Haute Mom Dilemma #32 ~ What to Eat

Stella turned nine months on Sunday and I cannot believe the time has flown by. There have been so many stages of her life that have caused these dilemmas and there are probably a zillion more to come! Stella just had her nine month well baby visit and she is turning out to be what may resemble a long, skinny, bean pole (much like I was as a kid). Although the doctor says she is perfectly healthy, I, the nervous mom, am concerned so I am determined to fatten her up. I mean, what does the doctor know? Just recently, I looked at a guideline of what a nine month old should be eating and I was astounded at how much food they should have. I guess this explains Stella's slow weight gain over the last few months (she's not even gaining a pound a month).

We are now feeding her some type of solid with five of her six feedings. She has breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as snacks. I am doing my best to make sure that her meals are balanced with fruits, vegetables, grains and a little bit of dairy (cheese or yogurt) because well, I am uptight and anal. Everything was going fine until the doctor said I could introduce meats (enter screeching tire sound here).

Ugh. Meat. The thought of feeding Stella meat out of a jar just grosses me out. I, being the haute mom that I am, rarely cook. To be honest, I would but once you enter the prep time, and clean up, I often am too tired to make a meal or simply, it is too late by the time I get home. So if I do cook, it is only once or twice a week, mostly in the crock pot. This kind of limits me with cooking meat and blending it up for Stella. Her doctor said I could make stew or soup with meat for her and I just smiled. So what to do?

My plan of attack is to start her out with beans and tofu. Both are easy to cook, safe, soft, and will supply her with enough protein to do the trick. We went out for sushi last night and I gave her some soy beans. She couldn't get enough. I checked with the dietician that I work with and got a thumbs up on my plan so hopefully, the baby food meat can be skipped all together. Especially since my rule is to try everything that I feed her...I may be saving both of us from some serious gag reflex.



Stella loves meal time-ready to eat at one of our favorite spots.