Food chart (12-18 months)

What to feed my child? Is he eating enough? Is he getting enough nutrients? Is the weight gain okay? Why isn’t he interested in eating fruits? These are just a few of the zillion questions that run in a parent’s head and I hear you!

A couple of months back when I had published the post on ‘Introduction of solids‘ , a few wrote back saying their kids have outgrown this stage and they would love to have a food chart for post the 1 year mark. Here we go!

Few pointers before we get to the chart.

1. My son showed interest in solids after he was a year old. Until then it was primarily semi solids.
2. Trial and error is the only way forward in understanding your child’s preferences & allergies
3. Do not rush the child into liking a particular food or forcing the child into having family food.
4. Keep offering new foods & try to eat one meal together. Someday it’ll all come together.
5. The key is to ensure whatever quantity of food goes in is packed with nutrients (example – if the child eats 4 teaspoons of rice , add a spoon of ghee , dhal , veggies which in turn has made carbohydrates into a cup of carbohydrates , proteins , vitamins and healthy fats. This is a golden gyan which my pediatrician mentioned a year back and runs in my mind during every single meal of S’s).
6. What worked for me , might/might not work for you. Trial and error is the only way forward in understanding your child’s preferences & allergies.
7. Discuss with your doctor to understand about the weight gain and median weight of your child to see what can be done better w.r.t to food.

Given below is what S ate during the 12-18 months period. The salt added was the same as what I added for family meals. S wasn’t a fan of fruits and hence that wasn’t a major constituent in his diet.

Wake up – 1 glass of cow’s milk

Breakfast – Ragi banana/mango cereal (Brand slurrpfarm) / Small idlis with ghee or curd / Millet dosa made from Slurrpfarm mix

Lunch – Rice with dhal / rasam / spinach / vegetable with ghee – Mashed consistency (vegetables can also be offered in pieces alongside the rice for them to munch on and feel the textures) or a combination of rasam/dhal rice and curd rice can be offered for the same meal.

Post afternoon nap – 1 glass of cow’s milk

Evening snack – vegetable cutlet / whole wheat toast with cheese / millet noodles / idli / upma (sooji/vermicelli) / a small aloo paratha & curd / paneer cubes sautéed in ghee / ragi dosa

Dinner – Raw Kerala banana powder porridge (thicker than a semi solid but lighter than solid consistency) – brand recommended is Double horse available on amazon / Curd rice with little salt & asafoetida.

Night – 1 glass of cow’s milk

During night sleep – 2 feeds (1 breastfeed , 1 formula) – breastfeeding continued until 16.5 months post which it was one formula/cow’s milk when he used to wake up around 3am.

This was pretty much the schedule until he turned about 18.5 months old post which his tastes and preferences started changing (will come to that in the next post). The key is to let the child take his/her time in understanding food , developing likes and dislikes. This is what I firmly believe rather than following timelines and comparing my child to his peers. Some days are extremely hard when the child refuses to eat anything or throws up whatever goes in or only wants to play with food. What do I do then? Don’t we all have bad days? We need to accept it as a phase and believe that hunger pangs will bring the child to decide what and how much he wants to eat! 🙂

Happy parenthood!

Until next time…

Introduction of solids

I get happy tears just as I begin writing this post. When I started writing about my pregnancy, labour and then parenting, I never expected people to start suggesting topics and waiting to hear my take on those! There have been at least a handful who have requested this topic and hence on popular demand , here it goes!

This is all about introducing solids to your baby. Before I begin , remember one thing. No one knows your baby better than you!

Let’s get going now. The only source of nutrition for the baby for the 6 months of his/her life is from breast milk. That said, if the mother chooses to supplement it with formula feeds , do not judge or question or reason out with her. To each his own! While I had a similar intention of exclusively breastfeeding my son until he turned 6 months old , the universe had other plans. There was an incident of severe breast abscess and in one line if I have to tell you how it was , LABOUR PAIN WAS NOTHING COMPARED TO THIS and I pray no woman ever goes through it! Every time I see the stitch from the abscess, I get reminded of that horrible week but also feel proud that hasn’t hampered my breastfeeding journey until now (he is 1 year and 1 week old), thanks to my doctor and lactation consultant. So there began me introducing formula feed to my 4 month old under doctor’s advice. So to summarize, to each his own. Don’t poke your nose into others’!

