at 16 months: what are meals like?

Kathy - posted on 12/12/2012

Hi. My 16m old gets 6-8 oz of milk around 630-7a. Then dry cheerios mixed with blackberries & pineapple along with a sippy cup of milk (either Similac or organic whole milk or 2%) around 9-10a for breakfast. Nap around 1pm and before nap, has more milk. Lunch is either spinach & cheese omelette, grilled cheese & spinach (or avocado) sandwich (whole wheat bread) or tuna fish sandwich (tuna maybe 2-3 times a week). He drinks either water or juices that I juice with his meals (juice: carrot, kiwi, kale, celery & apple) or non-sweetened ice tea. Snacks are either yogurt, organic puffs, cheese & crackers or blueberries. He rarely eats canned food, I try to make it fresh for him. Dinner is whatever was left over from last night like chicken with rice & veggies or pasta (he loves ziti in tomato sauce, lol) or if we're out, whatever we're eating. He likes basically anything. When we're out, he's eaten tofu & chicken pad thai at the Thai restaurant, Mexican burritos, ribs, California rolls and Greek chicken gyro. Sometimes he spits food out if he's not liking it. But most of the time, he eats what I give him. Night time is either Gerber cereal with milk & mashed up fruit or cheerios with fruit & milk

Stacie - posted on 03/08/2010

well the only thing my son eats is... Chicken, Corn, Eggs, Banana, Apple, and Avocado that's it lol we are working on expanding his menu lol and for drinks, Milk, Water, and Diluted Apple Juice.

Tiffany - posted on 03/03/2010

The first few entries made me feel bad, but I kept reading to find others like me. Caleb eats what everyone is having, and he has since right after his first birthday. He usually has egg, cheese and bacon/ sausage toaster pastries for breakfast since the other kids are in school. He eats pizza, spaghetti, pork chops, hamburgers, etc. I haven't bought baby food, snacks, etc for a while. He drinks milk (white, choc or straw.), sweet tea, juice, water, and rarely soda (if out somewhere.) I'd rather teach him moderation than tempt him with "no-no" foods (kids are drawn to the forbidden, you know!.)

Mia - posted on 03/03/2010

I feed my 16mth old all of the same things we eat for meals, but of course certain things are in moderation. I've noticeed that my daughter would rather have what's on everyone else's plates rather than those special "baby" meal items. To ensure that she gets her daily serving of fruits and veggies, I just make sure to incorporate more of them into the menu which actually works out for everyone in the household as well. My oldest daughter ate anything edible, so it was definitely a transition. It's ok if she doesn't like what you offer her. Just try new things and reintroduce the other things later. 9 times out of 10, she will eventually start to eat them . Good luck!

Siobhan - posted on 03/02/2010

Mindee...you might want to talk to a few people who are grown up now that were raised vegan or strict vege....you might learn something. its exceptionally hard to raise a child without meat and still meet their protein and iron needs...it can be done, but its harder than you are making out. Secondly, I have met just as many people who were vegan who have type 2 diabetes as I have meat eaters. Good luck to you!

Lindsay - posted on 03/02/2010

Just one last thing ladies , I have a 12 year old, he is VERY picky. I think that if i woulda been more persistant with him then he wouldnt be this way. Having a picky eater can be VERY stressful. Try not to vary from what you are eating too much. Try not to add things in just to make them like it. This is where bad habits form then you can't break them, sometimes I wanna pull my hair out with my son. I also have a 9 year old daughter who is not as picky as my son but still has some tendencies.. I have learned my lesson, this one will eat anything.. and if she doesn't like something, i try her again in a few days and prepare it different..

good luck all

Lindsay - posted on 03/02/2010

My daughter is a garbage can and will eat anything i give her. Breakfast its usually things like omletts with a variety of things in the from meat to veggies and cheese, toast, yogurt, fruit, cheerios (multi grain) oatmeal, baby cereal 12 mo plus, farley's, cream of wheat etc,

Lunch will be soup, sandwiches, veggies, on occasion i give her toddler jars, she may eat left over from the night before.

snacks she eats things like fresh fruit, low sodium crackers, bretons multigrain crakcers, mum mums for toddlers, raisins, toddler granola bars.

