Alright, step one is accomplished...I bought the potatoes. And, I know how to prepare them, but I was wondering how much I could make and how I should store them. I'd like to make up lots of servings and freeze them, but I guess I've never frozen mashed potatoes. Has anyone done this?

Also, at Noah's age, is a little butter okay to add to the potatoes, or should I just stick with plain?

(I'm thinking I can count on Sheila or Sarah for this one! :D --Baby food experts!)

We never froze mashed pototoes. Never even thought of doing it. We make up enough for a couple of days and put them in a tupperware container in the fridge and nuke them in the microwave when needed. I would use the butter as it adds calories! You could always try without butter first and if he tolerates them well then add a pat of butter, but considering he tolerates yobaby so well it is unlikely he has milk issues. You can also add some peas, carrots, etc once he gets used to them and it will maybe get him interested in new foods and digging in the taters. A little whole milk would be good as well and adds extra calories.

Good luck!

Maggster,

We never froze either, I dont suppose there's anything wrong w/that. I normally just boil one or two at a time and mash and store enough for about 3 days in the fridge in a container.

Maggster...nice...

Alright, I'm just going to make a couple potatoes worth... I don't know what I was thinking anyways, since he's probably not going to like them, so I don't want a freezer full. I'll let you know how it goes...

Oh...I dunno if anyone mentioned about the butter, but I don't add butter. Actually I just "fork mash" the boiled potatoes and give them that way...I don't add milk or anything. However, Noah may prefer them more mushy and blended. Who knows.

Sorry...late posting. :oops:

Emma will eat fork-mashed with no butter/milk and the yummy way...butter and milk.

She prefers the yummy way. (but I never add salt)

i never thought of making them without milk. i think i've got something to try to feed her. :D

Fork mashed potatoes was one of the first table foods we did with A. She loves if I just kind of mash them up and she can feed them to herself. I add margarine though for calories.

I would think you could totally freeze mashed potatoes, like in 4 oz tupperwares or ice cube trays. You can buy frozen twice bakes potatoes and mashed potatoes in TV dinners, right? So I wouldn't think it would be a problem. You can add formula instead of milk, and we always added butter and a bit of cheese too. ( I would add bacon bits too, if it were for me... :wink: )

What a great idea to use ice cube trays to freeze them.

I always seem to think of extra calories and how to add them, not how to keep things bland. :oops: It would depend on how your wee one is doing with weight as to adding extra calories or not.

We did the ice cube thing with Brandon, too. I'm not sure how well mashed potatoes will freeze, though, as potatoe chunks in a stew do not freeze well.

Yuck! I just remembered that about stew and potatoes. It brought back a recent memory of a stew that made its way to the back of the fridge and was found, um "past its prime". :shock:

The mashed potatoes gave Noah a terrible stomach ache. He was up all last night. And, he only had about 5 bites of them. SMALL BITES. :cry:

On a positive note, he had those bites! :D It is a start, but I am sorry to hear that the result was he was up. :cry:

Have you written down what foods he does this with? Just wondering if there is a pattern yet.

Leigh

Yes. I keep track of everything he eats and how it goes. So far, we have bad stomache ache with greenbeans, apples, bananas, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables (Gerber)... All of these caused problems, and they are the ONLY things other than yogurt and cereal/fruit that I have gotten a decent volume of into him. I've tried everything as far as yellow and greens and the basic fruits, but he wouldn't take more than a bite and whatever I could trick him into swallowing. The apples he actually wouldn't open for, but I did squeeze about a 1/4 jar down one day and the rest of the day and night were bad. This has NEVER happened with his two favorites. There's no pattern here, is there? I find it so puzzling.

