Foods for a Toddler

Do you use cheerios or any cereal for grain? We do lots of cheerios with my 9 month olds.

Good luck

just keep putting them in front of her and she'll start eating them sooner then you think. I have a menu I use with my daycare kids and all the kids from 12 mos and up eat that same food. I may steam the little kids' carrots instead of raw carrots, but really they eat all the same food.

I'll post my picky eater plan, and also my website where you can see my menu I use - http://www.freewebs.com/tarastoyland
I also have a handout I give to the parents of 10 mos olds that has pictures of what foods to serve their kids,it was in October 2006's Parents Magazine, page 161 - 163.
Here's my picky eater plan...
There is a great book by William G Wilkoff, MD called Coping with a Picky Eater that every parent or provider of kids should read and have a copy of. http://www.amazon.com/Coping-Picky-Eater-Perplexed-Parent...

This book has what I call the Picky Eater Plan. I have used this plan with kids that literally threw up at the sight of food and within 2 weeks they were eating normal amounts of everything and trying every food.

First you need to get everyone who deals with the child on board. If you are a provider it's ok to make this the rule at your house and not have the parents follow through but you wont' see as good results as what I described up above.

The plan is to limit the quantities of food you give the kid. When I first start with a child I give them literally ONE bite worth of each food I am serving. The book suggests that every time you feed the kids (breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner) you give all 4 food groups. So, for lunch today I would have given the child one tiny piece of strawberry, one spoonful of applesauce, 3 macaroni noodles with cheese on them, and 2 oz of milk. Only after they ate ALL of what was on their plate would you give them anything else. They can have the same amounts for seconds. If they only want more mac and cheese, they only get 3 noodles then they would have to have more of all the other foods in order to get more than that. If they don't eat, fine. If they don't finish, fine. Don't make a big deal out of it, just make them stay at the table until everyone else is done eating. They don't get more food until they are sat at the next meal and they only get what you serve. When I first do this with a child I don't serve sweets at all. So no animal crackers for snack but rather a carrot for snack. Or one of each of those. I don't make it easy for them to gorge on bad foods in other words. Now if they had a meal where they ate great then I might make the snack be a yummy one cause I know they filled up on good foods.

Even at snacks you have to limit quantities of the good stuff or else they will hold out for snack and just eat those snacky foods. I never give a picky eater the reward of a yummy snack unless they had that great lunch prior to it.

It really is that easy.

How about yogurt? My friend's boy will eat just about anything if it is mixed with yogurt. Also I recommend reading Toddler 411. It has great suggestions for eating and many more toddler issues.

Hi M. -

I know it's hard to do, but be strong. If you want to broaden your daughters menu you will have to be consistant in your attemps & not give in when she says "no".

If she refuses to eat what you have made, you can say OK your done & she must go away from the table - hungry if needed. When she knows you mean business & she's hungry enough, she WILL eat what you make.

Remember, she is not going to starve. So no sneak snacks! It will be hard at first, but I am sure she will come around:)

K.

As far as suggestion on the fruits and veggies -- try to make it fun. Prepare a bunch of fruits and sit them around and have a tasting morning with her -- tell her you are trying to help her find ones she likes. Also, when our daughter despised cottage cheese, I ate some and pretended it was the best tasting thing ever...complete with sound effects. She then loved it -- we had to take her off it when she was diagnosed with a milk allergy but for a few months, it was one of her faves. There are also cook books for hiding veggies in dishes. My sister in law has tried a few with great results (though the brownies with some veggies in them were GROSS in my opinion).

For variety, she is old enough to have cut up sandwiches like jelly toast, cream cheese toast, and even a grilled cheese sandwich (we butter or margarine the outside of the bread, put cheese in between the non-buttered sides and cook in a pan on the stove-top -- that is the best!) cut up. Also, some sort of a rice dish with a sauce to make it stick together, wheat crackers instead of pasta for the grain, etc. They also make nitrate free turkey hot dogs (I have gotten them from peapod on occasion) - - just remove the casing after cooking.

We are going to have our own trouble with this in a month as our kiddos will be leaving their daycare and staying home with an au pair. My 2 year old gets BORED with food easily! She has 4 food allergies so it makes things a bit harder. Our son is 9 months and just starting table food.

Good luck!

M., I have a nice list of foods for beginner eaters. Please send me a message. However here are some "foods for thought"

A child's taste buds change every 15 days, so they may like something one day, but not it the next day, this is very common. Keep introducing the fruits and veggies once every three days, if you are forceful and persistant with her, she'll refuse all of the time. Next, your daughter needs variety of foods and foods with flavor to help expand her palate and tastebuds. This window closes around 3yrs old...so what you don't do now, will cause you headaches later.

