Help Feeding One Year Old

[gabbysmom04]

My DD 1 will not eat any baby food and I am running out of ideas of what to feed her. She will eat carrots and greenbeans, pasta and bread and fruit cups. But I am afraid that she is not getting a balanced diet. When she was on babfood she would eat all her fruits and veggies. Now she only eats a few things and never has any meat! Please help, any ideas welcome.

 

[Jessd]

My daughter is the same way. She is almost 14 months old (going on 5 years old) and stoped eating baby food at about 11 months. She thinks she can do everything on her own.

She likes the Gerber Graduates Lil' Entrees, which are a little expensive, she only gets a couple a week. She refuses to be fed, she must feed herself. She likes macaroni and cheese, mashed potatos, greenbeans, bread, fruit, the Gerber Fruit Puffs, cheese, pasta, spaghetti-o's, stuff like that. She really doesn't care for meat, if I try to give her some, she will spit it out. Walmart has these little personal sized pizza's by the lunch meat and cheese section, the crust is very soft. They are microwavable and after it cools I cut it up into little pieces. She loves her pizza.

I too have run out of ideas. My DD won't let anyone feed her so it is hard to think of new finger foods for her.

 

[gypsydoodlebug]

My daughter is the same way. She is almost 14 months old (going on 5 years old) and stoped eating baby food at about 11 months. She thinks she can do everything on her own.

She likes the Gerber Graduates Lil' Entrees, which are a little expensive, she only gets a couple a week. She refuses to be fed, she must feed herself. She likes macaroni and cheese, mashed potatos, greenbeans, bread, fruit, the Gerber Fruit Puffs, cheese, pasta, spaghetti-o's, stuff like that. She really doesn't care for meat, if I try to give her some, she will spit it out. Walmart has these little personal sized pizza's by the lunch meat and cheese section, the crust is very soft. They are microwavable and after it cools I cut it up into little pieces. She loves her pizza.

I too have run out of ideas. My DD won't let anyone feed her so it is hard to think of new finger foods for her.

I remember this stage (DD is two now). We ate a LOT of soft canned mixed vegetables and vegetable medley -- she loved spaghetti-os, so I would mix the vegetables in with some of that runny sauce and she never knew it didn't come like that out of the can. She also liked (and still does) plain ol' saltines with store-bought hummus, which gives her a little bit of protein. You can also tried deviled eggs to give her protein, too (although, like me, DD only wants the yolk part!!). We call them egg boats...

 

[planning06]

Any veggie that is cooked until it is mushy is good.
Ripe avocado. This is soft, tasty, and very healthy!
Banana
Ripe pear or peaches
Jarred or canned pears or peaches
Melons
Grapes cut into quarters you might also want to peel them
Strawberries cut up
String cheese (take the cheese stick and pull of strings)
yogurt
rice and gravy or a little butter
mashed potatoes or well cooked potato chunks
Very finely diced chicken
Crackers (Try some good whole grain crackers)
Cheerios
Hard Boiled Egg or scrambled egg

 

[auntie k]

I have trouble with my 18 month old niece (she lives with me)...she doesn't like anything with texture...only soft foods. She doesn't eat much meat either. She will eat fried and scrambled eggs & grilled cheese sandwiches and tuna salad, but that is seriously about it. I buy the "parents choice" version of PediaSure at Walmart. She loves the vanilla. For now, that's the best thing I know to do.

Have you tried yogurt or fruit smoothies?

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I don't have any new food suggestions, but I did want to say that what helps get my one year old to eat well is sitting him at the table with the rest of us, not feeding him separately. We don't do this for breakfast because of everyone's schedules, but he sits at the table with my other kids for lunch and we always eat dinner as a family and I've noticed that he eats lunch and dinner much better than breakfast. He likes to eat his snacks at a little child's folding table.

I also don't rely solely on "finger foods", but instead I take his shirt off and let him get messy occassionally, too (he insists on feeding himself everything). He had spaghetti with tomato sauce last night. He had sauce everywhere, but he ate three Gerber bowls of spaghetti (it's his favorite). He eats what everyone else is eating with a few substitutions when there's something he can't have. I second the suggestion of Gerber Graduates, especially for snacks. DS likes their ravioli, too, even the spinach ones.

 

[dismom9761]

My DD ia 18 mths old and gave up baby food at 9 mths.She doesn't eat meat and almost no breads.She also won't eat eggs unless we are out to eat.One thing she dous eat well is soup.I but Campbell's chunky soups and drain the juice.She almost needs a bath after every meal because she won't let me feed her.One "bread" she will eat are French Toaster Sticks.They are really soft too.

 

[disney4us2002]

When you guys say your child won't let you feed him/her, what does that mean?

I used to do daycare in my home and many of the infants on their way to toddlerhood, preferred finger food but still many things are simply too messy and I couldn't bathe them, lol. When we had spaghettios, applesauce, etc. I fed them and they had nothing on their tray except for possibly their own spoon. If they were hungry, they'd eat. I would always offer what the older kids were eating but kept easy stuff on hand for things they just wouldn't or couldn't eat. Frozen waffles just thawed and cut up tiny are great. Offer yogurt or vanilla pudding. I think meat is an acquired taste (probably the texture more than the taste) but sometimes kids like those chicken sticks or vienna sausages (try not to smell them though as you might gag, lol).

 

[dismom9761]

When you guys say your child won't let you feed him/her, what does that mean?

