Feeding a Toddler? page

[Kelly Korg]

I am in charge for making meals for myself, my husband and my two year old daughter. While my husband is not actively primal, he will pretty much eat anything I put in front of him. (Unless it is too weird. I am making primal pizza this weekend for the Super Bowl, and that may not go over well.)

My daughter is a different story though. If its not mac n cheese, chicken nuggets or graham crackers, she won't eat it.

I certainly don't want to put my daugher on a "diet" but I would like it if I could get her to eat healthier foods. Any suggestions?

Thanks, and happy Friday!

Kelly

[heatseeker]

Try vegetables that aren't too strongly bitter (like green beans, roasted carrots, cauliflower, sweet potato), roast or steam them so they're soft, and melt cheese on them. In my experience, if a little kid sees cheese, they go for it, no questions asked. And you can cut meat into easy-grab little strips or chunks so it's not intimidating. We also make fried chicken tenders by coating the chicken in egg and then almond flour, and pan-frying them in coconut oil.

I think a lot of kids' pickyness stems from feeling frustrated with being unable to cut up/chew food very well, and also from food being too bitter. I'd never try to feed my 2-year-old niece pepper, for instance. Also, my niece loves to help prepare the food, and if she helps make it she's more enthusiastic about eating it.

Cottage cheese seems to be a big winner. She'll eat it no matter what it's with. She loves yogurt and berries, primal soups, sweet potato, and eggs. It's easy to include green vegetables if you chop them very fine and put them in those egg muffins. An egg muffin, some sweet potato, and a couple slices of cheese would be an awesome dinner in my niece's eyes.

[Sandra in BC]

[QUOTE=Kelly Korg;1080401

My daughter is a different story though. If its not mac n cheese, chicken nuggets or graham crackers, she won't eat it.

I certainly don't want to put my daugher on a "diet" but I would like it if I could get her to eat healthier foods. Any suggestions?

Kelly[/QUOTE]

You decide what and when, they decide if and how much to eat.

Unless your daughter is doing the grocery shopping and the cooking, it's really simple to remove those foods from the menu.

I don't know if people are afraid of hurting a child's feelings, or you think they're going to starve if they skip a meal... Just keep putting healthy options in front of them and let them choose which ones to eat. If they are truly hungry enough they aren't going to turn their nose up at every single food. Everyone is entitled to have their favorites, but it toddler doesn't even know what they like and don't like ...they haven't tried everything yet!

Feed her what ever you are eating. Toddlers aren't a different breed, they don't need special food. Just serve hers cut up or prepared in away that easy for her to feed herself. Eat together, so she can watch you eat the same foods and setting a good example.

[whitebear]

The only things my son(18 months) has passed on were asparagus and brussel sprouts. He eats meats,fish,eggs,veggies,fruit and dairy. He has not and will not have the option to eat poisonous foods. I think like what has been said already that eventually they will eat what is offered.

[Stephanie]

You decide what and when, they decide if and how much to eat.

Unless your daughter is doing the grocery shopping and the cooking, it's really simple to remove those foods from the menu.

I don't know if people are afraid of hurting a child's feelings, or you think they're going to starve if they skip a meal... Just keep putting healthy options in front of them and let them choose which ones to eat. If they are truly hungry enough they aren't going to turn their nose up at every single food. Everyone is entitled to have their favorites, but it toddler doesn't even know what they like and don't like ...they haven't tried everything yet!

Feed her what ever you are eating. Toddlers aren't a different breed, they don't need special food. Just serve hers cut up or prepared in away that easy for her to feed herself. Eat together, so she can watch you eat the same foods and setting a good example.

Totally agree with Sandra.

Your the boss, and the mac and cheese, gram crackers, etc are only going to hurt her in the long run.

I have 3 little boys who eat a pretty strict primal diet although they do get a lot of carbs because they are very active.

