Saturday, June 20, 2009

Protein Conundrum

So, Dax has basically decided that he doesn't like meat right now. This isn't horrible - but the fact that he cannot eat eggs or milk, means that I need to figure out some way to give him a little more protein.
(Dax shoveled down a ton of chicken the other day at a friend's house, which was a miracle - he never wants meat, so I kept giving it to him, only for me to realize in a really DUH moment - stuck in afternoon traffic on the way home, that it was CHICKEN SALAD! covered in mayo... Dax spewed all of the chicken, and an entire 9 oz. bottle of "milk" all over himself in the car... He has the very same reaction to real milk, too.) :(

I'd love other people's opinions about this too... but here's my thinking right now:

We're giving him soy milk, which has protein - but I'm not sure that's enough to give him what he needs daily. (We're also adding 2 oz. of milk-based toddler formula right now, but that will slowly be cut out in the next few months - we're really only using it for MY peace of mind, for the nutrients it contains).

I'm considering adding a protein powder to his soy bottles, and possibly to his morning bowl of cereal.
I've been researching protein powders, and the facts are that too much protein can make a person's kidney's not function very well and can lead to excretion of calcium (which means kidney stones). That doesn't sound very good. But I'm not thinking of using the recommended "serving sizes" on most protein powder packages, either (but he IS a tiny little person, too - so I should probably work on the actual serving size I'd be giving him). But the rest of the stuff I read about them has to do with weight lifting - and that's not my goal (apparently don't actually help, if you're in the market for protein powders to bulk your body up, anyway).

It seems, though, that Hemp protein powder may, in fact, be safest (it's only 50% protein at most), and also contains the wonderful fatty acids that babies need - Omegas 3, 6 and 9, and GLAs.
(some sources: All About Protein Powders, Feeding the Picky Eater excerpt, Nutiva product information)

Does this sound like I would be doing the right thing?
Should I supplement his protein slightly by adding a teaspoon of Hemp protein to his morning cereal, and to his 3 bottles of soy milk that he has a day?
Maybe I should just use it in his milk? Or just in his cereal?
Does anyone know if Sprouts sells this...? :) I know I could just trot my own fanny in there to see - but Dax is napping right now! :)

Anyway - I'll keep posting about how this goes - if we decide to do it.
:)
(and thanks for your comments and suggestions, in advance!)

-L.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Updates

So - Dax is finally getting some more teeth! We're up to 8 now - four on top and four on bottom. But not the middle four; the right side four (pretty funny).
Yeesh - poor kiddo just hasn't been able to eat a whole lot of things because of the no-teeth factor, but we're on our way!
We've been using a Latvian/Bavarian (I can't remember where it came from now) Baltic amber "teething necklace" for about 3 weeks. I honestly can't say that it's helped, though I have a friend who says hers is helping her baby. Dax still wakes up about 2 times a night, most likely from the pain in his mouth - it looks like all his teeth are going to pop out in the next couple of weeks. Poor baby.

We're just about to hit 15 months too!

He's officially a "toddler" - he walks just about everywhere now. He can't really pull himself up from sitting to standing unless he's near something to grab and pull up on, but I'm sure that's just right around the corner.

He's very proficient with his sign language now - although "shoes", "more" and "help" all kind of look the same... :) It's still pretty cute.
The other day, he spied the can of Lysol on his bookshelf that I keep in his room to spray the diaper-trash pail, and he used the sign "please"! I nearly gave it to him JUST because he said PLEASE! hehehehe!
:)
I signed "thank you" to him in the car yesterday, and he looked at me like he was about to sign it back to me... and then he just said it instead. Too funny. :)
This kid cracks me up.
I am just LOVING every day with this baby. He's just the coolest, sweetest little guy. I still can't believe his little body came from mine... it's just amazing.