[RussiaBoundMom]

We are going to have our daughter one day before her 2nd birthday, and I have no idea what she eats. When we saw her on our first trip, 7 months ago, it seemed like she had never self-fed when I gave her cherrios, she didn't know what to do with it, and just held it in her hand! Can anyone one tell me how I should approach this? What should I bring with me and what should I try to buy there? Please help! Thanks!

[cici32]

I would ask what she has been eating at the orphanage and stick to that {or something similiar} while in Russia to avoid any major "blowouts".

Our son turned 3 during our 10-day appeal. When we got him we just let him eat off of our plate, which was traditional Russian food. He did not have any major "blowouts" but we did spend a lot of time in the bathroom due to gas. He thought that he had to #2 with all the gas pains, he has since been able to tell the difference.

Our son was feeding himself in the orphanage but has reverted back to wanting to be fed. We've talked to our Pedi and SW about this and they both have said that this is perfectly normal behavior. When he does feed himself, particularly when we are eating "finger" foods such as fries and what not he will look at us like "Are you sure it is okay I eat this with my fingers?" I could be wrong on this but I think they were encouraged to eat with utensils and have never really had the opportunity to eat with their hands.

You should be able to buy everything she needs there. However, I would take a few things to have on hand in case you don't get the chance to run by the store. We took cheerios, teddy grahams, fruit snacks, and picked up things like juices and fresh fruit at the store. We discovered that they have alot of the same things that we have in their stores. So don't worry, you will find something that she will like.

Good luck to you.

[becky26]

Wow, I am amazed that your little girl was just looking at the cheerios. Lucky you! As soon as Colin would get some food between his fingers, they were in his mouth. He was eating like a hungry lion for about two weeks. It was horrible! He would not chew, he would just keep putting food in his mouth. I guess he was always hungry in the orphanage. I did not let him feed himself until we were home a few weeks. It is quite a challenge in some Russian restaurants that do not have high chairs. But he literally ate everything we gave him (at 18 months). I had bought some baby food while in Russia. But the orphanage had told us that he would eat solid food - meat, bread, cheese, vegetables, etc. Good luck!

[ddahl]

I took an entire suitcase of food with me to Russia as I could not imagine not having one thing I thought I might need. I took gerber rice cereal, gerber stages jarred food and organic jarred food as well. I did take a lot of repeat items with little variety. I also took the powdered formula and powdered pedialite. I took bottles as well and our son took them right away. I did not offer him a choice so when he was thirsty he got a bottle of formula mixed with whole milk. Everyone will warn you about diaper blow outs and we did not have any. I did bring rubber pants just in case though. We did give him some big people food like mashed potato and chicken noodle soup, bread and cheese. You will find the baby food causes the stool to be more liquid. THe more big people food the more solid the poop. I just really felt that our son needed the extra calories and nutrition of baby food. Additionally, as for the blow out diapers. I would rather be there having blow outs than at home. Too much is happening at home when you are first back to be dealing with food adjustments in my opinion. We did buy food there as well, yogurt, cottage cheese, and more baby cereal as he ate so much we were running out, and also some Russian cookies he loved. Good luck!

[skling69]

Our two year old was eating cabbage soup, bread, bread and bread, yogurt, canned meat, eggs, sour cream dishes. We really did not know what to give him at first, so he ate what we did in Russia. He ate everything at first. Eggs, chicken, carrots, soup, cabbage, apple juice, crepes, everything. We would order room service and just share with him. After we got home, he became very picky about what he would eat and would only eat potatos, the emotional adjust had gotten to him. After about a month of that he started to slowly go back to eating everything. We brought home a few cans of the meat. I thought it was nasty and started to feed it to our dogs. Nicholas saw it and wanted it, be ate it like it was the best thing he ever had. I was gagging, but it was familiar to him. If you bring home a few things they are use to it will help the transistion.

[waiting4babies]

We brought our daughter home a few weeks ago. She turned 2 four days after returning home and she eats everything in sight.

We give her scrambled eggs, yogurt, cereal, mashed potatoes, hamburger, chicken strips, and anything she can chew on. She loves to eat and has already learned "time to eat". When we say it is time to eat, she races to her high chair.

When we first brought her home she wanted to eat constantly and shoved everything in her mouth, but now that she has been home a few weeks, I think she realizes that she is going to eat snacks in between and there will be breakfast, lunch, dinner etc... so she eats less at each meal.

You will have so much fun with your baby. They are so much fun at this age. I should say any age.

[waitinginnj]

My daughter was 2 years and 2 weeks when I got custody. In Russia - I had brought oatmeal packets and cream of wheat, I brought apple sauce and other soft fruit cups, she loved scrambled eggs. She ate soups. She loved bannanas. As I saw that she ate well, I simply gave her the options of anything that we ordered. She is a big meat eater and she still isn't crazy about many pastas or things like potato.

When I got home the IA had me get her right on a schedule of 3 meals and 2 snacks daily.

I didn't have blowout issues. I had the other end of that spectrum. I had to "borrow" glycerine suppositories.

[RussiaBoundMom]

Thank you everyone, this is very helpful information! I feel much more at ease and prepared with this info. I cannot wait to get her and feed her! :O)

[kimber413]

Ours turned two while we were there, and she was eating borscht, barley soup, and these fried dough balls (that we knew of). We asked the orphanage what she could eat, and they said pretty much anything, but to avoid citrus. They gave us a list of her normal meals.

When we got her after court, we kept her on mostly mashed potatoes and bread, with little servings of chicken and yogurt, until we could get home and begin to introduce new things. We did have some blowouts, and we did find out she was allergic to the flavored oatmeal packets. Be careful of these, as there were 3 of us at the hotel with children that seemed to be allergic to instant oatmeal.

[jkkclinton]

My son also would not feed himself any finger foods at all!! We tried cheerios, graham bears, even french fries from MacDonalds!! I believe in some of the orphanages they are taught not to play with their food or put things (including their fingers) into their mouths. James would literally stare at his food and cry before he would put something in his mouth. It took us almost a month at home to finally get him to pick up something and feed himself.

He'll probably like anything...will just need you to do the feeding at first!!

[skling69]

Lo-la-la mentioned the allergies, and I remember that we were told that Nicholas had an allergy to "sweets". This is not true, however, he did have a rash when we saw him on trip one, he was covered with purple spots from the medicine. He would break into a rash for a little over the first month. There was no rhyme nor reason to the rash and it eventually cleared up with regular bathing. I have heard a lot of pepole say they were told there was a food allergy that dot not pan out. If there is a rash just don't freak out give it a little time before you schedule with the allergist. The children only bathe once a week.