What Did Your Toddler Eat Today? Part 8

[Papaya]

We often have dinner leftovers for lunch the next day - and once a week, dinner is generally finishing up whatever needs to be eaten from the fridge, so a variety of leftovers. F never seems to mind - and I don't think we need 21 different meals a week, yk? Breakfast is usually the same muesli, we have something different a couple of times a week.

Yesterday was
B: muesli, mango
S: banana muffin
L: egg dosai, bit of sardine murtabak
D: couscous with chicken and veg; mango and coconut sorbet ice-block, grapes

[nona]

today so far:
breakfast: blueberry whole grain waffle w/ butter, fresh blueberries & milk
snack: a small  cereal bar (while running an errand)
lunch: cheddar cheese, apple slices, leftover mac & cheese, hummus /pretzels, milk

[roimata9]

Yesterday, my 26month DS had:
Breakfast: muesli and almond milk, green smoothie
Snack: apple sauce
Lunch: stir fry with beef, broccoli, carrots and beans; blueberries
Snack: cashews and rice crackers
Dinner: fresh sardines, avocado, GF bread, carrots (refused the other veges and only had a few bites of fish)

[roimata9]

Today he had:

Breakfast- dry muesli and green smoothie

Snack-grapes, turkey breast, rice crackers and guacamole


Lunch-chicken, potato, mushrooms,  carrots and cherries

Dinner -ham,  broccoli, carrots, coconut yoghurt

[Emami]

B: GF oatmeal with puréed nectarine stirred through
S: cauliflower (dd has always loved cauliflower and will eat it just boiled and cold!)
L: roast chicken with apple and spinach
D: meatloaf

[Papaya]

Yesterday was my birthday so not the healthiest eating day:

B: Croissant with bacon and cheese; jackfruit
S: banana
L: peanut butter and grated carrot sandwich
afternoon tea: I don't even know. Cake, cupcakes, cookies (at least they were sugar-free!), some fruit, maybe a home-made sausage roll or two
D: not much. Piece of zucchini slice, some watermelon and pineapple

Today:
B: muesli
S: banana, dry cornflakes
L: Noodle soup with tomato and egg; broccoli; cucumber
S: Grapes
D: Tofu and veg with rice; Jackfruit, watermelon

[Mama2Athena]

Wow, your toddlers eat really well and their menus are really varied.  My DD tends to eat the same things over and over, especially for breakfast and lunch.  She goes to daycare and they offer breakfast (usually a starch like pancakes, fruit, and milk).  I pack lunches and snacks.  I try to give a starch, a meat, and fruit for lunches.  Since she is so picky, daycare puts out only the meat first and by the time she finishes that she is hardly interested in the rest of her lunch, or worse yet they don't offer anything else because she hasn't finish her meat.  I don't pack a large portion of meat either.

My question to you ladies is how do you get your toddlers to accept such a varied diet?  Dinner time is the only time I get to experiment new foods.  Usually she will take a bite of the new food and spit it out and starts crying if she doesn't see something else familiar .  So I feel like we're stuck with the usual mac n cheese, rice, deli meat, fruits, sweet potatoes, string cheese, etc.

[roimata9]

Mama2athena, I think part of it is I'm just lucky to have a kid who likes his food. We do baby led weaning so hes always eaten what we eat, and we are adventurous eaters. But I also have a few tricks
I usually give him veges first, then meat, then starch. Otherwise he'd just fill up on potato and not eat anything else. I don't actually give him much carbs at all.
If he's going through a picky stage, I don't give him snacks so he is ravenous at meal times.
I will often cook veges in stock or broth to give them a meaty flavour- he loves his meat!
He is getting pickier, and I now ask him to have one bite of everything on his plate. If he doesn't want any more, that's okay, but he knows he won't get anything else.

Remember though it is natural for toddlers to be picky, my doctor told me it's a safety feature for them. when they are little they can only eat what we give them or place nea them. But when they become mobile and can run off and eat whatever they might find, they get pickier to reduce the chances of them eating something poisonous. If it is an unfamiliar food, they are unlikely to accept it in toddlerhood. Don't give up though!

