What Do I Feed a Child Who Just Turned One??

Mine really likes to feed herself too. I do a lot of the frozen veggies...then, i don't buy and waste fresh ones. I can just pull out a few carrots, peas, squash. The peas and corn I just run under warm water and if I haven't thawed the rest of the stuff, you can just nuke it in water for a couple of minutes, then cool it off. Also try black beans, black eyed peas....fresh fruit - grapes, strawberries, banannas...even done the frozen blueberries. Avocado...

Anyway, with mine...there have been a ton things I couldn't get her to eat thru babyfood...but, when she got to feed herself, she liked it! Good luck!

The foods that you eat are fine, you might need to leave out some of the more spicy things that you might light at least a small portion of it. Let him see you eat the same thing. He will feel like a big boy call him one, while he eats it. It will very likely bring a big smile to his face to know this. Good luck

My little man is 12 months also, here is what works for us. I give him Yogurt with some baby cereal mixed in in the morning (I am just using up my cereal stock and then I will switch to Cheerios or something) For lunch I usually give him toast with butter, cream cheese, melted cheddar cheese, mashed up avacado, basically whatever comes to my mind to put on his toast, I always spread a little butter on it first for flavor and calories. For dinner I give him soft cooked veggies like carrots, green beans, broccoli. I will also give him mashed potatoes, or maccaroni, sweet potatoes, whatever we are eating basically. I still give him jar meats, I am just breaking into introducing soft meats. For fruit, I give him applesauce, mashed bananas, and these parents choice fruit blends. For snacks we do all kinds of carbs like little crackers, goldfish, the little puffs you buy on the baby aisle etc. He takes 3-4 bottles of whole milk per day about 24-30oz. He drinks about 4oz of juice and whatever water he wants. I read that babies at this age should eat about ###-###-#### calories, we lean more toward the 1000 calories because he is off the growth chart for height and only in the 60% on weight, so he has to eat a lot! Depending on the size of your baby, you may not have to feed him quite as much. Best wishes, and have fun trying new things, you will get your stride before you know it!

Both my kids stopped eating the jar stuff at about 10 months - they preferred the table food too...

Feed him whatever you and your husband eat - just cut it into small, pieces. Steer clear of gassy or spicy foods for now, but make what you give him small, baby-sized portions!
Examples:
If you're eating fajitas - give him tortilla shredded up, cheese, lettuce, etc. possibly even the meat in tiny, shredded pieces.

If you're eating meatloaf - give him a little of the meatloaf crumbled up so he can eat it, mashed potatoes, steamed carrots cut into little dices.

Other good ideas:
Regular oatmeal
Cheerios
applesauce
cheese - shredded
peas - steamed
broccoli - cut/diced and steamed
chicken - cut and shredded
chicken noodle soup
Pancakes cut into little pieces and sans syrup
toast
crackers
any fruit you can cut into little, soft pieces

Stay away from:
nuts
grapes - unless they're seedless and cut into fourths
hot dogs - or cut into diced pieces - very small pieces

In today's current budget crisis - it is more manageable on your budget to have kids eat a version of what we cook for ourselves than to spend an arm and leg on toddler food anyway. Think about it, you get more mileage from a box of cheerios than you do a can of "Puffs" - not to mention what you'll save on with jar food if you don't buy it at all! The canned fruit aisle will have fruit already cut, plus the big containers of applesauce that you can just dip out of and put back in the fridge! Saving $$$ is always good!

FYI - My dad tried to give my son a chicken leg to chew on when he was a year old and I freaked out, but evidently that's how it was done in the old school - not my style though! lol!

