Crib Toys and Healthy to Go Snacks

My daughter has various bears and stuffed animals that she gets to pick at bedtime to sleep with. She is only allowed 1 or 2 at a time.

On the snacks, I highly recommend yogart melts. This may be helpful for her digestion as well. But it 99% yogart...its just capable of being on the go. My 2 1/2 year old loves them and has since she was about a year. We also like dried fruits. Gerber or the store brands are good and easy for on the go.

Hope this helps!

Hi M.! I put some cute stuffed animals in for my little boy and he seems to like them. A great snack I've found are grapes......plus they are fantastic for your child if they have constipation (really helps them go). The only thing I remember the doctor suggesting at 13 months was that you will need to usually peel the grapes and then cut into quarters (unless of course she has a lot of teeth and then she may be fine without all of this). I know it sounds like a big job but the peeling was pretty quick for me and my little boy couldn't get enough. He loved them! Good luck.

We love crib activity centers for the crib, they have been around forever. Tiny love brand has a neat 1 that is 2 sided so you can turn it around in the crib after a few weeks w/ 1 side. They have all sort of things for the baby to do and it attaches to the crib so he cant throw it onto the floor. We had a differnet 1 for my 1str daughter i think it was by fisher price she played with that until she was almost 3 in fact we attached it to her toddler bed b/c she loved the little light and music it played for her and if she woke up in the middle of the night she actually would put it on for herself. If you google crib activity centers they will be easy to find from there ( I just checked b/c we are looking to get 1 for my 14 mo old) we also let her have stuffed animals and soft books in bed but these usually end up on the floor. About healthy snacks, we cut up small fruit slices you can also use the jar kind which is convinient to travel with, string cheese which you will have to break up for him ( might not be good for the constipation though) we do cheeri os which are pretty high in fiber and low in sugar

Hi M.,
I've used apple slices(which can counteract the constipation)and Bananas.

Good luck

I can offer some advice on snacks. My daughter, too, has some constipation issues, and for cereal snacks, I've actually given her flake cereal, like Special K or even bran flakes. They're crispy enough that they don't really pose a choking hazard. Bran Chex (or other Chex cereals) are also good for the same reason-- crispy,a good bit of fiber, low in sugar. My favorite snack, though, is just fresh fruit, and for that I use one of those mesh feeders. It's a mesh bag attached to a handle, and the bag screws on so it can't come off, and you put fruit inside the bag so your child can eat the fruit through the mesh-- they get almost all of the fruit without worrying about them choking on a big piece of it. You can get these for about $4 at any store-- I think I got mine at Kmart. I usually put apples or pears in mine (I just recently read that pears have twice as much fiber as apples!), but you can put any fruit in there, including frozen fruit if it's hot outside or if your child is teething. Hope this helps!

My daughter loves books, her stuffed doll baby, and her stuffed animals. She too will hang out in her crib with no problem.

As far as snacks go, my kiddies love Kashi's Heart to Heart cereal. It is natural and has more vitamins than Cheerios. And it tastes way better too. I even eat it as a snack.

We also like carrying apple slices while on the go.

Oh yeah. If your daughter is constipated, a 1/4 cup of prune juice will help. I like "cutting" it with water. A 1:1 ratio works for my little ones where they still like the taste.

We've always used Goldfish, Annie's Naturals Graham Bunnies (they come in individual packets), mini rice cakes, and tons of dried fruit, fruit leather, CLIF has a new kid's fruit twist that actually counts as a serving of fruit and is all natural -and if constipation is an issue -FREEZE DRIED FRUIT!!! This is different than regular dried fruit. My son's favorite is found at Whole Foods in the section with the bins of snacks and dried fruits. It's called Not Just Peas or something like that and comes in tubs. You can also find travel pouches of it at REI. Be warned -it's expensive! Other brands I've found are also expensive, but some come in smaller packets and don't cost so much at one time. They retain all of the nutritive benefits of fresh fruit, and be prepared -it will clean your child out!

We use the natural, dye-free, Mott's gummy packets as treats and on the go treats. They really taste yummy and have a full day's value of Vitamin C in them. I've also yet to find a child who doesn't love Pirate Booty -especially the original cheese flavor. They've started selling this in individual packets for on-the-go in the health food section of Kroger and Whole Foods as well. Trader Joe's is another wealth of snack finds. None of their stuff has artificial dyes in it, and a great deal of it is organic if that's important to you.

Stay away from most of the cereals out there.

If you want to know why read this:
http://www.westonaprice.org/modernfood/dirty-secrets.html

I recommend Cheese from Pastured Cows, Locally Grown Organic Fruits, homemade cookies/muffins sweetened with applesauce. Baby Milk Shakes make with blended milk or Kefir and fruit.

Hope this helps.

H.
www.trulyhealthybaby.com

The gerber puffs are great finger foods, they come in veggie and fruit.

And as far as crib toys there's aways things like keys and teethers or maybe the fisher price learning puppy.
At 13 months she might enjoy something she can chew on.
Anything colorful and makes noise.
Just be sure you wait till she's asleep before you put them in her crib in the foot her her crib or where she can reach them outside her crib , if not you may find her playing with them before she goes to sleep.

My kids (3 and 1) love the freeze dried fruit from gerber graduates. it's a little pricey but i usually buy lots when they are on sale and target just released their own brand of the same thing. for on the go i would skip all strawberr flavored- it stains everything. I also give goldfish (whole grain makes me feel a little better), the mini graham crackers or just whole grain crackers, different cereals (kix, shredded bite size mini wheats- which may help your other problem), and string cheese or cheese crumbles.