A typical day goes like this:

Breakfast:

green smoothie or green juice

eggs (scrambled, hard boiled)

yogurt

pancakes (we use the Pamelas gluten-free brand - it's super yummy)

Lunch:

baked sweet potatoes, potatoes, mangu, monfongo con pollo

sometimes rice

avocado

fish (tuna, salmon)

leftovers

snacks: they usually don't snack much or may munch on a carrot

dinner:

something usually carb-free bcus I don't eat carbs at night

Check out my pinterest I have a million ideas on there

Paleo Meal Ideas

Good luck!

[banananutmuffin]

Listen, I completely understand where you're coming from. My elder kid (4 years old) is the typical picky eater. Fortunately, my 2-year-old is a little more open minded about her food.

Had I completely switched my elder kid's diet overnight without a transition period, it would have been met with resistance. Would she have eaten eventually? Sure. But it would have involved months of battles. And I refuse to make the dinner table a battleground. It's the place where my family connects and unites each day.

So my way of handling it was to slowly transition my kids into a primal/paleo diet. I did this gradually, over the course of a few months, and now they are champs at eating this way. Here are some tips:

- Eliminate one thing at a time, starting with the worst offender. I kicked the wheat habit for my kids first because it was such a huge part of their diet. Next went sugar and so on. This made it easier because I could still serve other faves (like rice or rice puffed cereal) while they were dealing with the loss of wheat.

- Provide special treats. My husband loves his nighttime sugar fix, and he gives a "treat" to the kids every night, too. I had to stop the cupcakes, cookies, ice cream, etc. But deprivation can lead to issues, so I give the kids different kind of treats. Mark's Grok Rocks, for example, have become a hit in my family.

- Keep offering it. My kids wouldn't eat certain green veggies for a while (broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, etc.). Rather than make it an issue, I just always put a small serving on their plate whenever we were serving them. Eventually they tasted them. Eventually they ate them.

- Make food fun. I think this really works with toddlers. I am not above playing games with food to entice kids to try it. I cut out veggies and fruit and arrange them on plates to look like faces or pictures. I call broccoli "Dinosaur Trees." I basically make a paleo bento box for their lunches, because the sweetly arranged food appeals to them.

- Experiment with new recipes until you find favorites. My kids used to love chicken noodle soup. Now they love beef vegetable soup. Try enough new recipes and you will find primal meals they like. All you need is 10-14 family favorite meals to basically have a month's worth of dinners (eating each meal twice).

- Let them help you cook. This is the whole reason I wrote a paleo cookbook, so my kids could follow the recipes step by step. Even a toddler can stir, pat out something, cut a shape with a cookie cutter, etc. Yeah, it'll make a mess. A big mess. And sometimes food gets wasted. But I have found my kids are much more interested in eating the food if they've helped me prepare it.

HTH!

[Ayla2010]

For us, what worked was:
getting rid of all the grains and processed crap.
Started with scrambled eggs for breakfast.
They will eat eventually. And its up to ask to stop providing the bad crap, and give them choices of good primal foods.
No reason they can't eat the same as us. My 2 are 5 and 2.5.

[Damiana]

You're in charge. You're letting her be the boss right now. Give her food, if she doesn't eat it, too bad, she can skip a meal and it won't kill her until she decides to eat again.

[Sandra in BC]

These toddler lunches look fantastic!

Arianna's Lunches

[zoebird]

I agree with Sandra, and it's certainly not from a "boss/in charge" point of view.

Really, it's simple economics. In our household, we can afford this amount of food. We can afford this amount of time for food prep. Making two meals is extra food prep that we simply do not have the time/energy for, nor can we afford the extra food.

As such, all of us have the choice to eat or not-eat what is available to us for the meals that day.

And, finding some transitional stuff may be helpful. My boy has always been a foodie -- so he's never been picky. I can't help beyond that from personal experience. Sometimes he *demands* something different than what we are having, adn I've explained to him the above. Sorry, buddy, but there just isn't anything else. You can have this, or nothing.

And truly, that's how it is.

He's eaten very little today -- which is unusual for him -- but it's a warm day and he's really excited about something (oh, we got hair cuts today, and he loves the hair dresser). So, you know, he's super psyched and running around like a crazy man and seriously not hungry (though he's obviosuly hungry because he's so fractious).

Ah, kiddos. So much fun.