Dinner she eats what we eat, great ideas come from toddle jars or tv dinners.. you can get inspirations from those.. try making something like a spanish chicken and rice, my daughter LOVES it.. she also love stir fry's of all kinds..

Try to change things up for them often, prepare things different each time. Just cause she doesnt like it this time doesnt mean she wont like it next time. Try letting her feed herself. Don't give her too much to drink, it may be making her full.

good luck

Akili - posted on 03/02/2010

Korah is 17mo old now, and while she does not always eat all of her food, I would say she's a pretty good eater. I am allergic to milk, but prefer her to have Organic Whole Milk as part of her diet and so we sometimes have different meals from one another but for the most part we eat a lot of the same things. Her typical meal day is as follows:

After about 4-6oz of Toddler formula & milk at the start of her morning,
Breakfast: Toddler cereal with fruit and yogurt or Multi-grain cheerios with whole milk
Some fruit (as much as she'll eat)
A slice of bread/toast with a little butter (healthy butter lol)

Lunch: PB&J sandwich, or lean sandwich meat sandwich
Cheese (string cheese or the little Mickey Mouse cheddar)
A piece of fruit and/or some veggies
Water

Snacks: Goldfish, cheese, fruits, veggies, bread, yogurt, etc.

Dinner: Whatever we have for dinner that night.

I will say sometimes she can be really pick at times, at other times, not so much. She doesn't like eggs and I have tried to serve them in all ways. She'll eat them, rarely, and only when I kinda catch her off-guard.

Ever since she could sit in her high chair I have had her at the table with us for all meals and I think that's helped to encourage her to eat better. A big part of me feels like she could eat more/varied foods though. :/

Penny - posted on 03/01/2010

im quite suprised to see how much milk ppl r giving, at toms 12mnth checkup i was asked how much milk he has still. i gave him 3, 8oz cups throughout the day. morning, 2ish and before bed. i was told off for this and told to cut out the 2pm drink. he has always been a good eater and still they said it didnt matter i could be effectin his eating habits and that he would begin refusin food eventually

Tammy - posted on 02/28/2010

both of my kids eat what I eat. with the exception of spicy food, actually they eat a lot more fruit than I do,

breakfast- wholegrain cereal, or oatmeal, or toast and bannana
snack- yogurt, or fruitsations, and fruit, whatever I have apple, orange, grapes, etc
lunch- soup and grilled cheese, or kd, or sandwiches, and sometimes some fruit
snack- cheese and crackers, and fruit, or a cereal bar, or yogurt or fruitsation.
dinner- whatever we are having. which always includes a starch, a veggie, and a protien.

they always have water cups to drink, and one cup of milk throughout the day, and a cup of milk at dinner.

Jan - posted on 02/28/2010

Wow I knew Zoe ate a lot, but it seems like she eats a whole lot more then most :)

Wake up - 7oz bottle of toddler formula

Breakfast - Toddler malupa cereal or regular creal or toast and a banana or yogurt

Snack - Apple or Banana or cereal bar, or muffin, and cheese

Lunch - Soup and Sandwich or left overs, or heinz pasta if daddy's home with her (yuck)

After nap - 8 oz whole milk

Dinner - What ever we are eating

Evening - 7 oz toddler formula



She eats what ever we are eating or what ever she asks for, both my kids like to graze between meals so she also has a snack cup full of cherrios or raisins or gold fish crackers on the go all the time and she gets juice here and there and whatnot, since she weaned herself a couple of months ago she eats non stop. Her favorite foods are fruit, whole apples, bananas, pears, cut grapes, oranges, she would eat fruit all day long. She also really likes the little babybell cheese circles, dry cereal and graham crackers, basically if we are eating it or her brother (7yr old) is eating it she gets it too.

Jody - posted on 02/28/2010

We just feed out 17 month old what we eat. If I cook fried rice, she gets fried rice. If i cook pork chops and broccolli, that's what she eats. Ect.

Kianne - posted on 02/28/2010

breakfast toast 260mls cows milk
snack apple/biscuit and juice or water
Lunch vegemite and cheese sandwich
snack biscuit/fruit
dinner whatever we eat
milk before bed 260ml cows milk
My twins can be fussy at dinner time sometimes they only eat vegies and no meat i'm not worried sometimes they will have yogurt as a snack too.

