Need ideas for lunch and snacks

[MommyToAbby]

At our 12 month visit, the pediatrician recommended I try to provide 5-6 meals/healthy snakcs throughout the day.  I REALLY need some ideas for healthy lunch and snack ideas. Breakfast we are OK.  DD eats yogurt and oatmeal.  Before bed, she has whatever we are eating but maybe just 1-2 tablespoons.  Ped said I could stop the bottle of formula before bed but until DD is eating more in quanity I was going to continue.

Itis a challenge to get DD to eat.  She doesn't like to miss out on playing and sit to eat in high chair. It seems like I waste a lot trying different foods.  This week I bought a bunch of Gerber pasta pickups for lunch. She had one the day my MIL watched her but wouldn't eat them for me. The can says they are only good 2-3 days so I had to throw it out.  I just don't know how to figure out what she likes.   Sippy cup is a whole other story!!!

Thanks in advance for the help!
Barb

I modified this post to give a sample of our typical menu:
6:00 breastfeed
7:00 Breakfast: yogurt and oatmeal
9:00 Bottle 4-6 ounces of milk before a.m. nap
11:30/12 Lunch: whatever I can get her to eat, sometimes 3-4 oz applesauce or other fruit/veggie, maybe 3-4 sweet potato fries, 1 stick of mozz cheese
**I'd like forherto have the Gerber pasta meal for lunch andthe applesauce later as a snack**
2:00 snack: Mum Mum or animal crackers
3:00 Bottle 4-6 ounces of milk before p.m. nap
4:30/5 Late afternoon meal: Gerber stage 2 veggie or fruit puree
6:30 whatever we have for dinner
7:00 6 ouce bottle formula

[lmbaby]

***Marking****I need some suggestions too!

[~Natalie~]

I am marking to see what the other suggestions are but I will also write out some of what we do,  these are usually what I choose from everyday.  I try for a whole grain, a fruit, a dairy and a veggie at every meal in different combos.

Breakfast:
Usually oatmeal and banana
Blueberry Pancakes
French Toast

Lunch:
Toast with:  hummus, tuna, almond butter, cheese, egg salad, cream cheese
Some sort of fruit: halved grapes, strawberries, melon, blueberries....really whatever is in season
Left over veggies from dinner

Snack:
cheese cubes
raisins
fruit
yogurt nibbles (they are made by Beech Nut)
arrow root crackers (beech nut again)
Cheerios

Dinner:
Whatever we are having that night.  I just cook it without salt or sugar. 

The veggies I usually cube and roast or steam
zucchini, sweet potato, potato, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots,

Right now you can see I only do 4 times, but DS still BFs in the morning so breakfast is quite late.  When we drop it I will add a snack between breakfast and lunch

HTH

[*Natasha*]

I think she is filling up on milk re the bottle before naps i would perhaps drop those you should find that your LO will start taking more at meals. This is what we do:

Breakfast: 2 pieces of toast or bowl of cereal with honey. On weekends pancakes or eggs and toast. 6ozs milk in a cup

Lunch: Banana, big piece of cheese, ham/chicken meat and water crackers. She is off sandwiches at the moment which i normally give.

Dinner: Whatever we have i try to have at least 3 vege, meat and rice/pasta/potatoes with it. Yoghurt/fruit/custard for dessert. 4-6ozs milk.

Snacks: Muesli bar, fruit stick, sultanas, a biscuits.

Water through out the day.

[nevviemama]

Lately I've been making a snack that my lo loves, derived from a the yogurt/berry/granola snack I make for myself. I add some jar or fresh fruit to yogurt, maybe a bit of cinnamon, and some crumbled organic biscuits or cheerios. She absolutely loves this.

[MommyToAbby]

The main reasosn I do bottles before naps is b/c she was recently weaned. The bottles replaced nursing and this is her way of winding down before naps.  The other thing is she does not do a sippy cup so the only way I can get her to drin kher milk is to give her a bottle.

Question about milk, does the formula she gets before bed count toward daily milk intake or is it separate?

