Going Bananas...the good carb!

Bananas are carbohydrates (form of starch/sugar)but they contain a bunch of the amylase enzymes which is needed to break down in the baby's belly. A baby lacks this enzyme or only produce a very small quantity, hence why they can't eat cereals. It also helps in the ripening of the bananas and that's why they taste sweet. So go ahead and go bananas! Choose ones that have a couple of brown spots for the highest sweetness and highest concentration of amylase. Additionally bananas are a good source of Vitamin B6, C and Potassium!

Ok, what about Sweet Potatoes?
Yes, these are good as well (cooked of course)...I don't want to get to technical but Bananas contain alpha-amylase and Sweet Potatoes contain beta-amylase...what?! Stay tuned as I will tell you how this is important later and how you CAN give your baby cereals!

Rice cereal...baby poison?!

ok ok...if I'm going to do this blog thing, I actually need to blog..

Research point #1: Do not feed your baby rice cereal!

What?! I know this goes against all logic and advise that we have been given for years by doctors, mothers, etc.. There are scientifically proven studies that say eating rice, corn, oatmeal and other cereals before the age of 1 is actually bad for your child's digestive system as they lack the enzyme to digest cereals until their first birthday! So basically, they eat it and just poop it out and can cause gassy, bloaty, fussy babies, as well as this could be a possible link to increase in allergies in kids. Ok moms I'm on the case, more research to come.

Oh and let's not forget about the first kid, the cereal loving, eczema, food allergy, picky eater...hmmm, connection?

The Story

I have a 4 year old who is extremely picky eater and I blame myself.  I am a food scientist and thought I knew what to feed my child but I think I totally screwed him up by resisting to feed him Kraft Mac & Cheese..now I have a kid that won't touch any pasta.  Now I have a new baby and don't want to repeat the same mistakes but still don't want to feed her junk.  I'm a working mom and don't have a lot of time to preparing food (so there will not be fancy homemade meals for the new little one) and I do not want to be a short order cook making 2 kids seperate meals and the adult meal.  So what is a mom left to do? 

Well here begins my experiment and initial goals:
Goal #1:  Research & Prepare a plan for the baby before she starts eating food
Goal #2:  Get Child #2 to eat more foods than dino nuggets and hot dogs

I will post my research and thoughts as well as failures and successes in hopes that future moms do not screw up their kids eating habits as well as hopefully there will be moms out there that will join my quest and we can learn from each other...so join me and offer advice along the way!