This thread was helpful for me as I'm trying to find ideas of table foods that are easy to send to daycare for my 10-month old. Once she turns 1 yr she will move to a classroom where they all feed themselves so the pressure is now on!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're in this same challenge. Do you guys send 'back up' foods if DC doesnt want to eat what you've sent. Some days DD eats lentils like they're candy, some days she wants nothing to do with them! I worry about her not wanting what I"ve sent & being hungry/cranky all day

What you are suggesting here seems to me to be the root of many coming food struggles.

Just provide some interesting tasty food and let the kid eat as much of it as they like. Don't focus so much on what they will prefer to eat from day to day.

No it doesn't.

Yes it does. But if you want to worry about how much they eat everyday and stress and cook them special menus then go ahead. If you're considering sending more than one option for lunch you are setting yourself up to be a short order cook. That's the way it goes honey. Just send her one choice, her bottles, and that's it. She will learn that she has to eat what she is offered when she is hungry. Like I said, if you don't want to do that that's fine. But you're only making it harder on yourself and her. =)

Anonymous wrote:We're in this same challenge. Do you guys send 'back up' foods if DC doesnt want to eat what you've sent. Some days DD eats lentils like they're candy, some days she wants nothing to do with them! I worry about her not wanting what I"ve sent & being hungry/cranky all day

My ped advised me to not be a short order cook. DC needs to learn that foods are offered at every meal. If you eat them, great. If you don't, then you don't eat again until the next meal. They learn fast.

We also did baby led weaning and as I'm cooking dinner the night before, I have a to-go container or two set aside for me to put food in before we eat dinner. He's 9 months and eats pretty much everything we do, but I have eliminated salt while cooking (we salt at the table but are finding we don't need salt as much as we thought!). Tomorrow he's having shredded grilled chicken (I "shave" it and make it into little meatballs to make it easier for them to give it to him), cubes of fresh peaches, zucchini casserole (basically zucchini cooked in a yogurt cheese sauce), and little pasta wheels. I try not to send stuff that's messy for them to feed him, so things like banana slices, blueberries (I halve them just to make them easier to eat if they're bigger), shredded pork, cooked tofu cubes (this makes a great finger food if you do the extra firm or firm and cook it like a stir fry but not stir it up too much), cheese sticks (tiny sticks of cut cheddar, etc.), whole grain bread cubes, sweet potato cubes, and I always put some Cheerios in a baggie in case he needs an extra snack while the older kids are eating their snack. He gets mad when other people eat around him, now!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're in this same challenge. Do you guys send 'back up' foods if DC doesnt want to eat what you've sent. Some days DD eats lentils like they're candy, some days she wants nothing to do with them! I worry about her not wanting what I"ve sent & being hungry/cranky all day

What you are suggesting here seems to me to be the root of many coming food struggles.

Just provide some interesting tasty food and let the kid eat as much of it as they like. Don't focus so much on what they will prefer to eat from day to day.

Agree with this PP. Don't worry so much about whether DB eats what you've sent. Not a big deal.

I send veggie purees mixed with quinoa or lentils, hard boiled egg, yogurt mixed with fruit puree, black beans, etc. Daycare will dice their regular menu for babies, so that way she gets fresh fruit, cooked veggies, quiche, and meat.

Anonymous wrote:Spreads on soft bread-- cream cheese, almond butter, hummus, guacamole

Many places won't allow tree nuts or peanuts. I'd try sunbutter.

I'd also try Japanese rice balls (probably minus the seaweed):
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/onigiri---japanese-rice-balls/