18 Month Old Too Darn Picky! Guidelines Regarding Calcium, Iron, Protein...

Hi I.,
If she is taking a multiple vitamin then she is getting all the vitamins and minerals she needs. Don't worry so much about eating too much of one kind of food or trying to balance her diet. Kids that age are usually picky. Some will only eat French Fries. My niece would only eat chocolate. It sounds like your daughter eats pretty healthy foods - milk, cheese,yogurt, peanut butter - all good sources of protein. If she wants to eat peanut butter all day let her - it won't hurt her as long as she's getting her milk also. Does she eat any fruit or veggies or eggs or chicken? Just keep trying new things every day. She will eventually start eating new foods but until then I would let her eat what she likes. Does she ever want to eat what her older sisters are eating? That might be a way to get her to try some new things. Some babies are naturally smaller. I wouldn't stress about it unless the doctor says that there is a reason to be concerned.

Good luck! I hope this helps.

buy (or borrow from the Library) Super Baby Food. A great reference tool when I was with my first. Easy reading plus great ideas and recipes.

I agree with all the great sites that the moms gave you. I do worry about the multivitamins that all are taking. It has been proven that we need the whole foods, not separate vitamins.
Check out: www.karen4betterhealth.com
There are gummies for little ones---best thing I ever did for my kids.

heres a list of what my 2 year old daughter eats and drinks (shes only 26lbs)-

drinks- milk (1-2 cups), diluted juice (1 cup), love salt v8 (1 cup straight), and lots of water.
veggies- green beans, corn, carrots (cooked and raw), celery (cooked), and peas.
fruits- any fruit shes not picky there at all (haha)
meats- chicken, turkey, beef, pork, fish
breads- white or wheat
dairy- yogurt, cheese (string cheese), and at one point she did like cottage cheese but not anymore (haha)
snacks- goldfish, quaker rice cakes, teddy grham cookies, plain animal cookies, peanut butter.

other foods she likes- speghetti, grilled cheese, ground turkey patties, chicken nuggets (yummy dino nuggets), eggs (over hard cause srambled just crumbles, and pb and j.

i dont think it matters what food your daughter gets her needed protein, calcium etc comes from as long as she gets it. plus shes taking a vitamin. my daughter eats very well balanced and her dr said that we really dont need to give her a vitamin but we can if we want (which we do).

portion wise i just spoon what i think she will eat on her plate. if theres a lot of choices for that meal then she gets smaller portions so she can have some of all if theres less choices then she gets bigger portions of whats there. she loves veggies and usually eats them first before anything else on her plate durring lunch or dinner.

when i feed her usually she gets a fruit in the morning with breakfast, then lunch has a veggie with it, dinner also has a veggie. with the snack i just give whats handy. im really strict about what she drinks and thats why i give only water in between meals and ration her other drinks.

i think you are doing great with your daughter. just keep introducing new foods. you may be surprised about what she eats.

This is my favorite website :
www.wholesometoddlerfood.com
It has all the guidelines, and lots of fun/easy recipes.
Have fun and Good Luck :)

Check out these sites...they saved my life when it came to feeding my son. Babycenter has an age by age feeding guide that tells you what your childs intake of certain foods should be.

I think that if you little one will consume things like milk, Yogurt and cheese you are covering other bases besides just dairy and calcium. If she's getting protein from peanut butter but isn't eating any other source of protein, it's not going to harm her...especially if she's taking a multivitamin. With food, I just make sure my son eats at all without sweating too much of the daily consumption guidelines...I work in the basics and go from there.

http://www.babycenter.com/0_age-by-age-guide-to-feeding-y...

http://pediatrics.about.com/od/foodpyramid/a/05_food_pyra...

http://dhs.wisconsin.gov/wic/cards/child/PPH4884.pdf

www.mypyramid.gov

Hi I., my daughter is younger, 10 months old, and totally picky and unpredictable about what she eats. She's also on the small side (17 lbs). My ped told me just to offer her a variety of things every day, and as long as she's eating something and taking her multivitamins, don't worry about it. (But of course I do worry.)
Thank you for asking this question - the responses are helpful! :)
R.

I can tell you what I did for my son who is almost 2 1/2 now. I fed him 3 meals a day and 2 snacks in between. For breakfast I'd try eggs, any style until I found a way he would eat them. My son liked omelets so I'd sneak in spinach so he got iron and veggies. Now he eats organic waffles and loves them. Lunch is a sandwich, peanut butter and jelly or if you haven't given your child peanut butter they make sun butter which is very good. I also give him fruit with breakfast and lunch; strawberries, blueberries, grapes and pears. For dinner I always try to give him a protein so he has chicken a lot. At first he didn't like the consistency so I'd blend it and put it in a quesadilla or cut it really small so he could just pick it up and eat it. Have you tried tofu? My son loved tofu cut up in small squares. Sounds like you have the dairy part covered although it sounds like it's a lot of milk. I would say milk at breakfast and dinner but I'm not the expert on milk b/c my son doesn't drink it. Yogurts and cheeses are great too. My son doesn't like pasta but most kids do and you can just add butter or a little tomato sauce. I would stay away from juice, it's mostly sugar and they don't need added sugar in their diet.

Hope this helps. Try to give a variety so they don't get bored of the same thing. It seems completely normal for them to go through stages of loving foods then hating them. They grow out of it though as long as you keep introducing it.
A.