how much meat? and how much vegetables?

[Sylvia.]

i have been putting off posting this question for weeks .... months, dd does not really eat much meat, she used to as a small baby like bolognese sauce and boiled lamb shanks with vegetables, she will chew on a t-bone steak but not much else, it is so hard when you make up all this food for dd just to turn it away, i worry about this alot, i give her bit of meat with natural yogurt or a fruit dish, not really happy to continue doing this, also she struggles with vegetable, will only eat small amounts, she does eat plenty of fruit, she looks healthy, very active and asks to be fed at different times, any advice, suggestions or encouragement would be appreciated as i am really struggling with this 

[Jess-J&E]

I have been doing a lot of reading about this lately too, because my son doesn't want to eat much either   It is very stressful isn't it??!!  I never thought this would get to me so much!  It is so worrisome when he doesn't eat, it drives me crazy.  I keep this list on my fridge to remind me that the portions are much less than I think and it also gives me ideas of what to offer at each meal.

Anyway this is what I have found to be the most commonly reccommended portions for toddlers 1-2years old:

Milk/Dairy: 
16-20oz per day
You can also substitute things like cheese or yogurt for this
1/2oz. of cheese= 4oz of milk
1/4cup yogurt= 2oz of milk

Fruits/Veggies
5 servings per day is the goal
1 serving is equal to 1-2 Tbsp. of pureed or cubed fruit  or about 1/4 of a whole piece of fruit

Grains
3-4 servings per day
1 serving is equal to: 1/4 cup of dry cereal, 1/4 cup pasta, 2-3 crackers (like saltines) or 1/2 of a tortilla

Protein- Non dairy
2 servings per day
1 serving is equal to 1/2 egg, 2-3 tbsp beans, 1 Tbsp peanut butter, 1 oz of fish, beef, pork or chicken

I hope this helps
Jess

[tylersmommy]

Tyler's never been a big meat eater, but DH and I aren't either, so I stopped stressing about it and instead offered him other protein sources that I knew he'd eat. He used to love veggies, but now he's become a fruit and grain addict. I've read that kids can get quite a bit of their nutrition from fruit, but I still sneak veggies into him when I can. Puree can be hidden in all sorts of places, like pasta sauce, applesauce, mac and cheese, or as a spread on sandwiches. It's so frustrating, I know...try to hang in there and offer healthy choices, and remember how quickly preferences can change with toddlers!

[Sylvia.]

thanks jess for the list, i'm going to print it out and put it on my fridge, now all i have to do is convert zz to gram and ml

[Izzy-B's mommy]

Isabella's been a fussy lo lately also,  one way I can get veggies into her is to cut up her veggies (she likes carrot fingers, cucumbers & celery fingers) I put some ranch dressing on her plate and she loves to dip her veggies in there.  It's working for us (for now... )  I also buy from "mini chef's'  their mini chicken nuggets and she's really liked them. She's starting to get bored with them right now, so I'm going to try and find a nice dip and see if she'll dip her chicken also

good luck!

Jess, thanks for posting that list, I'm going to also print it and put it on my fridge...  (it's so easy to forget how little they are and that they don't need nearly as much as we do)

[mommyOfX]

It is difficult not to worry about your lo's eating.  Xavier hardly ate any meat at all, until about a month ago and now he eats quite a lot (by a lot, I mean compared to what he used to eat) of meat.  It's like all of a sudden, he changed and decided he liked meat products.  It's weird.  I talked to his doctor about this a while back (the lack of meat eating) and she said not to worry, he's probably getting enough and he'll eat what he needs.  As long as you keep offering.  I used to sneak in meat and veggies into sauces.  Just to let you know that your lo may change her eating habits too.

[Sylvia.]

I used to sneak in meat and veggies into sauces.

could you tell me what sort of sauces, commercial or self made? i am really struggling with this, thanks for any help

[mommyOfX]

Well, both commercial and self made.  For example, I'd make tomato sauce for us with ground beef, but DS wouldn't eat the beef (I think he didn't like the texture), so I'd puree his sauce and add some cooked sweet potato (mashed) into it.  Mmmmm, it was good!  I started adding sweet potato to our sauce too.  So I'd give him his pasta with the pureed sauce.  I'd also poach chicken breasts and then puree them and put the puree into his risotto, also with some carrot puree.  Those were the main things.  I also made him omelettes with grated carrot and broccoli and cheese.

Nowadays, if I want him to have extra protein, I will give him egg noodles instead of regular pasta.  He also really likes bacon, so I bought some reduced-salt bacon.  You can also give tofu for protein; just mash it or puree it into whatever sauce you're making, it takes on the flavour of the sauce - I put tofu into lasagna, DS seems not to notice it, or maybe he likes it - who knows?

I also looked at various prepared sauces - I found a brand of butter chicken sauce that didn't contain nuts, so I made up some to try and DS LOVED it.  It did have salt and preservatives; I don't know how comfortable you are with giving your lo stuff like that.  I'll try to think of more ideas.   Hope this helps!

(If you want the recipe for risotto, just let me know!)