Meal plan

My kid friendly meal plan for the week of June 17th 2013

It's funny that I write "kid friendly" when most likely Aiden will end up eating pasta with butter or chicken nuggets for dinner every night.   His food issues are becoming unbearable and his fear of new food is making me really worry.  I am terrified every day that he's not getting enough nutrients.  He also stopped taking his vitamins for some reason which means he's hardly getting any protein, calcium or vitamins.  He's always tired and keeps telling us "I'm not feeling good" and then lays down on the couch.

Monday

Veggie Pasta (this recipe)

Tuesday

Bean Burger (this recipe)

Wednesday

Teriyaki Chicken (for husband & kids) / Tofu (for me & kids) with rice and veggies

Thursday

Veggie risotto

Friday

Out to dinner

Saturday

Veggie Lasagna

Sunday

Vegan Pizza 

my two sleepy heads

Picky eater or food neophobia

It has been over a week since I broke down and took all the pasta from our house and put it in a big garbage bag and stored it away.  There were about 20 boxes of pasta in that bag. We told Aiden that the mailman took it.   The reason I did this is because he woke up asking for pasta. For lunch he wants pasta. For dinner he wants pasta. I feel like he's getting worse and worse with his pasta addiction so I figured kicking the pasta habit cold turkey would be the best route.

I get so many comments from strangers, friends and family...

                "Just let him be"

                "He won't starve"

                "force it"

                "my kid is the same way"

Well...

                - We tried

                - Yes he will

                - We tried and it back fired

                - really?

Last night I hit a new low.  I tried forcing him to eat pasta with broccoli.  I put him in his little brothers crib every time he wouldn't eat it and only take him out of the crib if he tells me he will eat it.  So after the 6th or 7th time in the crib and many many tears, he fell asleep, hungry.  He lost weight since we took pasta out which made me realize that the comment "he won't starve" is not necessarily true.  I  feel terrible for trying to force him to eat, especially since it didn't work. It only made him resent me.  I'm scared daily that he doesn't eat enough nutrients.   His little brother is starting to pick up his bad habits and he only wants the same food as his big brother, Aiden.   So now we need to separate them during meal time so Aiden can't influence Dylan.  

I did some research online and came across this video "ExtremelyPicky Eaters Fear Trying New Foods" There is an actual name for this -- Food Neophobia.  I'm curious if Aiden has this or if his fear of food is due to his food allergies.  Aiden gags and hits his face when we try to give him something new to eat.  I can tell that he is curious about certain foods but he can't get himself to try it. Even watermelon was an issue this weekend.

Aiden's will only eat the following 10 foods.  I cannot imagine that this little 3.5 year old boy is getting enough nutrients, even while taking vitamin supplements.

Plain granola (most of the time)

pancakes/waffles (rarely)

toast with jelly (sometimes)

chicken nuggets (sometimes)

Alphabet fries (most of the times)

Bagels (every time)

pasta with safe butter (every time)

muffins (all the time)

Cereals (most of the time)

Corn on the cob (all the time)

But his options are endless.

I'm going to step back and let him go back to eating pasta. 

Stressed to the newest level

Having a picky eater is stressful.  Having a picky eater with food allergies is painful.  Having TWO picky eaters can make you go crazy!  My 1 year old (no allergies) is becoming worse than my 3 year old (allergies) and it's making me go nuts! 

We finally realized that my little guy is milk intolerant but it's not the worst news since we don't have dairy in the house anyways and because it's not going to kill him if he accidentally has dairy.  Since he started eating solids we gave him loads of varieties and never held back when it came to feeding him. He ate everything we gave him and we were excited to finally have a child who eats.  That all ended last week and today I couldn't take it anymore and left the house.  I left my two hungry kids with my poor husband. 

My 3.5 year old who is allergic to milk, eggs, nuts (and avoiding soy) only eats chicken nuggets, pasta, plain granola and sometimes toast with jelly.   But out of those 4 items, he usually just wants pasta.  He wakes up asking for pasta. Wants pasta for lunch and for dinner. Can a child survive eating only these foods? No veggies and no fruit and hardly any protein. I wonder how he even has energy.  We try every single day to give him some sort of veggies. Today was the first time I sent him up to his room and into time-out because I made him toast but he didn't want it so he asked for nuggets, I made nuggets and wouldn't eat them so he asked for pasta.  I'm constantly throwing food out.  So I couldn't take it anymore and threw him into time-out and then in his room.  Not my proudest moment but we all at some point just loose it.

My 1.5 year old has a fear of food being hot lately.  I'm pretty sure my nanny burned him sometime last week because this change was very sudden.  She, of course, denied it.   Even when it's something completely cold he will freak out that it's hot. He use to eat everything and since last week he barely eats anything.  Today he only had a smoothie and plain pasta. 