Now let’s dive into what all I offered to S before he turned 1 , what he liked and didn’t like and what my recommendations are! Everything is from my personal experience and I’m no expert in this area. Please make your own judgments while offering something to your child.

1. Under my paediatrician’s advice , I introduced extremely light in consistency carrot puree , ragi porridge and par boiled rice (puzhungarisi) porridge. These were the first 3 foods introduced over a span of 10 days. The thumb rule is to wait for 3 days after introducing a new food to see if the baby’s system is accepting it. By keeping it extremely light , you are giving the baby’s system time to get used to the outside world’s foods , new tastes while enabling easy digestion. Do not burden the system by making the consistency thick. For some that might work – good for them. I stuck to what my doctor said.

2. Begin with offering other foods for 1 or 2 meals a day. Keep it in between breast/formula feeds (BF/FF). For example – BF , puree , BF , Porridge , BF , porridge, BF. This is from waking up till going to bed. Night times are generally only BF/FF as and when the child wakes up.

3. The next set of foods can include vegetables like sweet potato , banana , potato , yellow pumpkin , tomato , peas and fruits like American pear , apple , banana. Puree them preferably using your hand , if not in a mixie without too much water. Make the consistency a little thicker than earlier.

4. By the end of 8th month , you can slowly introduce mashed rice with dhal or even make it in the form of khichdi adding vegetables which suit the baby along with some pepper and jeera for the flavour factor. Do not add salt or sugar until the child turns 1 and even post that, in limited quantity. Salt has a direct impact on the kidneys and even very little of it will burden the teeny tiny bean like kidneys inside them.

5. Post 8 months , you can also start introducing family foods minus salt , sugar and spice to a minimal level.

6. Once the child is able to sit with support , you can start using a booster seat and slowly bring them into the habit of sitting on that during meal times. S would rather play with it than sit on it but I still keep trying and I have a success rate of 40% maybe. Offer bits of foods like boiled vegetables, idli , dosa in a plate when the child is seated. Once their hand to mouth gesture is strengthened , they might gobble down a few pieces. More than 80% of the times , the place will get messy and the child might not have eaten anything. It’s okay. Someday it’ll all fall in place…fall in their mouths and not the floor – HOPEFULLY! Our ratio is 80% not interested , 10% of food is being fed to me and 10% in his mouth! Someday I’ll make it vice versa I hope!

7. Offer the liquids using a cup and spoon. I do use a bottle since it’s less messy and faster. But eventually drew the balance between the two once he was about 10 months old. Go by your convenience!

8. Of course the kid isn’t going to like everything that’s offered. Keep trying. Offer the foods in rotation so that even if they don’t like something today , 4 weeks later they might! BEEN THERE, DONE THAT! It works the other way too! LOL!

9. DO NOT FORCE FEED! I’m someone who’s completely against that. Just imagine someone holding you and stuffing gallons of food down your throat. Won’t you hate it?

10. Babies will eat what they require to maintain their energy and nutrition levels. An excellent word of advice from my paediatrician was ‘do not worry about the quantity of food he intakes. For example, if he eats 4 spoons of rice , make it 3 spoons and add mashes vegetables , ghee or curd to it. This maintains the quantity but increases the caloric value’. GOLDEN WORDS!!

11. Continue to breastfeed even after introducing solid foods. Even if they reject the latter, the former would give them all the nutrition that they need. Cow’s milk isn’t recommended until the age of 1 since the proteins found in them might affect the kidneys.

12. Keep introducing new foods and new textures. Also , if a child likes something in month 7, it doesn’t mean he’ll still like it in month 11. Tastes and preferences keep varying. Again , been there done that!

13. There is a wonderful support group on Facebook which promotes baby led weaning . Join that and get your queries addressed by fellow mommas. The group goes by the name ‘Traditional Weaning – Introduction of Solids’.

