Recipe: Toddler Crockpot Oatmeal

I have never tried steel cut oatmeal before and picked up a container at the Trader Joe's that just opened near us. Unfortunately when I got home and read the instructions, I was disappointed to see how long it takes to cook. 30 minutes?? Who has that kind of time to spend on breakfast?? Certainly not a mom. Then I found a bunch of recipes for cooking your oatmeal overnight in your slow cooker so it is ready to eat as soon as you are in the morning. Genius. 

This is healthy for me, AND my still-picky 14-month-old easily took 10 bites of this, which is a lot for her. 

Here is my take on the recipe!

Toddler Crockpot Oatmeal

Servings: 8
Ingredients*

2 cups organic steel cut oats
6 cups of water
3 tablespoons of organic brown sugar
2 tablespoons of organic butter
1 teaspoon of organic cinnamon
2 teaspoons of organic vanilla
2 mashed organic bananas (optional)
organic cooking spray

*This recipe was really easy to find organic items for everything I used, but if you don't have it in your area, the conventional version works the same as far as directions go.

Directions

1. Spray your crockpot with the cooking spray.
2. Combine all the ingredients and mix together.
3. Cook on low for 8 hours overnight to be ready for breakfast in the morning. Yep, that's it.
4. For freezing, portion into serving-size containers and put in freezer. To reheat, put in the microwave for 2.5 minutes at high.

I used a decent-size crockpot since that is the only one I have, and we had enough left over for half of it to freeze for upcoming breakfasts, and another 2 servings (after we gobbled up this morning's bowls) for breakfast tomorrow on what is sure to be a busy Monday morning. Obviously you can use a smaller 2-qt or whatever, but just reduce the ingredients accordingly.

Recipe: Healthy Baby Mac

My 13-month-old kiddo - though she started out a great eater and would gobble up anything - is no longer a fan of most foods. Meals are starting to stress me out because the variety is really limited and I'm shocked how fast she will push aside a favorite that she used to eat every meal (like bananas...what??). I thought a healthy twist on macaroni and cheese would include all things she loves (or at least did) right now and maybe give us another option to plain pieces of pasta.

This recipe is both toddler (and baby, depending on your child's eating skills) and grown-up friendly. I actually made two simultaneous batches of this, substituting the whole milk ingredients for skim ingredients. Us parents don't need all the extra fat, so this can be made pretty decent for your waistline versus the classic recipe. 

Though these are the ingredients I used, some of the organic items might not be available in your area, and you can always mix it up to work for you with the types of cheeses and pasta.

Healthy Baby Mac

Ingredients

1/2 lb of organic whole wheat macaroni
1 1/2 cups of cubed organic butternut squash
3/4 cup of organic fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth
3/4 cup of organic whole milk
1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic
1 Tablespoon of plain organic whole greek yogurt (this took FOREVER to find - most are low fat)
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
1/2 cup of shredded Gruyere cheese
1/2 cup of shredded Pecorino Romano cheese
1/4 cup of whole wheat breadcrumbs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray. Sprinkle a coating of the breadcrumbs in each muffin spot.
2. Cook the macaroni as suggested by the box directions. Mine said to add macaroni to boiling water, cook for 5-7 minutes, then drain.
3. Meanwhile in a medium saucepan, add the squash, chicken broth, milk and garlic together and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes until the squash is very tender.
4. Pour your squash mixture into a blender and pulse until smooth. Add the yogurt and pepper and pulse a little more.
5. Pour blended mixture into a large mixing bowl, and fold in both cheeses until melted and mixed thoroughly. Then fold in the pasta and make sure all ingredients are mixed well.
6. Spoon pasta mixture into the muffin tin. Sprinkle any remaining breadcrumbs across the top of the macaroni mixture in each cup.
7. Bake macaroni for 15 minutes. If you want the browning on top, turn on the broiler for another 3 minutes.
8. Serve once cooled. If you want to freeze for later meals, pop the muffin tin into the freezer for a bit to "lock" these into cup shapes, then pop out and drop into a Ziploc freezer bag.

I'll be honest, my husband was a little confused by the butternut squash taste in the grown-up (lower-fat) version of this recipe - he's used to what I call "crap in a box" and was expecting the faux cheddar that is typically mixed with the macaroni. I am NOT a mac & cheese fan (I know, I'm weird), but THIS recipe was delicious.

Nap Breakthrough!

Holy naptime, batman.