The brain begins to rapidly develop starting around 37wks, 75% of the brain developing the first two years of life. Where are the good fats? Good fats like avocados, hummus, Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)? These good fats help nourish the brain. I spread EVOO on some toast sprinkled with oregano as a great snack. Or I mix some pineapple salsa from Trader Joe's with avocados for a sweet and yummy guacamole, let her dip it with sweet potato fries. My dd sometime will eat just hummus out of the container and that is ok, it is an excellent source of protein and fat. What about white beans? That is an excellent finger food. Rinse it will, soak for about an hour and marinate it with some EVOO, salt, white pepper, oregano, mix with tomatoes and some white balsamic vinegar. I say white b/c it is not as pungeant as dark, same with the pepper.

Adults tend to eat the same 40 foods...we all get stuck in the rut, use this time to explore different foods out there for you and your family, or else you are going to be the chicken nugget mom.

Replace the milk/water with pureed fruit when you are making pancakes, so you sneak some fruits in as well. Add a tablespoon of grounded flax seeds for the omega 3's and fat. Make a smoothie, add a tsp of flax oil for the omega 3's.

Your options are endless. Be patient, as her tastebud changes, always give her positive reinforcement and eat with her so she feels like you are being involved as well, even if it is just a piece of fruit.

Good Luck,
J. W. MPH
Maternal and Child Health Educator
Chicago Examiner Family Health Expert
http://www.examiner.com/x-7158-Chicago-Family-Health-Exam... (this article may provide you with some fun ideas as well)

My son just turned 1. Some of his favorite foods are beans, rice, veggie burgers, turkey burgers, we have never given him jar foods. Just keep trying foods eventually she will eat them. Also, fix her some of the things you are eating. My son at grapefruit because I was eating it. The only veggie that I can not get him to eat is green beans. but I keep trying.

He eats
Carrots, squash, Zuccini, avacado, broccoli, corn, peas, kidney beans, Great northern beans, yogurt, Chicken, veggie burgers, pork chops, pork roast, turkey burgers, meatloaf, beef, pears, plubms, blueberries, cherries, grapes, peaches, mac n cheese, spinach etc.. just keep tryin foods.

For lunch:
How about pizza? Mac and cheese with ground beef? Peanut butter and jelly, grilled cheese, yogurt with fruit and a muffin, SOUP! Soup is a great way to sneak in veggies. I'd recommend making your own stock, less sodium, more nutritious. My daughter eats almost any kind of soup: she loves potato/leek, wild mushroom, chicken noodle, lentils and black beans. I also give my daughter the Morning Star sausage for breakfast most mornings. It's loaded with goodness and she now loves them. Great way to not have to worry about veggies at lunch.

I tend to get in a rut with my daughter because I get in a rut with my cooking, but she will eat basically anything. But we do eat a lot of Mexican and Italian in this house, but when we order out Thai or Mediterranean or something, she always eats it. Basically she gets what we get, and always has.

They do go through phases where they throw more food then eat it. The key, I think, is to totally ignore the behavior. Also, get rid of the baby food, completely. As long as you fall back on that, she has no reason to eat "people" food. It takes 12-15 tries before you acquire a taste for something, so the key is to just keep on giving it to them, and they will, usually, end up eating it. My daughter, for instance, wouldn't eat cantaloupe. Now, she will hit you over the head if you refuse to give her any. (I give her cantaloupe with cottage cheese for lunch all the time --my favorite lunch in the summer. Messy but good for you).

Have you given your daughter corn on the cob yet? Some would say not to give it to them because they can't digest it, but they sure LOVE trying to eat it.

HI Michelle, I am a new member to mamasource. Something that you can try is glazing the veggies with something sweet or zesty like lite zesty italian dressing or honey. Maybe even melting shredded cheese on the veggies. I also, like to add a pinch of Ms. Dash seasoning that has no salt added and it is natural herbs. As far as fruit is concerned try mixing it in with her cereal or with non fat yogurt. Don't get discouraged you may even need to introduce it little bit later, but keep tring and don't give up!

Hi, M.,

It is possible for your daughter to actually CRAVE green veggies. Here's the secret: Start introducing a cup of green smoothies to your child’s diet. What is a green smoothie? A basic blend of dark green vegetables like spinach, kale, parsley… and (here’s the best part) any of your child’s favorite fruits. The best proportion is 60% fruits and 40% dark green vegetables... but you can start with larger amounts of sweet fruits and then slowly increase veggies if desired. Check out this page for more details and good luck. http://budurl.com/y378
D.

I order from Schwans and the kids love the chicken fingers and once your daughter gets a little older, you can introduce her to the mini corn dogs (cut in very small pieces). My kids love most of their food (well, except goolash). visit them at www.schwans.com

Keep trying! Someone once told me that a child has to taste a food 14 times(!) before they like or dislike it. Sometimes I would actually sneak food into my DD mouth whenever she opened it. She'd usually spit it out, but sometimes she'd taste it and eat it!

Also, if your daughter likes popsicles or ice, try frozen peas or fruit just run under cold water to take the chill out. In the hot summer, or maybe because her teeth hurt, she'll think it is a big treat.

OH! And please don't dismiss food that you wouldn't normally think to give her. My 18 month old would walk in the garden and pick chives and cherry tomatoes and pop them in her mouth. She also grabbed some raw onion and liked it! Weird, but true.