Lunch Ideas for 17 Month Old

I have 3 picky eaters; the first only ate pasta, chesse, or pb & j sandwitches, the second would only eat pasta , beans, cheese, or pb & j sandwitches, and the third(16 months now) will not touch any meat at all, but still loves pb & j sanwitches. So, I just feed them what they like. You could try cheese or beans for some protein. My kids eat pb & j bread and cheese every day for lunch, and still do!

This may not be the most popular item suggested :) but we are vegetarian and my kids LOVE tofu. It's a great source of protien, and soft enough for little ones to chew (my son only has 1 tooth and he eats it, my daughter is 3 and still loves it). Now tofu is disgusting (in my opinion) just plain out of the package, but I just dice it up and my kids love it that way. Or sometimes I make it like scrambled eggs in a skillet for the whole family to eat, or mash it up to make mock egg salad or chicken salad. If you're at all interested, I have lots of yummy recipes. Anyway, just thought I'd share... Good luck!

I just wanted to add that my kids also love hummus. It's very easy to make, but you could buy it too. Anyway, another great source of protien. I give it to my kids on little squares of bread and serve it with tomatoes, cucumber (not my son yet) and other veggies.

My kids love cottage cheese and peaches, yogurt, mini pizzas that we make from flour tortillas, just add a little pizza sauce ,soft veggies optional, and cheese then pop in the oven for the cheese to melt. just a few suggestions.

Hi T., my kids love macaroni and cheese, bagels, grilled cheese, spagetti, string cheese, yogurt, applesauce, mashed up peas, diced chicken. One of them likes taco meat- we make it with ground turkey! My pediatrician said that my youngest (10 months) can eat almost anything that we eat. Just watch out for allergy triggers and choking hazzards, such as berries, peanuts, whole grapes, etc.

Good luck, and have fun introducing new things to your daughter!

G.

Our four-year-old hated the Gerber Graduates too, so I just started cutting everything into really small pieces and made them bigger as she got used to eating them...we did grilled cheese, mashed potatoes, canned green beans and carrots (we got the no salt kind... canned aspargus is soft enough that our five month can eat it and she has no teeth yet, scrambled eggs... Get some kitchen scissors... you can cut up sandwiches and pizza slices a lot faster with them than with a knife. I'll let you know if I remember anything else.
Good Luck,
L.

You might want to introduce new foods by putting them on your plate. Children that age love to eat what everyone else has from everyone else's plates. That might work.

Hi Tammy, When my daughter (now 4) was this age, I made grilled cheese sandwiches, mac-n-cheese, ravioli, and things like that for her. I pulled the crust off the grilled cheese, and cut it into little bites for her to pick up, cut the ravioli in half, that way she had more of a variety of things to choose from. Just watch how much cheese and milk she is getting each day so she doesn't get constipated. Hope this helps!!
B.

My little one loves small frozen vegetables - corn, peas and carrot dices are her favorite. I usually make a little bowl of them and can even chop up a turkey dog and add to the bowl. Then I microwave for a bit and presto - she loves them. She also likes creamed spinach - it's easy to make a big batch of that and use it for a few days.

My 18-month old never would eat the graduates food. I tried a little and agree with him, it's just yucky. He likes yogurt, deli sliced ham or turkey pulled apart, kid-builder string cheese pulled into threads, peanut butter and jelly or grilled cheese sandwiches cut up, scrambled eggs, baked chicken in pieces, etc. He also loves mashed potatoes because they stick to his little spoon and he can eat them by himself. When he's feeling really picky I mix in cheese and ham into his mashed potatoes and he practically licks the bowl.

Spaghetti is good but really messy, and he likes pasta too. I try to just put a little sauce on the pasta and keep it pretty dry for him to pick up and smear all over.

He will also eat ANY fruit cut up into bite size pieces such as ripe pears, bananas, watermelon, cantalope, honeydew, grapes (quartered), peaches, etc. Most days he says he's "all done" with his meal, but then I pull out the fruit for dessert and he eats a whole piece. Good luck!

Hi T.
I give my 1yr old jelly sandwhiches,chicken and rice lunchables,cut up ham and cheese,grilled cheese,gerber meat sticks,bananas,watermelon,any vegie,yogurt,cheese pizza, instead of tuna fish I use the chicken out of can and mix it with alittle mayo,and regular rice. I hope this helps.

My little one wouldn't touch any of the gerber graduates either, and doesn't like much meat. I feed her eggs almost every day - either scrambled or hard-boiled with the yolks removed. It's a great way to make sure she gets some good protein. Land O Lakes makes some cheese squares that are long, thin rectangles - perfect for little hands to hold but not thick enough to choke. Macaroni and cheese - either the Velveeta brand that you boil or the Bob Evans brand in the refrigerated meat section that you just microwave - have been big hits. My older daughter was less picky and I used to just give her a can of Campells low sodium Minestrone soup - no water, I'd just slightly heat up the veggies, beans and noodles and let her eat it with her fingers.

If your baby is picky I think it's OK if you find a couple healthy things she likes and just feed that to her over and over again. As long as you get a mix of proteins, carbohydrates, and some fruits and vegetables, you should be fine.

Hi. I can only tell you what we do. I have a 13 month old who has been on table food for almost 2 months. She LOVES watermelon (cut into little squares). She now enjoys when I cut bread into tiny segments that she can practice maneuvering and I smear a little peanut butter and jelly on it. Cheese slices or grilled cheese are popular with her also. I cut up broccoli and cauliflower that I have cooked well so it is soft. She also likes green beans that are from the can and very soft. I try to keep her eating as much fruits and veggies as possible and she seems to really get a kick out of the various textures. She was not a huge fan of the graduates food, which is why we moved right along to table food. I hope this was helpful!

Hi T.,you may try to give her these little vienna canned sausages.they are very finger food friendly for her.None of my kids liked the gerber graduates either.Or try giving her skinned turkey hotdogs in bit size pieces.Mac and cheese.apple sauce things like that little cheese snack pieces.scrambled eggsor even give her beaters.Just a few suggestions.Good luck,H.

Hi~ I started feeding my 10 1/2 month old solids about 2 months ago and here are some of the foods I feed him. Frozen or canned carrots, green beans, veg all, northern beans, butter beans, asparugus etc. I also keep fruit cups or fresh fruit. A whole baked chicken de boned and put into small baggies and frozen are also handy. Here is a sample menu:
Chicken and green beans or fruit
vegetable and fruit
cheese Quesadia
vegetable soup and crackers ( extract some of the broth)
sometimes I will do an omelette with diced tomatoes and cheese. You can get creative and it doent matter if it is really bland or not gourmet she will not care. You have to find out what your child likes and go from there. Remember that if she resist the first time you offer him a food keep trying and eventually he will warm up to it.