Babysitter Question and Feeding question..thank U

The bigger question should be should you even continue to employ this babysitter. If I felt like someone had no idea how to care for my infant (ie giving junk food "behind my back") then they would no longer be the babysitter period.

A 9 month old doesn't need leftovers, cupcakes and whatever else she is eating. Because leftover, cupcakes and whatever else she is eating hasn't been prepared for a 9 month old-without extra salt, sugar, heavy seasonings and fats. At 9 months old, food is simply for practice and breastmilk or formula should continue to be primary. If baby is being given food items like cupcakes that takes away from tummy space for valuable nutrition.

If it were my kiddo, I'd be preparing his "meals" and providing them to the babysitter and making it *very clear* that is all baby is to have.

At 9 months old you can introduce egg yolk. It is recommended that you wait until at least 12 months old before introducing egg whites because they can be highly allergenic for some kiddos.

Here is a great site with feeding ideas and amounts:

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/index.htm

Great, great info on this site about what the feeding guidelines are and why the recommendations are what they are. Also sample menus, recipes, etc.

If you don't want your child to have cupcakes or anything else specifically, you need to make that clear to your sitter.

I don't see a problem with the left-overs, and I disagree with the previous reponse regarding seasonings. We never "sheltered" our son from seasonings, heck he prefers hot sauce over ketchup!

My son was on table food at 10 months old but we held off on eggs, shellfish and nut products until he was 12 months. I baked and froze meatloaf (with veggies mixed in) for when we were eating something he wasn't able to have. I froze it in serving sizes for him.

What I'm not seeing in your post is what you discussed with babysitter as far as what your child could and could not eat.

What were the criteria you gave her? Who told you she's giving him cupcakes? Your son??

If you have laid out the criteria then simple have a nice talk with her to reiterate your guidelines of what/when he should be eating.

If you're a mom who works outside the home you're not going to have total control. I know you don't want to hear that.

As far as foods....mashed taters, sweet taters, other pureed veggies, mashed banana's, applesauce, and eggs should be fine. I'm old school though. If baby tolerates it, baby gets it. My girls were having 3 minute eggs when they were 6 months old.

Hi, A.:

How did you find out what the baby is being given?

A good way to start a conversation is to ask her why she gives the
baby what she gives him.

Then ask her how she can give the baby healthy snacks.

Instead of telling her work around it by asking questions and then you
will understand how come she does that and then you can ask her if
she has a problem giving the baby what ever you want the baby to have.

Good luck.
D.

Resource: www.iirp.org

One way is to present it is on the advice of your pediatrician: most peds recommend that you introduce one new food at a time to babies, and that you wait 3-4 days in between new food to watch for bad reactions. After all - if your baby is fussy all night one evening, you'll have no idea why because he may have been introduced to several things that day.

I would let the sitter know the pediatrician's advice, and then start sending your own table food in for the baby following this rule. First week - pasta for a few days in a row, then something else, etc, until he's tried a lot of new things. Soft cooked veggies are great for babies, rice is good, and even diced meats like chicken.

As for eggs, my pediatrician recommends eggs early on, but first make scrambled eggs only from the yolks. If he's ok with that, then make them only from the whites. If he's still ok, then use the whole eggg. This is because babies can be allergic to the white, but not the yolk, or vice versa. So the should be introduced as 2 separate foods.

I completely understand how you feel. I bit my tongue every time I heard "he had chocolate cake" today or something else from my parents when they watched him. The most interesting was when they took him along to a Lobster restaurant and gave him SNAPPER TURTLE SOUP! (But free help is free help so I never said anything except if he got sick afterwards... chocolate ice cream always resulted in real vomit)

However, your help isn't free.... you should have a bit more control. You could always say he has allergies to milk..... or the doctor said to avoid giving him sugar because he developed a big rash... (I'm a chicken... instead of confrontation I prefer being just the messenger in the bearer of bad news)

I will say that if it weren't for my parents my kid (now 17 months) would probably still be drinking nothing but Similac bottles. Ha ha. I wanted to keep him little for so long... plus- I didn't like the mess of some real foods (stuck to white and light foods) and I wasn't very good at getting my son to try new things. (He liked the cuddling and snuggling that accompanied getting a bottle). One day you may look back and appreciate the help getting him introduced to new foods... However, I think it's very normal to feel how you're feeling now..

I would not give your child anything with eggs or milk before age 1. Make sure she isn't giving him anything with nuts. I would tell her to only feed him what you tell her. He could develop food allergies. His boby is not ready for so many different foods, not to mention the high calorie ones.

she is being paid to provide a service for you....& has to abide by your rules & wishes. It's that simple!

One more thought would be: at 9 months, your child should be able to handle anything. But I do agree that "no junk food" is your right.

There is absolutely no reason for a babysitter to ever feed a child any food that the mother has not specified as being ok. I think you just need to nicely say, "I'm concerned about what {child's name} is eating and will make sure to leave enough healthy food for her each day. I'd appreciate it if you didn't give her anything that I haven't specifically left for her without checking with me first."

Eggs are more allergenic than some other foods, so that is a bit of your call-- some people wait until 12 months. We don't have any allergies to eggs in our family, so I probably introduced them around 9 months. Check with your pediatrician if you are unsure.

I agree with the other responses. She needs to honor your wishes and if she doesn't then she is not a good fit for you and your family. I have watched children in my past and I always would ask before I introduced a new food. I would have them make a list of food that they were comfortable with and if there was something not on the list I would check with them before hand. It is as simple as that!

Good Luck!

the question is, did you make your wishes clear to the sitter prior to finding out? if she didn't know, then she's not doing anything 'behind your back.' make your edicts known and that's that. i don't think an occasional bite of egg (or even frosting) will ruin a child, but every parent has the right to make their own rules.
if she DID know and did go against your wishes, why are you even considering keeping her? if she will disobey you in this, she will have little compunction in ignoring other and even more important rules.
khairete
S.

Tell the babysitter that you need to be able to trust that your wishes are being honored and they are in the best interest of your child. New foods should be introduced one at a time to watch for allergies/reactions. Scrambled eggs should be fine.

I would stick to easy to digest fruits and veggies at 9 months, ground in a grinder or baby food, but I do know people who give eggs at that age.
And the sitter is a no brainer.
She's the sitter.
Hi, Sally, I have a strict no junk food until 2 years old rule (she doesn't need to know if you want to feed him nutritious food until he does his own shopping :). Then specify, since some people think artificially colored cupcakes from the grocery store with a billion preservatives and chemicals and hydregenated oils and sugar aren't junk food: Anything with
sugar,
artificial color
artificial flavor
preservatives
hydrogenated oils
These are seriously bad for anyone, especially a 9 month old.
This could include peanut butter if you don't have natural stuff in stock for her.
Since she probably has no idea what is in the food she eats and won't read a label, say, "Please only feed the baby what I specify."
Yes she'll think this is preposterous and maybe even gossip about it-who cares.
Be firm!
If she's feeding her leftover nutritious food from your cupboard, I wouldn't worry about it if you think you can trust her to decipher. Otherwise, just tell her what you say goes.