Do you often wonder what your toddler should be eating, how often and how much? Then this is for you!
To make sure your growing toddler gets the required nutrients for his developing body, aim for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two healthy snacks each day. Is this doable?
Let’s look at each meal.
Breakfast:
Let your toddler start the day (everyday) with a balanced diet if possible served a the same place and time daily. This makes it a ritual of some sort that encourages him to look forward to eating reducing the chances of picky eating. This doesn’t have to be a ‘big’ meal and a meal as light as oatmeal, banana and milk will do just fine or waffles cut into bite-sizes, banana and milk. Start with a toddler serving and a little more if the child is still hungry.
Midmorning Snack:
Offer snacks at regular intervals in-between meals. Snacks can be just about anything healthy and nutritious from fried plantain (Dodo) cut into small sizes for your toddler to pick and eat, fruits, hard boiled egg cut into fine slices, turkey/chicken, and so on.
Lunch:
For lunch, try to offer food groups that are different from what your toddler ate in the morning. If he had cereal, yoghurt and berries for breakfast, offer something totally different but equally rich in nutrition. Lunch ideas include, bread spread with mashed avocado, sweet potatoes and fish sauce, rice and chicken stew with plantain.
Mid afternoon Snack:
You can offer a mid afternoon snack before dinner. Make it light so your toddler doesn’t pick at his food at meal time.
Dinner:
Warning, your toddler may not eat a lot because he is not only tired but has had 2 main meals and 2 snacks during the day. So no need forcing your toddler to finish up a huge quantity. He already met his daily nutrition quota anyway.
Evening Snack:
Something as small as half a cup of milk for young toddlers or something light and low in sugar, like applesauce, for older toddlers is perfect. This may not be needed if your toddler already had enough at dinner.
Offer enough water instead of juice and milk at meal times.
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