I wish I was home with them every day than I could work on their eating habits.  Even then I wonder if it would make a difference.  I'm so worn out just trying to feed them.  Even with their restrictions there are so many options which makes it so much more frustrating.  If there were no options than I would understand.

Labeling

When I send my son to school with a safe treat, I always label it with a genetic "I have food allergies" sticker.  This way I know it will not get mixed up with other treats.  He's only in a Pre-K 3's program so there is no lunch, just a snack.  They normally all have a snack that everyone can have, including my son.  But on a few occasions I had to send something safe with him and this gave me a little piece of mind.

Next year Aiden will be going to public school Pre-k program.  There will be a lot more kids in his class and I'm pretty certain they will not accommodate my son like his current private school does. I suddenly did not like the simple "I have food allergies" sticker anymore and after doing some google searches, I came across Name Bubbles.  I ordered a set of personal food allergy stickers (like the photo below) and a set of name stickers to label his beach toys for the pool.

I received my labels last night and I'm completely in love with the look and the feel of them.  I was able to add his full name, his allergies and a contact number for me and my husband.  If there are ever any issues, our number is right there on his sippy cup, on his lunch box or on his backpack. They are the perfect size and really look amazing.  They are dishwasher, laundry and freezer safe so one sticker will last for a while.

I'm probably going to order more before school starts in September.

Little things like this makes our lives just a tad easier when dealing with kids with food allergies.

NAME BUBBLES LINK

Planning ahead

I finally learned how to plan ahead with dinners.  This has saved me so much stress and time and now I actually have time to play with the kids because I no longer pace around the kitchen trying to figure out what to make for dinner.

I created a spreadsheet with a list of all dinners I have made which have worked out for the family. On a separate tab I have a list like the one below..  (Green is a meat option for my husband and blue is a no-meat option for myself. Both options are safe for Aiden and Dylan)

Every Friday I go through the list of dinners and write down what we will eat the following week. Below the list I write down a shopping list of the things that I need and over the weekend I go shopping. Many times I have most of these things in the fridge already.

Of course things don't always go as planned. Thursday my husband ended up eating left overs so I will make Risotto tonight. 

My next step is trying to figure out the meals that are good as leftovers and making extra on Mondays and Wednesdays so that we can have left overs on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

This works great for my family and it saves us money too!

Dinner time

I cook at home almost every day and it's always safe for Aiden. We made our house safe for him so he never has to hear us say "you can't have this because you're allergic to it" since he will have to hear it enough outside of the house.  His school is great when it comes to his allergies and offers safe snacks for the entire class. It is very rare where he is given a "special" cookie and the rest of the class has something else.  Even the parents have been amazing and have made sure Aiden is a part of the birthday or holiday celebrations and made safe snacks which Aiden can also eat.  I thought I would never let Aiden eat from someone else kitchen because he is so sensitive to even cross contamination, but these parents have assured me and dealt with my 100 questions about how things are made.

Our pantry has all safe foods. Our freezer has coconut ice cream.  I bake safe breads, cookies and cakes weekly so he is never limited to what he can have.  Yet, with all these measures he is scared of food.

Last night I made a milk/soy/egg/nut free broccoli risotto that was out of this world delicious! My 14 month old devoured three bowls of it.  But as soon as I asked Aiden to try a little he broke down. I didn't even put the fork near his mouth because I know if I did, he would have one of his episodes.  We learned the hard way not to trick him into trying something new.  You know, pretend you're putting a chicken nugget in his mouth but really it's guacamole.  We did that a few times and it took us hours to calm him down. At times he would start hitting his mouth. Rub his tongue on his shirt as if he's having an allergic reaction. Walk around with his mouth open crying.  It's really heart breaking.  We know guacamole is safe for him. He use to eat it daily but then he just stopped.  Same thing goes for so many other foods. Even simple foods.  He's even scared of fruit.  I know kids are smarter than we give them credit for, but I'm really worried.  I thought this would get easier with time and yes, there are things that did get easier, but so much of it became harder.

I'm hoping with age, he will learn to trust us and start trying new foods.

I can't be any more in love ...

Safe and Healthy Fats

List of some healthy fats...

Coconut butter / oil - It has a strong coconut flavor so I can't really trick Aiden, but my 14 month old seems to love it.  I add it to bread, pasta, smoothies

Avocado - Plain, sushi or guacamole style. Use kid friendly chopsticks for a more fun way to eat them.

Hummus - Aiden use to be allergic to sesame so we started making our own and it's actually very easy.  Too bad Aiden isn't a fan of hummus.

Nuts and Seeds - Obviously nuts only depend on the allergy and if you're allergic to peanuts, it's really hard to find other nuts without the worry of cross contamination so it's always best to avoid all nuts.  But seeds also have amazing fats! flax seeds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds.

Olive Oil - You can add it to pretty much anything