Healthy kid snacks

Klt86

Shannys smoothie thread reminded me that I've been meaning to ask you ladies a couple questions. I find a lot of you know much more about healthy food along with the pros and cons of certain things than the people I know.

We're on mostly finger foods now so I was wondering about a couple things-

Tofu- good or bad? Since its soy should it be avoided or is that more a preference? If it's a good addition what brand/kind?

Hummus-ok for under 1?

Any good additives to mix in her yogurt? She gets stonyfield plain full fat with some plum organics baby food for flavor.

mommylove

Sebastian started eating hummus right along with his others solids at 6 months, it is still one of his favorite snacks only now he dips carrot sticks or celery into it. :-)
Yogurt was then and is now always a favorite snack, as is cheese (shredded was his favorite method of consumption prior to 12 months). Once he was eating finger foods (around 7-8 months) I cut up bits of tomato, avocado, cucumbers without the skin, steamed apple slices, banana chunks, lunch meats, etc. Those were always good snack foods. I tried to avoid empty calories from crackers and such as much as possible, though he did enjoy PB&J's by that age as well. Graham crackers with a little peanut butter or apple butter spread were also great. He also ate whole wheat cheerios as a side to a fruit or veggie snack.

Admittedly there wasn't much that we avoided feeding him, ever...well except jars of baby food (I made it all fresh) and those baby cereals and crackers (mostly full of junk IMO). He even ate scrambled eggs and fish long before he was one...gasp! :-)

Oh and as far as mixing things into her yogurt...I combined all kinds of things...homemade applesauce, pears, peaches, mushed banana, etc.

Shaeley Mae

Tofu .....? Depends on which research you believe. Some say it's good, other say it's too high in estrogen. Of course there are also concerns about soy products from GMO soy beans.

Hummus ...? As long as she doesn't get excessive gassy from the beans and the garlic.

Yogurt ....? I always did (and still do) either granola or cottage cheese

K&H

I'm with Mommylove. We didn't do potatoes or breads until after her first birthday (and no meat still), but other than that she ate everything pretty much by 9 months. She was eating nut butters at that age, as well as seafood and shellfish. By her birthday she was eating eel, squid, lobster etc.. She tried potatoes at that point but won't eat them to this day (fine by me). Now at 2 she eats bread, sometimes, but isn't really a carb girl (which was the point, yay!).

For tofu, I would try firm, plain and cut it into cubes and see if she'll eat it. If so, yay!, lucky you! If not, you can gently mix it with some veggie puree to give it some flavor, or open up the world of herbs and spices! Once she's better at chewing, you can broil it to give it a little more texture/crunch/chewiness, but for now I would leave it pretty soft.

You can add wheat germ to her yogurt at this point, unless your family has some reason to delay wheat.

Try this website for tons of ideas:
http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/index.htm

palegreen

A friend of mine just turned me on to this website: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/
It's full of kid friendly ideas for healthy snacks and meals, such as: whole wheat zucchini muffins, pumpkin bread, veggie pancakes, easy cheesey crackers (similar to goldfish, but with healthy ingredients), homemade granola bars and Lara bars, etc.

I'll make a big batch of something and freeze it. That way, I can take things out as I need them so I'm not spending a lot of time in the kitchen. If I had to guess, Mika is probably on a similar level as G when it comes to eating solids (due to G's sensory and texture issues). If I break these types of food up into small finger foods, he has no problems with these sorts of foods. G loves hummus and has been eating it since around 8 or 9 months. If he gets hummus on his face, his skin gets a little rashy where the hummus was (goes away within an hour or two...I think it's due to the tahini, but who knows). Nothing terribly alarming, but due to that, I just make sure to keep his face clean whenever he eats it to prevent the redness.

Klt86

I always check wholesome baby before i give her anything, i just wanted to see what others thought on the tofu pretty much since i've heard different things. I try to stay away from carbs for the most part so she's filling up on healthy things like fruits and veggies. I love having bags of frozen veggies to steam. She does LOVE whole wheat ritz crackers but i cut her off because she preferred them over everything. We have the happy baby munchy things which she also loves but those are reserved for when i have to get something done and she is being unruly. We only started finger foods about a month ago and I'm so surprised how well she's done.

I have to be careful with things that constipate due to a medical issue she has so it's tricky sometimes balancing her diet. The only time she gets purees now is for that really, since it's an easy way to get prunes, pears and stuff like that into her, usually mixed with her morning yogurt. She does really like cheddar cheese cubes but the dr suggested cutting cheese and dairy other than yogurt out of her diet for a while. Any other tips on keeping her regular? I've started really pushing water (and adding a little pear juice when its really needed) and that seems to help a little.

I've seen flax seed and wheat germ mentioned, what are the benefits of these?

Klt86

Oh, and i've heard that the hummus gives a contact rash to a lot of babies!