Jonathan’s Meal

Overnight Change

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Strangely, a big eater and a not-a-fussy-eater like Jonathan boy is refusing his formula milk for the first time.  Not a new taste to him. No additional stuff added.

The last he had his formula milk is last Friday afternoon and he finished 8oz as usual.  Then on Saturday night, before bedtime, he took a sip and rejected it. I thought he was still full from all the junk food he ate. On Sunday morning till today, he still refused to drink and pushed away the bottle from me. 

Changed to a fancy milk bottle, sippy cup, pour into his favourite cup with straw, added ice cubes, chilled……Many ways I tried to coax him but failed.  Darling suggested that perhaps it’s time to add milo to his milk. Maybe he’s following my footsteps…I grew up with milo! I don’t think so and I’m not doing that for certain reasons.

I’m not too worried about this change as Jonathan boy is still eating his solid well. He will still ask for BM but I am not producing that much anymore.

Is this a phase? How long will this last? I’m wondering, staring at the stocks of formula milk I have.

Jonathan’s Meal #4

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Haven’t I mentioned before that Jonathan boy don’t chew his food till fine enough for his throat but rather swallowing it till he gets choke? He “cough” everytime he gulps from his bottle and take a deep breathe after he finishes as though he was holding his breath. Because of this, I delayed in giving him macaroni as I think it may be too hard and big for him to chew with his gums. But now, since both his upper and lower first molar had erupted, he should be able to handle those macaroni.

On the safe side, I shall mash the macaroni since this is his first try of macaroni and he is not the kind that will chew his food but swallow. I find it hard to mash the cooked macaroni as it is slippery. Another option is to use ABC pasta but since I seldom see them in supermart and it’s more expensive compare to normal macaroni, so I had this idea of crunching the macaroni using the stone grinder before putting it to boil. For the soup base, the stock was made up of anchovies, red dates, carrot and tomato. I added some tofu when it was almost done.

He likes it. I can try other macaroni recipes next time. Macaroni bolognaise…fried macaroni…macaroni cheese…

Squeeky Clean

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When Jonathan boy was barely 1 year old and his molars have yet to erupt, I gave him baby biscuits to keep himself entertained while we enjoy our meals peacefully. Now that his two upper first molars has fully erupted with the right bottom first molar and two upper cuspid erupting, he could enjoy more table food.

While dining out, I will normally call for a plate of plain rice just for Jonathan boy. If he is lucky, he gets to have some tofu, fish or vegetables to compliment the rice. I’ll leave the rice in front of him with a spoon or sometimes he demand for our chopsticks or fork.  And there he goes pooking or scooping the rice. When he gets fedup from no rice going into his mouth, there comes his fingers picking up the chunk of rice to feed his hungry stomach. That can keep him occupied throught the whole meal time without any fuss.

Now, Daddy & Mommy can enjoy meals peacefully with a MESS to clean up after that!

P/S: Always check that I have the bib and extra clothing to change if needed.

Jonathan’s Meal #3

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Darling loves bitter gourd so he thinks his Junior has too favour bitter gourd like him. He has been pestering me to let Jonathan boy try out bitter gourd. I was a bit reluctant cause from the name you already know it’s bitter so do you think a baby would like it?  I, myself don’t like bitter stuff. I only take bitter gourd if it is cooked with scrambled egg, tau chu (fermented soya beans) or deep fried (for banana leaf rice).  They say bitter is good. That’s the reason all medicines are bitter especially chinese medicines.

So here, I bought the baby bitter gourd. I cut into thin strips so that at least if Jonathan boy dislike it, I can put aside the bitter gourd but give him the porridge only instead. I put in some diced carrot and wolfberry for the colour. I also added red dates to give some sweetness to the bitterness. Since this is a first try, so no fish is added otherwise some fish or meat will provide additional nutrients.

I tasted the porridge myself before giving it to Jonathan. Bleeek…it’s bitter. For that moment I thought the porridge will go to waste. First try…give him the porridge first and he swallows it. Second try…give him the bitter gourd and he chews it. Lastly…he finished everything as though he has lost his taste bud.

Since Jonathan boy can accept the bitter gourd, I chopped the bitter gourd on my next try so that it mix well with the porridge and I added some fish too.

I read from some articles that to reduce the bitterness, the bitter gourd is salted and exposed to direct sunlight for few hours. After few hours, its salty, bitter water is reduced by squeezing out the excess by hand. Then rinse with water a few times. I’m going to try this method on my next cooking. So, happy trying!

Jonathan’s Meal #2

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Jonathan boy’s porridge on weekends has the most variety of ingredients as I have more time compare to working days where my time is limited.  And since Jonathan can chew quite well now, I decided to cut the potato into tiny cubes rather than grated potato. To add some colour to the porridge, I put in a cut of salmon. The porridge will turn out quite plain with just potato and salmon so I think some raisins will give a sweet-sour taste and additional colour to the porridge.

It turn up pretty good. The taste blended well. To avoid Jonathan boy from swallowing the whole raisin without chewing, I don’t mix the raisin with porridge on his spoon. I fed him raisin only so that he will chew and be able to taste the raisin. Otherwise, I mash the raisin a little and mix with the porridge. You can substitute raisins with red dates or wolfberry.

Jonathan’s Meal #1

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While everyone is talking about Bento, I should start sharing on a baby’s meal. I’m a new mother and still learning and experimenting on what is best for a baby’s diet. Jonathan boy is my experiment. Glad to say that he will wallop all kinds of food except Avocado so far.

I’ve also shared in my previous post on how I prepare the porridge. Just dump everything in the ceramic pot.

So let’s see what is on Jonathan’s dinning table today.

Grated beetroot and florets of broccoli

Beets or beetroots contain a wonderful amount of calcium, potassium and even vitamin A.  Whereas, broccoli is very high in Vitamin C and is a great source of soluble fiber.