What did your toddler eat today?

[HeatherC]

Sheila, carbs are a certainty around here.  Fruit is good, but veggies are hit or miss.  I still put them on her plate whenever they are served, though, but I don't force them.

Kelsey is 18 mos today:
Breakfast:  waffle with sugar free syrup, milk
snack:  cherrios, watered-down juice
lunch:  1/2 ham and cheese sandwich, slice of pear, slice of peach, milk
snack:  cherrios (I only give a tiny bit here or she won't eat much dinner), watered-down juice
dinner:  lasagna---loves, loves, loves it, milk
bedtime:  milk, 1/2-whole graham cracker usually

[GG]

Anyone have carb-only kids.  DS will eat fruit, but aside from that, only wants plain noodles, cheerios, toast, etc.  I worry that he isn't getting a proper diet, and I hope it is a phase!  I guess all I can do is still offer a variety.   

I've read that kids need carbs anyway. Don't worry about giving him protein at this point but also don't worry about making his diet low-fat (for example, don't substitute low-fat milk or other items). Give him the real deal. Also, if you can, try getting him to eat veggies (I know it's not easy... apparently my ds eats like your ds . Anywho, my ds also eats mostly carbs. He's not big on cheese, but he's getting to like it.

Marie, he wakes up asking for milk and gulps it down greedily when I give him some. Then, of course, he wakes up with a completely full or soaked through diaper.    Btw, if your daughter eats like that most days, that's wonderful!  I LOVE to see my ds eat and enjoy what he's eating.

[NKmommy]

Good to know I am not the only one with a carb-addict.     I do try to add protein and calcium, like egg in the morning, cheese as a snack, or peanut butter on a rice cake, etc, but the kiddo just loooooves his cheerios, crackers, and bread.  You are right - I need to keep offering veggies, whether he eats them or not.  One thing that semi-works - if I put a dab of sour cream on his food, he is more likely to try it.  Sour cream on cooked carrots - yummmm.   

[GG]

DS used to eat one egg 5-6x per week but I think I pushed it to the limits. He rarely eats eggs now (he'll share one with me but only when I make 2 eggs for me rather than 1 for each of us... how does he know?! )

[Catharine]

Great idea about the meals, I'll post then continue reading.

My dd's got an Asian palate, so her meal looks different from others. I wish she would eat a pizza, sausage or pasta. Arggghhh...

Breakfast:
weetabix or cornflakes + strawberries or bananas
toast or bread with peanut butter or jam
eggy bread (french toast) in different cut out shapes (loves these). She can have 3 slices of this, but it has to be plain, without jam, honey or anything on it.
raisin toast

Snacks:
Yoghurt
Youghurt drink
fruit (grapes, cherries or banana)
muffin
biscuits
babybel cheese

Lunch & Dinner:
Rice with soup and chicken/fish/pork (steamed, broiled or fried)- 70% of the time
Rice with steam fish and tofu
Rice with steam egg and pork
Pasta elbows (only one she'll eat) with soup and chicken
Dim sum / yum cha (once every fortnight)
Fried rice with egg and chicken/pork/shrimp (not too keen on the shrimp if she sees it)
2-min noodles with egg
Chicken nuggets and fries (75% of the time when we are eating out)
Fish fingers (sometimes) with fries
Peanut butter/jam/nutella sandwiches
Roast chicken bits
Some Arabic meat-filled pastries

If you haven't noticed, there is no vegie on the menu. I try to make the soup with some tofu and vegies (cabbage, spinach or carrots) in it and mash it with the rice but it has to be really mashed otherwise she'll spend the entire meal pulling it out.

[Marisa's Mom]

DS used to eat one egg 5-6x per week but I think I pushed it to the limits. He rarely eats eggs now (he'll share one with me but only when I make 2 eggs for me rather than 1 for each of us... how does he know?! )

LOL... food is always more interesting, and possibly more delicious, if eaten off your plate!!!  DD is the same way. She always has to have a taste of whatever I'm eating ... even if she is already full.   

I usually do a scrambled egg with cooked cubed carrots for DD. Sometimes I'll do that for her, put it on my plate. Scamble another egg for me, add it to my plate. And then I'll just feed her her egg/carrot mixture, while I eat my egg-only mixture. Sometimes that works better than when we have two separate plates.

[ForeverHopeful]

Georgia~I haven't heard of that make of probiotic drink (but we're in Scotland)  I buy Munch Bunch and Owen LOVES it.  I admit, I had to persevere with it.  The first couple of times he wasn't interested.  But I really wanted him to try because I drink them myself and swear I never have stomach bugs etc    Since he's been drinking one a day, he hasn't been ill either and that's been months now 

[GG]

Ahh... Munch Bunch is a yoghurt drink. Kefir is "a creamy drink made of fermented cow's milk." (as defined on Answers.com). It's not yoghurt, though it's related... like a cousin.    You made a good point about it helping your digestive system. That's what the bacteria in there does (like acidophilus, etc) and very good for both lo and parents!  I think I'll be "suggesting" it more to ds. 