[quote="Noah's Mom"]Leigh

Yes. I keep track of everything he eats and how it goes. So far, we have bad stomache ache with greenbeans, apples, bananas, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables (Gerber)... All of these caused problems, and they are the ONLY things other than yogurt and cereal/fruit that I have gotten a decent volume of into him. quote]

Bingo. I am sure that the increase in food is causing a flare of reflux when you are able to get more into him other than his normal amount of favourites. If we were having this conversation prior to Iain having his eating spree a couple of months ago and refluxing all over the place and nearly constantly I would not have had a clue. It is likely due to the irony of the amount of food he is intaking. Our OT, ped, and dietician said that as Iain is eating more than he ever had before his stomach and system in general is in turmoil and it could take months for him to stabalize. It is so new to me as Iain is back to eating on and off again, but he is eating (I LOVE prevacid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and is refluxing again like mad. :cry:

Does that make any sense at all? Oddly, it was Minnie who told me what she thought it was and all the others said "yes". Chalk one up to IRD.

So, Leigh, what you're saying is that you just think the small increase of volume in his system is just causing lots of problems? I've backed way down on all foods since he's not drinking now, and some of the symptoms are gone (besides our lovely every day ones :roll: ). Is this NORMAL that he is having such a difficult time with such little additions into his diet?

So, Leigh, what you're saying is that you just think the small increase of volume in his system is just causing lots of problems? I've backed way down on all foods since he's not drinking now, and some of the symptoms are gone (besides our lovely every day ones :roll: ). Is this NORMAL that he is having such a difficult time with such little additions into his diet?

This is all new to us too, but based on our experience, yes or at least is a possibility. Iain refluxes way more when he eats and it increases when he eats more than usual. How absolutely ironic that we have spent nearly 20 months praying that this kid would eat only to have this occur. When he was sick a few weeks ago he did not reflux as much when he was off food. This week he is eating well again (albeit on and off) and refluxing and snotty again.

To my understanding, we are to make sure Iain does not gorge (yeah, what are the chances for a non-eater? :roll: ), and watch now for the foods which may irritate his reflux. Frankly, if he was eating a pound of red hot chilli peppers I would be estatic and unlikely to stop him. Man, I just need him to level out and eat every day a little more (and some days just "something.") The idea is that things do stretch and accomodate the food and in time the slow increase in amounts will level out and they will not reflux as much or may outgrow it.

It is something to talk to your ped about. We see the feeding behaviourist person next week, I think. Gee, I can not even keep these appointments straight anymore. I have to check my agenda everyday now before I commit to anything! :lol:

Leigh--

I think this is definitely a possibility, but what gets me is that he can eat an entire yobaby or this one type of baby food cereal and NOT have any problems. Is it just that they are digesting better? There's no rhyme or reason here and it drives me nuts!

Leigh--

I think this is definitely a possibility, but what gets me is that he can eat an entire yobaby or this one type of baby food cereal and NOT have any problems. Is it just that they are digesting better? There's no rhyme or reason here and it drives me nuts!

Oh, I hear you! The patterns are often so elusive with this. :? What I am trying to get at is that eating the yobaby or the other standard food Noah loves is fine and his system is used to it and that quantity. When you introduce something new it may be that much more for his system to have to cope with and that could be the culprit. It may be a longshot, but I do not think so as Iain would start increasing his reflux activity with an extra spoon of food in a day (mind you, back then he was only having a tablespoon or two of food a day anyway, so it would have made a huge difference). It makes no sense to me at times and yet it happens. One would have thought gorging could do it, but even a small amount extra can.

Anyway, it is something to think about. Maybe your GI will think we are all nuts here, but watch Noah's reaction. My ped, dietician, and OT all agree with it for Iain. I do hope that is all it is for Noah as well since it will settle down in time apparently. :roll:

I don't think you're nuts. Its so obvious that the food is causing problems. Even the smallest bits. During my phone call with the GI, I explained the foods and what happened with them, and he was very concerned. He said that nothing I gave him should have caused so much discomfort, especially in the small amounts I offered. So, hopefully, in a couple of weeks, he'll be able give me some more ideas or guidance.

Please be sure to share those anwers here, Maggie. Every day it seems I learn something new about this.

I can hardly wait for your visit! Hope Noah is better by then, though. :cry:

So, hopefully, in a couple of weeks, he'll be able give me some more ideas or guidance.


I don't even know why I said this. Ten bucks says he looks at me with his one good eye while the other rolls off to the left and says those famous words, "lets give it some time."

Must be something they teach them in GI school. My GI for Curran always says to give him "6 months". It has been 3X that now. :roll: