Good Food Ideas for My 15Month Old

Try giving her some breakfast sausage, I would be willing to bet that she'll love it :) All the other ideas are great, so I will stop there.

if your daughter like ff, buy instead sweet potetos, slice like a ff and bake in the oven, it tasty and alot more nutrients. i also bake it or sorte it with a little butter in the pan with butternut squash and then make mush potetos with it. Both vegitables are sweet and have alot of nutrients. and when you mush it, they stick to the spoon so even if your daughter turn the spoon up side down, most of the time they not going to fall.

You got some great suggestions here! My 3 yr old and my 14 month old were both given food that was flavorful from the beginning. We use fresh thyme, Rosemary, sage, basil, parsley, etc. Even cumin and corriander. We wanted to see if they would develop a pallette for tasty food and they have! It's pretty cool. They eat what we eat, but the 3yr old has definitely had her picky stages. We just stay persistent, keep the healthy foods on the table in little bowls through out the day and she eventually picks at the ones she didn't like before and enjoys her old favorites.

My son, the younger one really wants to feed himself. I let him hold onto a brown rice cake (unsalted) while I feed him messy stuff like yogurt or soup but he enjoys feeding himself things like roasted vegies, pasta, brown rice with beans or lentils... We never offered the kids juice until they were past a year and it's diluted half and half with water. When I make rice and beans I sautee diced carrots & celery, garlic and onion in o. oil. Then add the beans, white beans or pigeon peas or whatever you like and then mix it all together with the brown rice. Both kids have always loved it.

I think some new parents are afraid their kids won't eat food that are seasoned - but that is notthe case if you start early. It's not too late for you. Good luck! It's going to be harder for you to change your feeding/eating habits than it will be for your child, but stick through it. It'll be a blessing down the road when they really get picky.

They say it can take up to 20 times for a child to try a new food so keep trying! Don't give up just because she doesn't eat it the first few times....be persistant. It also helps tremendously if the parents model good eating habits as well so let her see you eating the veggies and fruits.
That said...at that age my daughter loved:

-wheat waffles
- pancakes (you can put 2 tbsp pumpkin pie puree in Biscuick mix and add a little cinnamon....very yummy, or add blueberries or bananas.)
- pasta with sauce
- grilled cheese sandwiches
- cucumber or cherry tomatoes (sliced)
-baked chicken with brown rice
-grilled hamburger with ketchup
-sliced fruit: kiwi, banana, grapes(quartered), cantaloupe, papaya, mango, strawberries, blueberries
-bagel and cream cheese
-toast with apple butter
-yogurt(plain with a bit of baby fruit puree mixed in)
-italian wedding soup or vegetable soup with crackers
-crackers and peanut butter (if not allergic), cream cheese, or hummus
- sliced deli turkey or ham
-sliced colby-jack cheese
- peas, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans, and broccoli

Hope this helps.

You just gotta keep putting different things in front of her, as frustrating as it is. Ya never know. One week she might decide to try something she turned her nose up last week. I still struggle with what to feed my 18 month old.

I created a list of food ideas, based on suggestions from other Mamasource Moms. Send me your email and I'll send it to you (Word doc).

At that age, I remember it being all about the DIPPING! Veggies in ranch, broccoli in cheese sauce, anything in anything! LOL
Also, I just wanted to mention that the Morningstar Farms vegetarian "chicken" nuggets are AWESOME! So are their veggie burgers--cut them up and let her dip the pieces into a sauce. All of their stuff is very yummy and it's a great alternative to cutting out lots of fat.

Hi S.,

Please don't give her the fried food any more. It's not good for you or her. She's young enough to break the habit without too much fuss. It fills you both up because of the oil that is used, and that leaves you feeling full, but nutritionally deficient. Your body needs vitamins, minerals, water, fiber and protein. I suggest little pieces of multi-grain bread, whole wheat pasta, baby peas, steamed and cooled baby carrot bits, cheddar cheese bits,tofu squares, cheerios (unsweetened). You should also offer whole grain hot cereal and let her try her hand at self-feeding with a toddler spoon. It will be messy but that's the way it is at this stage.Start the day off with the oatmeal. Offer water and milk for drinks. Stay away from juice. It fills tummy up with sugar-go straight for the fruit. Banana bits, canned peaches or pears in fruit juice-drain and cut up (not syrup), applesauce. Best of luck. It's not hard to eat inexpensive healthy and fast food. Just take some time to make a list of some of these suggestions before going to the store. Then stock up on these items. Then when it's time to feed her you will have a plan instead of running to the fast food place on the way home! Take care now.

My son won't let me feed him anymore either and he went through a very picky stage. Currently really likes any pasta with marinara or cheese sauce (I give him whole wheat pasta), cheese, soft fruits (bananas, strawberries, mango, blueberries, etc). He's not too big on veggies anymore, but he does like frozen peas, canned green beans and will sometimes eat carrots (I cut them up and steam them). He also likes peanut butter sandwiches. I use a very small amount of peanut butter on wheat bread and cut it up into small pieces.

As for the chicken nuggets and fries...I think all kids like that stuff! You can try making the nuggets yourself by breading the chicken and baking it. You can also make your own fries in the oven. Try sweet potato to make the fries...sooo yummy!

Just keep trying new things. Whatever you are having, give her some. You will find things she likes:) Good luck!

- Pretzels, plain or with peanut butter inside
- Dried fruit (our store carries all fruit flats instead of the sugary roll-up style)
- String cheese sticks, pulled apart
- Granola bars or the cereal ones with fruit inside

I understand your frustration. My daughter is also 15 months old and barely eats anything. For my daughter it's a texture thing as well as the look (color, etc.). For breakfast I give her a cut-up banana (sliced and quartered) and either Kix, Cheerios, Whole wheat pancake, whole wheat french toast, or whole wheat waffle. Bananas are literally the only fruit she eats. For morning snack she has a YoBaby Yogurt. She LOVES these and still lets me feed them to her as long as she has something (usually Kix or Cheerios) on her tray to feed herself at the same time. She loves the yogurt so much that I can hide anything purreed in there to get some nutrients into her. I put baby food (fruit or veggie) into the yogurt and she will eat it. She even watches mix it and doesn't care. For lunch she has grilled cheese or American cheese, deli ham or turkey, and wheat bread all broken up into little bite-sized pieces. For dinner she has chicken nuggets (I buy the refridgerated Perdue nuggets- they are baked, so they are not quite as awful as some of the other ones out there), or ground turkey or ground beef or meatballs. I make the meatballs with shredded carrots and you can't even tell!! You can also put shredded carrots in pancakes or baked goods without changing the texture. Everything is plain- no sauce or anything. And I give her applesauce for dessert after dinner.

I can not get my daughter to eat anything else. I always put something "new" on her tray at least once a day. LIke I might put a few peas or some pasta on her tray at dinner or some cut up pear during snack. She will ususally play with them, but she never eats them. I just always at least offer new foods so she will get used to it. I was really uptight about it for a while so worried that she will never eat a vegetable, but I have read that if you fight with them or force them to eat things it ultimately makes it worse b/c they won't eat just to spite you. So I don't push- I just keep offering. Of course the pediatrician today at her well-visit said she needs to actually eat the vegetables instead of me hiding them, but right now at least she's getting the nutrients. I can't force her to eat, so I'm just doing the best I can.

Since your daughter likes french fries, maybe try sweet potato fries and you can bake them to make them a bit healtier. Also, make sure she is taking a multi-vitamin since she is probably not getting all of her needed vitamins and minerals. Good luck! I totally understand your frustration and I can only hope it gets better as they get a little older.