toddler foods

[jessaroo]

I am wondering what people are feeding their toddlers these day?

[Llyra]

I always find questions like these puzzling. My kids from about 9 or 10 months old always just ate what I ate, cut into appropriate sized pieces or mashed if necessary. The only things they didn't eat, that I ate, were things that were clearly inappropriate or dangerous, like whole grapes, etc. I've never understood having separate "kid" foods.

[MommyToElla]

same here. with my first i took it slow, etc. this time around i give dd whatever we're eating as finger food. and then spoon feed her some pureed food as well sometimes to fill her up a little more. she really just wants to eat whatever my older one is eating.

[annettemarie]

Moving to the toddler forum

[rebot]

jessaroo- I'm not puzzled by your question. I too cut up all of our everyday food for my toddler. The last two months, however, he has decided that he will eat nothing but banana's, bread, and oatmeal. It's almost as if the food has color it gets rejected.

I often look at these thread's trying to get new ideas to try for snack time. He ate 3.5 banana's yesterday. He was offered pancakes and eggs for breakfast, roasted cauliflower soup for lunch, and spaghetti for dinner and barely ate any of it. About an hour after each meal he was hungry and wanted a banana.

[Theia]

Originally Posted by rebot

jessaroo- I'm not puzzled by your question. I too cut up all of our everyday food for my toddler. The last two months, however, he has decided that he will eat nothing but banana's, bread, and oatmeal. It's almost as if the food has color it gets rejected.

I often look at these thread's trying to get new ideas to try for snack time. He ate 3.5 banana's yesterday. He was offered pancakes and eggs for breakfast, roasted cauliflower soup for lunch, and spaghetti for dinner and barely ate any of it. About an hour after each meal he was hungry and wanted a banana.

This isn't part of your question, but banana's can be constipating. So be careful if your DS eats them alot.

I'm trying to get my DD to expand her food likes. I always give her some of everything that I have. I make a big deal about how much I enjoy it. And she will usually try it at least. And just this week I was trying to figure out how to get her to make friends with green foods as that is her big sticking point, so I bought a small jar of sweet midget pickles. She didn't like them at first but she asked for them again, so I gave her one. Several times I had to clean up the rejected pickle off the floor, but yesterday and today both she has eaten the whole thing. Now it's not an ideal food, but at I feel that it is a good step in the direction of learning to like green foods for her.

DD does like most anything with cheese. We have bean and cheese quesadillas at least once a week.

Just keep offering, and make sure he gets plenty to drink so he doesn't get stopped up.

[Alohamelly]

Ugh, I just wish my toddler would eat period!

[RebeccaWo]

For me, this question isn't puzzling at all. It's a question I think about every single meal, so thank you for posting. We offer DD bites of whatever we're eating, the problem is that she will (maybe) take a bite and then turns her head at the offer of anything else.

If it were up to her, she'd eat cheese sticks, bananas, and Cheerios every meal. We can also sometimes get her to eat couscous, plain spaghetti, avocados, or sweet potato fries. She's so picky and it baffles me. I hope that it's just a (very long) stage and that by continuously offering her a variety of food she'll grow out of it.

[lach]

For breakfast she has instant oatmeal. Sometimes she asks for toast with peanut butter, or yogurt, but she never eats them when I make them. So then I eat them, and make her oatmeal.

For lunch we do a hodgepodge. I try to do a milk protein (cheese or yogurt), a fruit, and a starchy bready thing (toast, crackers, waffle, muffin). Sometimes I add raisins, or some leftover dinner. She ate sandwiches every day for months, and then totally stopped for months, and only in the past few days has expressed interest in sandwiches.

Dinner is where our problem lies. After her nap, she has a small snack, but she's hungry at about 4:30. If I wait too long after 4:30, she gets overtired and overhungry and won't eat anything. It's really hard to have dinner ready at 4:30, but I pretty much have to. It also seems to be when my 10 month old is hungry, too. He goes to bed at 6, so eating from 4:30 to 5, and then playing for about an hour and then BFing for bed works pretty perfectly. The period before dinner is also rough, because usually at least one child has the late-afternoon grumps.

So, we do more frozen food than I'd like to admit. Trader Joe's is wonderful for this. Their appetizers are a big hit around here: the mushroom turnovers are particularly popular, but also well liked are the crab cakes and the coconut shrimp. I always do at least one vegetable, but the only vegetable she'll eat at dinner are peas. Sometimes orange squash, but rarely. I usually give some more cheese and some bananas too, because I at least know that they'll be eaten and she won't go to bed hungry.

Not everything is frozen convenience food. For some reason, my toddler LOVES salmon cakes. Can't get enough of them. I made them this week, and she ate the 2 I served, the 3 I had saved for DH, and then one from my plate. And they're consistently liked, unlike everything else I make! Last night I made a pizza, which she wouldn't touch. Pasta is sometimes liked: she loves macaroni and cheese.