These are all good suggestions and I have read the other threads. The challenge is how to do I get her to eat this stuff?  In figuring out  what she likes, how many different foods do I offer at a meal before I decide OK she must not be hungry? That is what I worry about.  Am I not offering stuff she'll eat or is she just not hungry?

[~Natalie~]

For us I make a choice on what he will eat.  So for lunch today he had left over cooked carrots and toast with hummus and then a handful of blueberries.  I put three or four of each on his tray and as he eats I replenish.  (if I put too much on his tray he either stuffs it all in his mouth or starts chucking it on the floor).  Some days he will eat it all really fast and then I might offer something else like cottage cheese because he is not hungry.  Other days he will eat about half or less, not be interested and start chucking it.  I end the meal and that is that until the next meal time.  I don't offer anything else besides what I have made, I think this can lead to fussy and picky eaters IMHO.  Children who are otherwise healthy and content will not starve themselves  they may refuse meals but it really is not something to worry about (easier said then done!).  Just like adults they have fluctuating appetites which is perfectly normal.  I *try* not to make meal times into battles and follow his lead. 

Remember that it can take 15 times of offering a specific food before they start to eat it.  DS took FOREVER warming up to carrots, but now happily puts them away.  Just offer a variety of food, if she doesn't like something now don't worry about it and try it again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next....    So I guess I would say offer something you know she likes (DS loves toast with anything on it) and then throw in some new food to try, that way you know she has eaten something.

Really any dairy product counts towards the milk consumption of the day.  Formula, cows milk, cheese, yogurt, cereal that had milk mixed in a so on.

[BensMamma]

Hi All,
I'm so happy to have found this thread and am marking my place to watch for more suggestions. 
My DS just switched to whole cow's milk and we are backing down the quantity, but he seems a lot like MommyToAbby's DD.  He can't sit still for a meal that takes more than 15 minutes, and now he's losing weight.  I found that he does love Kefir, Cheerios, strawberries and bananas, but I think he needs more nourishment.  Plus, he won't feed himself at all, so it takes forever for him to eat (one Cheerio at a time).  I like the suggestion I saw above from Suttermommy for toast, so I think I'll try it today for variety.

I have a question - when do you guys find time to prepare all of this food?  Do you prepare it all the night before, after you LO's have gone to bed?  It seems that the vegetable cutting would be very time consuming, and so far I've only given DS pureed veggies (which he really doesn't want anymore) because they're convenient.  I think he might like them better if he could chew them. 

Another question - do you guys feed every meal and snack at the table?  I've noticed that my DS doesn't like to sit still at the table for long, and I think he might snack or eat more during the day if he didn't have to sit there; but, I also don't want him to start rebelling and not sit there at all.  Thanks.

[Fiona (Leah & Kians Mom)]

You have gotten lots of ideas for snacks but I would agree with Natasha and cut some milk feeds, specifically those at 9 am and in the afternoon. That would leave you with 3 milk feeds for the moment.
At 12 months ds was on
Brekkie, weetabix with milk and milk in cup after.
Am snack of toast or soft bread with water or small amount of milk in his cup.
Lunch with water or immediately after eating a small amount of milk, like quarter or less of his cup.
Same again after his nap.
Dinner
Bed time bottle.
We are still on the same schedule.

Bensmamma, all meals are at his table, sometimes snacks are in the car or he will toddle around with his cup. Just recently though he has discoverd that if he wants to eat he can go to his chair and I will get him something, he even insists on going there for a drink.

[~Natalie~]

Usually all meals are at the table just because it is more convenient since it is in the kitchen anyway and I don't have to worry about him crawling away and choking on something.

I give DS what we eat so I don't specifically prepare anything ahead of time.  Lunch is either left of dinner or a sandwich and dinner is whatever I have made.  When he was younger I used to prep dinner during his second nap but now he plays in the floor by my feet while I cook.

[BensMamma]

Thank you Fiona and Suttermommy!

[Diana1981]

These are some of the snacks I give ds:
banana
crackers with cream cheese and jelly
mashed papaya with yogurth
I bake all kinds of cupcakes (banana, strawberry, oatmeal, etc) He loves them!
granola bar
sweet plantains
corn bread

[nwmm]

I'll come back soon!!