Typical Meals for a 13-Month Old?

Hi K.,
Have you ever tried garden burger patties cut up very very small? my kids are older now 2.5 and 5 years old but they love garden burgers even with no bun. When my kids went through the dipping phase around 22 months she loved to dip them in mild BBQ sauce. Also my kids love cream of wheat (on the runny side no super thick). Just make sure eveything is small and not a chocking hazzard at this age.
Best of luck!!

1 mom found this helpful

I didn't see this in there yet so I thought I'd let you know what i did with my little one... He loved baby food. And when he got to your sons age he started getting interested our table food so I gave up on the baby food and focused on other foods. But then realized if he loves it why would I give that up? He prefered the jar of green beans over the real ones. So I'd much rather he ate green beens of some sort.

I don't know if your son is still interested in baby food but if he is why give it up? It can get a little spendy but well worth the benefits. Good luck.

Hi K.,

I just mainly wanted to let you know that dairy (milk) is not necessary for any human to be healthy.
Let's see, my youngest is now three, and he has a dairy alergy, so I'm trying to think back to what he ate at that age.....Well, my youngest eats anything, so let me see, what did my middle eat?
I think he pretty much ate whatever we were eating, just w/ a little variation. Watch for choking hazards like whole grapes and sliced banana, just cut it smaller. My best advice it to offer him what you are eating, give him soy/rice/almond milk in stead of cow, and focus on lots of green veggies for his calcium. The younger you start them, the better the chances of continuing to eat healthy!

Hi K.,

It partly depends on the number of teeth he has, but I fed my daughter applesauce, all fruits that are soft- berries, bananas, watermelon, kiwi, grated cheese, rice cakes, cooked carrots, peas, avocado, tomatoes (cut up small), kidney beans, noodles, tiny pieces of bread, scrambled eggs, pancakes, oatmeal. I think lots of variety keeps them interested in meals. It also works best to eat together, so he can mimic what you are doing. Most kids don't eat very much at the beginning, but it's great practice and helps finger dexterity, too. He will eat as much as he needs and your breast milk will cover the rest.

It is always best to try new foods slowly (a new one every 3 days) so if he reacts to something, then you know the culprit.

I have a 13 month old as well...she loves food! Breakfast is usally real oatmeal, (I cook the steel cut oats a little longer for her and add her DHA fish oil)some fruit and 6oz milk (lactaid 100% lactose free). Sometimes a little yogurt too. Lunch is usually half a tofu dog, steamed veggies and cut up fruit. She's loving grapes, bluebereries and melons right now and 4oz milk. Snack is 4-6oz milk-strawberry smoothie, crackers and cheese. Dinner is a whole wheat pasta of some sort...and she loves tomato sauce...and more steamed veggies and 6oz milk.
Some of her other favorite foods are
Grilled cheese (using olive oil instead of butter)
Lactose free mac and cheese (organic freezer section)
sliced deli meat or cut up chicken
soup
avocado is by far one of her favorites.
My docters advice with milk is 15-20oz a day. If you can't use whole milk like me...try the lactose free lactaid. But remember you have to make sure to add fat in his diet if he's not getting it in his milk. Like adding butter to veggies.
Have fun!
M.

Hi K.,
My daughter is 12 months and she loves to eat! For snacks we offer crackers or the dried puffs (come in veggie or fruit). For breakfast she'll eat diced bananas with Cherrios, oatmeal, muffins. For lunch she'll eat lunchmeat and cheese or pbj (yes, it's earlier then recommended but we have not history of allergies). For dinner she'll eat mac & cheese, fish sticks, chicken nuggets, any veggie we're eating....we are always careful to cut everything to the appropriate size.

K.,
My children always ate everything we did, but they love tofu, rice and beans. Grilled chicken, beef, salmon, pork. Just cut them smal enough for their age. They also like brocolli, green beans, edamame (soy bean).

Hi K., I have a 15 month old and I too had a bit of trouble getting a meal schedule down. I spoke with my daughters pediatrician and did what she said and it works beautifully.

At this age they should only have about 16oz of whole milk a day or it may cause constipation. Also, a baby your age should be eating 5 meals a day spread 2-3 hours apart. It is not the quantity of food he eats but the quality. Make sure he get fruit and vegetables in his meals as well as good starches like whole wheat noodles or whole wheat bread chunks.

A typical menu for my daughter goes as follows. She has a bottle of milk in the morning, am snack is fruit with whole wheat breat chunks. Lunch I give her vegetables with noodles or Gerber ravioli etc. Pm snack I may give her more vegetbles maybe a bit of leftovers from the night before etc. to put her down I giver her the last bottle she will have. That is five meals.