Candace - posted on 02/27/2010

My daughter used to eat almost anything she tried. Now...I have a hard time trying to get her to eat anything she normally ate. Its like all of a sudden her taste buds changed. But she loves fruit and milk. Chicken in small pieces. Altho its not too healthy, french fries. If u make dinner give her what your having...I found my daughter likes things I never thought she'd try. She hates spaghetti but loves ravioli or lasagna. Kids are complicated sometimes...

Tiesha Evelyn - posted on 02/27/2010

I find that my daughter is extremely picky too.... what i do is i give her finger foods and things that should make her think its a snack. Things like Chicken strips, Chicken nuggets, (all white meat of course) also try giving her sphaghetti. Gerber has the banana flavored biscuits that eventually began to get my daughter to actually eat the fruit and with things like veggies try steamed broccoli with garlic and margarine. When giving eggs try to boil them first and seperate the yolk from the white to see which one your child likes its usually the yolk because of color...Try to let go of the formula a little too because if you were full on the protein and vitamins in that all day you wouldnt want to eat either! I say to just remember that they are becoming independant so now is the time for finger food choices and be careful as to not bombard them with too many choices and to always let them eat by theirselves if possible. Im just another concerned mom~~my daughter was the same way until I adjusted somethings

Krystal - posted on 02/27/2010

You should be able to give her plain whole milk now. Sometimes I add strawberry syrup to my son's milk. Gives him something else to drink with a different taste. Mine doesn't do banana either but he does do eggs, yogurt, pudding and some veggies. Try Froot Loops and Kix, Tyson Chicken Nuggets and Gorton's fish sticks. I do Banquet pre-cooked sausage links too. All of it gets cut up into pieces about the size of the tip of my pinkie. Just big enough for him to pick up on his own and chew up. I also give him Mott's Applesauce with Cinnamon and we've also done Mott's Strawberry Applesauce and Mango Peach Applesauce-all with good results. He'll also eat Cottage Cheese and Sargento Colby Jack Cheese Sticks. Loves whole wheat toast just buttered, or buttered with peanut butter and sometimes with grape jelly. Loves Gold Fish Crackers and Club House crackers. He'll eat chicken when it's prepared for dinner lots of different ways (as well as some steak and pork) but loves it most when it's off my plate. You might also offer plain water and a part water and part Minute Maid Berry Juice drink. Mine is drinking most beverages from a sippy cup but still attached to the bottle for milk. Best advice I can give is to take your time at the grocery store and think about items that are applesauce or pudding consistence (a drop of water or two in pudding helps thin it a bit) and other things that are bite size or can be made bite size and that would be easy to chew. Hope this helps!

Brittany - posted on 02/27/2010

I feed my 16 month old just about everything I eat. Breakfast she'll have sometimes sausage egg and cheese biscuit fruit and milk maybe frosted cheerios with fruit cup another morning. luch she'll eat ravioli or chicken nuggets and french fries and some juice(100%) dinner whatever we are eating like maybe chicken and noodles with a vegeteble or pork chops. She has her picky days where she doesn't want what i give her and she'll refuse to eat and she will skip that meal(Because I don't cook twice) she'll eat snacks like crackers or fruit untill the next meal. I always say that babies are lil people and they know whats going on so treat them that way and you'll be shocked to see the reaction. PS... When they are hungry they will eat whatever you give them so if she doesnt eat lunch she won't starve to death but she will eat all her dinner for sure.

