This Baby Loves Butter
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We were shopping at Trader Joe’s the other day; it was almost dinnertime and I think Kate was getting hungry. She grabbed a stick of Kerry Gold butter out of the cart and started eating it. It kept her happy, so I let her have as much as she wanted.
The other shoppers gave me funny looks; some of them laughed. I suppose it is odd to let a toddler eat straight butter.
But she likes it! Whenever we go out to eat, we always ask for extra butter for Kate. She loves to eat it plain.
I have some friends who also let their 3-year-old daughter eat plain butter. She asks for it, and they told me that when they let her have her butter, she behaves so much better; doesn’t melt down or have tantrums.
I have noticed the same thing with Kate. When I make sure she gets enough butter and cream and other good fats, she is happy as a clam. If we are running around and she’s only eating things like fruit and lean turkey meat, she gets really cranky and impatient.
The other day, she wasn’t feeling well (she has a slight cold) and didn’t really eat much at breakfast or lunch. By dinnertime, she was completely melting down. She still refused to eat the dinner I made (grass-fed beef taco meat with avocado).
So I just fed her some homemade ice cream (made with raw cream, pastured egg yolks, and maple syrup). It worked like magic. In minutes, she went from The Exorcist to Shirley Temple.
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19/12/2008 at 6:03 am Permalink
Could that other 3 year old butter eater be Nadine?
19/12/2008 at 6:22 am Permalink
Ha! Yes, that is exactly who I was thinking of!
Hope you are all well and enjoying the holiday season so far.
Speaking of butter and the holidays… check out this recipe for Christmas fudge made with coconut oil (or you can use butter):
http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2008/12/easiest-healthiest-most-scrmptious.html
I need to find some coconut sugar… I may try making it with honey and rapadura…
19/12/2008 at 7:39 am Permalink
Cute
My 14 year old is a butter eater as well
She is pretty scared of meat fat ( sadly ) but butter and cheese she`ll eat just straight and I let her.
Her best snack is cheese slices ( organic gouda with butter rolled up)
I have used these when I “low Carb/high fat” – as a afternoon pick me up snack- and even though she is very slim – she loves this snack.
Sometimes I have noticed- that if I am coming down with a headache
– it is often when I forgotten to eat enough fat- and a thin slice cold good butter helps a lot.
19/12/2008 at 8:31 am Permalink
Ha! I just did this yesterday. I ate dinner on the go and realized I needed some more fat. I stopped into store, bought a 1/2 lb of butter, and started nibbling…
I do still feel a tinge of guilt or something… like if only the AHA or some other mainstream group saw me right now… they’d be freaking.
But it feels so good going down and I know that it’s good for the bod.
Thanks for sharing AM! My husband saw Kate’s picture and said “whose cute kid is that?” She does look adorable!!
Happy holidays,
Genevieve
19/12/2008 at 8:37 am Permalink
I second the butter-lovin’ thang…my kiddos (ages 8 and 5) absolutely *love* butter and rush into the kitchen whenever it is out, mouths wide open. Would love to try Kerry Gold but I don’t think we have it in SW Michigan. We love Organic Valley Cultured Pasture Butter. Would love raw butter but hard to get here. About the kids eating it: I figure–GREAT!
Fill up those little bodies with CLA and all of the good stuff!
–Jules, who has a family of Buttertons
19/12/2008 at 9:24 am Permalink
Jasmine likes to eat a lot of high carb foods, like fruit and bread/cookies/crackers. I try not to let her have too much of those things, but I have been adding extra cream to her milk and putting butter into everything I can think of for her. I believe it does help with the tantrums. I have no problems just giving her pats of butter to eat, sometimes she will, sometimes she won’t.
I had to laugh, “she went from The Exorcist to Shirley Temple”. That is so my daughter too. The fat really stablilzes their blood sugar and calms them back down again.
19/12/2008 at 9:27 am Permalink
I love it!!!!! I feel the same way! I’m a college student, and when I am eating my nourishing, whole, good foods… I feel calmer, less tension, less stress, more focused and ready in studies. However, when I stray from proper eating, especially the fats, it really affects my performance in school! Let the child eat that butter!!!
-Christiana
19/12/2008 at 10:03 am Permalink
So cute!
When I could tolerate casein, I would eat large amounts of plain butter with sea salt, or spread it 1/4-1/2 inch thick on something. My Swedish MIL told me that it makes her very sick to think of what that is doing to my heart. Me? I’m not a bit worried. But I still can’t convince her that animal fat is healthier than things like canola oil.
NT thinking has yet to reach most of Europe! At least the Eastern Europeans still eat tons of fermented veggies because of tradition/habit.
19/12/2008 at 10:47 am Permalink
My husband likes to eat a slice of aged cheddar with a slab of butter on top. he’s very happy I stopped fretting about that habit.
Thanks for the Kerrygold butter link which confirmed the pasture status. They really should indicate that on the wrapping. TJs has such great price on Kerrygold butter (compared to other stores), I may get that instead of the more expensive Organic Valley pastured butter (which I have been stockpiling in the freezer for the winter/spring).
19/12/2008 at 12:00 pm Permalink
I will have to check out Kerrygold. We buy butter from the farmers market made locally, but I need a source for when I travel.
19/12/2008 at 12:29 pm Permalink
I have 4 kids, and all of them went through a stage (around your baby’s age actually!) where they would crawl up on the table, grab the stick of butter out of its dish (or out of the fridge), and eat it, straight up.
I always let them because I figured they needed it. Perhaps their brains or nervous systems are going through a rapid growth at this stage?
