Learning new flavors and throwing food

Meals

Toddlers aren’t exactly known for their good table manners! One minute they’re gobbling their food down happily, and the next they’re throwing their plate through the air. While it was easy to feed your baby, your toddler wants to do things themselves, leading invariably to a massive mess! Meals with your toddler are fun and never boring. Is your toddler ready to try something new?

On this page you’ll find..

From milk to meals
New flavors and textures
Meals
Articles
More about toddlers

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From milk to meals

From milk to meals

Up until the age of 12 months, milk will have been your baby’s main source of nutrition. Your toddler can eat what you eat and milk will become less and less part of their diet. Switching to eating with the adults comes with benefits: it saves time and money!

When preparing meals for your toddler, avoid foods with high salt levels and spicy ingredients. If you’re making food for the whole family, just add salt and spices to your own food later. Did you know that toddlers can be temporarily more fussy eaters at the time of a leap? Read more about leaps in mental development in our app.

New flavors and textures

New flavors and textures

Offer the ingredients of a meal to your toddler separately so they can adjust to the new textures and flavors. Of course, you can serve dishes in which various ingredients are combined, but you should also alternate these meals with evenings on which the ingredients are offered separately.

Your toddler may dislike certain flavors. On average, children need to taste something 10 to 15 times before they learn to appreciate a flavor. Step by step and bite by bite, your toddler will get used to the new meals, flavors and textures.

Meals with your toddler

How many meals does a toddler eat per day?

Toddlers usually eat three meals a day, supplemented with 2 to 3 snacks. You toddler’s stomach will still be significantly smaller than an adult’s, which means your child should eat smaller portions more often. Every child is different and will require a different amount of food, so adjust your toddler’s meal schedule based on their needs. Give them different types of meals every day based on the different food groups, i.e. dairy products like yoghurt or quark, wheat-based foods like pasta, grains such as rice and bread and various types of fruit and vegetables.

Toddler eating habits during leaps

You toddler may have periods in which they eat less or worse than usual. During a leap, your toddler may feel less like eating or be fussier about what they eat, although they may also have a bigger appetite or want to eat more often.

Sometimes your toddler may be determined to skip meals during a leap. Don’t worry if your child eats less during a leap as it’s usually just a temporary blip and they mostly have enough reserves in their body to stay healthy. You can try to offer your toddler something small at more frequent intervals, even outside mealtimes. Learn about the 10 leaps in our app.

Quick and easy toddler meal ideas

Toddlers can be fussy eaters and thinking of healthy meal ideas for toddlers after a long day at work can be challenging, even if you work from home. In addition, the time at which you need to cook may also turn out to be the time at which they want the most attention. However, you all need to eat, so the cooking needs to be done! To help you at times like these, we have compiled a number of quick, nutritious and tasty ideas for toddler meals.

Pasta. Pasta is a perfect toddler meal and allows you to vary the ingredients you serve with it. Does your toddler have difficulty with vegetables? If so, make a delicious pasta sauces with lots of vegetables pureed in the blender so your child gets lots of healthy veg on the go. You should also add non-pureed veg to the meal so they can practice with the different flavors and textures.
Fruit of vegetable pancakes. Toddlers are usually mad about pancakes! Make the batter with fruit or vegetables to fortify the pancakes with extra vitamins. You can also do this with muffins or other baked goods. Serve the pancakes with extra fruit or a bit of yoghurt of a complete meal for your toddler.
Wraps. At times that you’ve run out of ideas for meals, but you have some leftovers in the fridge, wraps are a great way to conjure up a party out of nothing! Cut and cook the vegetables, meat, fish or meat substitutes, serve them separately in bowl on the table and everyone can put together their own wraps to suit their own tastes. With crème fraiche and an avocado dip to provide healthy fats, you can create a fun and healthy meal for your toddler in no time!