Valeri - posted on 02/26/2010

My 16 month son has become a very picky eater. He hates all meat, including fish, and can detect it in any food. He loves most fruits and veggies although he has gotten finicky about vegetable textures. I feed him almost all organic foods, including milk. He gets most of his protein in eggs, beans, natural peanut butter and quinoa (keen-wa) pasta. I made my own baby food when he was younger and still make purees for 'Sneeky Chef' recipes. When he's teething (now) or not consuming his veggies I feed him the purees straight. The green puree is spinach, broccoli and peas and the orange is sweet potatoes and carrots. I still offer the veggies (so he eventually eats them again) but, if he doesn't eat them I know he's getting them in his purees and the 'Sneeky Chef' recipes I fix. His french toast, mac and cheese, grilled cheese & tomato sauces have the orange puree in them; cauliflower and zucchini in twice baked potatoes, etc. I also finely chop broccoli and other veggies to throw in mac & cheese or omelets. Fresh fruit on top of french toast or a banana and peanut butter sandwich. The pediatrician did tell us to watch how many eggs we give him because of cholesterol but said his diet was better than 95% of the kids his age. I also make smoothies for him when he's teething in place of 1 milk serving - approximately 1/4 cup milk, 4 oz yogurt and a cup of berries in the blender. He's now eating the softer varieties of apples and pears - pealed and sliced of course. Grapes are a pain to peal, lack much nutrition and are toxic to dogs (the dog eats everything our son drops). We only give him grapes when we go out to eat which is not very often. Also, he has never eaten fast food. Kiwi, avocado, strawberries, bananas and oranges are all favorites right now. Watch out for the oranges though - they are very high in fiber. I'd love to get some more meal ideas from vegetarians.

Katie - posted on 02/26/2010

Mine 16 month old eats whatever I do. Spaghetti, pizza, bacon, muffins, etc. As long as it is real and healthy she gets to eat it and does. We had some pickiness problems, but battles of the will are ones I always win. One thing that helped with pickiness was not making her eat different food than we did.
I'd recommend getting a good gluten-free cookbook and trying new recipes.

Charisse - posted on 02/26/2010

My son eats anything and everything that we eat except for sweet potatoes. But than again I dont like them either so I dont push them on him. But other than that he loves everything and has been eating this way since he was at least 7 months.

Sara - posted on 02/26/2010

@ Gabrielle - right on, sister!

Jessi - posted on 02/26/2010

Chase has about ten teeth now, and eats most anything. I usually just try and give whatever I'm eating. He also has started to get more independent and wants to use a spoon and fork on his own, so I do what I can to make that possible, within reason.

Gabrielle - posted on 02/26/2010

nice to see what other twin mommies are doing:)

Gabrielle - posted on 02/26/2010

i have 16 month old twins and one is a very picky eater....here are some examples of what they are offered:
BREAKFAST- eggs, toast, gerber DHA vanilla apple w/grains, banana, pumpkin/banana bread and whole milk
SNACK- baby gold fish crackers or mum-mums, or puffs and watered down juice
LUNCH- we buy the banquet frozen entrees and mix them in the magic bullet-they seem to eat them better if they are ground up-they usually prefer turkey and mashed potatoes, salisbury steak/mashed potatoes, or meatloaf and mashed....also they LOVE hotdogs and green beans-i know hotdogs are a choking hazrd but we dice them into small pieces that are still big enough for them to pick up and they LOVE feeding themselves the hotdogs and green beans! they also then get a serving of vanilla pudding and whole milk
SNACK-banana, puffs, oatmeal cream pie, or other little debbie treat, cheese
DINNER- we offer them whatever we are having and they do pretty well as long as we are also eating it....examples- mac and cheese, chicken rice dinner, spaghetti, meatloaf, salisbury steak, pizza, they love chicken from the rotisserie, mashed potatoes, green beans, fish sticks, chicken nuggets and french fries also usually do well since they can feed themselves.....however-if they dont eat much of our dinner foods we still give them gerber purees like apple vanilla, blueberry oat, and pudding.
After they eat dinner, we give them a bath and still give them an 8oz bottle of whole milk for bedtime....we are planning on phasing out the bottle soon-hopefully.

toddlers are picky eaters and sometime need to be offered different foods over a dozen times before they realize they like something. just keep offering her a variety of foods AND textures, she will start to do better. alot of it is just the age and a phase. i would just keep trying different foods and if she doesnt like something, dont give up on it just keep offering it everyday or so....good luck:)

Justine - posted on 02/26/2010

My son is a choker so I always struggeld with food and different ideas. But he has a few items he gets on a regular basis.

