Be Prepared

by Gary Greenberg

  EATING Like a Person

  When you started your baby on solids, did you stop and think about how unsolid those foods were? Everything is pretty much the same consistency—mush. Well, by 10-12 months many babies rebel against the mush and start craving finger foods more and more. They look at the various shades of brownish slop on their plate, and then the burger and fries on your plate, and you can’t blame them for trying to fling themselves out of their high chairs in protest.

  Can a three-course meal be crammed into a tiny jar?

  Not to mention the fact that the store-bought baby foods created for the ten-to twelve-month-old market are suspect, to say the least. Would you eat a jar of orange-colored paste labeled Pears and Chicken? What about an inky gel that goes by the name Blueberry Buckle? And consider, if you will, Turkey, Rice, and Garden Vegetables. Can they take an entire three-course meal and cram it into a tiny jar? Is that even legal?

  It’s definitely time to make finger foods a more visible part of your baby’s mealtime. They are easy to prepare, there’s plenty of variety, and you don’t have to worry about running out of those suspicious little jars. And not only will your baby relish the independence of controlling his own food intake, he’ll also be developing his pincer grasp, squeezing together his thumb and forefinger in order to pick things up.

  Here are some things to keep in mind when offering finger foods:

  Keep the pieces small. When serving finger foods, make sure to keep the individual pieces to about the size of a Cheerio. Anything larger could be a choking hazard.

  Finger foods give your baby a chance to develop his pincer grasp.

  Have patience. It will take time to figure out the culinary particulars of your squirt. Let him experiment with a wide variety of flavors and textures, and see which ones he gravitates toward. It may take up to ten exposures for him to decide if something gets the green light.

  Put it in piles. A good way to serve finger foods is to cut up the little pieces and put them in piles on his high chair tray. If each food is in its own individual pile, he can easily access the stuff he likes and ignore the rest.

  Babies need to eat less than you think. At this stage, a baby should be eating between 4 and 8 tablespoons of fruits and vegetables, 2-4 tablespoons of protein, and 8 tablespoons of rice, cereal, potatoes, or pasta (or half a slice of bread) per day. Of course, this is all supplemented by milk.

  Give milk after food. At least 50% of your baby’s nutrition is still coming from formula or breast milk. You’ll have much more success with finger foods if you hold off on the milk until after you give him the solid stuff.

  Make it interesting. Some babies are slow to adapt to finger foods, and still prefer the stuff in the jars. As with most baby-related activities, if you can make something seem exciting, your baby will be more likely to take the bait. You can make finger food more alluring by melting cheese on top of it, placing individual morsels on fanned-out measuring spoons, or covering the pile of food with a plastic cup so the baby has to lift off the cup to get at the pieces. Pretend that lifting the cup is strictly taboo.

  The Sippy Cup

  You are eventually going to have to phase out the bottle, and the sippy cup is a good way to start the transition to the big cup. Because sippy cups are spill-proof, your little hellion can throw it out of his car seat with no ill effects. Some youngsters are given a regular drinking cup at this age, but very little liquid ends up in their mouths.

  You can create a starter sippy cup from a baby bottle and a drinking straw. Although your baby will be learning a new way to drink, he’ll still have the familiarity and comfort of his bottle.

  Cut a small X in a baby bottle nipple. If the X is too big, it won’t be leak-proof.

  Pour your baby’s liquid of choice into the bottle.

  Place the nipple, inverted, into the bottle.

  Screw on the ring.

  Stick a straw through the X in the nipple.

  * * *

  Veggie Booty

  We would only mention the brand of a product if it’s something really unique and helpful. Veggie Booty fits the bill perfectly. Picture, if you will, a cheese doodle, but instead of cheese, it contains spinach, kale, cabbage, carrots, and broccoli. And believe it or not, they don’t taste half bad. And many babies go nuts for them.

  Veggie Booty is carried in select supermarkets and health food stores. You can also order it online at www.robscape.com. As a snack food, they are a much better choice than pork rinds.

  * * *

  A List of Finger Foods for Your Baby to Eat and Throw

  Cottage cheese

  Ricotta cheese

  Soft, steamed carrots

  Cooked poultry

  Peaches

  Toasted whole wheat bread (without nuts)

  Bagel

  Cream cheese on crackers

  Avocado

  Bananas

  Boiled yolks (but no whites until after a year)

  Dry cereal

  Well-cooked pasta (spirals or shell shapes)

  Yogurt

  Pancakes

  Breadsticks

  French fries

  Graham crackers

  Pickles (cut extra small)

  Macaroni and cheese

  Ground beef

  Tofu

  Sweet potatoes

  Be sure to keep the pieces no bigger than a Cheerio.

  Eleven Foods You Should Never Give Your Baby

  The following foods have been known to cause allergic reactions or health problems, or are choking hazards, and should be avoided:

  Honey

  Cow’s milk

  Egg whites

  Citrus fruits and juice

  Peanut butter

  Whole grapes

  All seeds and nuts

  Blueberries

  Popcorn

  Raw vegetables

  Hot dogs

  Also, limit foods high in saturated fat, salt, or added sugar and foods that contain artificial sweeteners.

