How to Feed a Henry

Henry recently switched to a new childcare provider. It was a difficult decision to move him to a new environment, but Daddy and I felt it was the right time to make a change.  Henry loves peanut butter & jelly pancakes for breakfast. After the new year, Henry was no longer seeing his two best friends at daycare -- one advanced to the preschool room and another moved away. His teachers rotated to new classrooms, and he was not connecting as well with the new lead teacher. Plus, the new staff's approach did not align with our values at home; the children started watching lots of movies and I observed kids frequently being sent to time - out . Henry splashes in a mud puddle. I spent a few weeks searching for a new facility that would provide a more positive space for Henry. After interviewing a few options, Daddy and I were thrilled to find a great match. We chose a small in-home childcare run by a creative, loving grandma. Henry loved visiting her house during two tes...

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...

Last month I gave an update on transitioning Henry from formula to milk and bottles to cups. In particular, I mentioned that we were planning to use up our remaining infant formula first, and then focus on phasing out his remaining three bottles per day.  Of course the day after I wrote that post, Henry decided he had other plans. First, he stopped asking for his afternoon bottle, and two days later he started refusing his morning bottle. As long as breakfast was ready within 30 minutes of when he wok up, he no longer wanted to drink a bottle in the morning. Taking Henry's lead , we readjusted our plan again.  No more bottles -- just cups for Henry. We continued to use up the rest of the formula, but Daddy and I stalled on switching out Henry's final daily bottle for a cup. We were traveling for a week. Then, Henry's first molar broke through. Then, we decided to make a few other adjustments to Henry's bedtime routine. Finally, last Saturday it was time to t...

About a month ago, I wrote about our plan for switching Henry from formula to milk and from bottles to cups. We are halfway through the originally planned transition period, so I thought I should report on how it is going. As with many well-laid plans, we have had successes, surprises and re-adjustments along the way. Being a parent requires a lot of flexibility and willingness to adapt . First, the successes. Henry does not seem to have any qualms about drinking milk instead of formula. He has tried out coconut, almond, goat and cow milk. His favorite seems to be the cow milk, either as whole milk or as kefir milk . I also have a carton of hemp milk that we will open up tomorrow.  Henry drinks almond milk with his lunch. Since Henry seems to have no issues about switching to milk, I am happy to report that our family has purchased our last box of infant formula. We will phase it out completely within the next few weeks. While I had intended to exclusively breastfeed Henry...

It’s Halloween, but I am not writing a holiday post today. If you want to read a well-balanced post about Halloween candy, I recommend this one by Red, Round or Green.  Henry with the pumpkin that Grandpa grew just for him. Henry is too small for trick-or-treating, but he does have a costume to show off to the neighbors who will be stopping by our house. I attempted to find a food-themed costume for him, but this little green dragon suit beat out the chili pepper, turkey and lobster costumes. Henry is a little green dragon for Halloween. Yesterday was Henry’s nine month check-up at the pediatrician . He came away with a good bill of health. He is now 20 pounds, 9 ounces (about the 45th percentile for his age). The doctor also spotted two more teeth poking through, which will bring Henry's tooth count up to six. At the check-up we talked a bit about food, but you might be surprised to learn that most doctors in the United States do not receive much training in...

Last week I took a break from writing when Henry came down with a bad cold. Then Daddy and I were under the weather too. With the coughing, fever and runny noses, no one at our house was getting any sleep. We were all feeling pretty crummy but I think we are over the worst of it now. Having a sick baby is awful. Henry does not understand why he feels so miserable and there is no way to explain it to him. One of the best things for getting better is to drink lots of fluids, but Henry’s bottle intake dropped noticeably. The amount of water he was drinking from a straw cup was not making up for the difference, so I decided to try a different approach. The Zoli BOT cup helped encourage Henry to drink more liquid. I brought out the ZoLi BOT cup that had been too challenging for Henry a few months ago. He was so excited about using the new cup that he drank a few extra ounces of liquid from it -- that made Mommy and baby both happy.  With the side handles, Henry wa...

On a recent hot day, Henry and I went for a walk to a local coffee shop where I purchased an iced tea. When Henry saw me drinking from the cup, he immediately reached out his arms and started swinging his legs. I know that sign is a request for water , so I gave him the cup thinking that he might gnaw on the straw. But Henry surprised me by slurping the tea through the straw. Babies are not supposed to be able to handle a straw, but I guess Henry is an exception to the rule. Henry is an expert at drinking from a straw. After the difficulty we have had with sippy cups , I went in search of a small cup with a straw for Henry to use at mealtimes. Most straw cups are marketed for toddlers after they have mastered a sippy cup. In fact, there’s a whole segment of sippy-to-straw cups that are designed help children transition from a sippy cup to a straw cup. I had a difficult time finding a cup with a straw that would work for Henry. I was looking for one with a lid to prevent...

As I mentioned yesterday , Henry loves water. The problem is that Henry is not very skilled at drinking water. We’ve tried sippy cups, shot glasses, and regular drinking glasses. Water usually ends up dribbling down his chin, spilling on his tray, or cascading to the floor. Who knew it took practice to learn how to take a drink of water? Henry has two key issues with sippy cups. First, he does not like that the cup needs to be tilted up to get the water out. Second, the no-spill filters are nice for keeping everything dry but they make it difficult for him to suck the water out. We tried removing the filters but then water just pours out freely. Since I am helping Henry tilt the cup, it is difficult to see when the water reaches the spout and determine how much he is getting. If I tilt it up too high, Henry is drenched with a huge mouthful that he needs to spit back out. Henry can hold a sippy cup but he does not li ke tilting it up to drink. Next, a friend recommended...