Ryan and Debi & Toren

6 months

Toren had his 6 months doctor’s visit on Friday.

New stats:

  • weight = 18lbs 10 ounces (75th percentile)
  • height = 27 inches (75th percentile)
  • head circumference = I forget the number, but it was 60th percentile

By all counts he’s healthy (had 1 minor cold so far).  He is reaching for everything, is almost instantly bored with it once he has it, and loves to drop stuff to our tile floor, especially if it makes loud sounds.

I do have an advice request for all the parents out there.  As you’ll see in the upcoming videos, Toren is now a “solid” food eating machine.  Our pediatrician, once she found out he was digging solid food, recommended we bump him up to three meals a day over the next couple months.  We also need to find some food for him that is high in protein so he’ll have a balanced diet once he is weaned from breast milk (another 6 months or so).  As vegetarians, we’d prefer to avoid meat.  So, if anyone out there has baby food recommendations for high protein dishes sans meat, we’d really appreciate them.

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6 responses to “6 months”

  1. Dean Avatar
    Dean

    But your baby isn’t vegetarian like you, is he? Not trying to be to controversial but enforcing a dietary restriction for arbitrary reasons is no better or worse than enforcing a dietary restriction for religious reasons. Shouldn’t they get to choose their own likes and dislikes?

    Speaking as a complete non-parent, so feel free to ignore.

    Reply
  2. ryan Avatar
    ryan

    You’re absolutely right. We have no intention of forcing Toren to be a vegetarian. If he wants to eat meat, he is completely free to do so. The issue here, of course, is that he is too young to make that decision. Us not feeding him meat is more of a convenience thing at the moment than anything else as we don’t eat meat at home. (FYI – I do eat meat these days when I travel or am otherwise out and at about and it would inconvenience people or it is otherwise hard to find protein-rich vegetarian food.) So, if we can make a vegetarian diet work for him until he is old enough to decide for himself, great! Easy for us and it shouldn’t make a difference to him. If not, we’ll feed him meat. And if/when he decides he wants to eat meat, no problem. He may have to cook it himself, but that is not an issue over which I would fight with my son.

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  3. Dean Avatar
    Dean

    But so many of these things are set so very early in childhood. Ever wonder why I don’t like plain milk, yogurt, or similar dairy products? It’s not because of lactose intolerance but rather because my parents believed some bunk circa 1980’s knowledge about milk being harmful. They never fed me milk and so therefore I never developed a taste for it.

    Again, I’m not a parent so my opinion counts for sh*t, but vegetarianism, like one’s religion, seems to be one of those things ingrained very early in life and changing/leaving one’s preferences in these matters later in life seems to be one of the harder things to do.

    Reply
  4. ryan Avatar
    ryan

    I understand your point. I don’t think Toren will get an exclusively vegetarian diet. In all likelihood I will occasionally feed him meat. I have nothing against him eating meat. In fact, we already let him try far more than our pediatrician wants us to (we let him nibble on pretty much everything we eat). If he finds early on that he wants to eat meat, so be it. However, eating lots of meat isn’t good for you (though eating some is). But we are very committed to the idea of Toren not being a food neophobe. So, we will expose him to as much as we can. For instance, I can already tell you that he likes: banana peppers, pickles, starbursts, chocolate, bananas, sweet potatoes, vegetarian sausage, bread, garlic bread, bread sticks, squash, green beans, peas, apples, and applesauce. He’s probably tried more things, but that’s what I remember off the top of my head. What doesn’t he like: rice cereal and olives. So far, he isn’t very picky. We hope it stays that way!

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  5. Sharon Avatar
    Sharon

    I’d categorize myself as a “flexitarian.” We eat a mostly meatless diet, but do eat seafood or chicken maybe 1-2 times per week. Since I do most of the cooking, if it isn’t something I’m going to eat, I don’t make it. Thus, my kids (and husband!) don’t get any red meat at home. If they want to try it at someone else’s house or at a restaurant that’s fine, but I am not worried if they don’t develop a taste for red meat since there are healthier ways to get protein.

    We are also limited by Matthew’s multiple food allergies (no trying the food on our plate at this house!), so aside from the seafood and chicken, Matthew’s diet is essentially vegan. He likes lentils, soy yogurt, hummus and soy nut butter. Not vegetarian, but we also used recipes from “The Healthy Baby Meal Planner” by Annabel Karmel when CAmeron was little — it’s not an option for Matthew with his food allergies.

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  6. ryan Avatar
    ryan

    Good to know. Looks like I can get The Healthy Baby Meal Planner on Amazon used for a penny. Not a bad way to go!

    Reply

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