Foods or Amazon, and many regular grocers are starting to stock it now, too. 

If you purchase from Amara’s website, get 15% off plus free shipping on variety packs with the code LUCIESLIST. Eat up, babies! 

The post Amara Baby Food Review appeared first on Lucie's List.

If you pay even the least little bit of attention to the world of nutrition (or school lunch policies, or cafe menus, or grocery stores… ), you probably wouldn’t be all that surprised to learn that food allergies are much more common today than they were even a couple/few decades ago.

Since the 1990s, rates have doubled or maybe even tripled, such that now, more than 10% of Americans suffer from a food allergy (~32 million people) — and about 8% of children do. This mirrors the rising rates of other problems: namely, autism, ADHD, Type 1 diabetes, celiac disease, and so on.

Why is this happening?

The quick answer is long, complicated and still up for debate, but generally… the so-called “hygiene hypothesis” holds that kids in the modern world are probably growing up “too clean” for their own good. When kids are under-exposed to germs and what-not (feels weird to be saying this RN…), problems can arise. For instance: 

• their developing immune systems don’t get sufficiently stimulated; and

• they aren’t exposed to microbes that humans have, evolutionarily speaking, developed with as a species.

And missing out on these “opportunities,” shall we say, during the critical developmental growth stages of toddlerhood and early childhood may have all the more severe consequences down the road (vs. adolescence or adulthood).

There’s no evidence on it (yet), but we have been wondering if this problem^^ might be exacerbated at present, during COVID times, given that exposure to pathogens has been far lower than normal for the past couple of years.

When you combine the hygiene factor^^ with other individual risk factors (i.e., family history) as well as external triggers (i.e., pollution), it’s not hard to imagine that many, many children’s immune systems are malfunctioning.

Here’s how one of my favorite writers, Michael Pollan () described it, in a nutshell: “the absence of constructive engagement between microbes and immune system (particularly during certain windows of development) could be behind the increase in autoimmune conditions in the West.” 

Fascinating, right? If you want a more detailed look, check out: An Epidemic of Absence: A New Way of Understanding Allergies and Autoimmune Diseases.

BTW, you may be wondering: my baby is barely four months old and doesn’t even “eat” yet, so why are you telling me about this now? *Because believe it or not, THIS is the time (and the only time, really) that you can do anything in terms of preventing food allergies. We’ll tell you… 

What is a Food Allergy

A food allergy is functionally the same as an autoimmune response: the body’s immune system misidentifies something as a threat (in this case, a food), and then attacks as if it were under siege from a virus or bacteria (which it isn’t). This is the basis of what causes an allergic reaction.  

The Food and Drug Administration’s “Big 8” allergens are milk, egg, peanut, tree nuts, shellfish, fish, wheat, and soy. But among young children, only three culprits comprise more than 80% of all food allergies: cow’s milk, eggs, and peanuts.

BTW, there is no cure for a food allergy — once a person develops an allergy, there’s not much to do about it except manage it… which typically means avoidance of the food altogether. (There have been successful desensitization therapies, but they are expensive and onerous — most people don’t pursue them.) This is why it’s so important to know ahead of time that there are steps you can take toward preventing food allergies.

And we probably don’t need to waste any of your time telling you that a food allergy can take a serious toll on a child’s (and an entire family’s) experience, health, and wellbeing. To put it mildly, it sucks.

Living with Allergies — A Family Affair

Hey — Marissa here, attesting that “it sucks” is right. One of my twins is severely allergic to peanuts, tree nuts and sunflower seeds. Eating out is an obvious challenge (I’m sure you could figure that out on your own, lol) — but the far bigger issue is that her allergies cause us anxiety anytime we leave the house.

What if we come into close contact with someone who just ate peanut butter? What if she’s accidentally exposed to a sunbutter and jelly sandwich at school? What if there’s nut residue on the park bench she sits on? (You can see how wondering about these things can also be mentally… stressful.) We basically have to be prepared for a possible emergency all the time. 

And, it’s annoying that we are always “that family” that has to bring our own food to social events (ranging from birthday parties and family dinners to ice cream socials and ‘pancake day’ at the library) — even when everyone is so accommodating. The brutal reality is just that cross-contamination lurks everywhere. So yea, it sucks. 

