16 Month Old at Home ... What to Feed

I have a 14 mos and a 4 year old. I hide brocolli and meatballs in spaghetti sauce. I only had the one idea.

You have so many great ideas & thank you moms, I have an 18 mo old!!
I have a couple little suggestions. Organic kidney beans right out of the can (drained & rinsed so less sodium). My daughter goes wild over them ,lol & gets tons of protein, fiber & iron! Also, cherries are in season right now & I take out the seed, rip them in thirds & Attia cannot get enough of them =)

My son was and still is a picky eater. However, when he was your son's age he loved butternut squash and sweet potatoes. How you do this is cook them up, mash them to baby food and put the mash into ice cube trays. When you want to feed him just pop those babies into the microwave, butter and salt them (just a little) and try it. Try making just a little to try. On sweet potatoes you can always throw just a little sugan and cinnnamon in it for coaxing. That's what I did and my son still loves that stuff. If only I could get him to try other veggies=)

Hi, A. -
Here's an idea for you. I have three kids and since all of them were about 1, they have been LOVING to eat Nancy's Quiche Florentine. You get it in the freezer case at the store, you nuke it for less than 3 minutes, and your kiddo gets something yummy to eat that has spinach in it! My oldest is now 5-1/2 and still asks for quiche all the time.
Good luck.

My daughter is 16 months old also and I've found she loves any food I can make "fun". For example we call broccoli "little trees" and she loves peas because they're like little "balls". I never really got frozen veggies before, but with her they're perfect. She also likes baked sweet potatoes; I usually bake up a bunch of them once a week and they stay good in the fridge for several days. With my daughter I've noticed she's more likely to eat something if I am eating and enjoying it as well. She also loves anything as a dip, for example, hummus, bean dip (those are both great protein foods!), guacamole (great source of healthy fats!), etc. I get the pre-made ones from Trader Joe's for convenience, but they would also be pretty easy to make from home. Deli lunch meats (e.g. low sodium turkey breast) cut up into small pieces are a good protein source. The yolk from a well boiled egg a few times a week is quite nutritious and my daughter loves it. If you feel willing to experiment, tofu is a great source of protein and calcium, and can be cut into nice little soft cubes. You can serve it plain or cooked in spices/nutritional yeast/soy sauce, or they also have pre-flavored and delicious baked tofu at some stores. (Just make sure to change the water tofu soaks in daily if you go there!). You can also try whole grains, which can give some protein as well as many other good nutrients. One of the ones I like best is red quinoa (or regular quinoa), it is a complete protein grain-- you might find it at a regular supermarket but you might have to go to Trader Joes/Sunflower or a health food store like New Life. Brown rice is good too, and my daughter likes it, especially if I add some spices--Trader Joe's has these little pre-cooked brown rice packets that you just microwave up in a minute or two and there's a quick healthy dish. She also loves little circular whole wheat pita bread, can you guess- because it's a "circle"! (like the "moon"!) You can also get whole grain pastas (whole wheat, or quinoa pasta)-- these are great and give some extra protein + fiber/iron & general nutrition boost. Other frozen veggie ideas: spinach (my daughter LOVES spinach and requests it, weird huh!), squash (great cooked up for a few minutes in a frying pan with some olive oil, onion & a little salt added), corn (though I warn you, when my daughter eats corn it just goes right through her almost undigested, which is sort of odd!). You say he gets lots of dairy but I just thought I'd mention they have some great little yogurts out there now and if you get the kind that has live cultures (acidopholus, probiotics etc), it can be a very healthy & digestible form of dairy (some forms of dairy are harder on digestion-- the cultured stuff like cottage cheese is easier on tummy). Some other thoughts are if he really doesn't like veggies plain, you could puree them up into soups, add them to pasta sauce, or cook them up into pilafs or casseroles, etc. Hope that helps! I'm always trying to find new healthy foods for my daughter and love to share nutrition ideas... Best wishes to you and your son! :-)

Oh the other thing I wanted to add-- I used to teach nutrition and sometimes you have to offer a new food 10 times or more to a child before they'll try it and/or grow to like it. So even if he doesn't like veggies or something right away I would just keep offering it every night in small quantities (so as not to waste too much food), don't force it on him but try to show him that you think it's yummy and maybe with time he'll be willing to give it a try too!

