What Does Your Very Young Toddler Eat?

Macaroni and cheese
cheeto puffs
pudding
french fries
vanilla wafers
gold fish crackers
bananas
cheese
anything with rice-my son loves the rice-a-roni with brocolli and cheese-good brand because the brocolli is very, very small

Here's what I wrote a mom of a baby who's allergic to milk. But there are still lots of snack and meal suggestions.

Oh, you've got a lot to look forward to!

As a near-vegan, I have found that what others consider to be a restricted diet is actually a door to a lot of fun experiments and a whole world of everything else but chickens, pigs, cows, eggs and milk on my plate and in my cup. Since your son is only "restricted" from milk protein, you will have a lot less experimenting to do, but you have every other food on the planet except cow's milk (and foods with it in them) to feed your son. That's a LOT!!

As for calcium, plant-based foods generally provide a more absorbable form, anyhow, so there is no need to worry.

You can find a list of high-calcium foods at http://ag.arizona.edu/maricopa/fcs/bb/highCalciumFds.html (look at the *second* chart; the first one is obviously animal-sourced calcium). You might want to print this chart out and keep it on your fridge till you get really familiar with the great variety of foods you can offer your son.

To introduce new foods, mix some of your choice of his usuals with whatever you're serving him for the first time. He is very, very used to his "comfort" foods, and you don't want to set yourselves both up for food fights and, especially, an aversion to trying new things. I wouldn't worry about this too much. The main thing is to always keep feeding times pleasant and no-pressure. Keep offering him new things - even the same new things - because we all tend to reject flavors that we can't relate in our brains to familiar ones. This is partly why kids say no to new foods. It's a survival trait. We get a taste, our brain says "Whoa, I don't know if this is safe or toxic or what," and we automatically decide we don't like the taste of it. If we try it again after a few days or a week or a year or whatever, our brain then says, "well, I didn't get sick or die the first time, so maybe it's ok...."

For really great ideas, check out Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. Here are some ideas off the bat:

oatmeal
papaya
pineapple
kale
collards (wilted in small amount of water and a little olive oil - leave out the salt)
Swiss chard!! mmmmm... (wilted in small amount of water and a little olive oil - leave out the salt)
avocado
sweet potatoes (Japanese ones are amazing)
barley cereal
millet
apricots
peaches
pears
plums
prunes
brown rice
mango
winter squash
tofu
asparagus
green beans
summer squash
tahini (condiment, say, added to unsweetened soy yogurt)
ground nuts, seeds (condiment)
brewer's yeast (condiment)
watermelon
lentils
split peas
Brussels sprouts
turnips
cauliflower
beets
beans (if canned, drain and thoroughly rinse), mashed or blended to reduce choking hazard

I got these from Yaron's month-by-month (up to age one). What I have found is, I can just combine pretty much anything with pretty much anything else (assuming it's cooked and soft or blended or ground/blended or soft/chunky or whatever, but of course, not just coined like carrots and not just the way we prepare it for adult meals, at least not till he's used to increasingly thick, etc. consistencies, because that's a choking hazard), and add some of those "condiments" (Yaron calls them "healthy extras"), and even *I* like 'em.

Today, for example, I fed my baby quickly grated, peeled apple, added the juice, and stirred in some tahini and pumpkin seeds (ground up very fine, as all nuts and seeds should be). Took all of 3-5 minutes to pull out the coffee grinder, grind the pumpkin seeds, wash, peel and grate the apple, and stir in tahini.

Other combos: yogurt with any fresh fruit, plus ground-up seeds. Any bean in the world (canned is fine) with any grain you like (quinoa is great because it cooks in 15 minutes; amaranth is probably even less). Blend, or mash, and voila. Lunch. Avocado with powdered kelp sprinkled on. Etc.

If I thought he would like it I used my Pampered Chef Food Chopper to chop up everything.

My favorite ccokbooks are:

The Complete Idiots Guide to Feeding Your Baby and Toddler

Baby and Toddler Meals for Dummies

They have ideas for every kind of eater.

When our eldest was 1 year, he still didn't have many teeth, so we continued feeding him veggie purees - up until about 21 months, even. He enjoys eating broccoli that's tender, and he also likes spinach - especially spinach ravioli with alfredo sauce. I also add veggies and 3 oz of canned salmon or tuna to a small box of mac&cheese, and that's a complete meal. Cheese, fresh fruit and crackers make a great snack, as do avocado spears. Graham crackers and applesauce - I like to dip my crackers in the applesauce. Yogurt. Soak some frosted mini-wheats in milk and then give them to your toddler. A quick lunch or dinner - make a quesadilla with a little corn tortilla, spreading refried beans on one side, sprinkling some Mexican four cheese (pasteurized), and topping with another corn tortilla - microwave for 30-35 seconds and cut into triangles. Also, peanut butter or cream cheese on a slice of bread. Our son will only eat half a sandwich, so we just cut one slice of bread in half and make a mini-sandwich. You could add bananas or honey or jelly to the peanut butter, or jelly to the cream cheese, or just leave it simple - our son prefers just plain peanut butter sandwiches. And always try new things! Our son has entered his "picky twos" phase, but he used to eat pretty much anything, so we'd get him veggie tempura at Japanese restaurants, lentils at Amish restaurants, mango custard and sweet naan at Indian restaurants, baked squash at Southern restaurants, and so on. Have fun!

My 10 month old eats whatever we eat at meals. For snacks I give her yogurt, crackers, Cherios, bananas, grapes (in those baby food bags things to prevent choking), toast, bread, tomatoes...

she has no teeth but she uses those gums like you would not believe. LOL

Hi Tiffany!
My name is K. and I have a 14 month old , and i'm wondering the exact same thing. If you end up with a few favorite ideas please write me back .... my daughter is an incredibly picky eater, and has a lot of trouble chewing things unless they are pretty mushy.
Please please please after you try some let me know what your favorites turn out to be.
Thankyou,
K.

At 13 months, my daughter ate whatever I ate.

My little girl had about 6 teeth by the time she made a year she ate everything we ate. Almost... Motly the healthy stuff just cut your dinner up like the meat cut REALLY small They can eat anything it's just u have to help make it small enough for one not to choke but most importantly to digest in thier intestines. I mainly stuck with softer veggies as the main part then a little bit like maybe one oz of meat and snack on fruits and veggies of the softer variety. I remember the first time I gave my 9 month old daughter popcorn I was so paranoid about the kernals getting caught in her throat I pulled it all apart and made sure it was just soft fluffy popcorn and after all that work I came home the very next day and she was sitting on the couch with her daddy chowing down on full popcorn kernal and all! Dry cereal, I always kept a big thing of the graduate bites. I bought the cheaper brand they were twice the size for the same amount! Dried fruits. Raisins for a little costipation. Blocked cheese cut into squares. And most importantly fruit juice popcicles for hot days go outside and have at it!