I dunno, whenever questions like this get asked I always find the rush to claim "she just eats whatever we eat!" puzzling. First of all, it doesn't answer the question at all. And I don't know any childless couples who eat a diet they're eager to give their children, so when those children are just starting to eat it doesn't seem like a particularly helpful response to pretend otherwise. I certainly ate a lot of takeout, grazed, or just plain skipped meals when I wasn't very hungry before I had kids. I never ate breakfast, lunch was takeout while I was at work, dinner was either takeout or a sandwich or if I was feeling really fancy I'd make pancakes. Sometimes I'd skip dinner entirely, if I went out after work and munched on bar snacks.

I think for most people, having children in the household really has to change the way you feed yourself and your family, so I guess I'm always really puzzled when people claim otherwise. At least be helpful and provide some menu ideas of the things your kids eat so willingly, KWIM? That's all the question is about. And of course the other problem is that while I do eat dinner with her so far as she's concerned, that's really more an appetizer for me because I feel strongly about family meals. I'm not hungry at 4:30, nor do I usually have the time to cook a meal at 4:30 that's up to my "good cooking" standards. So no, I rarely cook her the same thing I'm going to eat at dinner. When she's older and can eat at a more family-reasonable time, I'll worry about cooking hearty family fare.

[kdtmom2be]

Some favorites around here these days:
- mushroom soup (she'll eat this all day every day if I let her, I've been limiting her to one bowl a day)
- cheese in just about any format
- carrot sticks, prefers with dip
- raisins or other dried fruits
- nuts (pecans & cashews are the favorites)
- macaroni with alfredo sauce - I sometimes add canned mushroom and/or cut up chicken breast
- salad! (yes, really. she is not a big fan of lettuce but does like all the other veggies and as long as there is "sauce" on it, she'll eat it, often lots of it)
- oranges & apples
- frozen berries
- rice crackers
- yogurt (& sometimes I let her have Minigo)
- sticky rice pressed into shapes with a little dipping plate with soya sauce

[Ruthie's momma]

Originally Posted by lach

I dunno, whenever questions like this get asked I always find the rush to claim "she just eats whatever we eat!" puzzling. First of all, it doesn't answer the question at all. And I don't know any childless couples who eat a diet they're eager to give their children, so when those children are just starting to eat it doesn't seem like a particularly helpful response to pretend otherwise. I certainly ate a lot of takeout, grazed, or just plain skipped meals when I wasn't very hungry before I had kids. I never ate breakfast, lunch was takeout while I was at work, dinner was either takeout or a sandwich or if I was feeling really fancy I'd make pancakes. Sometimes I'd skip dinner entirely, if I went out after work and munched on bar snacks.

I think for most people, having children in the household really has to change the way you feed yourself and your family, so I guess I'm always really puzzled when people claim otherwise. At least be helpful and provide some menu ideas of the things your kids eat so willingly, KWIM? That's all the question is about. And of course the other problem is that while I do eat dinner with her so far as she's concerned, that's really more an appetizer for me because I feel strongly about family meals. I'm not hungry at 4:30, nor do I usually have the time to cook a meal at 4:30 that's up to my "good cooking" standards. So no, I rarely cook her the same thing I'm going to eat at dinner. When she's older and can eat at a more family-reasonable time, I'll worry about cooking hearty family fare.

DD does eat what we eat. Why shouldn't she? Because Dh and I have always made a point to feed ourselves well it only makes sense to offer our DD the same sort of foods at similar intervals (light meals with snacks, as needed). I have always enjoyed preparing healthful, flavorful foods. Plus, we really enjoy dining out (particularly ethnic foods ). So, it only seems natural to offer such a variety of foods to my LO.

Of course, this does not mean that DD always wants what is offered. But, that has more to do with her burgeoning sense of toddler induced independence than the food not being "kid-friendly" enough. If DD isn't interested in what DH and I are eating, she knows the alternatives (a cup of yogurt or a PB & J sandwich). IMO, there is no reason to complicate our family's eating practices.

Furthermore, I have always viewed my toddler's eating habits as a non-issue. In the end, what and how much she eats is up to her level of hunger. My job is offer her a variety of healthy, appetizing foods. Somedays she will eat a lot while other days she will simply graze. Either way, she will thrive.

[lach]

Originally Posted by Ruthie's momma

DD does eat what we eat. Why shouldn't she? Because Dh and I have always made a point to feed ourselves well it only makes sense to offer our DD the same sort of foods at similar intervals (light meals with snacks, as needed). I have always enjoyed preparing healthful, flavorful foods. Plus, we really enjoy dining out (particularly ethnic foods ). So, it only seems natural to offer such a variety of foods to my LO.