Breakfast: Juice(sippy cup)
Toast with peanutbutter/ cereal/ frenchtoast/ waffles/ fruit..usually banana or blueberries/pancake/yougurt.
Snack: Water(sippy cup)
Cheese/crackers/fruit/yogurt/goldfish/jello.
Lunch: Milk(sippy cup)
griled cheese/veg soup/ pizza/ mac&cheese/ sweetpotatofries/ pudding/ fruit/ crackers.
Snack: Water(sippy cup)
Ceral Bar/crackers/baby cookies
Dinner: Milk (sippy cup)
Whatever we are having, but he usually wont eat that. So I end up making
toast/pasta/and then we just try to fill his belly. For dessert, I try to avoid fruit,
only because it causes him to have a BM too early in the am and waked him.
Bedtime: After his bath he has a 8oz bottle of milk prior to going to bed.

Lori - posted on 02/25/2010

My boy ate anything we gave him until right after he turned one, now he's a lot more picky about what he'll eat, and it's been a struggle to find veggies he'll eat (though he loves most fruit). That said, we can *usually* get him to eat these foods:
breakfasts:
--oatmeal with cinnamon
--fruit like pear, apple, banana, blueberries, sometimes oranges
--whole grain toast with almond butter or low sugar jam
--whole grain english muffin with cream cheese
--yogurt
--banana bread or other homemade muffins/quick breads
--scrambled eggs with cheese (and sometimes bell pepper)
--I recently made a yogurt, whole milk, mango and banana smoothie that went over very well
Snacks
--wheat crackers (low sodium)
--raisins (a favorite) or dried blueberries or fresh grapes
--other fruit
Lunch/Dinner - I generally offer whatever we're eating, but also:
--a cheesy tortilla & zucchini casserole I make
--grilled cheese sandwich with a little avocado and tomato inside
--hearty soups (the best way to sneak veggies in him)
--pinto beans with avocado, cheese and rice
--Sweet potato with a little cinnamon (though he's been refusing lately)
--lentils, other types of beans
--rice

He still nurses on demand, so I can't really estimate how much breastmilk he gets throughout the day - I just try to make sure we offer plenty of solid foods in between his nursing sessions.

Sara - posted on 02/25/2010

My twin girls are picky eaters too.

Wake up - between 4 to 7 oz milk
Breakfast - banana, waffle or toast, yogurt, sometimes some sausage patty cut up or bacon. OJ with calcium, maybe 3 oz. Sometimes of this they eat one bite of banana and that's it.
Snack - teddy grahams or cheerios or freeze dried fruit
Lunch - mac n cheese, baked beans, toast, chicken nuggets or fish sticks, frozen peas or corn with butter, fruit, like cut up grapes, pear or blueberries. They usually eat veggie, always eat fruit, and maybe have a few bites of the protien
Snack - cheese, crackers, juice
Dinner - some of what we have, cut up - they usually don't touch it unless it is pasta, or recently rice with some sort of asian sauce, frozen peas or corn, or cooked carrots or brocolli, toast with butter, and after they won't eat anything else I bring out cut up fruit. they always eat fruit, usually veggies.
Bedtime - 5-8 oz milk

My girls refuse to drink milk from anything but a bottle, so no milk during the day - they get 10-15 oz of milk plus calcium from OJ and sometimes yogurt or cheese.

Yashica - posted on 02/25/2010

for breakfast i give my 16 month old oatmeal and a half of slice of bread with cream chesse on it or a boil egg cut in slices , for lunch i give him chicken nuggets and green beans or applesauce and for dinner i give him mac and chesse or chef boyardee mini bites spaghetti rings and carrots he love all of this things i change up ever week so he won't get bord

September - posted on 02/25/2010

Mindee Boling what a way to start your response! It's great that you totally avoid meats and dairy's but your response comes across as though you're shoving your belief’s down everyone’s throat, and suggesting that those who choose meats and dairy’s are making bad choices for their families. My whole entire family including my great grandparents are meat and dairy eaters and not a signal one of them have type 2 diabetes. I was a tad bit offended by your response but not so much so that I will not go and enjoy my homemade chicken salad! :)

September - posted on 02/25/2010

Breakfast: Yogurt, fresh fruit and toast or bagel with 8oz. of whole milk
Lunch: Meat (chicken, beef, lamb, tofu, seafood) rice (or some form of whole grain) a veggie and 8oz. of whole milk.
Dinner: Is very similar to lunch. I always offer a protein, grain, veggie sometimes our son wants fruit as well for dessert. He also gets 8 more ounces of whole milk with dinner.