I have learned it is so much easier to have a schedule. He will tell you when he is full. Good Luck!!

I give my children whatever food we're eating for meals. Snacks are generally fresh fruits or vegetables (they can be steamed for a few minutes so they're softer). Avocados are really great for smaller babies/toddlers since they have a lot of calories and healthy fats. Hard-boiled eggs are a favorite as well, though my younger daughter doesn't get the yolks quite yet. Dried fruits are great as well, especially for trips. Bread and crackers are always a big hit as well.

I don't worry about giving any milk to my children when they're still nursing and over a year - if you're actively trying to wean then you should probably just replace nursing sessions with a cup of milk. My almost-one-year old has four teeth and still eats pretty much whatever we eat unless it's something she's not old enough to have :)

Best wishes!
~B.

Here are some of the things I typically fed my kids for meals at that age (they're a little older now, and eating similar, but somewhat more advanced, things). I usually cut everything into small bites for them:

Breakfast: some combination of fruit, grain and dairy - banana, whole wheat toast with butter and sometimes a bit of jam, cheerios, frozen waffles with a tiny bit of syrup, pancakes (usually made with blueberries or banana), applesauce, oatmeal if you're up to letting him try to eat with a spoon, whole milk yogurt, scrambled eggs.

Lunch: grilled cheese on whole wheat bread, cheese quesadillas (can add in extras like refried beans), PB&J, mac n cheese, Smart Dogs (tofu hot dogs), peas, soft green beans or carrots as a side vegetable, sometimes a fruit like cut-up grapes, strawberries, apples - whatever we have on hand.

Snacks: crackers (Wheat thins, graham, cheese, peanut butter filled), cheese chunks, any soft fruit or veg, "cookies" from TJs (like Cat's cookies or small grahams), Veggie or Pirate's booty, any kind of cereal, raisins and dried cranberries, fruit filled bars (like Nutri-grain, only I buy the TJ variety)

Dinner: Usually some variation of what we eat, but favorites since that age have included - TJ's meatballs with spag. sauce and pasta, tacos (small amount of seasoned meat in a tortilla with melted cheese), pizza, ravioli with tom. sauce, non-spicy chili, rice and beans, sloppy joes on whole wheat buns, pesto pasta, most soft casseroles, homemade oven fries, fish sticks or salmon. I try to have a soft cooked veg for the kids, they love zucchini, broccoli, peas, green beans.

My kids have usually have 2-4 different items at each meal, I give them as much to eat as they want, and I don't stress if they don't eat more than a few bites. Some days they eat lots, other days they pick at everything. I know it's tough when you have a small one. You can put butter (or a butter substitute like Earth Balance) on everything, drizzle veggies with olive oil, and use nut or sesame seeed butter to up his fat intake.

Hope that gives you some ideas!

K.,

My daughter is now 15 months. We did, and do give ritz crackers, club crackers, graham crackers, Kix cereal, Cheerios (plain and honey nut), gerber cereal bars, normal cereal bars, pop-tarts (not the best I know), string cheese, yogurt (usually for breakfast, we do a lot of swimming in a chlorine pool), fruit snacks, quaker mini rice cakes, toast with butter. Yeah, there's probably more that I'm not think of off the top of my head. The biggest hang up for us is that she's only got 3 teeth. Most of our foods have to be soft for her still.

Hope this helps,
M.

My son is almost 20 months but besides being allergic to eggs and nuts, which made his skin break out, he ate what we ate cut small. He used to have an 8 oz bottle at 7:30 a.m., 11:30 before nap and at 4 and 8p.m. Plus, boiled/fried sweet potatoes (200% vitamin A), wheat toast, banana (used to be eggs/cheese). Sandwhich stuff, apples/nectarines, plums, etc. Now it's Pita w/ grated carrot, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, turkey. Or quesadillas. Dinner he no longer gets pastas w/ egg so, we give him mashed potatoes, chicken, corn. Burritos/pizza/lots of veggies w/ rice, etc. The only difference is that it's no longer cut so small. For awhile I grated carrots, zucchinis or put broccolli hidden in spaghetti sauces. Now he eats it regular. Good luck. Now he gets 3 bottles a day plus, sourcream, cheese and yogurt.

A great book that has tons of simple toddler recipes and meal ideas is "Super Baby food". You can find it on Amazon or at Barnes & Noble.

S.
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