With the blood test that we did at the hospital for his bacterial infection, we also found that dear Chubbs is anaemic (as if we didn't have enough worries). PD says that this is quite common in babies who are on total breastfeeding, because formula milk is iron-fortified. Well, it could also possibly be because Chubbs is voluntarily vegan. Attempts to feed him egg yolk and fish have been thwarted so far, and the PD says "this will not do!". To boost the iron in his diet, she suggests liver porridge. Offal is a tad scary to me, but I will be brave and try cooking it someday soon. Meanwhile, I made Chubbs something I'm more confident in cooking; beef stew.
We headed down the road to Huber's to get some organic, grass-fed beef for stewing. We bought some non-organic beef as well, for comparison in taste and cooking time. With the beef, I added some pumpkin and carrots for sweetness. Two hours later, Chubbs' lunch was ready.
As usual, Chubbs was not looking forward to his meal. This boy was happiest (food-wise) in the weeks when he was sick, because he was allowed to live on milk alone :/ Despite his war against food, Chubbs seems more keen on trying new and different things lately, and especially loves it when I feed him food off my plate with my fingers :/ So here goes...
He took the new flavours rather well, to Fuzzy and my surprise. He even ate the meat! Fuzzy's really pleased with this because baby is just like daddy (beef is Fuzzy's favourite meat)! But Chubbs found it most palatable when I mixed some brown rice cereal into the broth, and lightly mashed the beef and veggies in. He had a good few mouthfuls.
Although a good portion of his lunch ended up in my tummy, Fuzzy and I still concur that the introduction of beef has been more successful than that of some other foods e.g. spinach, fish, French beans, etc. I'll be giving him variations of this meal often, and maybe he'll grow to really like it soon. Hurrah for Chubbs!
