I have a 13 month old - soon to be 14 months - and she only has 3 teeth so far with 2 other teeth (her top eye teeth) coming through. What kinds of foods (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner) do you feed your toddlers? My daughter can be very picky but is certainly getting better now that she is getting more teeth. She won't eat anymore baby food and hates the Gerber Granduates. I am just stuck on ideas. My husband works and travels alot so most of the time it is just my daughter and I eating and I never know what to make! Any suggestions would be great help!
Thanks!
I started my kids on table food as soon as they started reaching for it. There have been some good ideas so far - some other things we gave our kids:
oatmeal, bananas, cut up fruit, kiwi, avocado pieces, rice, Earth's Best makes a toddler bar my kids love.
Good luck!
We feed my son pretty much everything we eat with the exception of shellfish and honey (told to wait by his ped.) Cut it small and she can eat anything you're eating - you'd be surprised at what they can gum.
Fruits, steamed veggies, potatoes, meats, cheeses, whole grain.
On an average weekend, we'll make a whole gain waffle (with butter and syrup), sausage, fruit and milk for breakfast. Lunch might be chicken and veggies, cheese and milk, snack is crackers and juice or yogurt and fruit, and dinner is whatever we're eating. Of course Mac and Cheese and hotdogs sneak their way in every now and then as he loves them and they're a good back up if he really doesn't like what we're eating for dinner, but we try to limit them and offset them with healthier options throughout the day.
Don't limit what you expose her to because of her lack of teeth. She'll get to experience a whole new world of food that she may really love. My son "outgrew" the gerber graduates around that age and wanted nothing to do with them so we moved to what we were eating and the pickiness went away.
Just double check with your ped to make sure there aren't any foods you should stay away from and good luck!
Hi Tiffany-
My daughter will soon be 14 months as well. We went through this not long ago when she only had 3 teeth. I found it very frustrating to find food she could "chew". It took a while, but she got really good at "gumming" the food. Now with 6 front teeth, she continues to gum, which is good because that's how we chew food once we have a mouth of teeth. Some foods that worked well:
Breakfast options: Cheerios (in milk), pancakes, omelet, Gerber Graduates dried fruit (it's awesome!) bananas, bagel pieces
Lunch options: mac n' cheese (I found the spiral noodles in Kraft were best to chew down--I had heard that wagon wheel pasta is great, but now matter how I cut that, she couldn't chew it well and would gag) toast & cheese, bagel & cheese. I'd also add lunchmeat to the toast or bagel; put cheese on top and melt.--cut into small pieces. Saltines and Ritz crackers also work well
Dinner options: chicken, fish sticks, pasta, peas, potato-- I sometimes would take a combo of meat, veggie, cheese and pasta and melt for a mini casserole.
Gerber has "pasta pick ups" They are like little raviolis...they were the best for introducing my daughter to chewing things. I'd cut them in half---she devoured them!
The Gerber meals that come in a box I feel are kind of advanced for when she didn't have many teeth.
Hope that helps a bit!
Hi Tiffany,
All my kids started table food as soon as possible, just cut it up small. Pasta (any shape) always was good. We also would boil a chicken breast & then shred it up, it would keep for a few days. Steamed veggies & soft fruit work good too, I did canned fruit because it was quicker & easier. She can always "gum" small bits of food.
C.