[roimata9]

Yesterday he had
B bacon, sausage, potatoes, watermelon, orange and pineapple. Green smoothie
L Korean bulgogi beef, rice, capsicum, broccoli (refused to capsicum and only had a few mouthfuls of beef)
D at restaurant mini burger, fries, carrot sticks, apple and apple juice

Today
B porridge with GF oats, flax meal, coconut and rice milk, coconut yoghurt
MT applesauce
L PB sandwich, banana, pear
D Teriyaki salmon, purple potatoes, broccoli, carrots, chocolate almond milk, grapes

[Papaya]

We did BLW as well, and F has always just been offered the same as us since she was about 8 months old. She doesn't have to eat anything but she knows that she doesn't get more of one thing unless she's tried the other things on her plate - and I don't offer an alternative (although might tone down a curry for her, etc). She goes through phases of not eating stuff, but generally eats a decent variety so I do feel pretty lucky that I've never had to worry about what she eats!

Today was
B: practically nothing, not sure why. A teaspoon of porridge.
S: apple
L: was ravenous, of course. Huge bowl of noodle soup with wantons, tofu and seaweed.
D: corn chips w guacamole, salmon coulibiac, cucumber sticks. Watermelon, grapes and rambutan.

[eva026]

I've just been reading recommendations with amounts for DD's age and some sample meals. I must say I am a bit worried she's not eating enough.
What do you ladies think about this:
Yesterday
WU milk 150ml
B: 3 tblsp cereal, 5 berries
S: 1 slice cheese, 1 strawberry, 80ml jog, 2 bites of eggy bread
L: 1 tblsp mince, 1tblsp potato, 1tbs pumpkin, 1 slice ham, 3 cauliflower florets - wouldn't eat more
S: 1 cracker
D: 1 tbsp mince, 1tbsp potato (left from her lunch), 1/4 slice bread, 3 cherry tomatoes, 40ml jog
BT milk: 160ml

Today
WU milk 150ml
B: 1tblsp cereal 3 berries - wasn't interested in more
S: 2 tblsp cereal (finished off her B 2h later)
S: 50ml pumpkin-ginger soup
L: 2 tblsp chicken, 1/4 slice bread with cream cheese, 2 cherry tomatos, 60ml milk
S: 1/2 segment orange, 2 sticks watermelon, 3 florets cauliflower
D: 1/2 cup pumpkin-ginger soup
BT milk: 160ml

[Emami]

^^ I think this looks ok Seems like a decent mix of things, and I wouldn't worry too much about amounts as toddlers still have small stomachs and it doesn't take much to fill them up!  Mine has days (like today) where she hardly eats anything, but over the course of a week I think she gets a good balance and quantity.  Today she only had a yogurt for breakfast, 2 bites of chicken for lunch (ignored the veg), and so far she's only gone for a few cherries this afternoon.  Yesterday was a good day:

B: homemade fruit smoothie with coconut milk and coconut oil
L: omelette with bacon, kale, onion and red pepper
D: vegetable soup, banana bread

No snacks, water throughout the day, milk first thing and with dinner

[Papaya]

I think it looks fine too - the snacks are pretty substantial so if you wanted to scale back on them a little she might eat more for her main meals, but that said the snacks are balanced so it's probably all fine. LOs are really good at self regulating how much  they need and of what, so long as we provide them with healthy options of course Like pp says, it's better to look at what they eat over the course of a week or so, rather than day by day.

[eva026]

Yaay, thanks:) The amounts on some websites are double what DD eats.

Today was ok so far, she had most of her breakfast porridge with 1/2 a nectarine ans I got her to drink half a cup of veg soup. But I think that's because I let her drink it out of a wine glass instead of a bowl, lol.

[Emami]

Lol, imagining a 17mo drinking soup out of a wine glass! 

Today was a good food day here
B: banana pudding (made with banana, coconut oil, coconut milk, egg yolk, almond butter, vanilla, cinnamon)
L: bowl of mince (beef) with tomatoes and cheese
D: veggie stir fry to get rid of some that needed using up
S: frozen blueberries