  BABIES and Restaurants

  When going out to a restaurant with your small fry, keep your expectations low. Don’t expect to enjoy your meal. Don’t expect to converse with your partner. And don’t expect your fellow diners to be anything but irritated by your presence. And if by chance your baby is angelic, count your blessings and wolf down your meal as quickly as possible.

  Of course, you should refrain from taking your baby anyplace fancy. If someone is spending $40 for an entrée the size of a hockey puck, they deserve a baby-free dining experience. But if you take the urchin to a family-style restaurant and you get dirty looks from the other patrons, then it’s their problem, not yours.

  How can you tell which restaurants are appropriate for babies and which aren’t? Look at the lists of clues on the following page.

  Babies love giant guitars.

  * * *

  Baby-Friendly Clues

  Crayons

  High chairs

  Televisions

  A drive-thru window

  Plastic trays

  Neon

  “No Shirt No Shoes No Service” sign on door

  Waiters with name tags

  Ketchup on the table

  A man in a giant foam mouse costume

  * * *

  * * *

  Baby-Unfriendly Clues

  Tablecloths

  Candles

  Those giant pepper mills

  Waiters with crumbers in their pockets

  Napkins made into origami shapes

  Water served in wine glasses

  The phrase “prix fixe”

  More than two forks at each place setting

  A bathroom attendant

  Anything served “under glass”

  * * *

  If you don’t get the chance to case the joint, be aware that some genres of restaurants are known for being particularly conducive to family dining:

  Sports bars are good because the high noise level can mask baby crie
s, and the multiple televisions can keep your baby transfixed.

  Mexican restaurants are usually loud and casual, and some feature mariachi bands.

  Seafood restaurants can have fish or lobster tanks and those little oyster crackers that your munchkin can chew on.

  Chinese restaurants feature those crunchy noodles you get when you first sit down. Fried rice dishes are good for babies, and a fortune cookie, broken into little pieces and placed in a pile in front of the baby, ran keep him busy for a good fifteen minutes.

  Salad bars are great because food can be on your baby’s plate within thirty seconds and you can offer him a hunch of stuff from which to sample.

  How to Make It Through the Meal

  Go early. Especially for the first couple of trials, go as early as you can. Most restaurants are pretty empty from 5:30-6:30, and if there are other patrons, they are usually senior citizens, who just may enjoy the company.

  Pre-feed the baby. If he’s starving when you enter the restaurant, you are in for a long dinner. Feed him a bit before you go out. You can also order over the phone, and make sure the waiter brings bread and crackers as you sit down.

  Choose your seats strategically. The best place to sit is near an exit, so you can immediately walk out if the baby starts crying. Stay away from the kitchen, so you don’t have the waiters running by with hot trays. Booths are usually a bad idea, because then the high chair will be jutting out into the aisle and blocking traffic. Putting the baby in front of a window or fish tank may help entertain him during the meal.

  Bring activities. Toys and books will help get him through the meal. If you forget toys, the resourceful dad can use whatever he has on hand.

  Sugar packets can be made into impromptu rattles (just don’t let him try to eat them).

  A plastic “to go” cup with a lid on top and an ice cube inside can fascinate him for surprisingly long periods.

  Cold spoons can be effective chew toys.

  Take it outside. At the first sign of tears, pick him up and go out to the parking lot. At the next outburst, have your partner go out, so both of your meals will get cold evenly. Order items that will taste good lukewarm, cold, or reheated from a to-go carton an hour later. If you are by yourself with the baby, it’s probably best to just go for pizza or order take-out.

  Create a no-fly zone. No food or drinks of any kind should be allowed within the baby’s lunge radius. At the beginning of the meal, put a toy near the center of the table to see how far your baby can fully extend his arm, then make sure nothing except the baby’s food and toys enter the zone. Many waiters, either absentmindedly or passive-aggressively, choose to put all the hottest items in front of the baby, so be sure to remind them to adhere to the no-fly zone.

  Tip like a big shot. If you’ve ever waited tables, then you know how disgusting it is to pick tip piles of half-eaten mush from the floor. So before you leave, either pick up most of it yourself, or make sure to compensate your waiter for his or her troubles in the form of a big tip. And remember—your baby has taken up an adult’s seat, so you can tip as if he had ordered an adult-priced meal. Your servers will remember your generosity (or lack thereof) the next time you walk in.

  GREAT OUTINGS 10-12 Months

  Your almost-one-year-old has had it with sitting still and staring straight ahead. He now seeks action and adventure. Some good activities for this age group include:

  Construction Sites Dump trucks unloading, cranes lifting up girders, supports being driven into the ground, cement being poured and smoothed, and bricks being laid—you can’t beat the sights, sounds, and smells of a construction site. And your baby may enjoy it, too.

