What Do Your Older Baby/toddler Eat for Lunch/snacks?

Tiffany,

You got some great advice here, I just wanted to add one thing. You said he doesn't care for fruit? I got my son one of those mesh teethers, where you put whole fruit in it and you don't have to worry about them choking on it. My son loves it with frozen peaches and frozen strawberries. It might be a fun game to your son! I even put a pickle in it once. Those are the only things I have tried so far but he loves it. It's great for teething too! It's called the baby safe feeder and I got it at Toys R Us, or Babies R Us.
Whatever you do, keep trying! Toddlers are finicky, babies too! One day they like something, the next day they don't.
Good luck!

S.

As one mother wrote, take a look at the produce aisle. There's all kinds of stuff. Eggplant, turnips. Avocado. Sweet potatoes, etc. Also, try various grains, and don't worry about carbs. As long as they're complex carbs, he's fine.

We just feed our daughter what we eat. IT has certainly made our snacks and meals healthier, with more nutrient-dense choices, less sugar and less salt.

To help get him into fresh fruits, you can start by throwing fresh fruits into the blender, and, with every day, you can leave it chunkier and chunkier by blending for less and less time. Always check for chokable pieces, of course. I think your son is just refusing fresh fruit bc it has strings, etc. in it and he's on some level afraid of choking. Remove any faintest resemblance of the possibility of choking, and he'll warm up to it. You can also cook it and mash it a little. Again, just making it closer and closer to fresh fruit every day.

I think it's waaay too early to be even thinking about carb counts! Kids need the carbs.
Just wait until he's 7 years old and refuses to eat anything except peanut butter sandwiches for a year. heehee!
Sounds like you're doing a great job in a variety of foods - some kids are so picky at that age they'll only eat two or three things!
Is he opposed to ALL fresh fruit? Seedless grapes are usually good finger foods for toddlers, and maybe bananas spread with a tiny bit of peanut butter. :)
One thing is that I would introduce raw veggies as soon as you feel comfortable with that so that he develops a taste for them - it's so much healthier and will carry on as they get older. My daughter is 14 now and loves raw and roasted red peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cucumbers, etc.

When SHE was 14 months, practically the only things I could get her to eat were cheese and scrambled eggs and weenies. haha You're doing great, just keep trying new foods!!

Try some mac and cheese,oh and the way i got my son to start to eat bananas was i just cut them with the peel still on them and i let him take the peel off and for some reason he loves them now and that is how he wants them all the time. It can get messy at first but the end resault is well worth it. You may have to show him how the do it at first but he will get it. Try him on a little bit of oatmeal too. Get the veriaty pack and try him on them until u find the kind he likes. My son love oatmeal and it is really good for them.

You've gotten some good advice so far--sweet potatoes and avocado are especially popular in our house. Also, you might try smoothies. There are tons of ways to do them, but I blend yoghurt (mostly plain--sometimes w/a little vanilla mixed in), frozen bananas, a little bit of apple (or other kind of) juice, and whatever fruit is around--peaches or berries or pineapple (sometimes a little stringy) or mango even. Kids (and adults) tend to love them, and they deliver a bunch of fruit and calcium. Just beware that what most restaurants call "smoothies" are not made with these kinds of fresh ingredients. ;)

Also, my daughter always liked beans--black beans (just from a can--maybe with some cheese on top) were usually her favorite although pintos were popular. Refried might be a little thick at that age (I don't want to recommend anything that might choke!), but maybe with some water mixed in? I don't know. You might want to stick w/just the black/pintos for now.

Good luck.