Friday, August 21, 2015

What to eat: Beginning Toddler Meals

It seems like just yesterday when my sweet little boy only needed milk and a cracker and he was full for the evening. Now, I hear the scream of "Eat, Eat" every 2 hours and sometimes at 1am, like this morning. Sometimes he loves pasta and fruit washed down with a little juice, other days he doesn't want anything to do with either! My job is to make sure the he eats a healthy diet, but he doesn't always cooperate. During those times,  I feel that I am scratching my head and scrambling to find a meal that he can enjoy. After a lot of practice and food rejection, I've come up with a sort of formula that seems to work for him, especially during the times where he doesn't want to stop playing long enough to eat anything.


1. Try to always start a meal with a small piece of fruit. This summer a small piece of watermelon or strawberry does the trick. The fruit helps open up the appetite a bit so that even the most stubborn toddler will remember that he/she may be a little hungry.


2. Stay away from super dry foods. So, I don't know if it's just the summer time heat that does it, my little Shane doesn't really like anything that can dry quickly, such as breads and dry meats. I try to leave these foods for the end of the meal or make sure a light sauce like marinara is used to wet these foods a bit.


3. Cut out snacks close to meal time. This may be a no-brainer, but I think it's pretty important to make sure the toddler doesn't come to meal time feeling satisfied with the small snacks he's eaten in the last hour or two, because this is a sure fire way to ruin a meal.




These are just a few of my tips! Let me know any other great tips that you use to make meal time a little easier.
SHARE:

No comments

Post a Comment

© Shane's City Mom
Blogger Templates by pipdig