At 16 months, he can eat everything you eat, with the exception of nuts and very spicy things. It can take 15-20 tries when presenting a new food for a child to decide to eat it, so don't give up! I have a home daycare and I prepare one meal for lunch for all of the children to eat. We eat everything from the usual kid foods (mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, corn dogs) to spinach and artichoke quiche, veggie burgers, taquitos, potstickers, etc. I always present small portions, always a fruit and a vegetable and always talk-up how yummy something new tastes. The trick is simply to offer variety in small portions, so as not to bore or overwhelm a child, and let him see you eat what he's eating. If he doesn't touch what you've put in front of him, don't offer something else. He won't starve himself by missing one meal. If he eats some things, but not others, don't stop giving him the things he didn't seem to like. Eventually, he'll clean his plate no matter what you put in front of him, even if it's something he's never wanted to eat before.

The other responses were very good the only thing I tried that I didn't notice that they had mentioned were soups. I was able to make a soup in the crock pot and my kids would love it. Veggies and all! Even the stuff they normally wouldn't touch. Sometimes I would put it in a blender and give it to them in one of those bowl with a straw built in (you can get them at WalMart or Target). Then it was so much fun to eat that they didn't even worry about what it was.

Another great way to get veggies into toddlers is to make smoothies - my DS loves these! You can easily add cucumbers, spinach, celery, etc to fruit smoothies....I've been making them & sharing with DS since he was an infant and he's always drank them well. Right now, he's going through a phase of not liking them if they are green colored - so if I add spinach or other greens to the smoothie, I just use a lot of blueberries or blackberries so that it turns out purple colored and he drinks it right up! (He's 31 mos old now.....at 1 yr he was still drinking the green ones with me, no problem). Fruit is very cheap this time of year too, so it's a good time to start. Our current favorite is strawberry-watermelon-carrot-celery. (Oh - take the strings out of celery first if you choose to use that!). Some people add yogurt or milk, I just use the fruit and veggies though, and sometimes ice. If you google "green smoothies" you'll come up with tons of recipes, or just use fruits you know you like (and DS likes).
We also buy those V8 juices that are fruit and veggies mixed (when I can get it on sale, otherwise too expensive for us) and make popsicles out of it.
If he likes cheese, you can also make a cheese sauce on the veggies for him. (same as making homemade macaroni and cheese, just use whatever veggies instead of noodles). With the protien & calcium from the cheese, and vitamins & minerals in the veggies, that's a good meal in itself. Maybe add some fresh fruits or veggies on the side.

We also do fresh carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, peas, etc with dip - my son will eat almost anything with dip right now! The dip can be anything....ketchup, ranch - or sometimes I'll just puree some of the veggies (in a food processor) and use that for the dip. (works great to puree fresh tomatoes & carrots for dip for chicken nuggets or fries too!)

If he loves snacking, and most toddlers do, completely normal... try googling "muffin tin meals". Basically, you just put several healthy items in different sections of a muffin pan, and leave it at toddler level, and let him graze through the day....offer some of whatever you eat at meal times, but this way you know he's still eating healthy if he doesn't eat his meals. We don't do this anymore, but did for a long time, from about the time DS started walking until he was well over two. (Now, he eats really well at meals, so I don't feel like he needs snacks out all day....but he sure didn't at 1! Too much to explore to sit still at that age.)

Feed him whatever you are eating, just cut it up into smaller bites. I never bought the expensive baby snacks, just gave the kids real people food. Maybe expand the veggie world, they are great for snacks. My kids loved beets- right out of the can ( rinsed to get extra salt or whatever off). There are many different types of beans to try too. Check out the canned veggies (low salt) or the fresh veggies you can cook at home. Mine loves sweet potatoes. You can even cook them in your microwave so you don't heat up the house. Try sauteing zucchini and carrots together (think stir-fry things). Don't be afraid to get creative. The more you expose him to now, the easier it will be later. Have fun.