Sorry this can't be longer, kiddo #2 just woke up
Super Baby Foods book
purple book the size of a Bible

HTH
K.

as long as he's not allergic the following things (and if you don't know, try small amounts first....) try these:

1. scrambled eggs w/ lightly buttered toast
2. diced up fruits of all kinds, make sure they aren't too firm----wait on apples and grapes for now....I started out with canned fruit because it's softer, strawberries, bananas, anything......sometimes they're slippery and hard for the child to pick them up-----try crunching up some cheerios and roll the fruit in the cheerios to give him something to grip
3. diced cooked veggies, again make sure they're pretty soft
4. peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, with just a small amount of peanut butter---it can kind of stick in their mouth and be hard to swallow----dice up the sandwiches in small squares.....I use a pair of clean kitchen scissors or even a pizza cutter to cut up sandwiches
5. diced cheese and turkey or grilled cheese sandwiches, diced up
6. my kids loved the cereal bars (nutri-grain or generic)
7. you can feed him pretty much anything that you can eat, just cut it up small and bite-size
8. I have more ideas if you need more, just email me.....
____@____.com

I know how you feel....I had no clue what to feed my daughter either....but at 15 months we are slowly getting the hang of it.

Ok, if you are like me.....I'm for quick and easy. I would LOVE to have the time to steam and blend my daughter's food to make sure she is getting what is healthy for her, but in reality that just isn't going to happen in my house. I'm usually short on time and the fact is that she is a picky eater and I never know what she will actually eat (it's different every day). If I spent all that time cleaning, steaming, and blending just for her to stick her nose up at it, I would lose it. ; )

That being said, I stick with the easy basics of Lil' Graduates. My daughter loves most of the finger foods they have : dried apples, yogurt melts, lil' crunchies, and their crackers. She also loves their lil' sides mashed sweet potatoes and glazed carrots with chicken nuggets (that I buy in the freezer section and heat in the microwave for 1 minute). I also make her grill cheese sandwiches sometimes. Ravioli is something else that she loves....Lil' Graduates has those as well or you can go with the Chef Boyardee kind. Cheese and crackers and yogurt are also good snacks. I bought the cheese crumbles instead of cheese sticks just because they were easy for her to pick up and eat and I wasn't worried about her biting off too much cheese (from the cheese stick) and getting choked. She also loves the Graduates fruit bars.....for a snack or as part of her breakfast.

Since we are in the worst part of the summer, yogurt blends are also good for them. Just put some yogurt with fresh fruit and a little milk and you have a healthy shake.

And of course you have your choice of goldfish (which they have whole wheat now), Teddy Grahams, animal cookies, the new little Premium crackers, etc.

A little side note, my daughter never would eat 3rd foods.....I have read that most babies don't like them at all.

I hope this helps some. Good luck!!

Anything that he will eat!!! My greatgranddaughter just turned 2 and she hasnt eaten baby food since she was 9 months old. She is crazy about fruits and vegetables. Remember to cook or nuke fruit and veggies at first and when confortable with thier chewing and swallowing let them have en raw. Not any deep fried meats until about 18 months. In my experience to soon on fried foods leads to many digestive problems. Let me know how your little man weathers his new step into real foods. Make sure he drinks plenty of water to keep his system healthy and bowels regular.
connie

At that age you can give him just about anything (except peanut butter). Give him some of whatever you are eating so that he knows that is what his meals will be and you won't be making him something different. Just make sure you cut things up small enough for him and if you have to, steam the vegetables a little softer. This is the perfect age to set the tone for eating healthy meals along with mom and dad!

I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old - 1 year old will eat anything that we normally eat. He likes pasta dishes, mashed potatoes, pizza, fruit and vegetables. He will also some meats if we cut them up real small.

i would like to be in the loop on what suggestins come thru.
my grandson is 11 months and eats everything---in tiny bites. he eats whatever the adults eat---minimal meat.
loves all of it.

My son, Ryan is now 5 years old. My son also refused stage 3 foods. I just started feeding him what we ate. It also depends on how many teeth they have. I know I fixed him peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches for lunch. That is the easiest for these young toddlers to eat. My son also loved bananas.
My daughter, Hannah is now 8 years old. When she turned 1, I would buy the Jenny 0 turkey franks. I would dice up 1 hotdog for her every night for awhile if she could not eat what my husband and I ate.
For breakfast, scrambled eggs are good. You could also see if he likes the flavored oatmeal(whatever flavor you think he would like).
When dinner came along, I would try to fix a pasta dish. My kids loved pasta dishes. It is so easy for kids to eat pasta. I would fix this Zesty Mac n Beef skillet dinner. It was a homemade hamburger helper like dinner but better. Homemade things are usually better. I know it is hard trying to think of what kids would eat.

