Food Ideas for a One Year Old

my daughter just turned 1 she loves mac and cheese and crackers softened in chicken broth baked potatoes are also very yummy if still uses bottle or cup you can put broth in them she wont put it down.

Hello, I also have a one year old! She turned 1 on jan 27th. She now has 5 teeth! She eats everything!!! Pasta, veggies, meat! My little girl loves yougurt, scrambled eggs, ravioli, green beans. She loves beans too! My baby eats everything we eat! She loves food!! She was not big on baby food.

hello,
I understand what you are in. I tried to cook noodles (angel hair type) for my little one and he likes it. I also combine baby food with noodles I cooked and add some vegetables (chopped thin) with little bit salt. Or sometimes, I take what we eat and grinded little bit. It takes time to practice to eat table foods. But your little one will get through it.

J.,
Some great transitional foods are yogurt there are many varieties, I like the Dora and Blue Clues yougurt (usually they are sold next to the Trix yogurts) The Dora/blues clues yogurt are thick so if you want to give her a spoon to try to let her feed herself this is a great yogurt to learn with. Goldfish are great little snack crackers. Sliced cheese or the Kraft crumbles (they come in small pieces but the kids can still pick them up), and the thin shaved turkey luncheon meat is great if she will eat meat. Also, because my daughter wouldn't eat the gerber oatmeal I tried the Aunt Jemima microwave mini pancakes and would just let her hand feed them, I wouldn't put butter or syrup on them, I believe Kroger has a generic version of the Aunt Jemima and they are exactly the same. Some quick o.k. meals frozen chicken nuggets (not as greasy as the resturant versions) Mac-n-cheese and pasta, my daughter loves plain pasta and pasta with hamburger meat and a little sauce. I too bought the gerber meals and she would eat them sometimes but she seemed more interested in what we were eating so I would give her small amounts at first to see if she would tolerate them now at 23 months she eats whatever we are eating. My son who is 6 was never like this he was such a picky eater and lived off yogurt and cheese sticks, goldfish, and hotdogs for the first 4 years of his life. It didn't seem like he really ate enough, now he's a good eater and actually loves salad. I hope this helps, good luck.
K.

Hello J.,
My lil' girl had a hard time transitioning to big people food, but once she got her gag reflex under control there was no holding her back. She loves avocado, mango, bananas, tortellini (Barilla brand), sandwich cheese (it wasn't as sharp in taste for her), canned veggies (they are softer than frozen--peas, green beans, spinach, carrots), ranch style beans, macaroni and cheese. She eats mostly fresh fruit but I have bought canned---but only the store brand at Walmart---it is in pear juice not syrup. For the veggies I try to find Libby brand---it doesn't have added salt.

Hope these suggestions help....once my lil' one started on these there was no turning back and she wanted anything and everything she saw me eat.

Watching them eat is so rewarding---mess and all---it is a priceless time.

K.

Hi J.
In your signature line I noticed that you have succeeded in doing what I'm trying to do. You noted that you now have a successful home based business. I was wondering what type of business you have. If you wouldn't mind sharing. I completely understand if you'd rather not share.
Thanks!
A.

When my daughter (now 3.5) went through this transition, she ate a lot of deli meat (the kind you get at the deli, not pre-packaged)-sliced very thin and lots of canned veggies and fruits (these are always so soft). You could also do macaroni and cheese but cut it up (like the small microwavable containers). At 9.5 months my daughter was off jar food and eating this stuff and by about 18 months (or younger??!) she was eating what we ate - just smaller pieces. (oh, she didn't cut her first tooth until 11mos....).

Good luck.

Go to half price books and get the book called Feed Me I'm Yours. I use this book for my one year old and LOVE it. My mom used this book for me when I was little too. It has timeless recipes that are GREAT! From make your own teething bicuits and granola even to how to make peanut butter playdough. It is a definite must have for the toddler years!

This may depend on how many teeth your child has, but mine only had four when she was twelve months. I bought fresh ravioli--vegetable, and sometimes chicken or meat, and kept them in the freezer. I could then boil a few at a time (no sauce). She loved that, and I could sneak in the vegetables. She also loved the Annie's shells and cheese--they are small and easy to chew. A little of that, some fresh fruit, and some chopped up grape tomatoes were always good for her. Good luck!