After almost 10 months of nursing my daughter to sleep for every bedtime and nap, and then holding her in my lap (thankfully she's been tired enough at night to lay into the crib), we have broken this habit!

Bugga has been a light sleeper for quite awhile. Yes, every newborn will sleep anywhere with any level of noise, but our kiddo grew out of this phase very quickly. Sometime around two months old, she would be easily startled if I turned the car engine off after nodding off during a drive, or woken by the floor creaking if I crept past her bouncer. Realizing she desperately needed more nap time in order to maintain healthy development, I started to nurse her to sleep and then hold her in my lap, barely moving, so she could log some valuable sleep hours.

Her naps started at 20-30 minutes here and there, but soon extended to up to almost 3 hours! I was thrilled, but this meant a lot of butt-in-the-glider time for me. I love to cuddle my little girl, but besides this being precious time that I could use to be productive around the house, if she ever wanted to change sleeping positions, my lap was not conducive to this and any movement she made would lead to her waking up and not getting the full nap she needed. It's been a long ten months for nap challenges around here.

I needed to teach her how to nap in her crib.

I read several books over the previous months on sleep training so I referenced these now to figure out what could be done. The catch is that this wasn't a straight issue of nursing to sleep, since most who do this, do this all night long. We had night-weaned back at 5 weeks or so when Bugga started sleeping through the night. She also could be laid down in her crib at night still awake but drowsy, and roll over and go to sleep. So I knew she had some soothing skills. But I knew I wanted her to a) do this for naps without freaking out (which had been the result if I ever tried before this), and b) be able to put herself back to sleep if she woke up at night (bonus!).

OK so I just went cold turkey on the naps in the crib, figuring I'd give it a try for a week. I was scared to death I would simultaneously ruin bedtime by putting a fear of the crib into my child. I put her down at her scheduled times, twice a day, after nursing. At first there was crying and protesting. I'd lay her down with the lights off (closet light on for a slight light), white noise on, leave the room and close the door. She would begin to cry as I left the room. I watched her on the video monitor for five minutes. She sometimes would sit up or stand up while crying. After five minutes I went back in and offered her the pacifier, laid her back down, rubbed her back for about 2 minutes, then left again. I repeated this until she finally fell asleep.

I started last week on Monday, and by this past Monday (8 days later!), I feel she is officially comfortable with falling asleep on her own. Out of the 14 nap windows during this time, she cried anywhere from 0 to 50 minutes before falling asleep. The 50 minute scenarios happened only (gulp) twice, and although I continued the checks, the second time this happened I just picked her up and moved on - no nap that time. Sometimes she would let out a couple whimpers and/or just nod off; sometimes she'd cry for 5 minutes then be out. And the strange thing is there was no rhyme or reason for which option would happen when. But now she will pretty much go down without freaking out at all (yay!!) and sleep anywhere from 50 minutes until 3 hours (and we had to wake her up from that one). She really is getting better sleep this way, and my husband and I are getting some kid-free time on the weekends which is completely new to us.

If you are struggling with this scenario, I am happy to answer any questions!

Baby Schedule (8, 9, 10 Months)

I thought it would be a good idea to share our latest schedule. I think the last time I posted about the details was way back when I was first planning on being a Stay at Home Mom. Well, to say the least, things are different now. For one, my kiddo is 5 months older. (WHOA! I've been doing this for FIVE months already?!?) Also, I was a little clueless as to what was realistic as far as scheduling goes. So if you want a good laugh, please check out how I thought we'd be spending our weeks.

We've hit a good stride lately, and as long as we stick. to. the. schedule. everything is great. WOW do babies need a schedule. We've tried to put her to bed a little later some nights when we are caught out of the house when a family activity runs late, and we pay for it. The biggest problem ends up being a cranky baby - but the worst result has been a baby that is overtired and either will not go to sleep until several hours later, or wakes up several times throughout the night.

I know that some baby experts recommend that babies be eating 3 meals of solids a day at this age (several others leave this open-ended as "food is for fun, until after one"), however we are still just at 2 meals a day. Honestly - we spend sooo much time nursing, eating solids, and napping that there is hardly time for anything else during the day. As it stands, we pretty much have time to leave the house once a day, so we have to use our errand/activity time wisely. If we are out somewhere for lunch during the day (that does not involve a drive-thru) I have Cheerios handy to keep Bugga from turning green from food jealousy. And they make for easy cleanup.

