Amount/variety of food your 18month old eats?

[janethommo]

Hi Ladies, just want to compare notes really to make sure my little girl is eating ok.

Any tips on introducing combination of flavours as so far my little girl is quite traditional in liking her pasta/veg/meat seperate to each other (quite a traditionalist!)

We've tried every cup under the sun for milk and given up and replaced it with a snack and water and upped the calcium in her food instead. Still a bottle at bed though.

Typical amount/type of food:

Breakfast - 2 tablespoons of shreddies in full fat milk. Small banana sliced up. Fruit pot afterwards if still hungry. Water in cup

Mid morning - small piece of fruit or couple of rice cakes

Lunch (main meal of the day): small potato sliced, 4-5 florets of cauliflour or broccoli or tablespoon of sweetcorn. Slice of ham or deli chicken/turkey or a fish cake. Pudding is fruit pot or custard or piece of fruit. Water in cup

Aftern pm nap: small piece of fruit or babybel cheese and water

Teatime: slice of wholemeal bread toasted or mini sandwiches with marmite or cheese (if not had cheese that day yet), cucumber sticks, slice of ham, satsuma or fruit pot or yogurt or oaty biscuit type thing.

Bedtime: 180ml of full fat milk in a bottle

[FredFredGeorge]

Breastfeeds through the night.
Breakfast - scrambled egg, bowl of porridge, or pancakes (2 or 3 side plate sized with maple syrup...), cheerios, or yogurt/quark mix with granola - often a satsuma or other fruit too either eaten before breakfast or after. If DP is eating breakfast it's what DP eats so the porridge or yogurt, if it's me it tends to be the egg as I don't eat breakfast.

Snacks - whole milk/natural yogurt mix in a straw cup, fruit, cheese, raisins, chicken strips, cake. Tends to have something about 11 or 11:30 - she gets it herself from the fridge or requests it.

Lunch - tends to be leftovers from a previous evenings meal, often potato (baked or roast) or cheesy mash with chicken. Or ham and cheese or bread and soup.

More snacks in the afternoon - when she normally has her only nap, normally after.

Dinner - whatever we're having, as it's winter there's lots of lasagne, chilli, curry, stew, steak, salmon etc. She'll eat an entire salmon fillet and the insides of maybe 6 or 7 roast potatoes as well as veg if she's hungry here. She eats very little bread other than flat breads (this is similar to me)

Chocolate or ice cream or cake or whatever pudding we're eating - generally a while after the meal as a snack - as it's what we do.

Which sounds like a lot more than your DD - but nutrional needs are individual, if she's a good weight, nice and active and growing well then she's getting enough. How to get her to try more - I've no idea, I've always just offered DD whatever we're eating, she tries it, virtually nothing is spat out immediately, some things are obviously liked more and some things she's not keen on.

What happens when the meal is fully mixed? Chili or lasagne or something? Does she just refuse or?

[janethommo]

Thanks for your reply - really good to compare notes!

When my little girl has a pasta dish for example she just pushes it around and cries and points to the fridge or saucepan for her veg/meat.

I'm grateful she enjoys her meat and veg so much but wonder if I need to get her into more combination/mixed flavours now, but not sure where to start!

[forevergreek]

18 month ok here eats anything. But has never been offered meat/ veg/ potato seperatley like you describe. Personally I would just offer whatever you are eating without the option to get them seperatley.

Lasagne, fish pie, chicken and mushroom risotto, paella, spaghetti and meatballs, cottage pie all favourites.