Evidentally most of the "rules" for introducing new foods or the foods to aviod/feed aren't really based in science. The new studies show that if the family has no history of food allergies it should be okay to introduce fish, peanut butter, etc to babies under 1 yr.
When it comes to fish/seafood, there are other issues aside from allergies and intolerances. Some fish (esp. tuna, and maybe the other fatty fishes) are a problem because of the high level of mercury in them. Tuna can be introduced earlyish, but you've got to really limit how much you give them.
I think they're not sure why peanut allergies abound now, so I think the advice to hold off on its introduction makes sense. There is, I think, a theory that if a food is introduced before the child is ready to tolerate it, you can almost cause the allergy to develop from premature exposure, or over-exposure. This wouldn't matter for kids who have inherited the allergy, but it might explain other causes.
Also that young children/babies only like bland food isn't fact and that if the parents can add spicy, salty, seasoned food and see what the child likes. They even hinted that the wives' tale that children like whatever their mother's were eating while pregnant might be true.
Before the child is 18 months, is actually *the* time to introduce the spicier foods. It takes that long for their taste buds to fully develop, and sometime between 12 and 18 months, they also get extra stubborn and suspicious. If you get them accustomed to zestier foods before then, you're usually all set.
Also? Being an old wife, I'm fond of old wives' tales. After all, it is the old wives who have always done the gestating, delivering, breast feeding, diaper changing, feeding of the whole family, gathering herbs, and caring for the sick and dying, etc. There are untold generations of knowledge passed down griot-style from mother to daughter. Sometimes the advice conflicts. Mother A might tell her daughter bananas are a good remedy for
loose bowels,
and Mother B might tell her daughter just the opposite. But maybe they're both right, for their particular genetic combination.
Most mothers I know have/develop a sixth sense about illness, particularly in their children. Maybe it harkens back to a more primative age, when we were more in tune with our other senses. My mother swears she could always smell a fever on me. I thought she was nuts, until I realized I could smell a fever on my own kids. Similarly, they smell "wrong" to me, when they first get home from school, but after they're home and hour or so, they smell "right" again. I can tell from the droop of their eyes if they have an ear infection, with nearly 100% accuracy. I can sometimes tell by their voices (and congestoin isn't the cue) if they're going to come down sick with something in the next few days.
The only thing I'm sure my mother didn't make me eat, despite everyone else loving it was eggs. But it's not that I don't like, so much as the taste gives me headaches and makes me retch and perhaps vomit. Sugar cane and wet sugar has the same effect, but it was always on the optional list (like most fruit, but sadly not grapefruit, which I also hated). I had dispensation to leave the room whenever anyone else ate either.
Heh. Except for those of us hovering on the brink.
Annie's Shells taste much better than Kraft, at least to an adult palate. They're also less full of chemical glop.
Annie's Shells taste much better than Kraft, at least to an adult palate.
Word, and they even have an orange kind now (I love annato).
I remember my s-i-l swearing by Annie's. I have yet to try it. Christopher has serious love for Kraft. I limit it like crazy, because of all the non-foodstuffs in there. I will have to check out Annie's.
Word, and they even have an orange kind now (I love annato).
You're very cute.
You never know when inspiration will strike. Did you find the cat?
It was amusing. I've been chasing this electronic gremlin for a while now.
The cat was sleeping on the couch. She came back to bed.
And then crawled up on top of me once the alarm went off like the furry snooze enabler that she is... So I've mostly been up since 4:30 but I still had to rush to get to work on time.
This weekend was far too brief. Or far too busy. But yesterday I went on a mini-Cooper rally with my dad and 170+ other minis through the mountains and then to a speed festival thing where there was vintage racing. We had the top down the entire time so the hat, sunglasses and major sunscreen weren't enough to keep me from some sun and wind burn. But damn... So much fun.
So, apparently, the e-mail did the trick. Now to start to try to catch up in the class...
Excellent, bug! I am so continually proud of you.
Arrgh, and a production meeting in ten minutes. So much for my leisurely morning plan.
My dad made me eat scrambled eggs he'd run through the blender once. I am in continual amazement that I can still eat them. Oh sure, technically he had a good reason but because of the stupid meeting, I can't tell you about it right now.
I like Annie's. I also have made some homemade stuff that's easy and not to bad. I'm just crazy for putting stuff like peas or tomatoes in my mac & cheese so we'll see how the kid deals.
Put that stuff in early, and he'll think that's how it is supposed to, Cashmere. That's my theory. My kids are decent eaters. Both Ben and Chris have particular picks. Dh is is extremely picky, so they come by it naturally. My rule of thumb is I give the kids one spooonful of everything I've cooked, and they need to try it, each time, because tastes change. I mostly try to cook things they like, though, because of Scott's pickiness. If any of my children had a true aversion like ita's egg aversion, I wouldn't press it. Ben comes close to an aversion with salad, but it doesn't actually sicken him, he just really doesn't like it. When we have a salad, you would laugh at the one inch piece of lettuce I put in the bowl.
eta...
When I say I mostly try to cook things they like, I do not mean I custom cook, though. My meal choices are generally limited to healthy stuff the family will eat without fuss. But everyone gets the same menu.
Me and my sister completely changed tastes from the time we were kids. She was a ridiculously picky baby. At one stage all she'd eat was orange juice and pork chops, whereas I'd eat anything. We were the kind of family who weren't allowed to leave the table until a certain amount of our dinners had been eaten though, and at least three times a week it was spicy, spicy food. Then when we hit our teens, I got really picky and she hasn't stopped eating for a good ten years now. And I'm not big on really spicy foods, but she'll put chilli on anything and everything.
Annie's even makes a microwaveable mac & cheese that comes in single-serving packs, for people like me who are (1) lazy and (2) would eat a whole pot of mac & cheese if not faced with portion control.
Most mothers I know have/develop a sixth sense about illness, particularly in their children. Maybe it harkens back to a more primative age, when we were more in tune with our other senses. My mother swears she could always smell a fever on me. I thought she was nuts, until I realized I could smell a fever on my own kids. Similarly, they smell "wrong" to me, when they first get home from school, but after they're home and hour or so, they smell "right" again. I can tell from the droop of their eyes if they have an ear infection, with nearly 100% accuracy.
My mom's phrase, when detecting illness in her children, was "You don't look right around the eyes." She was always correct, too -- we were sick.