Also, we are currently on two naps, with the longest one being in the late morning. The second nap is a little harder to come by, and lately it's usually done in the car on the way back from somewhere. My formerly very "green" self has vaporized in order to keep my child napping, and since she wakes if I try to move her, I have spent a lot of time sitting in my garage (door open!) with the air-conditioning/heat running.

I feel like it would be useful to post our schedules from previous months, and since I am still logging everything in my Total Baby app, I will go back in the next week or two and pull the schedules from Bugga's previous ages.

Baby Food

The last time I posted on here about Bugga's menu, we were just about ready to get started on solids. I started to hear more and more about baby-led weaning (BLW) where babies are given finger-size pieces of foods (versus starting with purees), so I spent a lot of time looking into all the options.

In the end I decided on a combination of approaches, and then handled each food case-by-case. The plan was to puree all foods for the First Taste (I'm referring here to the 4 days in a row I feed her something new to watch for any allergic reactions). Then, if a food would do better as a finger food where she can feed herself, we'd try that next.

We waited until 6 months of age to start Bugga on solids. If there is ever going to be a time where I can provide the most perfect foods for her, this would be it. I really enjoyed shopping for the best organic produce that I could find for my daughter.

I started with avocado, sweet potato, and butternut squash, in that order. Some parents don't always start with avocado, but since my kiddo is a little on the small side and avocado is the only type of produce with natural fats, (oh AND I love all things avocado personally), this would be good for her. She loved them all.

At this point, my daughter is 8.5 months old and has eaten many things, though I am still pretty tight with the reins (it's pretty much all from our kitchen vs. a restaurant or whatever).

For details on how to prepare these foods, please reference the Wholesome Baby Food blog - it is a great resource!

Here is our menu so far:

Always Puree/Mashed (so far...):

• Sweet potato (mashed; tried to do steamed slices but they turned to mush and she couldn't pick them up; these mix well with some fruits and chicken)
• Butternut squash (she liked this a lot, but I haven't made any since the first pureed batch that lasted the first month or so)
• Banana (started pureed/mashed, but now I just slice and then quarter - this is the "stall" food in between bites of whatever she's being spoon-fed each meal)
• Apple (steamed and then mashed - mixes well with chicken and other fruits)
• Peas (steamed then pureed)
• Green beans (steamed then pureed)
• Spinach (steamed then pureed) (**side note - I now just keep frozen cubes of spinach in my freezer after this project for ALL of my cooking - so easy to just toss a couple into regular meals)
• Peaches (baked then pureed)
• Pears (baked then pureed)

Pureed then Finger Food:

• Avocado (mashed and in slices, this is great to mix with other foods)
• Chicken (not sure which list to put this on...I blended the chicken down to teeny bites, then shredded it further and usually mix it with something else - Apples get rave reviews)

Always JUST a Finger Food:

• Blueberries (started these just cut into quarters right out of the gate - and these are already a favorite)
• Watermelon (started with a giant chunk and let her go to town - what a MESS! - pureed versions are really watery, but mixes well with peaches to dial down the tartness)
• Cheerios (as sold - these are great for on the go where you don't want to get into all the mess that comes with real foods)
• Pasta (organic Cavatelli from Whole Foods - these are mini baby shells - the perfect bite-size for Bugga!)

More to come on this as we continue to expand the palette. Bugga had her 9-month well visit with the pediatrician today, and I specifically asked about peanut butter. I can do a separate post on this topic at a later time, but he is fine with us giving that to her when we are ready.

Also, you'll probably notice we skipped the baby cereals like rice cereal and oatmeal. I will probably go "back" at some point and give her oatmeal (because I love mine) but probably won't bother with the rice cereal.

Nom Nom Nom (Baby Food!)

Now that Bugga is 5.5 months old we are getting close to a very fun time - solids! She has only tasted breastmilk so far in her short life, but she is VERY curious about everything we are eating. Her neck is strong and she can sit pretty well on her own so hopefully our first attempts will go well.

I am traveling to a wedding in a week and a half, but once I get back, I plan on trying this out.

In the meantime, I am trying to do a lot of research on how to approach this. I thought that another benefit of me staying home with her would give me a chance to put a lot of care into what she will be eating. I now have the time to shop for organic fruits and vegetables, and prepare them myself so I know exactly what she is consuming. However, I just learned of a new food introduction method called Baby-Led Weaning (BLW). I'm not completely sold on it, so the jury is still out on this end while I read up.

Please let me know what route you took, and if you have any great resources, please post the links! Thanks!

Sleep Stress

I've noticed lately that I have a little anxiety in the evenings regarding what that night will bring for sleep for the house. My husband has been out of town for business for the past 4 nights (only two more to go!!) and it has been challenging to say the least.

