Toddler Table Food Ideas

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Best wishes,
J.

My 18 month old daughter still picks at food and may get most of her calories from breastmilk. She likes food with texture, she likes eating with me/interacting with me while she eats. I feed her what I eat, which forces me to make sure I have green foods at every meal.

I'm not worried about it as she gains weight and is very healthy.

Before discontinuing formula, I would check with the doctor. I imagine that it doesn't hurt that she's getting it as long as she's eating a wide range of foods.

There's a toddler food pyramid, which is for kids older than her, but there's some good guidelines about the variety of foods she should be getting.

http://www.mypyramid.gov/preschoolers/index.html

Here are a few ideas that my 17 month old likes:
scrambled eggs
deli turkey, ham, etc.
avocado
peas
blueberries
basically any cut-up fruit (peaches, apples, strawberries)
small pieces of medium-soft cheese (Babybel, provolone)
cheerios
yogurt
cut-up whole wheat toast
Mac and cheese
small bites of hamburger

I think the best advice is just to keep trying new things and have fun with it. I've read it takes 10-14 times trying a food before they (or we) get used to a new taste. Best of luck!

at my daycare kids are on table food completely by 13 mos old. You don't have to skin grapes, just cut them into 1/4s or if they are big grapes then into 1/8ths. Her total milk/formula intake should be no more then 16 to 20 ounces a day, any more and she won't be interested in food. I think that you should follow my picky eater plan with her - (btw, my daughters didn't hit 20 lbs till 20 mos old, they were both born normal weight, just didn't gain well to do high metabolisms, so I had to investigate feeding when they were toddlers and I have taken many hours of classes in this subject.)

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.

Are you also giving her milk in addition to the formula? She needs more than 12 ounces of fluid each day.

Toddlers are tricky (and messy)! I still worry that my 2.5 year old does not get enough at each meal but he is growing.

I never peeled grapes, cut them for a short time but that's it. She'll eat what she wants at each meal. I would not give her the toddler "tv dinners" they sell in the baby food aisle, they are a waste of money and taste gross. Give her whatever you are eating in little pieces on her tray. My son loved spaghetti with sauce. You can also give her Pediasure as a supplement during the day if you are concerned.

Be prepared, she will eat like a horse one week and a model the next!

Here are some of the table food we used:

Shredded Cheese
peas,chicken, carrots-you can boil them in Chicken broth or water to soften them( f.y.i -boiling them in the broth does add sodium)
large curd cottage cheese-this one gets messy but my daughter loved it.
blue berries- if they are small I don't cut them
grapes- I cut them in 4ths but to be honest there isn't much nutrition in grapes or apples.
16 oz of milk/day is what our doctor suggests.

Hi, Your 16 month old daughter can basically have the same foods you eat. Chicken, fish, steak, etc. just cut up in small pieces. Also, didn't your pediatrician tell you to switch to whole milk. My daughter is also 16 months old and she eats everything we eat. No more bottle and she has been on whole milk since she was 11 months old. Her pediatrician told me no more bottle at her 15 month check up. Grilled cheese, ham and cheese sandwiches, pb&j, soups, tuna, yogurt, french toast, pancakes, scrambled eggs are all good choices. Just cut up in small pieces.As for taking the skin off the grapes that's totally up to you I did with my first child but now with my second i never took the skin off, i just cut them in half for her.
Good luck!!!
L.

Hey Celina,
I think it differs from child to child as far as their appetite goes. Sometimes my son eats like he's never seen food and other times he just picks.
I would just try and concentrate on the quality of food that she's eating. Like making sure she's getting plenty of fresh organic fruits and veggies- especially veggies cause while the fruits are good, they also have alot of sugar in them.
I made the mistake of giving my son fruits first and then it was a pain to get him to eat the veggies, but I got lucky cause he loved pancakes so I'd steam veggies, puree them and add them to the pancake batter. Ya gotta work with what 'cha got! :) I hope that helps!
blessings,
J.