14. S is a picky eater and is definitely not a foodie. He is not fascinated by the idea of food as much as he is fascinated with a colorful ball or some groovy tune or a bright interactive book! I try to keep 2 meals as primary energy/nutrition givers (eg. Ragi, puzhungarisi, etc) so that even if he doesn’t eat the others properly, his body won’t be deprived of nutrition and energy. Through the night, I feed him on demand.

15. Do not compare your baby’s eating habits to others.

Now some recommendations-

1. Foods we introduced before he turned 1 – few he liked , few he didn’t. There are some which he liked then and which he doesn’t now. Try and see which works for your child.

Rice , dhal , freshly homemade curd , roti , paneer , rasam , mashed potato , toasted bread with butter , paneer cubed sauteed in ghee , idli , dosa , orange juice and other vegetables and fruits mentioned earlier.

As for porridge mixes , I use a combination of home made and store bought mixes. By homemade , I mean mom-made. She prepares them once in a couple of months and sends it over to us. She prepares ragi mix , par boiled rice (puzhungarisi) mix and almond powder at home.

Store recommendations –

1. Par boiled rice (puzhungarisi) porridge mix – The ones sold at the Public health center in Chennai are most recommended. Until the lockdown began , I was using that. Now we prepare it at home since we hadn’t stocked up enough and courier services had shut.

2. My little moppet – a store based in Tamilnadu which sells porridge mixes and other foods specially for kids. I have personally tried about 5 of their products and absolutely vouch for the quality! Dry dates powder , banana powder, sathumaavu mix are few that I have been using for S.

3. Ragi and banana powder from the brand Double Horse is also good and can be purchased from Amazon.

4. Early foods is another brand whose biscuits we have tried and which was found to be good.

5. If you are planning to introduce nuts and dry fruit mixes or balls to your baby’s food , make sure to introduce each nut separately and then make a mix. This will help rule out allergic reactions. The dry fruits found on big basket from their in house brand ‘BB Royal’ or ‘BB popular’ are very good.

6. The booster chair is from Baby Hug brand available on Firstcry.com

My experience in the baby feeding domain has been quite adventurous. It began with S liking many foods and then becoming a very picky eater. He eats when he really wants to with minimal effort from my end. All other times , it’s a war (a peaceful one though because I believe in the concept of not forcing and not losing my cool on the tiny one). I never force him to eat anything. I do have days when voices in my head scream with the million dollar question of when will he get into a structured eating pattern and start liking the whole concept of food but then there’s another voice which laughs and says I was a difficult kid too in the food space! So I just brush it off and say a silent prayer in the hope that it’ll all fall in place soon!

A close friend once told me that the survival instinct in kids is extremely high and that’s why they adapt to breastfeeding so quickly. This applies for solids too. They’ll make sure to eat what they need to replenish their energy levels. So fret not , the day will come soon when the kid will ask and eat something that they want and like. BABY LED WEANING IS THE BEST!

A final reminder before I end – NO ONE KNOWS YOUR BABY BETTER THAN YOU. Keep that in mind and keep going! Happy parenting 🙂

What did I eat post baby S’s arrival?

I do what I do knowing that it’s making a difference in someone’s way of life! Post publishing my birth and breastfeeding journey , I was constantly asked about the meal plan I followed post the arrival of baby S and I finally found some time to share my experience!

While the doctors or lactation consultants do not place any restrictions on the kind of food to be consumed, the elders at home have a different tale to tell. While this isn’t mandatory, it aids in faster healing of the body , helps in better milk production and aids the recovery process. Who would say no to these benefits?

While we can eat anything, there are some foods which actually make us feel better. This reminds me of an anecdote shared by my lactation consultant during the breastfeeding session – There was a mom who had just delivered a baby and wanted to have vatha kuzhambu and potato fry which shocked her mom. My lactation consultant calmly asked the mother to offer it to her daughter because she clearly knew that she wouldn’t be able to relish it and the spice content won’t suit a new mom. The exact thing happened and this is why the ‘pathiyam saapadu’ is recommended for the initial months.