I used to do daycare in my home and many of the infants on their way to toddlerhood, preferred finger food but still many things are simply too messy and I couldn't bathe them, lol. When we had spaghettios, applesauce, etc. I fed them and they had nothing on their tray except for possibly their own spoon. If they were hungry, they'd eat. I would always offer what the older kids were eating but kept easy stuff on hand for things they just wouldn't or couldn't eat. Frozen waffles just thawed and cut up tiny are great. Offer yogurt or vanilla pudding. I think meat is an acquired taste (probably the texture more than the taste) but sometimes kids like those chicken sticks or vienna sausages (try not to smell them though as you might gag, lol).

I guess I could have worded mine better.She will eat when I feed her but it is a battle I choose not to fight most of the time unless circumstances call for neatness.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

When you guys say your child won't let you feed him/her, what does that mean?

What I meant was that when I try to feed my son with a spoon he will clamp his mouth shut, turn his head and will not eat. I guess not all children are that stubborn, but my son would rather not eat than be fed and I don't want every mealtime to be a battle of wills, that's a family quality time in our house. Besides, he needs to learn to eat with silverware anyway and I can bathe him if I need to. Of course all children are different, my first child would let me feed her until she was two, and my second would only eat foods that weren't messy, he hated getting dirty, but my 3rd, 4th, and 5th children want to eat how the other kids do I think.

 

[Jessd]

My daughter is the same way, she will turn her head or push her hand away when we try to feed her. I will give her a spoon and then have one of my own and slip her a bite when she isn't paying attention to which direction the food came from. Dinner usually ends up with a bath after.

Jess

 

[Carolinagirl1063]

My dd was the same way, but she has always loved cheese toast or grilled cheese. I just cut it into bite size pieces. She loved to eat green beans with her fingers and dip into mashed potatoes. She like pickles too. Good luck and remember children will eat when they are hungry.

 

[imsayin]

She refuses to be fed, she must feed herself.

IMO, this is a good thing. Give her a fork or spoon and let her feed herself. My DS loved meatloaf at this stage.

 

[Paull117]

Give her the silverware and have at it. My dd1 quit letting us feed her at 10 months, she tried to steal a rib. Gave her mashed potatoes and she was messy but happy. Wife was a little upset, but it was easier than dealing with fighting her and trying to eat ourselves. We just put a drop cloth on the floor under her highchair, and I cleaned her and floor up after meal time. Her younger sister was a neat freak and never really had to clean up after her. It all depends on the kid. After awhile they learn how to do it properly.

We went out and saw some lady trying to feed her child and the child was just crying. Finally I got up and said just let the kid do it themself. She did and all was better messy but better.

Paul

 

[ceecee]

I put DD on one of those mats and in a booster seat with a table (she hated the highchair!) and gave her little things to find herself, small pieces of fruit, hot dog pieces, cherrios. She wanted to use her own spoon very early and would eat mashed sweet potatoes (her favorite) rice, spagetti O's and pudding. Lots of things are fortified with vitamins....she grew just fine. The Dr. said not to worry let her eat whatever. She was a soy milk baby and to this day doesn't care for milk unless it's chocolate. She hated cheese and yogurt until age 2 so I was worried about calcium. So we added ice cream and the juice with calcium and she gained too much weight!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I never fed my kids babyfood--we tried a little bit...but nothing on a regular basis--we slowly introduced the correct foods (per the charts they show you)--and we pureed them in a food grinder. With my youngest I also made homemade baby cereal. She was a great eater!

 

[bdcp]

By 1 year my boys (21 and 19 now) ate what we ate for the most part. Chopped up small pieces of meat (chicken, soft roast beef, turkey), veggies, fruit, applesauce, mac and cheese, spaghetti, cheese slices, mashed potatoes, cheerios, scrambled eggs, small pancakes, graham crackers (fiber), green beans, cooked carrots, bananas, yogurt. Actually by 9-10 months they were eating the above. At 1 year they were eating pizza too and whatever we had for dinner as long as it was cut small enough. They also loved a thin layer of peanut butter on bread cut into very small bite size pieces. All done so they could feed themselves, which they were doing totally before 1 year. Also, gave a cup starting at 7 months and no bottles past 12 months. They also had a spoon in their hands to practice at 8 months so they could feed themselves. I didn't use any baby food after 9 months at all.

 

[bigbabyblues]

I gave my boys whatever we were eating at that age, just cut into tiny pieces for them. Both of them ate it, without question. If it was meat, I just basically shredded it and put a little gravy over it for them. Neither of mine was into being fed from a spoon, I just put it on their plate on the tray and let them go at it.

 

[gabbysmom04]

wow thank you for all the advice. She has become a nightmare when eating. she will only eat yogurt and applesauce from a spoon. she also spits out food and swipes it off her tray. I am at a loss on how to stop her from doing those things. As for trying to let her use a spoon all she will do it throw it. I have tried to sneak in veggies, for example I sometimes spread a thin layer of sweet pot. under the cheese when I give her grilled cheese. She will eat that. when food is in little pieces she wil work around anything she does not care to eat. I guess it will get better in time.

 

[mbethel]

My 16 mo DD LOVES the chicken and turkey sticks from Gerber. They stink but they're pretty much pure meat. She chows down on the whole jar in minutes. She also loves cheese sticks and one of her lunch staples is ham and cheese cut into cubes which she goes at with her fork. She'll eat homemade chix nuggets cut into chunks and homemade meatballs which you can sneak all sorts of healthy stuff into