13 Month Old -Eating Very Little

I think this is when my daughter got picky too!
Somethings she will eat
Breakfast- I microwave quaker old fashion oats (not the 2 minute kind, its gross) with milk for about 2 min. When it cools I chop up strawberries and bananas and put it in there, or I put frozen blueberries in there and heat them w/ the oatmeal, or scrambled eggs w/ cheese. She loved it and still does!
Lunch- yogart, there is little kid kinds too, pbj w/ wheat bread, chicken nuggets, cottage cheese, whole wheat gold fish, cinnamon applesauce, graham crackers w/ peanut butter, apples, string cheese, mac n cheese, raw broccoli or carrots w/ ranch.
Dinner- This is a tough one but Speghetti w/ whole wheat noodles is good! I really cant get her to eat much for dinner. Im still coming up with stuff, its always hit or miss with dinner! Never a dull moment!

Hope some of these ideas help! I also started giving her a multivitaman about that time too!

J.,

I have a great DVD 18 minutes long with Dr. William Sears, Pediatrician, on children's nutrition. I'm happy to send you a copy if you would like to see it. Another one really directed at school age children by Dr. David Katz, Preventative medicine, Yale University. Directed at school age children, so it plays like episodes of Barney or Mickey Mouse Club - but I learned a lot!

Your child does not need meat to get protein. Tons of protein in broccoli, spinach, beans, legumes, nuts, nut butters, soy, etc. You are doing awesome to give her a variety of fruits and vegetables throughout the day.

Dr. Sears' DVD recommends you put together a "nibble tray" and let her "graze" a while, then go play, then come back and "graze" some more. It is incredibly simple, yet so profound. You will love it! And it will free you from any guilt you may be feeling. You are doing a great job!

I am a nutrition and wellness advocate with Juice Plus+ - fruits and vegetables in a capsule, chewable and gummie. I have learned so much about whole food nutrition, and I enjoy every opportunity to help people by sharing what I have learned.

Email me at ____@____.com or call ###-###-#### with your mailing address and contact info, and I will get a DVD or two in the mail for you to learn more.

Enjoy your toddler - she has so many things she wants to accomplish each day in the way of motor skills, language, etc. She can't be bothered with taking the time to eat!!

P.

Jaime,

I know what you mean. When my daughter was that age, she used to "work" the food in her mouth. She would eat everything in her mouth and spit out the meat. I STILL don't know how she managed that!!

Anyhow, maybe with your daughter, it could be a texture issue. Introduce meat to her one bite at a time. You're probably going to have a lot of eating issues with her. Just know that if one day she doesn't eat well, more than likely she will eat good the next and it won't hurt her.

You know that dairy products have protein in them. Molly had some really good ideas. Try those and maybe add food that is almost the same at the next meal.

Feeding is a non-stop thrill ride. Good luck!! ls

She really doesn't need to eat all that much. Give her a variety of whole, nutritious foods, and she will choose what and how much she needs. My kids loved cubes of steamed tofu, scrambled egg, soy milk, plain beans, and of course breast milk for protein. Whole grains (brown rice, whole wheat bread and pasta, pancakes made with whole wheat flour, etc) have more protein than most people think, and as long as there is some other protein group (such as listed above) in the diet sometime that day, it is complete protein. You're doing fine, and so is she!

Just keep offering her a variety. At one year old, their appetites often decrease since they are not growing nearly as much as they did as babies. She will eat what she wants, when she is ready. The only other thing I can say is don't let her fill up on empty calories at the beginning of a meal. So don't offer drinks (even milk or formula, because while they are nutritious, they are filling and keep them from eating food) or carbs at the beginning of the meal. Start with what you really want her to eat. Oh, and I found my one year olds love to eat what I am eating, purely because I am eating it. You might try that.

My daughter is getting close to three and she is just starting to eat different things. She would rather go without eating than eating something that she doesn't like. Everything I would give her she would tell me she doesn't like. I didn't give her peanut butter until she was two, like the doctor told me, and she wasn't eating meat so I didn't know how she was getting protien. The doctor told me that as long as she was drinking plenty of whole milk and eating a little bit of the other stuff she was fine. I started making her a special yogurt that helped me feel a little better about her nutrition. I would take some low fat vanilla yogurt, a banana, pineapple, various baby food vegetables (peas, green beans, squash, carrots), ground flax seed, and two or three boiled egg whites and blended it all in my blender. You have to adjust it a little for taste, but she loved this and would eat a little at every meal. This made me feel like she was getting some of the things that she needed. Unfortunately, some kids are just super picky and you have to find ways to trick them. Just keep offering her the stuff that you want her to eat everyday, and eventually she will starting eating more of the stuff that you want her to.

That's about the same time my son's appetite dropped off. It still comes and goes, but the pediatrician said that it would go in spurts now. The first year of life is the most growth of any year, and requires the most fuel. After that, it will be more in spurts.

That said, here are some ideas:

Breakfast: fried egg with hash brown (frozen hash browns are awesome!), cheese sticks/cubes, cheerios and yogurt, toast/bagel with cream cheese, sliced apples, sliced strawberries, bananas, cereal bars (Schnucks has some great organic ones that are low sugar), baby oatmeal (our son has texture issues)

Snacks: cheese sticks, cereal bars, crackers, whole fruit leathers, edamame (soy beans), yogurt, sliced fruit, sliced vegetables

Lunch: grilled cheese sandwich, chicken nuggets, cut-up hot dogs (read the packages for no nitrates), applesauce, black olives (he loves them!), hummus with pita/toasted bread, cubed steamed veggies

Supper: whole-wheat pasta (my son only likes rotini) with either red sauce or alfredo sauce, pumpkin pancakes, summer sausage, omlettes with veggies inside, chicken wild rice soup (loves it!)

You say you give her a variety of food at every meal. Try offering one or two things at a time. She might be getting a bit overwhelmed at the options and not choosing any of them.

Good luck!

Good Morning J., Molly has some great food ideas. Yes it is a challenge to get them to eat or interested in some foods. A lot if not most children will attack somethings with an apatite that won't quite and then all of a sudden refuse it the next time. Normal! Our son's both loved anything pasta, would eat it like there was no tomorrow. That lasted maybe 6 months. then NOPE no more. Our gr son Corbin wanted PBJ every day at lunch time. Now you can't bribe him to have one. So I am coping and saving Molly's list and use it when i get stuck again. Zane is 15 months and so far loves some pasta (without red sause), chicken nuggets, some veggies, fish sticks, fishie cracker, cheerios, thin apple slices. He still has 3 bottle of milk a day, with water sippy's other times. He won't touch anything from a jar.

Our DIL bought one of the kids lunch meals at Wally World the other day that had a corn dog, fries, corn & pudding. Corbin actually loved it. Thought the corn dog with the stick was prettty cooooool. But I would be willing to betcha dollars to donuts next time he won't touch it.

Children just go through phases. Just keep trying J., she will be ok.

God Bless you all
K. Nana of 5

Cut her meats up about the same size as her fruits and veggies, and mix them together on her tray in front of her, and let her feed herself. See if she notices. Try chicken at first. Chances are that she'll cram anything she gets her fist around into her mouth. Just mix it up in a pile.

Keep an eye on her weight and if she is losing get to the doctor. I'd try to feed her healthy foods but they need protein. I use to take like a meat then put pudding or bananas on top. They ate it.