I fed my son regular table food as long as it wasn't too spicy but I would grind it up first. I bought one of those mini-food processors and used it. It was wonderful.

Yogurt, mandarin oranges, peaches, goldfish crackers, mini ravioli , spaghettios, thin sliced turkey lunchmeat...have fun!

Glad you are working on trying new things.
My kids were both different, my first would not eat table foods, had to have baby food everything...but the second...he would NOT eat anything from a jar. from day one I had to make his baby food, which was fine , at least I knew what was in it. I fed him from the table, anything we ate ...he ate, I would watch how i seasoned food, pretty much let everyone season their own. Today they both eat really well , a diverse variety of foods, I have one rule...you have to have at least one teaspoon of everything, even if you think you don't like it...as the dietitian says that it could take up to 11 times of trying the same food before they really decide what they like. I t seems to work...good luck...

you can give him almost anything you eat. just no choking hazards like raw veggies or nuts, etc. my 9 month old has been eating table foods for a couple months already. we just cut what we're eating into itty bitty pieces and he goes to town.

Feed him what you eat, just a little softer...like Oatmeal, bananas, applesauce, scrambled eggs, yogurt, avacado, mac & cheese, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes like you'd fix for you, mashed up, fish...lots & lots of fish for great omega 3's,

Good luck from a mom of 5 & grandma of 13!

Hi F., I am the mother of three children. When they were all little, it was a struggle to feed them what we were eating. Because they all loved vegetables so much, I began giving them can veggies. They were soft enough for their little gums and teeth. After opening up several cans of different veggies so many times, I learned to give them the Vegall mix. It has green beans, corn, peas, celery, white potatoes, and carrots all in one can. My kids loved it! Between that and Vienna sausages they had a meal. When the little Gerber meals came out for toddlers, we bought those too, but they became expensive. You could also try steaming your own veggies for him, and packaging them for the freezer in single serving containers. It is always good to start veggies out young, to teach good eating habits. Good luck!
C.

I give my 13 month old son everything we eat, have been since he was about 10 months when he stopped eating baby food. Breakfast could be a yogurt, whole wheat waffles or pancakes I buy blueberry n never give him syrup, scrambled eggs n a banana (almost every morning), cereal or a cereal bar. Lunch is usually something real simple gerber pasta pick-ups, a cut up hot dog weeny, a corn dog, chicken nuggets, mac n cheese, pizza, pasta, he will eat a mc d's hamburger if we are out, lunch meat, a lunchable (I use the turkey, w/ cheese n crackers, they have a lunchable junior too. I always include a veggie I like those steam in a bag veggies, I don't even cut them up. I try to give him fresh cut up fruit throughout the day too. Dinner is usually chicken, I buy those rotisserie chickens from wal-mart, with a veggie. Grilled cheese sandwich. For snacks I buy those fruit cups and drain them, apple sauce or those new no sugar added ones that have other fruits added to them, cheese sticks, crackers, he likes frozen go-gurts, rice cakes, teddy grahams, he likes to have a little box of raisins, I keep a can of pasta around (Annie's organic their version of spaghetti o's) I make him a smoothie, he mostly snacks on fruit. I am sure other things I can't think of! I never buy white bread or pasta, and try to avoid sugar, I try to buy organic whenever possible but not always. I do go for quick and simple. Good luck.

