Meal Ideas for an 11 Month Old

Hi M.,

I have two girls and I had trouble with both! I found that itis best to giv ethem a small amount in a variety of colours, I usually give them peas, corn, green beans, grape tomatoes, blueberies, strawberries, bananas and or apples, cheese squares, depending on the season you can switch to different things on the plate. I think that it is key to give them a little of everything so tyhey want to try them all and don't get bored with one thing or they will just take a few bites.
Mine liked the raviolis too. Also the meat balls! They loved the regular kind of frozen meatballs because they are softer than the home made ones.....
One thing that surprised me....they both liked burritos! Well....not exactly burritos, they are claled chimichangas, I get the ones that has beef and bean that are not spicy. Greta source of protein and iron and fat too:( but it's OK for now. They can grab it with their hands and munch it on their own, it can be a little messy though (mke sure they are not too hot in the inside).
You can also try making quesadillas, just put chopped chicken or beef with cheese inside a tortilla and melt in the microwave. Let it cool!
They sometimes like, for a change, small sandwiches, I use dto cut out shapes, harts, flowers or girls and boys, out of a sandwich, ham and cheese with butter or PB an J.
I think that key is a small of everything. You can compliment any lunch with goldfish or other wholegrain crackers.
Give them variety, kids don't like what you like, they don't know the taste of foods, so this is the right time to teach them to eat healthy, they will try almost anything if you offer it several times.
Little ones have to see one food several times before they try it. They need to get familiar with it.
And patience...lots of it!
Best of luck!

Mariana Abadie
www.MyKidsfirst.com

I just wanted to say that most of the time they refuse foods they will like shortly, so you should keep offering her stuff even if she's refused it many times. Also, the way that my son (now almost two) got over his picky stage at that age was to sit and eat dinner with us. As soon as he was being served what we were eating (and eating himself if he wanted, working with a fork or spoon), he ate anything, and still does. He ate stuff he refused when I was feeding him by himself.

My son is now 14 months, but I'm always looking for ideas too. He's an okay eater, but definitely not one of these kids who eats whatever is in front of them. For instance, he doesn't like pasta or potatoes. But he does eat a lot of rice - and a lot of rice combinations - beans and rice, rice and lentils - even cous cous and risotto - sort of odd, but we just kept trying different things. He'll even eat Chipotle! He likes turkey slices, fish sticks, chicken tender-type things, hot dogs, toasty dogs, grilled cheese, pizza, avacodos and tons of fruit. I have the same thing that at times, he will only eat himself and refuse the spoon - I wondered if anyone else had that!

Good luck!

My daughter (13 mos.) also likes peas (canned don't have the hard-to-eat skin like frozen), wheat toast, canned pears and peaches ("light"-in pear juice, not syrup), bananas. She also loves large curd cottage cheese (might want to wait until 12 mos. on that one). My first daughter (now 5 yrs) ate anything we put in front of her, but this one is throwing me for a loop. Sometimes we have to put something in front of her 5 or 6 times before she'll finally pick it up and try it. So keep giving her things that she doesn't like right away. One day she'll surprise you by just picking it up and eating it.

My little guy loved cut up string cheese. He was the independant type too. The gerber puffs go over good. But his favorites were cut up fruit. I would recommend keeping it varied and only a couple times a week though. My son adored cut up grapes and would have some just about every day from the age of 10 months, now he's allergic. I was dumb about it, and figured fruit could never be bad for him. Keep everything in moderation (I now know lol) and it will be fine. But I would buy a new type of fruit every week and cut them up into bite size chunks. They are soft enough to gum but have a lot of baby friendly flavor. Peaches, pears, kiwi, bananas, cantelope, anything soft at your fave market. And once the teeth come in a big favorite in our house is raw veggies. I let my son pick out a new one each week. Then we cut them up into bite sized pieces and make a big variety platter with different kinds of dip. We always have at least four different veggies (carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and cucumber are the main staples) and we just gnaw all night. Kind of a game night party dinner. Kids will eat any veggie you give them if it's raw and they can dip it. Hope this helps.

Hi,
My daughter is 9 months old and no teeth yet, worjing on the first 2 on the bottom. She hated baby food, wouldnt even eat the gerber graduates. Here is what she eats though...
Breakfast- waffle, toat, pancakes, scrambled eggs, hash browns, biscuits w/butter, bananas, peaches, pears, yogurt.

Lunch- pizza her fav, mac and cheese, chicken nuggests, french fries, ramen noodles, hot dogs. Ham and turkey deli meat, cheese. Ravilois like V'S. She likes the kids cuisine meals also for lunch and the mac and cheese one.

Dinner- chicken, hamburger, pork chops, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes w/butter/cheese, green beans, carrots, corn, no peas, cucumbers. All types of noodles, spaghetti, lasagna, quesidilla with meat. She will eat enchiladas with hamburger or chicken I don't put any sauce in there though.

Snack- cheerios the yogurt burst ones and regular, dora animal cookies, pudding, cereal bars and the breakfast like bars, pop tarts also.

She doesn't like grilled cheese or chees quesidilla. She will only eat table food, we have been done with baby food for about 2 months now, I would open the jars and she would spit it out all over me, so I stopped wasting my money. I don't mind at all, lol, W.. Hope you get some ideas.