Let me give you a sample meal plan post in which we’ll discuss about foods to be avoided in the initial 3 months.

6am – 2 glasses of water

6.30 am – A glass of warm milk – either plain or with mother’s Horlicks or any other non-sugar protein powder.

8 am – Breakfast – Idli / dosa / khichdi / upma / paratha / pongal and a fruit.

10am – Soup – Broccoli / Bottle gourd / baby corn / drumstick – Mom made sure I had these since these veggies are said to increase the milk supply and I started loving them especially the broccoli soup.

In the initial 22 days , I skipped the soup and had lunch directly.

11.30 am – 12pm – Lunch – White rice with a small spoon of ghee , loads of veggies like broad beans , carrots , bhindi , snake gourd, dhal/keerai/ poricha kootu (vegetable and moong dhal tempered with loads of pepper and jeera – Google the recipe) , garlic rasam and a bowl of curd. For those who dislike garlic like me , boiling them while preparing the usual tomato rasam is a good alternative.

2pm – One fruit – Apple/Orange/pomegranate/pear (either whole fruit or as a juice or milkshake (without sugar))

4pm – almonds and dates and a fruit.

5.30pm – Parboiled rice porridge (recommended by my gynaecologist to establish a good supply)

7pm – Dinner (initial 22 days I had hot rice with vegetables and post that had roti with dhal/ sauteed paneer or veggies and a bowl of freshly made curd).

9pm – A glass of milk.

– Through the day , aim for atleast 3 liters of water and 3 glasses of milk.

– I consumed something known as ‘legiyam’ which aids the digestion process. This is commonly made during diwali in South Indian homes and is called diwali marundu.

– Coconut is known to cause spit ups in babies. Don’t know how far it’s true since it’s said that the milk gets only smell and taste of the foods we consume and not the properties but I started including it in my diet post 3 months only.

– Tur dhal and bengal gram dhal (causes gas) were avoided and instead moong dhal was consumed as it’s known to boost milk supply. After a couple of months you can slowly start including it in your diet and see how it works for you.

– Sugar was avoided for obvious reasons (that’s the main reason for fat accumulation and no one likes that right?)

– Have pepper , jeera , ginger, almonds , oats , methi and garlic in the foods you take. These act as good supplements for lactacting mothers.

– Avoid maida , processed foods , oil , pickles.

– Vegetables like potato, yam , colocasia , brinjal , radish were avoided for the first three months.

– Avoid red chillies and opt for green chillies .

– Cold foods were avoided so that the new mom doesn’t catch a cold.

– Aim at having 3 portions of fruits per day.

For the first 3 months I followed this religiously, thanks to amma who made sure I ate the right thing at the right time. Till date, she’s been one of the strongest support I have in this journey of motherhood. Post that, I slowly included all the foods one by one and today when my boy is almost 6 months old , I eat all kinds of food but in moderation.

There are people who do not want to follow this stating reasons like ‘oh I have just delivered a baby. I can’t go through this’. While this ran in my head too , today I can confidently say that I’m glad I followed this traditional meal plan with newer additions like paneer and roti and this helped me bounce back to normalcy very soon.

Each family has their own versions of this. Speak to your mom or grandmom to know more!

Breastfeeding is challenging yet absolutely fulfilling. Diet plans like these ease the process and help in facing hiccups like inadequate supply , weakness and tiredness.

Feel free to reach out to me if you have any more queries 🙂

Wishing you a happy motherhood!

The fourth trimester

Everyone talks about how tough and tiring labour can be but no one tells us and prepares us for what’s in store post that! To begin with , attend a breastfeeding session which is conducted in your hospital to get an idea. Do this a couple of weeks before your due date. Join a support group to know what fellow moms are experiencing!

The fourth trimester (the first 3 months after delivery) is a testing period for not just the new mothers but for the fathers, grandparents and everyone at home!

A new human has just arrived in our lives. Everyone’s life has suddenly changed for the better and the baby has become the center of everyone’s lives – especially the new mother’s!