[notenoughshelfspace]

I am back and my 16 month old completely refuses to be fed now and also does not want to use a fork or a spoon so it is fingers all the way ( and I mean with everything) so she will no longer have cereal in mornings; I have had to resort to giving her cheerios with milk and she just picks on the Cheerios one they have soaked. Breakfat is therefore a bit difficult; once I give her toast, cheerios, fruit and yoghurt's etc.. I have kind of run out of ideas as I am not one up for cooking first thing in the morning.
Lunch today was  Cottage pie ( minced meat and veg with mashed potatoes on top) followed by raspberries, snack was juice and a blueberry muffin and dinner was cauliflower and broccoli with cheese sauceand half a banana. I am very frustrated with this finger eating as I am constantly making croquettes of various kinds and it is getting boring.

[HeatherC]

For breakfast, you could try pancakes, waffles, french toast.
Will she eat off the spoon/fork if you put the food on it, but let her bring it to her mouth?  Or did she already know how to scoop the food herself?

[mrsrobbo]

Bradley had

Breakfast: weetabix with milk and strawberries
Snack: Apple
Lunch: Scrambelled egg with mushroom tomato and cheese in it, its yummy
Dinner: spaghetti bolognaise with garlic bread!

[notenoughshelfspace]

She does know how to scoop with a spoon ( not very well mind you) but she will not allow me to guide her hand, put food on the spoon for her or anything so I guess I will just have to wait and see if it improves. A muffin for breakfast today; as I said I can not bring myself to cook first thing in the morning.

[Marisa's Mom]

At least she can scoop with a spoon. I haven't yet dared to give DD cheerios in milk, like you have done. My 16 mos DD is still learning, she mostly "pats down" her food or hitting the spoon against the bowl.  Someday it will all click...

Right now she's going through an "I want to feed myself with my fingers" phase. So like your daughter, she isn't really letting me spoon feed her, or even helping her load up her spoon & guiding it to her mouth. If I guide her hand to scoop up some food onto the spoon. she'll use her other free hand to pick the food off the spoon.    So now I'm changing the menu to be more finger-friendly (no more mashed potato, apple sauce, yogurt). Like anything else we've gone through with her, I know it is just a phase. So yours is probably going through a phase also. Hopefully it won't last too long.

Like you, I don't like cooking in the mornings either. We always give DD banana at breakfast, and she usually has leftover dinner with it (there's a story behind that). We also like to give her "easy" foods like waffle, pancake and toast. During the rest of the day, she may have cubed yams, cubed potatoes, cubed flavored tofu w/dip (tried that yesterday, she loved it!), cubed ravioli, small pieces of pasta, cubed veggies (melted cheese on top is a hit), cubed avocado, and cut up pieces of fruit.


Breakfast:   flank steak pasta; banana
Snack:    grapes; cracker; carrots
Lunch:    tofu w/sesame ginger dip; strawberries
Dinner:    potatoes; cheese over broccoli
Snack:    peanut butter on toast

[JennŠ]

Off at daycare for the day, so the only meal she had at home was supper.  Pasta rings with spaghetti sauce and squished peas mixed in.  Banana pieces and lactose free milk.  Amazingly, she did not spit the peas out.   

[Fiona (Leah & Kians Mom)]

Haven't posted here in about 6 months and think things have improved slightly. Have a carb baby here too.
Breakfast is always weetabix and very occasionally ready brek, she used to nibble on my toast but has stopped.
Lunch and dinner vary among the following, pasta with- cheese cubes ( cheddar), salami, turkey, ham, tuna, corn ( v occasionally), horrible alphabet soup to which I add my own pasta......... and that's it! She has 2 natural yogurts a day 170g with fruit puree, only way to get fruit in. She has aslo started to eat a tiny bit of meat, chicken and fish after main course and yogurt. Meat and chicken are breaded and fried, fish is oven baked cod or plaice, but not enough to consitute a meal. We don't really do snacks but if she is hungry she will usually have cheese, cheddar though on occasion parmesan. She has also started to eat sausages and I make quiche which I call pizza, I get to puree cauliflower and broccoli and sneak it in there, those are the only veg she eats. Yesterday I made a chicken supreme dish with a packet sauce and added mushroom, she ate a tiny bit last night and had some more today with pasta, was suprised as it was quite garlicky, and the other thing we do less now than before is home made meatballs, usually pork. And she will eat "crunchy bread" or "crunchy crackers" occasionally with bel paese cream cheese which she will lick off