There are a lot of great ideas here about feeding him anything but keep two things in mind when choosing foods. Allergies and choking. Peanut butter has both as a concern. Even if there are no allergies in the family, I would still hold off on nut products. The rate of food allergies have soared in recent years and often in children with NO family history. Trust me, it is not worth using nut products at this stage. If your child ends up with an allergy, it is something you will need to worry about all the time.
A good alternative to peanut butter is sunbutter(made from sunflower seeds and you can buy in Target). I even waited until age two to do this but you can probably do it a little earlier. HTH

cheerios, bananas, strawberries, mashed potatoes, crackers, oatmeal/'hot' cereal, peaches, grapes, grilled cheese sandwiches, diced chicken is GREAT, pasta a definate staple, rice, couscous, soups ...

just about anything we eat that can be cut up small and can be mushed by a few teeth. nothing hard like carrots or steak until more teeth come in. thanksgiving will be fun for you this year, any of that should be fine if he has enough teeth and it's small enough. you'll be fine, just try stuff!
good luck.

My daughter never ate baby food. She went from breast milk to formula to milk (would not take any bottle that might have cereal slipped into it) to table food off my plate and little bits. She is an adult now with one of her own that did the same thing.
They both are healthy.

In addition to everything that we eat I gave a variety of foods. Pancakes, toaster waffles or toast for breakfast...Eggs scrambled with cheese . Bits of lunch meat and cheese for lunch crackers to knaw on etc. Cut up fruit. Then dinner she got what we had. I just did not make things as spicy. Although I did season my food. Tortillas have lots of opportunity, can be filled and rolled cut up. Do lots of things with cream cheese for calcium. The Laughing cow spreadable cheese on toast was a huge Fave!! For a snack crackers milk yogurt and lots of cold fruit. The most favorite thing that I made for her was mashed ripe banana with crushed Zweiback toast(the ones you find in the baby isle). Do not forget to use lots of rice...the flavored rice in the packets are great and really easy to make!!! I always make that and add a veggie in. Later if you want your kiddos to eat green salad add fruit....Mandarins or cut up apples and dried cranberries mixed with a bit of favorite dressing is such a hit....plus it is really good too!!!!

My daughter was off all jarred baby food by the time she was 9 months old. At this age they can pretty much have most anything that they want. Talk to your pediatrician about what to not give them but they know what they want and they can usually have it. Some will probably read this and disagree but I have even given my daughter PB & J. The reason they say not to is to avoid allergies but I had a pediatrician and he said if food allergies aren't a real problem in my or my husbands family, then our kids probably won't either. It really is up to you! Trust me life is a lot easier once they get to table food.

Don't be discourage about not eating stage 3 foods. More then likely there was no such thing as stage 3 when you were his age and you are doing fine. If he likes table food by all means give him a variety of healthy foods. If he doesn't have enough teeth to really chew then put it into a blender. If you give him a weinner makes sure to cut it length wise then cut it again in small bites. If you don't it could be a choking hazard.

You can feed him dehydrated potatoes (mashed potatoes), peas, green beans, bananas, diced peaches, pears etc... soft foods for the most part until he gets used to it. You can try him on hamburger patties, just make sure that the pieces are small enough so he won't choke or swallow it whole. Encourage him to chew, he can learn this by watching you eat your food.

Good luck on the new foods for your 1 year old.

When we adopted our daughter at 10 months from China, she refused to eat any baby food at all, even though we were told that she ate baby food. She ate pretty much everything we ate, and she sure did love to eat! Even spicy foods! So, you can try almost anything, as long as it's cut up very tiny. Someone mentioned cutting up grapes into fourths--I think I cut my daughter's up into sixths! Just check with your doctor about peanut butter. Ours let us start her at 12 months, but she said that she takes each child into consideration separately when she suggests an age for nut products. There was a pediatrician in our travel group who told us to watch out for corn, strawberries, and eggs, but only for the babies under 12 months, and you're already at that point. Before she had too many teeth, I was also very careful about chewy steak, lettuce, and firm breading on fast-food chicken nuggets (why don't more places offer GRILLED chicken fingers on kids meals?). Other than that, she ate everything. Her favorites were watermelon, ham (cut very tiny), rice, and mild breakfast sausage. Good luck and happy eating!