Spices n Secrets

One of the best emotions that I experience nowadays is when my 13 months toddler finishes her bowl. Do you experience the same and agree with me?

Its such a joyous moment when the hygienically prepared meal is devoured by my hungry baby. And its an equally sad day, when she doesn't eat.

With time, I have come to know my daughter's favorites and hates. And with careful techniques, I mastered a way to feed her healthy and nutritious home-cooked food each day.

What's weird about her eating preferences is that she is okay with chewing chunky pieces of food but when its time for actual big meals like breakfast, lunch and dinner, she demands it to be pureed.

So, lets see what Baby Daisy eats in a typical day.

Daisy takes her first meal of the day anytime between 9am to 10am. She loves her wheat porridge in the morning and it has been her staple ever since she started on solids.

She is as fussy eater as any other child. The trick that has worked for me is called "starving". You maybe amazed and wonder how heartless I am but wait till you hear the end.

Before, when her father ate his breakfast or I had tea and biscuits, we would love to feed her. She would happily eat from our plates. However, what we did not understand is that we are filling her up before its time for her actual breakfast.

So, now when she wakes up we do not feed her anything and this trick builds up her appetite. If she wakes up at 8am, she only takes breastmilk and then nothing till its time for her wheat porridge.

These ingredients into her porridge is standard. But I do make some additions everyday. Like:

• Roasted and ground white sesame seeds
• Ground almonds
• Ground lotus seeds or makhana
• Oats powder
• Soya powder

As soon as she completes her morning nap and bath, she feels hungry for lunch. Some of the staples in her lunch are rice, pulses and vegetables.

Yet, each day it has different ingredients and therefore flavour.

She doesn't take non-veg everyday. She is a big lover of eggs and would gulp a meal that has eggs without any effort from my side.

But precisely because of this, I want her to develop a liking for meals that are egg-free.

There is no harm in feeding eggs or any kind of non-veg to your child each day, but what happens is that the time children wont get their "favorite" they will be fussy and cranky. And, this is a behavioral trait that stays throughout life. I want Daisy to eat whatever is being served and not always expect her favourite.

She did eat unpureed meals but lately she doesn't prefer it

 Carrots or Pumpkin always color the dish and make it sweeter

This one has eggs

Also, notice in the chart, the day she eats potato I don't give her rice.

I prepare her meal each day and the quantity of each ingredient is adjusted in a way that there are no leftovers.

I do not feed her a day old food. So, if I increase too many ingredients the quantity of the meal is a lot and doesn't finish in a day.

Moreover, one form of carbohydrate is enough for lunch. Rice and potato are both carbohydrates and provides energy with dietary fibre. So, easily they can replace each other.

After her afternoon nap, she likes to feed on something. And snacks is where she gets a lot of variety.

Elbow Pasta is her favorite and easier for her to eat in one bite

She takes the same lunch meal as dinner. I do not prepare anything different for dinner. A bowl of it with ghee or butter is what she likes.

Titbits are small portions or things she eats all day through. These are not snacks or complete meals because its portion size is very little.

So, Daisy nibbles on the following:

Mango Shake with No Added Sugar

Olives and bits of pasta from my plate

Methi Paratha
She likes the crispy covering more than the chicken part of the chicken cutlet
Sometimes in the evenings I eat cornflakes.
Daisy eats the fruits and crunchy cornflakes from my bowl.