Paleo Munchkin Meals

In case you were wondering what my 8-month-old paleo girl eats for breakfast, lunch and dinner, now is your chance to find out! Brittany, who blogs over at A Healthy Slice of Life, started hosting a super-fun blog event called the Munchkin Meals Link Up and I decided to join in on the festivities this time around. It works like this: we (bloggers) post photos and descriptions of our kids' meals with the intent of sharing/swapping ideas with other parents. I don't know that any other paleo bloggers are participating, but that doesn't mean I can't get ideas from them. Or that they can't get ideas from me.

OK, so here we go with Tuesday's meals. Please keep in mind that my baby still gets a significant portion of her daily calories from breastmilk.

Breakfast: Green beans mixed with avocado, plus sweet potato.

Lunch: We were out running errands, so we stopped by Whole Foods for lunch. I made a salad and grabbed a Happy Baby banana/beet/blueberry pouch for my side kick. Unfortunately, when I twisted off the top of the pouch it was all crusty! Yuck! I'm sure it was probably fine/safe, but I didn't want to take chances. Instead, I shared some of the shredded chicken on my salad with her (we're not doing baby led weaning, but lately I've been feeding her meat and chicken by hand or mixing tiny pieces in with her blended food).

Salad for me, fruit and beets for baby.

On our way out of the store, I exchanged the crusty Happy Baby pouch for a pea/pear Peter Rabbit Organics one. She ate it in her stroller while we waited to get our car's oil changed.

Dinner: This is one of the reasons I make baby food in batches. I did not cook on Tuesday night. I took some grass-fed ground beef out of the freezer, but never got around to doing anything with it. Luckily, we had a carrot/squash mixture in the freezer and some leftover chicken in the fridge. She loved it, and ate two huge servings! Tonight (Wednesday) was even more exciting -- burgers and roasted cauliflower. Yum!

Carrots, squash and chicken. Mmmm.

Snacks: Milk. The girl snacks a lot. I think she nursed six times on Tuesday, plus twice overnight.

Be sure to stop by Brittany's blog to check out what other mamas are feeding their little ones. And if you came here via the link up, welcome! Thanks for reading. 

Store-bought baby food

A couple of weeks ago, we took a short trip to Denver (baby's first flight!). We packed tons of baby gear. The stroller, the carseat, the portable crib. Numerous outfits. Diapers. The breast pump.

The one important item we (purposely) left behind? Baby food. I make my own, and the idea of packing enough homemade baby food to last a weekend sounded like a hassle. Would I carry it on? Check it? Freeze it? Would TSA take issue with it? It is even allowed? I decided to forgo the added stress and buy baby food at the store. Just this once. Target, fortunately, was right across the street from our hotel and had a fairly large assortment of natural, organic baby food on the shelves. I decided on Ella's Kitchen brand partly because it was on sale, and partly because our niece's name is Ella. I think it was something like $1.39 per 3.5-ounce pouch, which I didn't think was that bad considering it doesn't contain any additives and/or junk. We tried two flavors -- carrot/apple/parsnip and broccoli/peas/pear. Both were a hit! Baby totally chowed down.

The food was a hit with me, too, because it was so darn convenient (oh, and it tasted delicious -- yes, I tried it). I actually went to Target after we got home and bought several more packets (I had coupons, and it was still on sale). I told myself I was going to save it for subsequent travel, but we wound up using it all within a week! And then I bought another brand (Happy Baby) at New Seasons Market. And another (Peter Rabbit Organics) at Whole Foods. We loved every brand and every flavor, and everything we tried was paleo by default (note: there are plenty of non-paleo choices, too, so be sure to read labels!)! I could very easily become addicted to the convenience of it all. "Just this once" turned into, "hmmmm, maybe I will give up oh homemade?" I mean, making baby food is SO easy (and a lot cheaper than $1.39 per serving), but so is twisting off the top of a little packet and squeezing the food directly onto the tiny baby spoon! And being that I'm short on time these days, it sure is tempting.

Is store-bought baby food a part of your baby's diet? What are your favorite brands? How do you think it compares to homemade?

Egg allergy?

We eat eggs almost every morning for breakfast, and I've been assuming that our baby would eventually eat eggs for breakfast right along with us. Looks like I'm going to have to re-think her early morning menu (at least for a while) because I think she is allergic to eggs! Total bummer.

Though I had given her small pieces of boiled egg yolk on a few other occasions, last Thursday was the first time she experienced anything to indicate an allergy. Here's what happened: Around 9am, she ate an entire scrambled egg yolk (I threw the egg white away). She went down for a nap around 9:30am, and when she woke up a half hour later she was whimpering and looking at me with sad eyes. I picked her up and cuddled her (assuming she was just lonely and tired of being in her crib), but  a few minutes later she vomited.

She threw up all over me, all over herself, all over the bed. At that point it was obvious that she didn't feel well, and she actually threw up six more times over the course of an hour. Then, all of a sudden, she was laughing and playing and feeling 100% better. As if nothing had happened! Strange ... but what a relief (I'm so glad she wasn't sick sick).

The advice nurse at our pediatrician's office thought it was a virus, but that assessment doesn't add up for us. Vomiting, cramps and nausea are classic signs of an egg allergy, and she had no other symptoms. Plus, it was over almost as fast as it started. It was also her third or fourth exposure to egg yolks, and it is my understanding that this is when some food allergies/sensitivities reveal themselves.

Anyway, I still took the nurse's advice and eliminated solid foods for the rest of the day. I also watched closely for dehydration (signs of dehydration include lack of wet diapers and no tears when crying) and gave her a little extra water (a couple of week ago she wasn't into water, but she loves it now!). No worries, though! She was totally fine.

And while we are pretty convinced that the egg is the culprit, we are open to the possibility that it it was this particular egg (not eggs in general) that made her sick. We were out of farm eggs; this egg came from the store. Perhaps that had something to do with it? Or, maybe it was the fact that she ate soooo much? Or, maybe it was the method of preparation (scrambled vs. boiled)? Or, what if I left some residual egg white behind and it is actually the white that gave her trouble? I guess I can't really be sure until she eats another egg yolk. I will eventually re-introduce her to my favorite breakfast food, but probably not until she turns one in October. For now she's going to be egg-free.

Does your child have any food allergies/sensitives? How did you discover it?