How to Feed a Henry

For the past seven weeks, we have removed dairy from Henry's diet. We wanted to test whether it could help clear up the fluid in his ears and reduce the chance that he would continue to get ear infections. In the meantime, Henry has been evaluated by two Ear, Nose & Throat specialists and had a series of treatments by an osteopath .  Henry is in great health, except for the ongoing fluid in his ears. Last week, we visited Henry's pediatrician for his 18-month check-up. Henry is meeting all milestones and his health is generally thriving. Unfortunately, his ears are still completely blocked with fluid. While we are not excited about this outcome, Daddy and I feel like we have done what we can with alternative low-invasive treatment options. Henry is scheduled for ear tube surgery tomorrow morning. Making non-dairy meals for our family was generally easy and didn't require many sacrifices. For the most part, our whole family participated, but Daddy and I did spl...

In my last post , I wrote about Henry's transition from a highchair to a booster seat. As a toddler, Henry's ability to drink from an open cup and use flatware are also improving. The more he practices, the better he is getting at these skills. Henry still uses straw cups for most of our meals. With the hot summer weather, however, I have been giving him lots of opportunities to use a regular cup when we are outside. He hardly spills when he drinks from an open cup, but he also enjoys pouring the water out and watching it splash on the ground. Henry practices drinking from an open cup. In the past month, Henry has become obsessed with using utensils at every meal. He wants to have a fork or spoon in hand, e ven when we are eating finger foods like a sandwich or grapes. I don't want to squash his enthusiasm, so I try to remember to give him a utensil with each meal. Henry focuses on stabbing a blueberry with his fork. Henry usually doesn't use flatware for...

Henry is almost 18 months old. He is definitely a fully mobile toddler now. With this new stage comes new freedoms and even a little bit of responsibility. For mealtime at our house, that means moving from a highchair to a booster seat and learning to set the table. Henry has a new seat at our kitchen table. A few weeks ago, we decided to see if Henry was ready to leave his highchair behind. A neighbor handed down a very convenient and portable booster seat that I have been anxious to try out. We put a small footstool next to our dinette bench so Henry can climb up into the booster seat without needing our help. Henry quickly figured out just what to do. Henry's new booster seat is a perfect fit! I like giving Henry the independence to seat himself at the table and to get down by himself when our meal is complete. Since Henry is usually very focused on eating at meals, I'm not worried about him dashing off in the middle of dinner to play. I trust that he knows when...

This week’s Tuesday Tip for Picky Eaters: Helping with the Harvest. Henry loves berries, with one big caveat -- he loves fresh picked berries. He will devour handfuls of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries if they are directly off the vine. Henry is much more fickle about eating berries when we have a meal at the table and sometimes won't even consider berries when they are cold from the refrigerator . But when we harvest berries from our yard, then he just keeps signing for more, more , more ! Eating fresh-picked raspberries from our backyard. Helping with the harvest can be a big motivator for kids to eat fresh produce. It certainly makes a difference for Henry. Whether you have room for a big backyard garden or just a few containers on your porch, try including your kids in growing and eating more fresh fruits and vegetables. If you don't have any space to grow your own, find out if there is a community garden in your neighborhood, or take a trip to a local...

For the past three weeks, Henry has been dairy-free in an effort to reduce his susceptibility to ear infections. This is a big change for our family's diet. Since introducing solids, we have frequently given Henry dairy products. In addition to drinking whole milk , he would often eat yogurt , cheese , kefir milk, and foods cooked using cream and butter . Dairy foods are some of his favorites, but we decided to give this a shot on a trial basis to see if it could help improve Henry's health . Henry drinks a dairy alternative with his afternoon snack. Not only is Henry dairy-free at home, we also notified his daycare provider about this change. The staff asked me to write a note clarifying what foods we wanted to restrict. Since dairy can be found in many surprising places , they needed a clear understanding about what foods are not allowed.  Daddy and I gave them a list of foods Henry is avoiding during this trial period:  Milk Yogurt Cheese Cream cheese Sour ...