What should she be eating

[ktmum]

Im ryunning out of ideas for DDs meals
I still blend up chicken and veggis and she has finger foods such as ham or sausage rolls but im not reaLLY to sure what her diet should consist of at this age?? Shes 18 months
Any ideas shared would really help
Thanks
Karenxx

[isaac'smom]

Here's a link to the Toddler version of Canada's Food Guide. I try to use this as my guideline for how much ds should be eating and for meal/snack ideas. There's even a sample menu at the bottom if you scroll down.

http://www.lambtonhealth.on.ca/child/foodguide.asp

Some things ds eats for breakfast are: oatmeal, banana pancakes, french toast, omlette, fruit, yogurt. For lunch he sometimes has: 1/2 of a grilled cheese sandwich, macaroni and cheese, pancakes, french toast, pasta with tomato sauce, dinner leftovers, sliced/grated veggies. We always give him fruit as 'dessert' after his 3 meals. He has 2 snacks during the day. My ds eats what we eat for dinner.
 
HTH!

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

Here I know that we're advised by 12mths that they can be eating all ordinary family meals.  Now in saying that, my ds was a bit picky so I'd often do these types of things for lunches or dinners: french toast, omelette, baked beans, vege patties (you can grate in all sorts of veges, have mashed veges, have bits of meat added in), roast chicken meal, pasta/chicken/veges with a sauce, chilli con carne with rice (mild).

I also started to offer spicier foods which he liked.

[NKmommy]

Sorry to jump in to the thread, but Nikki, how do you make the veggie patties?  What holds it together?  Such a great idea - hoping it works for a kiddo who chucks a veggie onto the floor the second it hits his tray. 

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

Sheila, yes these ones definitely worked for a child that didn't like veges!

I started with things that I knew he liked such as: as combo of mashed veges - potato/sweet potato/pumpkin and maybe added some finely chopped brocolli or green beans.  Add an egg and bit of flour to make them firm, cook in a little oil. 

Then I moved onto grated veges: courgette (zucchini), potato, carrot - squeeze well, add and egg and flour and lightly fry. I also added onion to this mix (doesn't sound tasty, but it's in one of the toddler cookbooks), sometimes I've replaced the grated onion with grated apple.

[NKmommy]

Thanks, Nikki!  I am so excited to try it! 
**Off to chop veggies... 

[{{{Angela}}}]

Xavier is 18 months too, and for the last 6 months he's been eating finger foods (he refuses to eat anything mushy, except yogurt).  For breakfast, I always give him a carb (bread, pancake, croissant, waffle), a protein (deli meat, cheese, egg) and a fruit.  For lunch and dinner, it's carb, protein, veggies and fruit.  Morning snack is yogurt, afternoon snack is crackers or muffin or arrowroot cookies.  He eats family food, unless it's something that is new to him or that he may not like it.  Yesterday night we had chili, salad and garlic bread.  I made ds some pasta and mixed veggies, and while he wouldn't eat the beans in the chili, he dipped his pasta into it and ate most of it anyway.   He also ate some salad, and of course, fruit for dessert.

Just gradually introduce your dd to new finger foods and soon, she'll be eating the same as the rest of the family.

[Melsy]

Hi Karen,

My ds is 15 months and food is driving me bonkers at the moment cause he doesn't want to be fed by us, can't use a spoon or fork very well and is pretty lazy when it comes to finger foods!  :roll:   Did I mention it is driving me up the wall!!!!! 

Anyway, a few suggestions from my Annabel Karmel's Feeding Your Baby &Toddler book (I would be lost without this book!  )  Let me know if you want me to give you any of the recipes!

* Sheperd's Pie
* Mini Pizza
*Vegetable rissoles
* Fish Balls (ds likes these)
* Chicken & Potato Balls (ds LOVES these!)
* Fish Pie
* Chicken sausages
* Vegetarian croquettes
* Salmon starfish
* Crunchy chicken fingers
* Chicken & Sweetcorn rissoles (am going to cook these tomorrow)

There is also a TON of pasta and soup recipes.  I love this book cause it has recipes that dh and I can sit down and eat as a family together with Aidan.  Hope that helps.

Melissa.

P.S.  I forgot to add that I usually steam some pumpkin and/or sweet potato cubes and peas cause he loves to feed himself those and that keeps him distracted enough so that I can get spoonfuls of the other veggies into him while he is distracted!  :wink:   Sneaky!

[evanskimberley]

Interesting post. DD is very good at eatng but i'm sure she tires of the same thing. I'm curious, we (me and DH) have a few meals a week with cook in sauces, the type you get in jars, ie curry or swwet and sour sauce. i haven't given DD these yet as i was worried bout the salt content. But so many other mums just say they give their baby what ever their are having for tea. what do you think?
DD is 17mo.

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

Kimberley, fwiw, we also have maybe 2 meals a week that are stir-in sauce type meals.  As long as you're not adding extra salt to her diet I can't see it being a problem.  A lot of people give marmite on toast which is loaded with salt, butter has salt etc.  Almost all processed foods do, so all in moderation I think.

[evanskimberley]

hadn't thougt of it like that, thanks nikki!! 2006 will see me cooking less and Holly's tastes expading then as she has more of our food!!!