Healthy Snack Ideas for Toddlers

My 12 mth old LOVES to eat, so I too am always looking for things for him to eat. He loves "veggiesticks". I know you can get them at health food stores. Some major grocery stores have them too. They are basically veggies that have been dried into the shape of a french fry. I think they are in the potato chip aisle because they are marketed as a healthy alternative to chips.

Here is a list than my 22 month old loves:
1. "cow cheese" aka laughing cow cheese wedges. I buy light, but they have regular ones. He LOVES them.
2. yogurt
3. crackers and peanut butter
4. whole grain waffels (eggo) with all fruit jelly
5. boca chikin patties (meat free)
6. string cheese
7. gold fish (they are baked)
8. baby banans My son loves these. They are sweet and small. HEB has them.
9. mini pumpkin pies (canned pumpkin, vanilla soy milk, & a little splenda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves. I mix and add until yummy. Poor in a small ramikin or muffin tin and bake.)
10. veggies he likes, cooked with a little butter or cheese. I also add pasta to this. Put some in individual tupperware and freeze so you always have some.
11. trail mix. you can make it with cereal, chex mix, raisins, dried fruit, pretzels, yogurt covered things, sun flower seeds, and what every else you can think of.
12. All fruit ice pops. Or puree your own fruit and make your own ice pops.
13. cut green beans
14. cooked and cubed squashes, carrots, sweet potatoes
15. frozen bagels - yummy to suck on
16. fun shapped pasta
17. manderian oranges
18. no sugar added applesauce

i cant think of more now. Hope he likes some of these.

Sweet Potato Chips -

Slice sweet potatoes thinly and brush with some egg whites on both sides. Place on some aluminum foil on a baking sheet and bake. I seem to remember the temp as 300 or 325. When they start to turn a very light golden color, turn over and brown the other side. My daughter started eating these when she was about a year and a half old and loved them.

Also on the topic of juice - I stopped giving her apple juice at about 2. Now she absolutly LOVES the new V-8 Fusion juice. It provides a full serving of fruit AND a full serving of veggies with each glass. It is 100% juice with no sugar added and no fat. Her favorite is the peach mango.

if your little one has all his teeth its a little easier. i like to give my 2 yr old mandarin oranges with the dry cheerios. this helps provide a good source of iron for them. what about yogurt? do you let him eat yogurt? i like giving mine yogurt with small pieces of apples or even cut up strawberries. my lil boy even likes dipping his apple wedges in peanut butter.or good ol pb &j sandwiches with a small cup a juice. there are several juices that are 100% juice with no sugar. plus this combination is also good for iron intake. all a child needs is atleast 4-6 oz of juice for the day. so i use that for the snack. for meals i myself give milk. i don't let my children drink coke or teas.

*yogurt covered raisins and pretzels
*grapes
*yougurt -- especially the Danimals
*goldfish
*edamame -- my 10 month old daughter loves this especially!
*popcorn
*sugar snap beans
*mini rice cakes
*I also like to layer bologna and cheese slices and cut them into fun shapes with cookie cutters
*Grilled cheese!
*We love pb&j -- I make homemade jam, or sometimes use honey. The peanut butter from Whole Foods is all peanuts, no sugar or additives

WE love: snack size light popcorn with sliced & peeled apples

carrot sticks, snack size apple sauce, bananas.

strawberries and blueberries mixed iwth plain yogurt!!!

dry cheerios mixed with dried strawberries and dried bananas or dried apricots!

These are all things my daughter loves and has been eating since age 13 mos!

Good Luck! She's 3 now and the only time she gets juice is on special occasions and it's always highly diluted!

when she opens the fridge for snack she chooses apples, mini carrots, grapes etc...

Small cut up pieces of cheese, banana, little bits of apple, grapes cut into fourths, mandarin oranges, yogurt, bite size pieces of a Nutri-grain bar, graham crackers... those are a few things my 16 month old snacks on. HTH!

One of my sons favorite snacks is organic apple slices with all natural peanut butter. But a good rule of thumb is, if you don't give him any sugar what so ever....once he does get a hold of some, he is going to gorge himself on it. I set aside one day/night a week that Joshua can have a sweet item, and that keeps him satisfied and doesn't make sugar a "forbidden fruit" so to speak. Oh, and another fav is carrot and celery sticks marinated in fresh squeezed citrus...your choice....and he will eat them straight out of the zip lock bag. I haven't checked, but I have heard that Ozark Natural Foods has a great line of healthy snack foods.