My son is about 14 months old and he eats most of what we eat. We had trouble trying to get him to eat proteins at first. So we just tried different things. He loves Beans, veggie burgers, chicken, Turkey burgers. Avocados are good for them.I mix spinach with Mac N Cheese, or other vegetables. He likes ham chunks. Just try different things. Good luck

My son was never crazy about meat at this age so we would give him hummus, avocado, tofu, veggie dogs/burgers or soy nuggets for protein.

I think it is pretty universal for moms to think their toddler is not eating enough and doctors to tell us that they eat as much as they need and to stop trying to get them to eat more than they want. I would go cold turkey on the bottle. I pressume she is on whole milk and can drink that in a cup. Unless your doctor tells you she is underweight, I would let her set her threshold for food. My toddler at one stage went through what I call the blonde diet - pasta, banana, yoghurt, bread,cheese and not much else. Thank goodness she eventually started eating more things but she still only eats a limited amount of things and it is quite the job to make sure she is getting good food rather than junk. If she was left to her own devices, she would eat exclusively peanut butter and honey :) I would give your little one a varied diet and whatever she eats, she eats. she will eat when she is hungry. Good luck.

You don't have to take the skins off the grapes, you might want to buy organic grapes, though. I still cut grapes into halves for my 16 mo old. I would keep trying to offer her all types of foods. My 16 mo old also still takes a bottle a couple of times a day but only milk, formula stopped at 1 yr. She also has a little diluted apple juice each day. She does, however, eat like a horse. She eats everything - there's nothing I've given her yet that she has refused. Irronically she's only 10th percentile for weight, but she eats everything, is very active, and is growing.

I just keep giving her new stuff to eat to keep the variety going. I try to make sure each meal includes a frsh fruit and vegetable, definitely one or the other at every meal. She's so funny - now she will only eat if the food is on a plate (vs. just on her high-chair tray) and she will only eat with utensils, which is an adventure because she's still learning how to use them. Some days she eats more, some days less (if she's teething, etc.) Feeding a toddler is never easy! Good luck :)

You don't need to peel the grapes, just slice them in half....much easier to deal with! :-)

And your daughter is smart enough to know that if she doesnt eat her food, you are still going to give her a bottle....i would break her of that as soon as you can...because you dont want it to be a "crutch" for that long.

I would only offer sippy cups after meals, but i don't offer anything to drink to my 15 month old until AFTER about an hour of eating. Buy some kids sized plates that are seperated into sections. This way you can assess how much she is eating during a siting.

I have been a foster parent and child care provider for many years for special needs children. Most of these children have the issues they do due to prematurity. It's great to hear she is growing so well after being so tiny. One question I have is how well does she handle different textures? I know a lot of premies have a harder time learning to eat enough solid food whether it's because they don't chew and swallow properly or because they have some sensory problems and don't tolerate a lot of the textures in solid foods. It just takes them a little more time and a lot more practice. If she has either of these concerns you could try foods that are easier to handle such as soft cheeses and hard boiled eggs to get her some more protein. Also, I just took my 20 month old foster son to a dietician yesterday. He weighs 23 lbs. She told me to keep him on formula for a few more months until he is eating a well varied diet. The extra calories are good for him.

Hi Celina Take your daughter to see her pediatrican and see with he/she says.

I haven't ever bottle fed but isn't she too old for formula?

Babies won't starve themselves. Offer her a well balanced diet and whatever she eats, she eats.

I don't peel the grapes, my son is 20 months so I still cut them in half or fourths if they're big but he will just spit the skin out. Same with apples.

Don't make mealtime a power struggle. Put food on her tray or plate, and go on with your meal. I think that's most parents' biggest mistake is trying to force a not hungry kid to eat alot. With childhood obesity the way it is, I wouldn't force her to eat anything she doesn't want to .