The new mom has already begun the journey of breastfeeding within an hour after she’s delivered her bundle of joy. (This is the signal to the brain that the pregnancy is over and it’s time to supply milk to the little one). All that she now needs is the perfect support system who’ll help her in achieving the WHO recommended 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding and up to 2 years post that. There’s a reason behind the said recommendations. It is said to boost the immunity of the child , builds strong antibodies to fight infections, reduces risk of cancer for the mother, develops an emotional bond between the mother and child and so many more reasons! Give me one good to reason to not do this? If someone asks you to introduce other foods after 3 months, nod along and go – simply because they aren’t going to change their opinion. Everyone must realize that times are changing and so are the parenting norms and styles!

I’ll quickly walk you through some pointers to make this journey better but before that , something about how my journey has been so far!

My boy just completed 3 months on planet earth and he’s already taught me so much! From managing overwhelming moments to waking up instantly with the slightest of sounds to managing with interrupted sleep to knowing exactly what he needs at any given point of time to making me relearn rhymes and stories , he’s surely the best teacher I have had!

Initially, it was tough to wake up every hour during the nights for feedings and my mood always used to be ranging from irritated to majorly irritated! If not for my mom who used to wake up with the slightest sound from him and who knew exactly what he wanted , I wouldn’t have aced through the initial weeks. I still wonder how she pulls it off. After a day filled with household chores , she still manages to wake up at the drop of a hat at any point of time in the nights! Ain’t she a superwoman?

Within a few days , my system aligned to his needs and I started waking up instantly and not in an irritated state of mind. I started understanding what his crying signaled – if it was for hunger or sleep or some discomfort or anything else. Things slowly fell into place. All of us at home started understanding the baby’s routine and planned our schedules around that. Watching his growth with every passing day became everyone’s favourite thing to do and we looked forward to his play times and watched out for new things he was doing – be it his first smile or the first time he cycled with his legs or the first sound he made in response to our voice! My dad who is usually scared to deal with new borns suddenly became an expert in nappy changing and playing and swaying him to sleep! Watching him play with my boy is one of the best sights ever!

Everything seemed purely magical and SHREYAS took the no.1 spot in everyone’s priority list! 🙂 The three months got over yesterday within a blink of an eye!

The journey of breastfeeding can be quite stressful for the new mother. Cluster feedings can get tiring. Breast engorgement can be extremely painful. Not able to sleep on her tummy can be uncomfortable. Nights with minimal sleep can make her days dull. But everything seems worth it when the baby gives a smile of acknowledgement after a feed 🙂 I’m sure everyone who’s experienced this would agree with me!

Here are some pointers based on my limited experience and advice received from my doctor, lactation consultant and my super mom!

1. The golden hour of feeding (within a couple of hours after delivery) is what is extremely important. It supplies to the baby colostrum or the golden liquid which provides all the required nutrition to the new born and protects him from infections.

2. Breast milk works on demand and supply. Hence , the more you feed , the more will be your supply.

3. Do not doubt your supply. The body produces as per the baby’s needs. Do not let anyone ask you if your supply is good! It is none of their business!

4. Keep yourself hydrated (3 litres of water per day).

5. The doctor places no restriction on the kinds of foods to be eaten. But to aid the healing process , the traditional ‘pathiyam’ food which includes garlic, pepper, ginger, ghee (1 tsp is more than sufficient) and no chillies, tur dhal, etc can be taken for the first 21 days at least. Interested moms-to-be can message me for details on this.

6.Foods to increase the supply – garlic, drumstick,moong dhal, lauki , methi, almonds, milk, broccoli,flat beans,snake gourd, curd, milk , par boiled rice porridge. One might not necessarily like the vegetables or foods mentioned above. I was one such person and today my meals seem incomplete without them! Small things which you do for the baby shows how life and our mindset have changed 🙂

7. Aim for more vegetables and fruits which eventually reduces the quantity of rice taken. To satisfy hunger pangs, opt for almonds, walnuts, cranberries, dates and the like. THERE IS NO NEED TO EAT FOR TWO.