When my daughter was about your childs age I was feeling the same way as you are now. I found that my daughter loved all vegetables and I made sure to give her a little cream cheese or light sour cream just a little and she loved the dipping
part.
She feelt the same with fruit what i did with them was making it colorfull and cut them in funny shapes, the same with sandwiches if they had shapes she just loved it. I did not give our daughter juice or soda and to this day now she is almost six when she does get juice it is half water and half juice. The think we did invest in was a juice presser and getting her involved in it was awesome.

Fresh fruit smoothies. Milk and fruit to taste in a blender with a little ice.

Hi D.,

Check out the book First Meals by Annabel Karmel. My daughter is just 8 months old so we are still doing purees but the book has a lot of great recipes for finger foods and snacks for toddlers and older kids too, and it's all natural and healthy with really fun presentation. My husband was reading it when I first brought it home and was like, "wow, this stuff looks good, can I eat it too?"

Good luck!

C. G

My kids love to eat apple slices, yogurt, cheese sticks, multi-grain wheat thins, raisins, fruit of any kinds, berries of any kind as long as they are fresh, eggplant (my daughter can't get enough), carrot slices, celery with PB, cottage cheese, rice pudding, cucumber slices.
Oh, and they prefer to have their whole grain waffles with PB instead of syrup or jelly and topped with banana slices. I'd have to say its pretty good!
I'm not a fan of overprocessed stuff most of the time. We don't do sugar cereals or boxed crackers or snacks either.

First of all, good for you for being concerned about what your son eats. I sometimes feel like I'm up against the world, b/c I also try to restrict sugar and unhealthy treats for my kids. You got a lot of great suggestions - you can't go wrong with fruits and veggies. Someone mentioned Boca soy chicken nuggets. Those are wonderful, and Morningstar also has a lot to choose from. (I'm a vegetarian, so I've tried most of them.) The soy bacon, nuggets, soy corn dogs, sausage and soy burgers are all wonderful. If you're concerned about sodium, you might check that, however. I also wanted to suggest a trip to a Whole Foods, or even just the healthy/vegetarian foods section in most Kroger and HEB stores. They have all kinds of healthier choice snacks for kids. I just tried natural fruit strips (an alternative to the sugary fruit roll-ups) and soy "beef" jerky, and they were both fantastic! (Sometimes it surprises even me.) :) Good luck & God bless!

Sincerely,
M. B

I am very health conciuos too. My son loves baked sweet potato fries. I cut sweet potatoes into very small french fries and bake them in the oven, when they come out I sprinkle them with just a little cinnamon and sugar. We also do this with our homemade chexmix too. Dried fruit has always been a favorite around our house. I hope this helps. Good luck!

Sweet Potato Silver Dollar Pancakes. You can make them in advance, they store well, aren't very messy, they're naturally sweet, and they're filling. You can buy the mix at HEB. I use milk instead of the water though. They come out heartier. They're my daughter's all time favorite!

What's wrong with jiuce? I buy 100% jiuce, so it doesnt have anything added. And the shugar is from the fruit, so it's healthy. I always dilute it with water though.
What is unhealthy is sodas, sweetend ice tea, cool aid(also the unsweetend one ,cause of the artificial colour).
As long as the child brushes the teeth, jiuce is very healthy.
A.

I always keep organic frozen veggies on hand, especially peas. My 14-month-old eats them frozen right out of the bag and I can also leave them in a bowl for her as she toddles around the house. In addition, while on the road, I keep a supply of all natural fruit bars from Archer Farms. You can get them at Target. They come in citrus and strawberry flavors with no added sugar or preservatives. Freezed dried fruit is available from the same brand. Rice cakes are another favorite around here.

Whole Foods carries a large line of snack bars so when I splurge, I buy Larabars which are all natural fruit and nut bars.

One of my kids' favorites is fruit salad made with yogurt instead of sour cream...you can add and fresh fruit you have on hand and the same with yogurt. You can also add granola for crunch...also, with his age, he will soon be able to help you make it, which made mine want it all the time, just because they "cooked" it.