Of course, this does not mean that DD always wants what is offered. But, that has more to do with her burgeoning sense of toddler induced independence than the food not being "kid-friendly" enough. If DD isn't interested in what DH and I are eating, she knows the alternatives (a cup of yogurt or a PB & J sandwich). IMO, there is no reason to complicate our family's eating practices.

Furthermore, I have always viewed my toddler's eating habits as a non-issue. In the end, what and how much she eats is up to her level of hunger. My job is offer her a variety of healthy, appetizing foods. Somedays she will eat a lot while other days she will simply graze. Either way, she will thrive.

I know my response (rant?) was long, so maybe you didn't read the entire thing (I know I have a tendency to glaze over long rants), but I still don't see how this is the least bit helpful to OP. Perhaps you can suggest some specific examples of things that your toddler enjoys, that she might be able to use? She's obviously looking for some advice that she can practically use.

[Ruthie's momma]

Originally Posted by jessaroo

I am wondering what people are feeding their toddlers these day?

To answer the OP's question, our DD really does eat what we eat...

Our current faves include-

Breakfasts...
*whole grain cereal
*yogurt (often with fruit and granola)
*scrambled eggs (often with a little cheese & veg) & toast
*breakfast burritos, pancakes/waffles or quiche with bacon/sausage (usually on weekends)

Lunch...
*leftovers from the previous night's dinner
*soup & sandwiches (usually a quick panini made with a cheese and veg)

Dinner can vary a lot...but, some old standbys include...
*one pot type meals (soups & stews) with a green salad and bread
*casserole type meals (eggplant parmesan, lasagna, enchiladas, burritos, etc.) with a green salad
*make your own tacos
*our standard meat, grain and two veg entree (I mix it up and sometimes make a little pan sauce)

Snacks...
*fruit (dried or fresh) & veg
*cheese & crackers
*yogurt
*nuts

Desserts...once or twice a week
*ice cream
*banana bread

[Ruthie's momma]

Originally Posted by lach

I know my response (rant?) was long, so maybe you didn't read the entire thing (I know I have a tendency to glaze over long rants), but I still don't see how this is the least bit helpful to OP. Perhaps you can suggest some specific examples of things that your toddler enjoys, that she might be able to use? She's obviously looking for some advice that she can practically use.

I didn't view your response as a rant. I just found it rather interesting that we mommas can take such different approaches to feeding our LOs. You will be pleased to know that I even reread your initial post aloud to my husband...no skimming here!

BTW...I have yet to figure out the multi-quote feature on here so therefore I make separate posts...

[tbone_kneegrabber]

I'm "ds eats what we eat" person. How that actually plays out is kinda like this...
last night we made:
homemade soft pretzels
homemade potato chips
cabbage soup
homemade vegan sausages
homemade apple cider cupcakes

ds ate:
potato chips
the chickpeas out of EVERYONE's soup
a little bit of a pretzel
one bite of a cupcake
a bowl of yogurt with granola (for dessert)

The night before we made indian food (eggplant, jersulam artichoke tomato dish and a spinach and tofu dish, with saffron rice and peas and naan)

ds ate:
rice and peas (and more peas)
some of the tofu and spinach (mostly tofu)
one bite of the other stuff before declaring it too spicy
and some naan

lunch yesterday was a bagel with cream cheese and avocado (and then more avocado)

[babygrace]

'they eat what we eat" is usually a response from parents of unfussy eaters! as for the 'they eat how much their bodies want' response, well, the toddlers i know are much too busy to 'waste' time on such unimportant activities like eating! i did an experiment of my own, after getting curious about the above pat responses. i adopted a very lackadaisical approach and let them be when they stopped after a few bites. they were happy, i wasn't quite sure if that was enough. then, per usual, i found ways to be creative and playful at mealtimes, and the same child would polish off a bowlful instead of a few bites! so i have found a combination of toddler personality and mother's approach to be working best.

OP, i understand your question, because we all sometimes get into a food rut and sharing new ideas can be helpful!

[yasinsmama]

I'm so jealous of those pf you who ave toddlers that will eat cheese and eggs. DH will not touch the stuff. He also won't eat pasta or rice. So no mac and cheese for him

He will eat PB&J
Almost all fruit
bread and olive oil
blueberry waffles with honey(I bought a wafflemaker just so I could make him homemade waffles)
Yogurt and yogurt drinks
Pirate's Booty
potatoes (sometimes)
Pizza (of course, no cheese or chunks of veggies)
Lentils
Muffins

He will not eat ground beef, sometimes he'll eat chicken. As a kid, and still now, I had a texture issue with foods. I think that's why he doesn't like a lot of things. I can put a piece of bland pasta, or flavorful pasta in his mouth, and he puches it out with his tongue. Same with cheese.

