One search on Pinterest of “baby” will give you perfectly curated pictures of babies whose moms have way more time on their hands than I can even fathom. With my first baby, Pinterest was a godsend; an unhelpful, self-esteem crushing godsend. I aspired to be the mom who had the best-dressed baby with the most stunning pictures, who ate the best meals, had the nursery of a millionaire, and fed my baby only home-made, organic baby food.
Thankfully, those aspirations didn’t pan out. There is one goldmine of information I did find on Pinterest that my husband and I have used with each baby: baby-led weaning. We have done a bit of a hybrid version of the baby-led weaning that has been great for our family, and sustainable past the baby stage.
In the past few weeks, my 11-month-old has eaten spicy Thai noodles, curry, stroganoff, crepes, and a myriad of other foods that I wouldn’t typically think babies would eat. Most importantly, he has enjoyed every single one of them!
Here are a few rules we follow when feeding our children that have helped us to not only save money but also minimize our fights about dinner and help us to raise kids who will eat just about anything put in front of them.
This is what has worked for our family, but your family may need to experiment and determine what is best for you. If you are unsure, consult your pediatrician or look up research from trusted sources.
First, our children eat what we are eating, even if it is presented in a different way.
Their meals are presented the same as ours, albeit sometimes deconstructed depending on their ability to eat the food freely (i.e., tacos become burritos but with the same fixings).
By cutting down the size of the food or shredding the meat, our 11-month-old son has been able to eat everything we have made. I would recommend purchasing a food processor or a hand chopper to do this. The processor is great for making very finely chopped foods, whereas the hand chopper is better for dicing things up into smaller bite-sized pieces. We personally have two hand choppers since they are a pain to clean. This allows us to have one in the dishwasher and one to use at mealtimes.
A key indicator that our son was ready to start eating the food off of our table with minimal changes was when he developed a pincer grasp (picking up objects with his finger and thumb). Once he had this down, we stop feeding him and let him start to feed himself.
Second, at meal-times, our children eat meals.
For snacks, our kids can have whatever is in the house. At meals we eat do not have “snack foods” as a side of the main course. Our children used to eat all of the goldfish on their plates and beg for more without touching the main course of the meal. We’ve realized that for our family, giving snack foods as a way to make the meal stretch was just not a good option.
Third, we do not make a big deal about our children liking or disliking certain foods, and we do not make them finish their food before they can leave the table. But, we do ask them to try new foods.
It’s not a fight I am willing to have, and thankfully the fights have not really happened. If our kids do not like the food on their plates, we tell them to eat around it or pick it out, but we don’t offer new meal choices.
When they ask to be excused from the table, we may have them take another bite of something, but we never make them finish the food that they don’t like in order to leave. If something is on their plate that they flat-out refuse to eat, we ask them to try it first before removing it from their plate.
Fourth, we do not ‘hide’ food.
And honestly, we don’t have to. Being sneaky is difficult because my kids can smell weakness from a mile away. If our kids don’t like plain lettuce, we tell them there is lettuce but that it has dressing on it, and we deliberately give them a smaller portion of it to try. We don’t put it on their plate hoping that they won’t notice.
Therefore, new foods are usually introduced in meals without being separated for them to try first. However, we never lie to our kids about what is in their food if they ask.
Lastly, we try to have staple meals and introduce new recipes occasionally.
My husband and I have a go-to list of meals that we often make and that our family enjoys. This keeps mealtimes easy and also gives our children some consistency. Too much experimentation can be exhausting on your budget, time, and kids.
We usually introduce a new recipe once or twice a week for some variety and to determine what meals our kids enjoy. Shockingly, everyone in the house loved the spicy Thai noodles and those will definitely be added to our lineup.
Food and mealtimes should be pleasurable for your family. Dinner is a great way for your family to join together and spend time talking and making memories. These are simply the rules we follow that have been helpful for us. Your family dynamic might be different, and your children may have real food aversions or allergies that impact your ability to feed your children this way. You might also find this to be too time-consuming or to not be worth the effort. All of that is valid too! I would recommend researching and following your own parental intuition as you decide what will work best for your family.
