Food Ideas Needed for One Year Old

I have always fed my little ones avacados. They are full of vital nutrients and essential fats and are easy to chew and swallow.

extra firm tofu, cut into little squares. you don't even have to cook it, although my (admitedly crazy sophisticated eater) DD especially loves it marinated in equal parts red wine, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil, plus 1/2 part olive oil, then grilled.

Hi S., My twins are 2 now. But at the age of 1, we gave them foods like, greenbeans, beans and rice, cornbread, cabbage,there fav pasta. Oatmeal for breakfast and waffles. They still have that every morning. Of course, some of these foods have to be feed to him. Chef Boyardee worked sometimes.Grill cheese is also a fav.

Hope that I help some. T. L

Kix cereal - dry

cut up bananas and roll the pieces in cereal crumbs so it is easy to pick up and less messy

yogurt

Pancakes - when you make them dump in some rice cereal and about a cup of applesauce into the mix. Adds lots of vitamins and tastes yummy to little ones. Then you dont have to mess with butter or syrup.

Early exposure to a variety of foods definitely helps with later problems of being picky eaters. People are always asking us how come our boys eat so well, and I believe it's the early exposure. Our youngest was gumming tiny bits of our steaks when he was 8 months old. You just have to watch them closely to make sure they don't choke on anything and the tougher the food, the tinier the you need to cut up the food. But at a year, he should be able to eat anything you are eating if you cut it up small enough -- even if you have to puree it.

There's a wonderful book called "Feed Me, I'm Yours" by Vicki Lansky. I used it for my now 24 year old daughter when she first started eating solid foods. It has wonderful, healthy snack ideas...one of my daughter's favorites were yogurt popsicles. I was at a baby shower recently and that was one of the gifts. Several of the young mothers there were commenting on what a great book it is. I was delighted to see that something that had worked so well for us was still getting rave reviews! Have fun!!

You already have a lot of good suggestions -- but here are two thngs we like that I don't think I saw.

1. Yobaby yogurt. My DD loves this.

2. I buy the organic soup at the store with veggies, pasta and meat. Since the veggies, etc are cooked they are already soft. But soup has a lot of sodium so I drain off the broth in a strainer and then do a quick rinse under the faucet to get some of the season off (I am not sure how well this works at reducing the sodium --but it makes me feel better about it ;-) It's perfect for when you don't really have time to cook something and since everything is already small -- no cutting things up ;-) And she can usually eat this for 2 or 3 meals -- so it is pretty economical.

When my son was a year, we did a lot of beans, eggs, and cheese sandwiches. He loved beans, either baked beans, black beans, or pinto beans. I would get a slice of bread, and a 1/2 slice of cheese, fold into a sandwich and cut into little squares. Bananas and mandarin oranges are good ideas. I would serve any of the above w/ a veggie puree.

frozen mixed veggies!

Grab a handful and put them on the high chair tray. It's great for teething. My son prefers them frozen!?!

My daughter loved the wagon wheels I think made by Gerber or someone, found in the baby food section. They have carrot and fruit flavored. When she was 1 I cut grapes up small as well as bananas and let her eat them at her highchair. Also they make the baby fruit cups, they are a bit messy but it gets them used to eating real fruit instead of just baby food. Sometimes I gave her a piece of a bagel to gnaw on and it felt good on her teeth as well. Also, good old Cheerios are great! Good luck!

soft cheese, whole wheat Goldfish, graham cracker stix, mini vanilla wafers, cooked veggies in bite-sized pieces, banana, Cheerios or any other easy to chew cereal, cut up Quaker oatmeal breakfast cookies or bars, cut up pieces of buttered toast or English muffins or waffles, make him a grilled cheese sandwich and cut it into small bites(my 15 month old loves this!)

3 ideas for ya:

1) avocados (and if he doesn't seem to like them at first, try again the next day, and the next...for at least a few days; babies can seem to not like something when the fact is they're just not accustomed to a texture or taste)

2) avocados, and

3) those green, soft, nutrient- & fat-dense fruits most people refer to as avocados

;D

HTH!

My daughter is 13 months, and we give her the cups of cut-up fruit that you can buy in a 4-pack from Dole or Libby's or even Wal-Mart brand. It is cheaper than buying the Gerber stuff. My daughter loves it. The fruits are nice & squishy. They have pears, peaches, mandarin oranges, etc. You can also buy unsweetened applesauce. You'd be surprised - he probably IS ready for cut-up food. Just watch him to make sure he doesn't choke or gag. Also, my daughter LOVES those Oat 'N Honey granola bars.