As I mentioned previously, Bugga is a pretty decent sleeper at night, but can't nap for crap. I take equal responsibility for this so I'm working on my parenting skills (back to that MBA in Baby thing again!). I still am in the habit of tracking all her diapers, sleep time and nursing time via my Total Baby app on my iPhone so I am well aware how much sleep she is (not) getting.

The first few mornings my husband was gone, Bugga decided that 5am had the most exciting events taking place, and she was not about to sleep through it. Ugh. I am not a morning person. Neither is my husband. We are hoping neither is our daughter, but, well...there's still hope for the future I suppose. I'm guessing this is tied to minimal sleep time during the day that results in her being overtired and having trouble keeping the longer stretches at night.

So by last night, I was so scared she'd wake up super early, and just never go back to sleep. I had her on track with feedings at least all day so I could get them all in with her going to bed a little sooner than usual. I have heard the phrase "sleep begets sleep" so WOW was I hoping this was right. But I was stressed out.

Usually I'll nurse her a bit before I put her in her sleep sack and then lay her in her crib. After that full meal she is typically pretty exhausted so it's all we can do to keep her eyes open until she sets her head to the mattress. But not last night...ugh the instant sweat on the back of my neck when I heard her fussing over the baby monitor as I finished shoveling down my dinner so I could go to bed immediately and stock up on my own sleep.

But then something miraculous happened - she fussed for about 10 minutes, with it never really making it to a cry and then ALL THE NOISES STOPPED. Had she really just put herself to sleep? I waited another 10 minutes before tempting fate and then snuck into the nursery. Yep, there she was, arms splayed over her head, out cold. Oh, the pride I felt that moment.

I did go to bed shortly after in case this was a fluke. I heard her singing at 2am (and LOVED THAT!), fussing at 5am and 6am - but each time she soother herself back to sleep. She woke for the day at 7:15am. I'll say that last night was a Total Win.

And tonight is a new night. But hopefully I feel a little less stress, to be replaced by a little more confidence in The Bugga.

Feed Me

My daughter has been exclusively breastfed since birth, and somehow, fortunately, we are still going strong 4.5 months in. (This is absolutely NOT a blog about the best way to feed your child – I say to each her own, and only you know whether breastmilk or formula works for your little one.)

The main challenge I have at this point is trying to fit in 6 full feedings throughout a day, when a baby this age is also supposed to be sleeping 12 hours or so at night (and just so we're clear, that also isn't happening). We strive for a meal every 3 hours starting from the time we wake up, but by the end of the day we are on 2-hour cycles just to be sure we fit them all in before bed. I constantly feel like I am falling behind schedule throughout the day. It’s exhausting. 

I am trying out a variation in my schedule where I front load a couple of my 2-hour cycles first thing in the morning. This way if we should be so lucky that she does nap later on, she doesn’t need to miss a meal in exchange for sleep. She does not nurse overnight, so there are no bonus feedings.

How do you make it work??

First Road Trip

My in-laws live about 4 states over, which amounts to about a 10 hour drive, sans infant. Being a new parent, I have noticed myself walking through a new event to understand how we would deal with possible issues as they arise, and then plan ahead accordingly. The biggest challenge I could see for a long roadtrip was Bugga’s feeding schedule. How does she get the meals she needs without us completely doubling our travel time?

My daughter is exclusively breastfed, though she does take a bottle like a champion. The problem is I have recently determined I am crap at pumping in the car. I’m not sure if it is the stress of the overall situation, or just the stress of manipulating the pump and all the annoying parts, but I have trouble producing much more than 3 oz and that does not a full meal make. So we compromised for this one once we got on the road. I pumped for two meals’ worth in between nursings, and I’d nurse while my husband would go in and sit down at a restaurant to enjoy food I typically detest (Waffle House, anyone?). Then I get to pick anything with a drive-thru and we make the most of our travel time. Not bad – but next time we should definitely check flights.

The other challenge with extended road travel is how much time my daughter needs to spend in her car seat. And she was great! In fact, as I had actually hoped, her daytime napping improved because, well basically she had no choice. Well, I guess she did have a choice – she could have screamed the whole way and she didn’t, so for that I am greatly proud of her. I’m typing this with about 5 hours left of the return trip so we’ll see how this affects her nap schedule when we’re back to normal tomorrow.

First plane trip in 3 weeks! Now I need to envision all the scenarios that come with that trip...