Risk Factors for Childhood Food Allergies

I was surprised to learn that a family history of food allergies is not the only indication of an elevated risk for food allergies. Prior to doing the research for this article, my highly sophisticated understanding of the allergenic risk profile for a kid was this: “Do allergies run in your family? Yes? Shoot, well, you’re f’ed. Oh — sorry, no? Then you’re totally fine!”

Hah-hah… but family history IS a risk factor — a baby with an older sibling who has an allergy has a ~13% chance (vs. ~8%) of developing a childhood allergy.

Yet an even bigger indicator of risk is actually eczema (which many people think is an indication of autoimmunity itself). Among babies with very severe eczema, nearly 70% go on to develop a food allergy, and among babies with mild-to-moderate eczema, roughly a third do. Wow. (For reference, ~10% of babies experience eczema.)

Preventing Food Allergies in Childhood

I feel like there’s a good “DARE-esque” slogan in the making here: 

Actually, though, food allergies are at least partly preventable, and it’s all about exposure. 

You know how for years and years the advice was to AVOID giving babies allergenic foods? Even to the point of advising pregnant and nursing women to avoid allergenic foods like peanut butter? Well — toss that out the window, folks. Much like what happened with safe sleep in the early ‘90s, the research just doesn’t hold up.

In fact, there was never ANY evidence supporting this recommendation — as Dr. Jonathan Spergel, the chief of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Allergy Program, notes, “there has never been any study that proved food avoidance worked to reduce allergies.” If anything, during this exact time period allergy rates rose — not decreased.

As such, and in light of recent studies, the newest evidence-based guidelines advise exactly the opposite: 

If there was a skincare cream with this kind of effectiveness^^, it would be liquid gold. 

The new recommendations, summarized, and agreed upon by virtually every professional medical association on the planet (National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases (and the NIH); The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology, the FDA; the USDA; the AAP… really, this isn’t controversial advice, friends), read like this:

Exposing babies to potentially allergenic foods on a continual, sustained basis, over the course of a long stretch of time (meaning, months in a row), starting early (the best time is 4-6 months, which seems to be the critical window of opportunity), can help in preventing food allergies. Think of it as a way of tutoring your baby’s immune system. 

This feels counterintuitive to many of us who were raised in homes that abided by the exact opposite principles, but as Dr. Spergel says, “every single study… shows that giving the food makes you less likely to get a food allergy.” And the timing is important, he says: earlier is better than later.

If this advice is making your skin prickle, here are some further notes that may put you at ease: across all the studies conducted on early exposure to allergens, there has never been a severe reaction documented in a baby. There have also not been any reported deaths from a food allergy in an infant under the age of one in all of US medical history — which doesn’t necessarily mean it has never, ever happened, but the fact that there are no records of it at least suggest it would be exceedingly rare. Furthermore, babies are also the least likely age group to have a severe allergic reaction (they’re much more likely to have mild reactions). 

BTW — if you’ve already passed the 4-6-month mark, don’t fret, it’s not too late — studies show that introducing allergens even up to one year can still have a protective effect.

Bottom line: It’s important to know what’s coming, and since most parents realistically start solids around 6 months, we wanted to give you a heads up that this should be on your radar. Break out the peanut butter cookies (Kidding — don’t feed your baby sugar. #pleaseandthankyou). 

Early Introduction of Allergens: How to Do It

1. DIY.

As with so many things in parenting, there is no instruction manual for this. 

At the end of the day, introducing allergens to babies boils down to this advice, from pediatrician Dr. Ronald Sunog: “Eat the [Allergenic] Eight — early and often.” The most important thing is to get your baby these foods, regularly and consistently over time, as part of their solid foods complementary diet. (As Dr. Gideon Lack explains, it’s not a “one and done” proposition.)

*If, however, you are the detail-oriented type and crave more than this, here are some basic guidelines to get you started:

• When to begin: Start whenever you start solids generally (we’ve got the playbook on that here).