You can give your child what you eat. My son just turned one and he eats pretty much anything as long as you you have it in small pieces. You can give him pancakes, eggs, biscuits & gravy.
I am sure Gerber makes food for his age. I never gave my children jar food, I always pureed my own. I am sure he can eat goldfish, cherrios has a great snack mix, yogurt, mini nilla wafers, grahm crackers. Just look for things that dissolve easily.
Good Luck.

Hi there,
I have a boy that is almost 3 now and eats anything and everything! We had to get very creative with him at that same age and worried that would wouldn't be able to get him to eat veggies, fruit and healthy foods as we saw with our other parent friends. We did diced alvacadoes, soft boiled carrots, even soft boiled brussel sprouts, cottage cheese with chewable bits of fruits, green beans, dates that we sat in hot water and then diced them (to help with digestion), dice tofu soaked in apple juice, pancake recipes can be great to add graded carrots and other veggies and then you can dice up the pancake. Those are a few of the things we did...many times if we made up anything like the pancakes we would portion size the left overs and freeze them. Now, as he got older he would turn away from some of these things...so we would add a little honey for the sweet stuff and carrots or add butter to the green veggies. Hard boiled eggs diced was also a great way to add protien to his foods.
Good Luck!

YOu should try the gerber gradutes. They have meals that are great and taste great my little one loved them. I even tried them to see if it was good and they where. There is even yogurts bits which is a finger food and they have so much items out there. If not try chef boryordee, grilled cheese or had turkey meat with it. Try this I use this a lot. for fruits ,yogurt with cool whip.

peas, diced cooked carrots (you can find them already cut in the freezer section but i also just my the mixed vegtables diced and them he can pick and play with the different kinds of veggies), i cook chicken tenders (make sure it's very tender and not tough) and cut really small, our son's favorite is casseroles using hamburger meat (etc. tater tot casserole, tortilla chips casserole)with cheese in it. he'll also eat to brocholli-rice-and cheese casserole since all of these when mixed together are soft and easy to eat. we have 4 kids and didn't start table food (we stuck with the "rules" and just used baby food) with our 1st until 1 1/2 or so and he is our pickest eater. it definately helps to develop their tastes at a early age.

frozen peas (FAVORITE!) Straight out of the bag still frozen (we call them green baseballs!)
frozen fruit (strawberries, blueberries, melon, cherries - he eats tons and tons of these - you might have to thaw for a few minutes, they're harder, or run under water for a sec)
canned corn, peas, beans, lima beans, garbanzo beans
black olives (sliced)
pickled okra
Multigrain Cheerios
Bumpers Peanut Butter Cereal (be careful with peanuts)
avocado
scrambled eggs
Multigrain Club Crackers
baby marshmallows
Granola Bites and Morning Minis
grapes
bananas
pumpkin muffins
chicken vienna sausages (they have nitrates, so I go easy)
organic cheese puffs
grilled cheese (I mix grated cheese w/ sweet potato baby food and a little butter to make a paste and spread it on - he likes this on crackers, too)
frozen pancakes
bagels with cream cheese (my family loves Bagelfuls)
pasta

Hopefully, this gives you some ideas. I have trouble thinking outside of the same old foods, too!

Cut up Sweet potatoes, Carrots, mashed potatoes. I even mix up mashed and sweet potatoes or carrots. French Fries, pasta, turkey, ham, cheese, tator tots, chicken nuggets, bananas, pudding, crackers. Hope this helps for starters. They have organic french fries and chicken nuggets which are not fried but baked. My son loves them. Roasted potatoes.
Hope this helps.

S.,

Do you care about nutrition? The answer to your question will vary greatly depending on your answer to this question.

If you don't care much about nutrition, french fries and chicken nuggets are a great easy way to go.

If you care about nutrition, a better route is natural, unprocessed foods, organic where possible:

sweet potatoes, rice, avacado, eggs, hummus, quacamole, canned beans, cooked apples, etc. Try Dr. Sears Family nutrition book for an easy reference guide to some good foods. Careful about soy - it is a dangerous food for many people.

Good luck!