As I've been thinking about questions to answer on this blog, I keep going back to questions that relate to eating and sleeping. I want to be sure I am covering an array of subjects, so feel free to offer ideas or question suggestions. Someone asked for ideas on what to feed a picky 1 year old. So that's where I'm taking today's question from. (Thanks Shelly)
What do I feed a picky 1 year old?
Of course you want to be making sure they have a well balanced diet, but my doctor reminded me to look more at the week as a whole rather than their daily intake. That may help you not stress so much about what they are eating at every meal, but just trying to make sure their weekly diet is balanced and nutritious. Keep in mind your child's ability to eat small things without choking and how well they chew.
Here are a few suggests of things to feed your picky 1 year old:
Small slices of avacado
Apple bites
Yogurt
String Cheese
Toast torn up in small pieces (Sara likes it with spray butter, so it's a little moist)
Rice
Black Beans
Slightly boiled carrots, so they are just a little bit soft
Craisins/raisins
Noodles - either ramen or small pasta shells she can pick up with her hands
Scrambled eggs
French Fries
Applesauce
Sliced peaches or pears (I like the individual little cups because they are already cut up and easy to throw in the diaper bag)
Goldfish crackers
Mini M&M's (one of Sara's favorites)
Sliced banana cut in quarters she can pick up with her fingers
Shredded Cheese
Mandarin Oranges
Black Olives
Ham bites (you can buy little ham bites in the meat section)
Diced tomatoes
Torn up lunch meat
Eggos (just tear it in small pieces, Sara likes the blueberry ones)
Oatmeal
Corn
Green beans (I buy the long ones, so she can hold them in her hand)
Teddy Grahams
Hopefully this will give you some good ideas. Please feel free to make comments of your own ideas and what works for you. By about 1, they can eat pretty much all table food cut in to small pieces. I've also heard you have to try 5 times to feed a toddler something new before they will like it, so keep trying!! And most of these things can be tossed in a baggie or Tupperware to save for the next meal if they don't eat it all. My mom strongly believes that the more variety of foods you encourage your kids to try early on will make less picky eaters as they get older. Makes sense to me!
With my girls once they could eat most food we would just start giving them whatever we ate only in ways they could eat it. Growing up we never had the option to eat something other than what was given us, and I like that idea now.
ReplyDeleteMy girls will pretty much eat anything, the struggle I am having with them is the quantity. They will have a couple bites but then be done and want to go play. I am a big eater so in my mind I think they should be eating so much more. They will usually eat more if we feed it to them, but we are getting very tired of feeding them, especially my daughter who is almost 4. I keep thinking I should back off and just let them eat how much they want and see what happens but haven't really done that yet.
And a new thing with my 7 month old who I have recently started on baby food, he doesn't like the fruits. I never remember that problem with my daughters. So we play the game where I have my daughters get him to smile so I can shove a bite of fruit in his mouth, hopefully soon he will start to like it. I am so ready for him to like juice as well, but still waiting for that one. ; )
Well, my son was pretty good until he turned tune. Then he got picky. We do our best but he still has his favorites. The hard part for us is that everyone in our family is on a different eating plan right now due to health issues. So we actually have three separate dinner meals. Not what I expected, but it is where we are at. A few years ago we found ourselves starting to force our son to eat all his food. We would have these terrible fights at dinner. It wasn’t until I watched a show about child obesity on BBC that eased my mind and efforts. It said that children don't naturally starve themselves and will tell you when they are hungry. They may not like it, but if it is in front of them long enough and they are hungry enough they will try it. We don’t force him to eat everything but at least one bite.
ReplyDeleteAs for my 12 month old daughter, I can't seem to get her off stage 2 foods. (ha ha ha) I am in no hurry. She has a lifetime of eating…no need to rush.
Thanks for answering my question Karen!! :) London would eat anything until about a month ago. She has gotten so picky and she'll only eat little bites of food here and there. She is obsessed with hot dogs, cheese balls, pizza, and crackers, though. Ha, go figure! I get stressed out that she isn't eating enough because of her heart defect. She's already pretty underweight and her doctors get concerned when she isn't gaining weight. I'll keep trying! I'll have to try some of those foods. Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteOkay, the fact that you have a list greater than 10 items long with less than half of the items containing the word "cheese" in its name is a feat in and of itself. As a mom, I have learned there are two things in this world a child can control with absolute certainty 1.) what goes in his mouth and 2.) how it comes out. The first is a test of willpower, the second creativity. When my picky eater was a baby, I saw a poster in the waiting area of our pediatricians office that proclaimed (not verbatim) children do not have the ability to decipher between a like and a dislike until they have experienced it at least 7 times. That brief sentence caught from the corner of my eye may as well have been gospel according to the How-To-Get-Your-Picky-Child-To-Eat Gods. I began to implement that strategy, and though I would like to say it worked with everything, it did work with many things. With one of my children I did have to count down each try to when she wouldn't have to try it anymore. She probably would have made a paper chain and labeled it with the name of the hideous contaminant I wanted her to chew AND swallow if I let her. After the 7 tries, I do not force my children to eat or even try that food again. However, I am not opposed to putting the rejected food on their dinner plate whether they want it or not. Who could imagine living their lives without strawberries? My oldest daughter was convinced that she didn't like them, absolutely convinced, but because I put a few in her cereal one morning a whole world of possibilities have awakened her senses. She now proudly proclaims that she love, love, loves strawberries. So from my experience, if at first they spit it out, try, try, try, try, try, try again.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, moms. Whatever nutritional deficiencies your kids develop when they are 1 will be remedied by booger consumption between ages 2 and 4.
ReplyDelete