8. Give into cravings. Go hog on that bowl of ice cream after which you won’t go back to it for a few days! Do not try to control cravings!

9. Make sure to use a hot water sitz for the first few days to heal the stitches. After 6 weeks , start light exercises to keep the body active.

10. Make sure the latch is perfect so that it doesn’t cause any trouble to you. Speak to your lactation consultant in case of any doubts. Use warm or cold compress to relieve any breast engorgement and air dry the nipples after every feed. A nipple butter will soothen the pain if any.

11. During growth spurts , the baby might be nursing every one hour or even every half hour. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the baby is hungry. Sometimes , they would nurse for comfort, cuddle or just to go to sleep. It can be extremely tiring. But it gets over in a flash!

12. Wear comfortable clothes at home. Invest in some comfy nighties and dresses with front buttons. Invest in a couple of sizes bigger than your usual size!

13. Use breast pads to avoid leaks.

14. Invest in a good quality feeding pillow which ensures maintenance of posture and ease in feeding. I continue to use the one from BABYHUG. While stepping out , a nursing cover will come in handy because not all places have a feeding room and not all mothers would be comfortable to nurse in public including me! I wouldn’t mind sitting in the middle of a park but I would still put a nursing cover on. I’m totally for nursing in public but I’m not there as yet!

15. Stop believing that the baby cries only when he is hungry. Every visitors’ instant reaction to the baby crying would be ‘is he hungry?’ while we would have just finished a feeding session. There are numerous other reasons because of which he might be crying. After-all , how else will they express what they feel?

16. The duration of a feeding session shouldn’t be the priority. A baby knows how much he needs and will drink that amount before unlatching. Stop seeing the clock and force feeding the infant just because the book reads ‘a feeding session usually lasts between 20-30 mins’. Imagine stuffing your mouth with 8 idlis when your usual limit is 3?

17. If someone says ‘sleep while the baby sleeps’ , ask them to show how! Just rest your body if you aren’t sleepy when the baby is fast asleep. Or watch an episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S to ease your mind!

18. Make sure to have your mom or someone else you are comfortable with alongside you during the initial months. Right from teaching you how to hold the baby , how to make him burp after every feed , how to figure out his needs and so much more , they know it all!
MOMS SURELY ARE THE BEST :’) They make you believe that this difficult phase will be over soon and that you’ll start enjoying motherhood before you even know!

19. Ignore the unwanted Gyan you receive and stick to advices from your doctor, lactation consultant and your mother.

20. Lastly , no one knows your baby better than you do. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

And for the ones at home , tell the new mom that she’s doing great , she’s awesome , treat her to a big bar of chocolate and make sure she gets all the attention and help that she needs to get through the initial days. The baby might get all the attention and pampering and the gifts , but always remember that there’s a woman behind it all who’s craving for a big hug and some pampering from her loved ones! Take her out for a coffee or get her some gorgeous jewelry to distract her from monotonous nappy changes , countless feeding sessions and a tired body!  While my mom was and is my go-to-person , my dad does his bit after he’s back from a long day at work by taking care of my boy while I rest my eyes a bit. Whenever they are in town, my sister and my husband do their share of helping me in whichever way possible! Also, I have a dear friend Swetha who I still torture with queries and she patiently answers them all! She’s a total sweetheart! And special credits to my doctor Dr.Shobana Mahadevan, lactation consultant Mrs.Rekha Sudarshan and pediatrician Dr.Sharadha Srinivas who have been like rocks of support in this journey 🙂

That’s how a support system should work 🙂

Not so sorry if this was boring – this is raw reality of what a new mother faces. Only with the right support system can she overcome what is called postpartum blues and postpartum depression! Motherhood should begin and continue with joy and happiness and definitely not fear and depression! Go tell a mom-to-be that it’s all going to fall in place and she’s going to have the time of her life and every second will be TOTALLY WORTH IT! 😁

World breastfeeding week ends today but let’s continue to celebrate it through the year by spreading awareness and normalizing breastfeeding 🙂

 

.

Until next time 🙂