  Birthday Parties You’ll no doubt be invited to birthday parties of babies born around the same time as yours, and you should take every opportunity to go. It’s a painless way to spend an afternoon with your sprout. The venue will most likely be babyproofed, they’ll have snacks and baby-oriented activities, and you can compare notes with other parents. Also, seeing all of those babies will help you realize how advanced yours is.

  Pizza Parlor This is a great activity. You order a pizza and then watch it being kneaded, tossed, and topped. Then you can start teaching the baby about the gustatory power of pizza.

  Feeding the Ducks Have the baby throw small pieces of bread to the ducks. Make sure that you’re holding on to him at all times, because mallards can get a bit aggressive, and you don’t want your baby having Hitchcockian duck nightmares when he grows up. If you don’t live around ducks, substitute squirrels or pigeons.

  Department Stores Department stores have two things going for them—they have a whole bunch of items under one root and they are usually understaffed. The baby can start off crawling around in the carpet department, bounce on over to bedding, and when he’s ready for a nap, you can find an out-of-the-way couch where you can both some shut-eye.

  SKILL Builders 10-12 Months

  Pushcart Bullfight

  In this game, the baby gets to practice his walking skills and you get to brush up on your matador moves. Have him stand on one side of the room with his push-style walker, and you stand on the other waving a colorful towel or blanket. Motion the baby to come over to you with a “Toro, toro!” and when he does, swoop the towel over his head and run to the other side of the room. The baby will most likely get excited and give chase.

  Builds balance, coordination, and walking skills.

  Note: Push walkers are great for babies this age, but make sure to get one with a sturdy, heavy base so the baby won’t topple when leaning on it.

  The Dad Hammock

  Lay a blanket, towel, or sheet on the floor and place the baby in the center. Grab the two corners nearest his head with one hand and the two corners nearest his feet with the other hand. Make sure you’ve got a tight grip, and that the baby can peek out through a crack in the center. Lift the blanket and gently swing him back and forth, being careful to avoid furniture.

  If your baby is at all hesitant or skeptical about this activity, first demo it with his stuffed animals while he watches, and then ask him if he wants a turn.

  Builds trust, spatial awareness, and Dad’s traps and delts.

  The DECOY Drawer

  Your electronic gear is part of what makes you who yon are. With your cell phone, beeper, PDA, and universal remote by your side, you feel a sense of oneness with the world—always reachable, never bored, confident to take on whatever adventure life, or cable, throws your way.

  Somehow the baby senses the power these objects possess and will take every opportunity to seize and/or destroy them.

  You decide to buy the baby colorful plastic versions of his own. That way he’ll have his toys to play with, and you’ll have yours. But of course the baby immediately throws aside the imposters goes back to the genuine articles.

  That’s why you need to create a decoy drawer full of old phones, beepers, PDAs, and remotes, not to mention wallets, keys, credit cards, calculators, and VHS tapes. The drawer should be at a good baby height, and all items need to be real but non-functioning. That way when the baby opens the drawer, he’ll think he’s hit the mother lode.

  You’ve got to sell the fake.

  But this deception won’t work unless you sell the fake. Every time the baby goes into the drawer, you’ve got to give him a look of reproach that reassures him that he’s doing something strictly off-limits.

  You can create a decoy drawer in almost any room in the house. It will provide hours of fun for the baby and give you some much-needed downtime.

  Creating a Decoy Drawer

  Kitchen Decoy Drawer

  Pots and pans, plastic cups and saucers, soup containers, wooden spoons, egg cartons.

  Bathroom Decoy Drawer

  Old washed-out shampoo bottles, a plastic soap dish, empty Band-Aid boxes, a childproof handheld mirror.

  Home-Office Decoy Drawer

  Unlock one drawer of the file cabinet and fill file folders with scrap paper and junk mail. Who need
s a shredder when you’ve got a baby in the house? (Install rubber stoppers to prevent finger slams and make sure the baby doesn’t eat the paper.)

  RIGGING EMERGENCY DIAPERS

  It’s 4 a.m. and the baby is crying. You guess it’s a discomfort cry, and your theory is confirmed by the pungent smell that hits you when you enter the room. You reach into the drawer for a clean diaper and come up with—nothing. You are completely out and you are going to have to wait until morning to replenish your stock.

  You assume this won’t happen to you? You’ll be lucky if it happens only once.

  The prepared dad knows how to rig up a makeshift diaper for just such an emergency. Your homemade diaper won’t need to be super-absorbent, ultra-comfortable, or aesthetically pleasing. It just needs to work well enough to get you through the night, so you can mobilize at dawn to buy some real ones.

  * * *

  Instructions:

  Lay out the dishtowel and place the sock in the center, lengthwise.

  Fold over the sides of the dishtowel to make a square.

  Lay baby on top of dishtowel, fold the bottom part between his legs and up so it rests on top of his midsection.

  Tuck the front corners inside of the back corners and secure with duct tape. Make sure that it’s not too tight, and that the duct tape doesn’t get near the baby’s skin.

  Warning: Make sure you have a pair of safety scissors on hand. Otherwise, it may be difficult to extricate the baby.