He used to LOVE roasted broccoli with garlic and onions. No more.
Won't eat carrots unless they are pureed. I know he is thriving, but I am so picky with food, so I always envisioned offering my baby every kind of food, and him loving carrot and cucumber sticks as a snack at 1 1/2 year old.

I made kale soup the other night (I have never had Kale, so i wanted to try something new). He actually took 3 or 4 spoons of it before he turned his head. I was so excited.

[gbailey]

DD will only eat oatmeal for breakfast and sometimes quinoa. Breakfast is oatmeal, fresh fruit or organic nosugar added frozen berries with a teaspoon of ground flax and a dash of cinnamon. A snack is usually a cup of plain yogurt with kiwi or ground walnuts. For lunch a grilled cheese sandwhich with steamed broccoli or some other veggie. After nap snack is crackersa nd cheese or something else and dinner usually fish or some other concoction I've gotten out of a recipe book. She is a pretty good eater if she's not teething. DD can't stand eggs. I've tried preparing them different ways but it's just not her thing. She used to love steamed butter nut squash but now won't touch the stuff even if I prepare it in different ways. She loves this moroccan dish I make I've made with ground lamb and couscous. I've tried making her french toast and pancakes but she prefers her oatmeal.

ETA: She loves spaghetti with meat sauce and will sometimes only eat that for days on end. I have been trying to come up with new fun things for her to try. She also loves almond butter sandwhiches.

[Evelynmia'smom]

My 16 month old also eats what I eat....I say "I" because my dh likes to watch his figure... so he often doesn't eat what I make. Also, he isn't around for breakfast or lunch and my dd eats dinner around 5:30 so he isn't home for that. Ok, so:

(I have been trying alot of recipes from this amazing blog I came across called weelicious.com....most of the recipes are basically foods that your entire family can eat but altered to be healthy for children....no refined sugar, minimal salt, etc.)


Breakfast:
oatmeal
fruit (she eats all berries, bananas, mango, kiwi, pinneaple, pears, nectarines, oranges)
yogurt
cold cereal
scrambled eggs (a few bites)
bagel ( a few bites)
pancakes (a few bites and often just likes to lick the syrup off)

Snacks:
cheese
fruit
crackers
hummus
yogurt
mini muffins...lately we've had corn and banana wheat germ
cottage cheese
prunes (she has been bingeing on these lately.....seriously will eat 3 prunes a day)


lunch:
pb&J
leftovers from dinner
if in a rush...amy's veggie lasagna....loves, loves this
cheese quesadillas
grilled cheese
soup/bread

Dinner: (I don't like making separate meals for my dd but because she won't eat meat I will give her whatever grain and veggie we are having and then make something else that I know she will eat)

loves:
mac and cheese
pasta with pesto/tomato sauce
broccoli
will eat carrots sometimes
zucchini
red peppers
lasagna

[_betsy_]

DD1 (3 yo) is picky, DD2 (just turned a year) will eat anything and everything, though we just introduced wheat and she hasn't had any dairy.

I can totally see being able to say "She just eats what I eat!" about DD2, DD1 is a different story! DD1 won't eat much meat, just chicken. She'll eat pureed veggies out of a Gerber box (Blech!) but not the real veggie in solid form. She tells me "That's for the baby!" when she sees a real, whole vegetable (ie not pureed). She loves pasta, cheese and eggs, especially hard boiled. Her all time fave is mac and cheese. She's recently started to eat pizza, before she'd just play with it even though she likes bread, cheese and sauce. She likes peanut butter sandwiches (sometimes) and grilled cheese (but not if I make it). She went through a period of loving yogurt and fruit every morning, but now won't touch it. She will not eat lasagna. She will not eat flat breads, so pita, pita chips, quesadillas, etc. are out. She will eat fish, which I don't eat. She eats dinner 2 nights a week at my ILs house, so she gets different cooking and meal planning there than at home.

Foods I can rely on actually being eaten:
Breakfasts
- Hard boiled eggs
- Mini whole wheat bagel with cream cheese
- Homemade waffles (but not the frozen kind!)
- Trader Joe's O's cereal (usually)
- Cheese omelet
Lunch
- Mac and cheese
- Peanut butter sandwich
- Chicken nuggets (homemade or frozen or fast food)
- leftover pasta
- Grilled cheese
Snacks
- String cheese
- Banana
- Crackers
- Any kind of cheese
- Did I mention cheese?
Dinner
- Pasta - will eat meat-filled ravioli or tortellini
- chicken
- cous cous
- mashed potatoes
- rice
- loves Chinese food
- pizza/grilled cheese/other lunch faves

She's 3 years and 4 months old, and she's just now showing signs of being willing to venture out of her food comfort zone and try new things. And she really likes to help in the kitchen, and she is more apt to eat what we cook together. Also, giving her choices helps a lot. Some days I ask her what she wants to eat just to see what she comes up with (first response is almost always mac and cheese or crackers), other days I offer a choice between two things.