Ideas for Lunch- 16 Month Old

One of the things I give my 13 month old (she has a lot of teeth already) is I take bologna and cheese and dice it up and she really likes it.

cut up pieces of bagel (or even just some toast) with some healthy cream cheese, cottage cheese with diced fruit pieces...these don't seem like much but they are very healthy and filling to little ones.

My almost 4 year old son LOVES quesadillas, and he has for as long as I can remember. I use cooking spray instead of butter so that it is healthier and he loves that I cut them into triangles for him.

Another suggestion is to make different types of wraps w/tortillas. You can use different spreads (cream cheese, peanut butter, etc) and different meats, cheeses, fruits and veggies to make a variety of wraps.

My kids love the pasta too, but we try to limit it to once or twice a week. Try cottage cheese, fresh (or frozen) fruit, canned soup (my kids like tomatoe), tuna & crackers, just a larger serving of veggies some days, pudding cups, jello, hot pockets, pizza rolls, lunch meat & cheese (on bread if they'll eat it), french fries. I've learned that they will eat almost anything and it is best to give them things you want to eat too so it will be easier to cook later, so what do you like for lunch?
Good luck.

-Microwaveable meatballs cut into pieces
-Grill a few chicken breasts on the weekend and serve some pieces for lunch
-Brown ground beef or turkey and season with taco flavorings or gravy, add pasta or dumplings and make it a stew
-Frozen tortellini or ravioli (Italian style with tomato sauce and green peas or Primavera with mixed veggies and chicken broth)
-Bagel Dogs
-Buy fish fillets from the butcher/meat shop, cook up on the weekend, and serve for lunch
-Chili (meat or vegetarian), just not as much 'broth'
-Baked potato with melted cheese
-Have leftovers from dinner? Just nuke and serve

Basically, your kid can pretty much eat anything he can chew through. Expand his palate now before he does like most kids do and only 'eats beige' (french fries, nuggets, grilled cheese, pasta).

HI Michelle,

My son is also 16 months old and I struggle as well with things for him to eat. I have found that he like cereal bars with the fruit in them. My son also likes real mashed potatoes with cheese melted into them. He also like the Yo Baby yogurt, which is somewhat expense but organic. It is made with whole milk so he get some protein from the milk fat. He also like crackers with cheese spread.
If you pediatrician says it is okay, try peanut butter sandwichs with banana in the middle or on top of the peanut butter.
Our pediatrician says okay to peanut butter because we have no history of an allergy to it in our family. She also says that there is conflicting studies regarding peanut butter, but it is still your decision on this one.
Hope these suggestions help.

My daughter loves soup...minus the broth. I scoop out the noodles, veggies, meat...etc and I sprinkle with cheese. She gobbles it up and always asks for more.

You can try steamed veggies and dip, drain some Healthy Choice soup and give him the chunks, scrambled egg, chicken or tuna salad sandwich on pita or english muffin, or a (veggie) hot dog quartered then sliced. My 14 month old eats whatever I do! There are fancy cookbooks out there that you can look through, "just for kids" but I've found that spending 45+ minutes in the kitchen cooking lunch for a toddler is not an effective use of my time!

You did not say if your son is a picky eater or not. If he is and these are all he will eat, then just keep giving them to him. At each meal just put a small sample of something new for him to try. You can give him left overs from supper eaten a few days ago. My children have certain meals they love to eat again the next day or two, so I fix enought so there will be left overs. Also, are you giving him fruit like peaches, pears, strawberries,apples, watermelon, bananas, and so on. Also peanut butter can replace meat for protein. Not just PBJ,s, but also sreve peanut butter as a dip with carrots, celery, and apples. With bananas I would put the peanut butter on the slices. Fix small individaul pizza with his favotire toppings using 1/2 of a hamberger bun or 1/2 of an english muffin cut up into bit size bites. Or you can buy the begal pizza bites. Does your son soups? Fix those. My kids like tomato soup so I make mine with milk to make it more nutritious and serve it in a cup. Make sure it has been cooled down with some cold milk. Oatmeal cookies can be make more nutritoius by adding bran, raisins or my kids favorite, cranraisin. My kids love to eat craraisins in place of candy. Good Luck. If your son will only eat certain things, do not worry about it. Over time he may start to try other foods.

Sounds like you have a good little eater! Congratulations! I would suggest little by little giving him what you are eating cut up into his bite-sized pieces. Nothing too spicy of course, but take advantage that he's not fussy and open his horizons. When I started my children on hot dogs for instance I was careful to slice it in half and in half again lengthwise and then cut them across. Hot dogs are one of the most frequent causes of choking in toddlers, so be very careful. Baby cooked carrots or large carrots that he can gnaw on would be good (under supervision of course). I'd wait on peanut butter and jelly, though as it's hard for them to get used to the sticking to the roof of their mouths at that age. Good luck and enjoy introducing him to new things!

Stonyfield Farms Yobaby Yogurt. My 16 month old LOVES it! Applegate Farms has deli meat that is hormone free. I make little roll-ups with meat/cheese. Just a few ideas to break up the routine. Good luck!

it sounds like you already have a good variety, but here are some other things we give our 13mo.son (cut-up, of course):

pizza
pb&j sandwich
bologna sandwich
deli meat sandwich
hotdog
eggs with melted cheese
bagel with cream cheese
soup
ravioli
homemade smoothies (one yogurt, one fruit...usually a banana, and a little juice in a blender)

and at dinner, he eats what we eat...just a smaller version.

I buy the progresso low sodium soups also. My son loves to eat all the pasta and veggies out of there for lunch. Just an idea. Have you tried peanut butter and jelly. My son is 18 months old and won't touch it, I wish he would though. My son also loves pizza so I buy the small ones and share it with him for lunch... they microwave and are delicious. I think it's the digornio pizza for one. Hope this helps. I feel your pain on this matter. My son is picky!