• How much: Add small amounts of allergenic foods into other complementary foods, in gradually increasing amounts — you want to make sure you’re using appropriate foodstuffs here, such as:  
  • bits of cooked egg
  • Yogurt, or cheese mixed with puree [*babies shouldn’t straight up drink cow’s milk until they hit the one year mark]
  • peanut butter (the smooth kind!) or peanut butter powder mixed into cereal or a puree. Another option is to offer nut-based puffs (such as these organic peanut puffs or mixed-nut puffs from Mission MightyMe).

If you’re not sure “where” to start, Dr. Lack suggests prioritizing dairy, egg, and peanut protein to begin with (because we have the most data on these three allergens).

BTW, in 2015, Dr. Anthony Fauci (then unknown to the masses) said of Dr. Lack’s LEAP trial: “For a study to show a benefit of this magnitude in the prevention of peanut allergy is without precedent. The results have the potential to transform how we approach food allergy prevention.”

• How often: Ideally, you want to have your baby eating these foods ~2x/week, with the goal of maintaining tolerance to the food. Again, “early and often is the key.”

So, yes, you can absolutely “do this” (early introduction of allergens) all by yourself. You don’t need anything fancy or special. 

“Most children can just have allergenic food incorporated into their diets regularly, without complicated schedules or dosing… The process of feeding babies food does not need to be medicalized or made unnecessarily complicated. Babies should eat all the foods we do — in baby-safe forms — and not have them withheld from their diets anymore.”

Dr. Gideon Lack, Head of Pediatric Allergy at King’s College, London & principal investigator of the LEAP trial

The big advantage with DIY over a supplement (see below) is that you have all the control, and you could introduce any/all of the big 8 allergens (again, that’s milk, egg, peanut, tree nuts, shellfish, fish, wheat and soy) without any unnecessary fanfare. 

** If you notice any possible signs or symptoms of allergy, stop feeding your baby and call your pediatrician.

2. Use a Supplement

The alternative option here is to use a ready-made supplement schedule.

There are a few situations where we see this option as potentially very helpful (all of which might summed up by saying: the convenience factor):

• You have an older child with a severe allergy and don’t want to have potential allergens open/around for their safety. 

• *Your baby is at an elevated risk for developing an allergy (mostly, this involves family history and eczema, but you can take a quiz to assess your child’s risk here).

• You don’t want to have to worry about how many times you’ve fed your child X food in a week, but still want to make sure you’re getting them sufficient exposure (again, the convenience factor).
  *It’s worth noting that this may feel “worth it,” to many families because — as you will soon find out, babies don’t really learn how to actually eat — whether it’s you who is feeding them or you’re following baby led weaning — for some time after you start solids. So even if you start solids at 6 months, your baby may not be reliably consuming ANY kind of food X times/week, much less a specific kind of food. 

• You’re nervous about introducing allergens and want something that’s evidence-based. 

Obviously, supplements cost more money, but there are definitely valid reasons to go this route. There’s no reason to think that feeding your baby peanut butter mixed into oatmeal (or whatever) is inferior to a formal supplement, but some parents may feel better with a measured option. 

One such option for streamlining the entire process is Ready, Set, Food! It’s clinically designed to expose babies starting as early as 4 months of age to milk, egg, and peanut (which, remember, together comprise more than 80% of childhood food allergies) in a stepwise fashion.

The nice thing about this is that you don’t actually have to be feeding solids regularly to get started — you can throw it in with a bottle of formula or breastmilk and know that you’ve logged your child’s “dose” for the day. 

Ready, Set, Food! was formulated with a team of medical experts, and it really follows the studies to a tee. We think it’s a great choice if you want to use a system, as such. 

[You can get 40% of your first month with Ready, Set, Food! plus a free gift ($19.99 value) using the code LUCIE40]

Bottom Line:

Remember: you don’t have to go crazy with precision, here. The general pediatric advice is to simply introduce allergens similarly to how you would offer any other food you’re trying to get your baby to “like.” While it might be onerous to hit all the target amounts from the scientific studies, it’s not that hard to add these foods, in small amounts, to whatever it is you’re already feeding your baby a couple/few times a week. 

The important thing is that you know that incorporating these allergenic foods into your baby’s diet early on in your starting solids adventure — however you choose to do it — is a good idea. Don’t kill yourself over it. Just do it! And get ready for some sloppy, messy, and fun times coming your way.

The post Early Introduction of Allergens appeared first on Lucie's List.