Pumpkin balls, Taco Lasagna, the first 6 months

Date: Thursday, July 9^th, 2009

Tyler is: 12 months old
Today is: A day off with a play date!

Pre-Breakfast: Milk

Breakfast: Pumpkin and granola balls, scrambled egg, blueberries

Morning Snack: Carrots, pears, salmon

Lunch: Packed lunch- Cold marinated tofu, trail mix (baby safe granola, raisins, cheerios), carrots, pear

Afternoon Snack: Blueberries, cheerios

Dinner: Roasted Chicken, carrots, onions, potatoes, watermelon, cream cheese, smoothie

Recipes:

Pumpkin balls

Mix equal parts pureed pumpkin (from a can or prepared from a pie pumpkin, feel free to add in any spices that you would in a pumpkin pie including ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon) and cream cheese (softened or room temp)

Refrigerate until cool

Roll blobs of pumpkin mixture in baby safe granola (use your own recipe or use mine when I post it!) and/or plain quick oats!

This travels well if kept cool!

Work Recipe:

Taco Lasagna

Ingredients:

6 mini tortillas (whole wheat or whole flax are excellent in this), cut into 1in strips

1 jar of salsa (your favorite will do)

1 can of black beans

1c of cheese (low fat, something sharp like cheddar)

1lb cooked taco meat (chicken, beef, turkey with a low sodium taco spice pack added)

3 Large tomatoes sliced

Sautéed or grilled green peppers and onions (optional, but really good for you)

Pre-heat oven to 350F

Spread a light layer of salsa over the base of a large glass baking dish
Place a layer of tortilla noodles on salsa and top with 1/2 of the meat, 1/3 of the cheese, 1 sliced tomato, 1/2 of the black beans, and 1/2 of the pepper and onions mixture

Cover with salsa and another layer of tortilla noodles

Place rest of meat, peppers, another tomato, the rest of the beans, and 1/3 of the cheese on tortillas

Cover last layer of tortillas with cheese, last tomato, and a thin layer of cheese

Cook until the cheese is nice and melted and the lasagna is heated through!

Other Information:

Tyler’s First 6 months

Tyler was a breast fed baby. For the first 6 months of his life he had mommy milk from the source or pumped (with a Medela pump,see more below).

In the hospital Tyler was diagnosed with Jaundice. A common new born ailment that in Tyler’s case probably resulted from trauma during birth and bruising after. The nurses in the hospital recommended that we give Ty formula if his bilirubin levels continued to become elevated. The answer I gave them was “no.” I did not want to give my child formula unless it was absolutely necessary to his health.

We were lucky and my decision turned out to be right. After time in a UV light box, close monitoring of his bilirubin levels and time napping in a sunny spot in our house once he came home, Ty was healthy and never needed formula.

During his first month Ty would often nurse for an hour or more at a time. We found out from his pediatrician that this was because the frenulum on the bottom of his tongue was attaching his tongue to the base of his mouth near his gums. I had this small piece of skin cut when I was in elementary school and because it was traumatic for me, and because this skin was interfering with Ty’s feeding, we decided to have it cut.

The pediatrician cut it for us in less than 10 seconds. Tyler only cried while the Dr’s hands were in his mouth and there were only a few drops of blood. We gave him some Tylenol and within a few days he was nursing in 20min or less!

Tyler nursed, or had pumped breast milk, exclusively for almost the entire first 6 months. Right before he turned 6 months we tried rice cereal (iron enriched!) and he was absolutely ready. He never spit any out, he had no reflex to get it out of his mouth, and he loved it. We then slowly moved on to other foods.

Tyler nursed/had mommy milk until one day before his first birthday. I let Ty wean himself. He slowly gave up one feeding at a time, the last being the morning feeding when he woke up. I never stopped feeding him, I just never forced him to nurse.

Why we chose breastfeeding:

4 main reasons

1) COST- formula is expensive

2) Health- Breastfeeding for the first year is healthier for the infant as well as for the mom (new studies show that your risk of breast cancer is reduced)

3) Convenient- I always had food on me and I had a good pump to get food for when we wanted to go out.

4) I wanted to connect with my baby by breastfeeding

Now look, I am a huge fan of breastfeeding but I realize that some women can’t, and there are those who “can’t” (meaning it is not a medical reason but a life choice that they have made). I think every mother and family needs to decide what they can afford, what is best for their child, and what is healthiest for everyone involved.

Product of the day:

Medela Breast Pumps
http://www.medela.com/ISBD/countries.php