Anyway, lately I’ve felt a bit blue so I focused on getting more healthy fats. I made some coconut milk smoothies, ate more butter than usual, fried my morning potatoes in butter and coconut oil, took my fish oil caps, and today I feel better.
Not a coinkydink, I think.
Plus studies have shown that healthy fats can cure depression. Great news for nursing moms and others who don’t want to take pills.
19/12/2008 at 9:39 pm Permalink
“Plus studies have shown that healthy fats can cure depression. Great news for nursing moms and others who don’t want to take pills.”
And maybe why my sensitive teen is craving butter!
If I just could make her eat her fat on the meat….
Laura – you are right NT is not very well known in Europe- but in Sweden Low Carb/high fat living is pretty big and they use some of Price´s work as well:
Here is a swedish link:
http://www.kostdoktorn.se/
20/12/2008 at 6:45 am Permalink
So do I!
How I wish I could just gobble on butter too, without having to worry about the consequences.
[sigh] Kids ….
20/12/2008 at 8:26 am Permalink
Coco sugar.
The weird thing is that since I started eating lots of fat – and stopped using sugar etc ( and cut my carbs from dry fruit and grains) – my BMI has dropped.
I used to eat very low fat ( I was vegetarian ) ( 20-25 % of my calories) and now I eat between 30-40 % fat and I loose aprox 2 pounds a week !
I notised that my previous chubby daughter got thin
when I let her eat what she wanted: no / almost no grain and sugar
lots of eggs, veggies , meat and fat… and thought IF she can become slim and stay slim it might work for me as well.
I have dropped from BMI 31 to 27 in just 3 months and my goal is to reach 25 since that is perfect for me and my baby planning.
Please read this :
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Natural-Health/2008-10-01
20/12/2008 at 8:59 am Permalink
heh personally we get regular butter ( like organic valley) for frying and natural by nature butter. Also local butter from our health foody hippie place. I gotta tell ya, its a deep yellow butter, you just want to eat it with a spoon, and i have.
sometimes it doesnt even make it to the slice of sourdough, heh.
i do notice, as a very active teen, who works out alot and is rather active when avialble ( im snowed in here, so i cant go much anywhere, lol) anyway, i notice i have a ton of clairity, and energy when i eat coconut oil or butter, or eggs.
20/12/2008 at 9:24 am Permalink
My new favorite afternoon pick-me-up is my easy version of Tibetan “butter tea”. It’s a great energy-boost in the late afternoon, when I sometimes get a bit sluggish.
Usually it is made with fermented yak butter, etc. which isn’t easy to find in So California
. I just make a strong cup of chai (spiced black tea), add some cream or half and half, then about 2 tablespoons of butter (the best I have in the house, always grassfed, raw if I have it). Most of the time I let the melted butter float on top and sip it to enjoy the buttery taste.
But sometimes I make a half pot of tea, add the cream and butter to the tea, then (when the butter is melted), mix it up with a held held, battery-powered milk frother device (cheap, from Ikea). Be sure to have a container big enough because the tea level raises up in a whirlpool. Doing that blends/emulsifies the butter into the creamy tea and it generally stays in solution while hot/warm. Blending might be more palatable than a butter oil slick on top of the tea for most people, at least at first.
20/12/2008 at 9:40 am Permalink
Anna sounds good.
my pick me up is: unsweeten cocoa powder, maple syrup, milk and coconut oil can keep all evil away ;D
21/12/2008 at 11:13 am Permalink
Anna
Its so good to find someone else who appreciates butter tea! I studied abroad in the Himalayas and got hooked. Now I make it for myself at college and everyone looks at me like I’m nuts! Good thing I know better!
21/12/2008 at 2:30 pm Permalink
That picture is adorable!
My kids go through butter spurts too, just like to eat it by the slab. Whenever I’m cooking, Clay will ask for it. Always does and he loves it, haha. They know what they need and when they need it
24/12/2008 at 2:01 pm Permalink
I love eating butter… always have
These days when I’m running out the door late to work and I know I’ll grab a bagel later I eat a couple spoon fulls of butter on the way out the door. Sometimes my body refuses, or feels a little icky and I know to not do that again that day, but usually I can eat three or four spoonfuls at a time. Mmmm… butter.
I usually buy Tillamook or another store butter because of finances, but buy that Kerrygold whenever I’m at Trader Joes. It is so, so much better than store butter!
26/12/2008 at 9:43 pm Permalink
Wow! I didn’t know about the fat/mood link.
Anna—Butter in your tea, what a revelation! Will have to try it.
28/12/2008 at 4:47 pm Permalink
That’s awesome your baby gets to intuitively eat what she needs.. I was wondering about your thyroid and the fact you eat Casein. Have you tried cutting out all dairy and alcohol while going on your gaps diet? That could really help heal things and balance things out.
I need to make sure I avoid dairy at all costs for a few months. I will not slip up and eat cheese again. I realize how addictive it was. I am recovering though thank god.
24/03/2009 at 4:17 am Permalink
How cute. I find myself doing what Kate does and just eating a chunk of butter at least once a day. (I like it cold best). Also, read in a post at Kelly’s a few months back that Sally Fallon likes to spread butter on her bread so thick that she can see her teeth marks in it. That’s a good guideline for whether or not there is enough butter on your bread!
03/08/2009 at 1:28 pm Permalink
I know this is an old post, but I had to comment. My almost 1 year old (sob!) eats butter I dice for him. Who needs cheerios to develop pincer grasp?! He also LOVES coconut oil by the spoonful.
And yesterday, my five year old and three year old were snacking on the cracklings leftover from rendering the lard.
I don’t think grandma would approve, but it makes me so happy to know they enjoy all these healthy fats that their little growing bodies really require!