Our son also gets two to three snacks a day. Which can consist of fresh fruit, string cheese, whole grain crackers, yogurt, bagels and cream cheese, cheese toast, to name a few. I offer water to drink with his snacks. I love to cook and have always homemade all of our sons’ meals and snacks. Meal time and healthy choices have always been very important to my family :) I hope this gives you some ideas :) Enjoy! FYI: There are gluten free breads and cereals.

Mindee - posted on 02/25/2010

Did you know that animal protein has been linked to type 2 diabetes? The American Dairy Assoc. wouldn't want you to know this, but it's true. That said, we avoid dairy and meat almost completely.
Our little one loves fruit! Strawberries, blueberries, mandarin oranges and bananas! She also enjoys cooked baby carrots, avacado, steamed cauliflower and peas, to name a few. She won't eat beans plain, but likes when we put them in a meatless chili and REALLY likes when we make bean dip and let her dip her crackers in in (instead of chips). Seasonings are something she enjoys. Flavor is important. With legumes in the diet, dairy, meat and eggs aren't necessary.
We also share our whole wheat pancakes and waffles with her, which we sometimes put either banana or blueberries in. Rarely she will eat oatmeal with fruit. She really likes to start her day with at least half of a banana. Occasionally I'll give her some lightly toasted bread with a very thin layer of peanut butter on it and even a little jam. She likes to eat what we eat! Her sippy cups always have water in them, and we make sure she has one within reach every day.
For snacks she enjoys pretzels, goldfish crackers (those are a new addition), and fig neutons. I will occasionally let her have a homemade cookie if we are eating them, or even a whole fruit popsicle, which she really enjoys. If I'm in a huge hurry and just can't make anything for her at the moment, I will, on rare occasion, give her a stick of string cheese, which she thinks is pretty great. Another staple for her is pasta. She really likes rotini pasta with italian dressing, or spaghetti with a tiny bit of marinara sauce. Mashed potatoes and naturally seasoned rice are a new addition as well, and she likes them a lot! She wants to eat what we eat, so we do our best to always have something in the meal that she can eat/will enjoy. I hope this helps give you some ideas!

Yolande - posted on 02/25/2010

Hi, my LO also goes through stages of not wanting to eat. He is always on the move and not always happy to sit and eat. Here is a breakdown of what his meals look like.

Wake up: 120ml stage3 formula milk
Breakfast: Oats with honey and full cream milk / Baby Cereal with milk / Toast with butter and bacon (he's allergic to egg)
Morning snack: Banana / Yogurt and biscuit
11am: 220ml formula milk before nap
Lunch: Cottage pie / Macaroni and Cheese / Chicken ala King / Hot dog / Spagetti Bolognaise
Afternoon snack: Yogurt / Fruit / Biscuit / Muffin
Juice and water in between
Supper: Toast with Marmite / Chicken Nuggets with spinach and butternut / Stew meat and veg with rice / Spagetti Bolognaise / Toasted cheese sandwich
160ml bottle formula milk after his bath, before sleep time.
Hope it helps

Niki - posted on 02/24/2010

my daughter for breakfast gets yogurt every morning with either a slice of toast with no sugar added jam or peanut butter, or a waffle, and 8 oz of milk in a sippy cup.

lunch is a slice of lean lunch meat (turkey/chicken breast) sliced green, red,yellow and green peppers (she luvs them) celery, baby carrots thinly sliced, and cucumber, she also gets some marble cheese and cut up red grapes and raspberries or blueberries which ever i have in the house and a few veggie crackers, or she will sometimes eat a toasted cheese slice sandwich ( she is not really in to sandwiches much), and i will also make her an omelet with some meat, peppers and a little shredded cheese. she also gets another 8oz cup of milk

and for supper she eats whatever it is that we are having for supper unless it is something really spicy, and another 8oz cup of milk,( where i am at they don't recommond more than 24 oz of cows milk a day, and she drinks lots of water in between meals) she eats almost anything that i give her. right now not so much cuz she is teething, but as soon as a tooth pops through she is right back to eating her meals.

i know this is a pretty large post, but i hope all the info has helped and if u have an other questions i would be more than happy to answer them for ya :)