It all started when I read the book Super Nutrition for Babies as per recommendation of my friend and blogger Jamie. This book completely changed my view of how we should feed our infants. The doctor who wrote the book advocates that food is the pathway to health. By supplying our bodies with the right nutrients we can better protect our bodies from contagious diseases, chronic diseases, obesity, and other illnesses related to deficiencies.
I am completely on board with this philosophy and have been for a while since learning more about nutrition through the wonderful Doctors and friends we have met through AdvoCare. AdvoCare advocates for the same holistic approach to health and wellness through proper nutrition, supplementation, and a healthy lifestyle. If I am going to help adults get healthy and give their bodies a fighting chance to stay that way why wouldn't I want to do the same for my own children?
Enter primal eating.
John and I have been about 90% paleo for 4 years now. Gluten and dairy will never enter our house due to our own allergies. So what is our plan for Caleb? Offer him baby super foods.
A few of these include:
Soft-boiled egg yolk
Egg yolks provide the "perfect protein" for babies. Keeping it semi-raw allows the heat-sensitive enzymes to remain in tack. The egg white is usually what people are allergic to, so just feeding the yolk to your baby reduces allergic reaction potential. I got some local organic eggs from a Farmer's Market to feed Caleb. He loved them! I did have to scramble the yolks a few times because the raw yolks gave him bad gas.
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| Do I have something on my face? |
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| Caleb loves to rake the scrambled yolks and shove them into his mouth |
Liver
liver is the best source of all most all known nutrients. It is a common misconception that animal livers hold toxins. If you get a liver from a healthy animal this shouldn't be a problem. Babies are notorious for loving liver and gobbling it up and Caleb sure does! I cooked organic chicken liver then froze it. I will give him a hunk frozen to gnaw on and he loves it! This is the food item he reaches for the most.
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| trying to fit the whole liver hunk into his mouth |
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| Gnawing on liver |
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| Taking a bit of liver |
Bone Broth
This is excellent for the digestive system because it contains gelatin, which is uniquely able to stimulate and support digestion. My friend MJ makes an organic bone broth that we LOVE. She simmers down the bones to much so that all the nutrients are in a highly absorbable form. I mix bone broth with Caleb's eggs and feed it to him with a spoon. When Caleb was sick with a fever a few weeks ago I fed him 1-2oz of bone broth in a bottle and his fever broke within 2 hours. Coincidence or not I'm not sure, but at least I know its great to feed a sick kid broth!
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| Little sick Caleb fighting off a fever |
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| This is usually how I feed Caleb bone broth. I put it on a spoon and let him control how much he eats |
Cod-liver oil
CLO (for short) contains copious amounts of DHA, which supports nervous system function, cellular communication, and helps probiotics colonize the gut. We have not introduced this one to Caleb yet but I am excited to soon!
STAY TUNED
I will be doing a future post on a few more foods we have fed Caleb as well as on the method of feeding, called Baby-Led Weaning. This method allows him to control what he chooses to eat, how much, and helps develop self-feeding skills. This is why you see pictures of him feeding himself instead of me feeding him pureed versions of foods or baby food.
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| Self-feeding champion |
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