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Forum -> Parenting our children -> Toddlers

Protein Ideas

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californiafish

Mon, Jan 24 2011, 1:24 am

My son is 1 yrs old and eats lots of fruits and veggies and bread, but I'm having a hard time figuring out proteins he can eat. At dinner he eats meat, chicken or fish, but any time I try to give him dairy (and also now I just tried egg), he breaks out in hives around his mouth. They did a blood test and it came out negative for any allergies, so now I'm going back soon for a skin test. In the meantime, what are some other proteins I can give him for lunch besides for meat, chicken or fish?
Thanks.

ewa-jo

Mon, Jan 24 2011, 1:57 am

My toddler loves edamame. I boil a bunch of edamame and pop the beans out of the pods and he eats them like candy. Piles of protein in those.

Also, I cook a cup of rice (and wait until it's halfway done cooking) then add a cup of red lentils (and add more water) and then add spices and fried onions at the end. The rice and the lentils make a complete protein and it comes out soft and mushy and good for toddlers.

You can also make a nice black bean soup by throwing a can of black beans in the blender and adding salsa. You could use mild salsa if you're feeding it to a toddler.

Maybe vegetarian chili? You can throw together various kinds of beans that you have at home, add tomato sauce and some veggies (onions, peppers, carrots).

BeershevaBubby

Mon, Jan 24 2011, 2:00 am

Hummus! My boys eat it with a spoon.

quickchef

Mon, Jan 24 2011, 2:05 am

californiafish wrote:

I was surprised to see that oatmeal has a decent amount of protein... and you sure can make it mushy if your sonny would like it better that way Smile

Also, from my own experience with a baby that had a pretty bad case of eczema - with tests and doctors telling me "it's not the food" but right in front of my eyes his skin would get redder, his eczema worse... so I simply eliminated those obvious foods from his diet. I highly recommend that you simply eliminate the suspect foods... and then if you want to test again, re-introduce one at a time (give it a few days even) and you will know much better than any blood or skin test would be able to...

Bored

Mon, Jan 24 2011, 3:57 am

hives just around the mouth? that is usually a skin sensitivity and not a true allergy. not really something you have to worry about, but you can wait for the blood results first

Marion

Mon, Jan 24 2011, 4:04 am

CHUMMUS
Lentils
Beans

ra_mom

Mon, Jan 24 2011, 8:46 am

quickchef wrote:

I agree.
Also, please note that any good doctor will tell you that allergy tests are not accurate until baby is at least 3 years old.
So definately eliminate foods that seem to trigger the hives.
Hatzlacha.

MaBelleVie

Mon, Jan 24 2011, 1:46 pm

Kasha and quinoa are good sources of protein. You can also give soft beans.

cutemother

Mon, Jan 24 2011, 3:14 pm

My kids, especially my 2 year old love the Shaklee protein shake! It has tons of great nutrients and the flavors are amazing!

MommytoB

Mon, Jan 24 2011, 4:04 pm

breaking out around the mouth is usually not a true allergy and you may not want to elimanate something from his diet for that as that could potentially lead to a true sensitivity to that food.

But anyways...Protein: avocado, beans, lentils, chumus. My kids eat beans plain! Check with your doctor or nutritionist though. Most people get too much protein, not too little, and if he is already eating that much meat that may be enough for him.

californiafish

Tue, Jan 25 2011, 12:37 am

Thanks everyone for the replies.
Sometimes the hives are worse than others, but it does seem to be more of a skin contact thing (like he'll get them on his arms if the food touches him there). It's confusing b/c it doesn't seem to just be a specific food, even the pareve frosting on a cupcake gave him tons of hives.
I tried giving him hummus a few times thinking it's perfect but he spit it out each time Confused

To those that say he's probably getting enough protein already from dinner, what would you give a 12 month old for lunch? He's mainly eating whole wheat bread and fruit for lunch, plus a bottle I pump ahead of time (he's with the babysitter). He's happy with it but it doesn't seem enough. What else can I give him? It needs to be things that I can prepare ahead of time to give the babysitter.

BeershevaBubby

Tue, Jan 25 2011, 12:43 am

Pasta, mixed with tomato sauce (you can make your own sneaky tomato sauce which is really mostly baked then pureed sweet potatoes) and mix the hummus in to that.

Or make a bean based tomato sauce.

bnm

Tue, Jan 25 2011, 1:04 am

what about eggs? egg salad or scrambled?

Marion

Tue, Jan 25 2011, 1:05 am

ra_mom wrote:

Also, please note that any good doctor will tell you that allergy tests are not accurate until baby is at least 3 years old.
So definately eliminate foods that seem to trigger the hives.
Hatzlacha.

Funny, my allergist seems to disagree with you. He'll do scratch tests from 3 MONTHS, and he's the top allergist in the country.

Also, allergy testing generally can be hit and miss. DS#1 scratch tested positive (at almost a year) to peanuts. At almost 3 he scratch tested negative, and his RAST came back negative. But we SAW hive-like reactions when he was accidentally exposed. (Very accidentally, because I'm allergic and we don't have it in the house at all.) We finally food-challenged him this summer (at four and a half) and he didn't react, but we were still told to keep an eye on it because due to my allergy he's just not exposed to it on a regular basis. I'm thrilled that Bamba-y hands on the playground are no longer dangerous, but really, he still thinks that "assur li Bamba" and we're not correcting him anytime soon.

Anyway, my point is that hive-like reactions can also be indicative of something high-acid coming into contact with sensitive skin. (Which is why you find people with allergies to tomatoes, citrus, and berries...which are often not true allergies but reactions to the acidity levels of the foods. Also spoken from experience.)

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