Try applesauce, yogurt, pieces of banana, cut green beans, fruit cocktail and cheese cubes.

I know that you said you tried the Gerber Graduates, but have you tried all flavors? My little girl was the same way but we found 5 that she really likes. In fact she turned 3 last week and she still eats them for some meals. Mashed potatos and mac and cheese are also a couple of things that she still likes. Good luck!!

Hi J.,
I am a mother to a 2 yr little girl and I take care of children in my home. All children are going to reject food they have never had before, but don't let that fool you. They just need a little more time to get use to the change. If you remember, I bet it was very hard to get her to take the first bite of rice cereal. Most kids spit it out, because it's not milk (formula). Now that she is getting older she will have more curiosity, but will still reject most foods because of new spices and texture. The best thing to do is keep giving it to her. I feed my daughter straight off my plate. Now she is a great eater and not picky. One of the worst things you can do is limit what you give her. Do not give her the same food every day. One of the babies I watch eats chicken and peas or chicken and green beans everyday. He is not getting the nutrition he needs from other foods. His parents think that's all he likes, but what they fail to realize is that that's all they give him and when they do try something new it is one time and if he doesn't eat it they stop giving it to him.

Breakfast ideas:
Scrambled eggs
Muffins
Cereal W/ milk (teach her to use a spoon)
Bananas
Grapes
Oatmeal

Lunch/dinner

Spaghetti
Mashed potatoes
Green beans
Peas
Chicken nuggets
Mac and cheese
Fish sticks
Cooked carrots
Broccoli w/ cheese
Hamburger meat
Pasta
Rice
Refried beans (lots of good protien)

Basically anything that is cut up enough so she won't choke. I would not worry with giving her Gerber foods. They are too expensive and don't taste very good. They don't put very much flavor in their foods. Let her get used to how you fix things. She will be a better eater. Now is the time to get her use to eating with a plastic fork and spoon. And it will help if you are eating with her. Children learn best when they can imitate what to do.

Let me know if you have anymore ???
I would be glad to help.
M.

Hi i would just like to say that my littls girl just turned one years old and some of the foods she likes is fideo its a spanish rice with tomatoe sauce somewhat like spagehhti, she eats tortillas with a spread of refried beans, she likes pasta with alfredo sauce, mash potatoes , mac n cheese, scrambled eggs. for snacks however i give her fruits like bananas, strawberrys, grapes anything soft n mushy, or even vanilla wafers she likes those too. Drinks i give her an option of milk or applejuice.! Well i hope this helps.

Happy Birthday to your one year old!
My 11mo old almost skipped baby food entirely, and my 2-yr-old lost interest in it by the time she was 8 mo old...so here's what I've figured out so far on the food front (sorry if it's long): Canned fruits and veggies are usually very soft. We opt for no salt added organic varieties of french style green beans, peas, carrots and black beans. I haven't seen organic canned fruits yet, but the regular canned pears, peaches, mixed fruit and mandarin oranges are a favorite for my kiddos. Ripe fresh fruits are also very soft. Bananas are good, of course, but my children are allergic. Steamed broccoli florets have been another winner. I just steam it in the microwave until it seems mushy enough (about 2 minutes from frozen). Add a little butter/margarine and a dash of salt and they eat it like candy. Sweet potatoes are wonderful too. You can bake one and chunk it up for the perfect, soft finger food. There's a company called Glory Foods (I think) that has diced, pre-packaged sweet potatoes in the produce section now -- near the bags of salad. I freeze the bag and just pull out a serving at a time. Speaking of potatoes, a baked potato is another good one that's soft and easy to pick up for little fingers. If she can have dairy, small slices or pieces of cheese are good. Macaroni and cheese is also a favorite. My 11-mo-old also likes lunch meat -- but I only offer him the organic, no added sodium kind. I think the regular stuff is way too processed and salty for his system. The organic stuff is softer anyway -- Super Target carries Hormel's "natural" line. Besides these things, we tend to just offer him the food off our plate. He may not be able to have all of it, so we supplement with things like I've listed here, but there is usualy one or two things on our plate that can be chopped, diced or pulled apart for him. I'm pretty picky abut meats for fear of choking, but if I can piece it up with my fingers, I figure it's soft enough for him to chew. He mainly eats chicken and pork. He does love spaghetti and meatloaf though, but I try to limit it -- beef seems to be harder on his digestive system than the other meats.