The Best Toddler Nutrition
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By Nancy Gottesman
Ages 1-2 years
At 1 to 2 years old, your child has left baby foods behind and is likely beginning to feed himself. It’s at this stage when your baby needs nutritional guidance more than ever! According to the FITS report, French fries are still the most popular “vegetable” in this age group, while as many as 30 percent of all toddlers don’t eat any vegetables at all! This is unacceptable, pediatric nutrition experts say. “It’s a reflection of how the adults around them eat,” explains pediatric dietitian Ashley B. Hotle. To get your toddler (and you!) on the right diet track, heed these guidelines:
Dish up a fruit and a vegetable at every meal.
You can go the stealth route by chopping spinach into pasta sauce or pureeing cooked broccoli, carrots or caulifl ower into a dip served with crackers. But you don’t have to! A study in the journal Food Quality and Preference found that you need to serve a spurned vegetable nine to eleven times before a child will accept it. Nine months after the study, the toddlers were still eating the initially disliked veggie. The lesson? Don’t give up after just one or two attempts.
Serve healthy fats.
The FITS found that 1- to 2-year-olds were not getting enough good fat in their diets. “Toddlers need fat for brain and eye development,” says Hotle. “If the fat content of their diet is too low, it probably means they’re getting too much energy from juice and processed carbs.” Good fats at this age include oily fish, avocados, nut butters, meat and whole milk. Switch your child to 2 percent milk when he is 2 to 3 years old.
Involve kids in the process.
“Toddlers will be more excited about eating food if they help you pick it out in the store or help you prepare it in the kitchen,” says pediatrician Alanna Kramer.
Limit sweets.
Treats should be just that—not a daily event! Do not serve dessert regularly, and keep juice intake to 4 ounces daily. “Water and milk are what their bodies need,” stresses Kramer.
Allergies on the Rise
The prevalence of food allergies in children under 18 years old increased 18 percent from 1997 to 2007, according to a new study in Pediatrics. Wait until your child is at least 1 year old to introduce the most allergenic foods: milk, eggs, nuts, wheat, soy and shellfi sh—unless there’s a family history of food allergies, says Alanna Kramer, MD. In that case, wait until he’s 2 or 3. Keep to the three-day rule (see “Solid Advice,” page 11) when introducing a new food, and always watch for a reaction. If your child develops a rash, call your pediatrician. If he starts to have diffi culty breathing, call 911. The good news: Most kids outgrow food allergies by the time they’re 4 to 5 years old.
Writer Nancy Gottesman is a regular contributor and healthconscious mother of 15-year-old Robby.
Just gotta try this Creamy Avocado Dip recipe via Momables.com - love how you can spread it on a sandwich in lieu of Mayo! 
Comment by Becky on Oct 09 2010 01:18:00:
Even though my son is 2 years old, I continue to buy pureed organic baby food. I add this to everything! He especially likes any of the fruits, carrots or sweet potatoes added to his soy milk. It is the perfect on the go snack/meal and I know that he is getting at least 3 servings of fruit/vegetables every day.
Comment by Linsi on Oct 13 2010 04:47:35:
When my toddler (18 months old) fusses about mealtime, and it happens often, I try to put her “food” onto my plate (although it is the same thing, just in the pureed form). She doesn’t like meat and would eat only veggies, so I puree her food, a combination of chicken/pork.beef/lamb/fish, carrots, beans, corn, potatoes/ sweet potatoes/butternut squash, peaches, brocolli, califlower, spinach, etc, add some cheese to them and puree all of them together. I then use it either as a pasta/couscous/rice topping and she loves it. It gives her the illusion that she is eating the same thing and it makes her happy knowing that she is eating off my plate.
Comment by Carolina on Oct 13 2010 09:54:30:
I add formula to my son’s pureed food. He never liked the pre-packed vitamins drops and this is a way to be sure that he is getting every nutrient that he needs. The flavor is familiar so he doesn’t get any bad reactions to it.
Comment by Chelsie East on Oct 14 2010 02:11:55:
I still give my daughter a bottle of Rice cereal every night this helps me know she is getting nuterance she may have missed during the day. She is not a picky eater and reaches for her veggies at dinner before anything else. As healthy options I offer her frozen yogart as a popcycle and give her veggie straws and hummus to dip them in. As a working mother I do not have control over what she eats during the day at day care however, I worked it out with the day care to provide her snacks because I was having a issue with what she was given. So I pack things like hummus, veggie straws, apples cut, and other organic yummes. This way I know she has had the proper amout of frut and veggies needed through out the day.
Comment by Rachel on Oct 15 2010 01:08:17:
I always try to give my son exactly what we eat for meals (just sometimes scaled down a bit with the seasonings). I find that at this age he’s less likely to eat pureed food because he knows it’s different from our food. Also, this way I know we are all always eating healthy. If I wouldn’t let him eat something because I know it’s unhealthy, (such as processed foods) why would we eat it? I also allow him to “help” me in the kitchen as we prepare meals. He always helps himself to bites of whatever I am cooking, since this is a more “fun” way for him to eat.
Comment by Anne on Oct 15 2010 02:28:19:
JUICE, JUICE, JUICE!!!!! I mean fresh juice that you make yourself with lots of vegetables and fruits mixed together! My daughter is almost two and absolutly loves the fresh juice we make. There is no added sugar or preservatives and she gets nutrients from spinach, broccoli, kale, celery and many other veggies that can be tricky to get kids to eat. It’s all natural, raw, healthy and SUPER TASTY!
Comment by sandra on Oct 15 2010 12:46:16:
i buy fruitables juice boxes so that my kids get their serving of vegetables and fruits
Comment by Christina on Oct 15 2010 06:55:22:
We use a infant feeder and mix cereal with the baby food so he actually eats it and less mess and more in his mouth!!
Comment by jill on Jan 25 2011 10:16:34:
Juice doesn’t provide the fiber that whole fruit provides. It’s still just the sugars from the fruits, so juicing fresh fruit isn’t actually going to help your child, although I’m sure it’s delicious.
Provide your children with whole foods, and make trips to the produce section of the grocery exciting, educational, and rewarding for your child.