I know all babies are messy eaters at first, but I am telling you: you have not seen a messy eater until you have seen Catherine Lee Major with some pureed spinach. It is really amazing. Imagine one quarter teaspoon in her belly and one half cup spread between her hair, my hair, the inside of her nose, the inside of my ear, her arpits, my shirt, her knees and my elbow. Feeding her standing up doesn't prevent the smearing altogether, but it does improve the ratio of food in her belly to food on us significantly.
Of course, you might be thinking what I would have thought had I not been feeding this child for just over eight months. If you don't let her feed herself, how will she learn? Seriously? Think about that for a minute.
Yeah, that's why I've decided not to worry about it.
So while standing, Cate's absolute favorite thing to eat is Ella's baby food. I started off making all Cate's food myself, but that lasted for about three weeks. Then I found Ella's. It's all natural (no preservatives, no sugar, not even water added). It comes in crazy combinations, including C's two favorites: carrots, apples and parsnips and sweet potatoes, pumpkin, apples, and blueberries. The best thing about Ella's is that it comes in packages like Capri Sun with a handy screw off top and a little nozzle. Meaning you can just squeeze the Ella's right in to the little one's mouth. When I mentioned this technique to one friend she said it had never occurred to her do do that. Clearly, she is more refined than I am. Her baby eats with a spoon. Or his fingers. So sophisticated, you'd think he's the one whose dad is a chef at a fancy pants restaurant.
But the fact is, while our Cate is on the verge of walking she still has never held her own bottle, much less fed herself. (I imagine the experts would diagnose her with "delayed self-feeding disorder") Every now and then she manages to get a piece of food into her own pie hole, but for the most part she'd really just as soon have her people do it for her.
Oh, and did I mention: she refuses to wear a bib. Ever. She can get any kind of bib off faster than Houdini could get out of a straight jacket. Velcro, snaps, t-shirt neck, whatever. She can get it off.
Which means I typically feed her standing up, straight from the nozzle on the baby food container ... whilst she wears nothing but a diaper.
What can I say? She's a classy girl.
Nancy, you crack me up! Isn't it funny (or not) how many things people have convinced mothers to be concerned about? Because probably 90% of those things are probably just retailers and doctors and "self-help" writers covering themselves legally. When W was turning 1, I think,the sheet of milestones from the doc said he should be able to drink out of a regular cup--at 1!!! Maybe some people are really great at being diligent and their kids a re super coordinated and never spill. At almost 2 1/2 I still don't want to give up the sippy--and I don't think he's challenged at all for it. And how would my life be different if he'd learned at 18 months anyway? How would his? I'd be cleaning up messes constantly and getting upset with him, so we'd probably both be miserable.
ReplyDeleteAlso, W never wore a bib either. And Ada sleeps in her Boppy sometimes and wears her big brother's socks. And guess what? We're all surviving just fine.
My mom always says, "I've never seen a kid go to kindergarten not ____________ ."
ReplyDeleteSo in your case she would say, "I've never seen a kid go to kindergarten not being able to feed herself."
I think this is wise. I also think this is easier said than done.
And thank you for the Ella's baby food tip. I am going to remember that.
Someday, when she knows the difference between all of the various types of forks, you'll have to remind her that she has come a long way.
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