Getting your toddler's diet right from morning to night
Your active toddler is growing rapidly. To get the right balance of energy and nutrients, they'll tend to need three small balanced meals a day with regular nutritious snacks in-between.
A regular routine of meals and snacks will not only provide your child the extra energy they need – it'll keep their hunger in check. Just as you might have trouble sleeping if you're over-tired, a toddler who is over-tired or over-hungry might find mealtimes difficult. Snacks keep your toddler's energy levels topped up between meals and prevent your toddler becoming too hungry.
Most toddlers need a 1 ½ - 2 hour gap without food between meals to develop an appetite and be hungry at meal time.
Toddlers also need fun and variety to keep them interested – they're ready to chew on more grown up-style foods with different shapes and textures. Offering a variety of foods will keep them entertained while encouraging them to feed themselves. So they'll be growing in independence and getting a step closer to joining in fully with family mealtimes.
So what kind of small, balanced meals can you give your toddler?
Breakfast time
It's important that your toddler eats breakfast so they get an energy and nutrient-packed start to the day. A sensible choice is a breakfast cereal such as whole wheat biscuit or rolled oats porridge with milk, or fruit and yoghurt with wheat biscuits. If they are still a little hungry, a slice of wholemeal toast with a little butter or margarine should do the trick. Then finish the meal with a milk drink.
Lunch time
For lunch include something high in carbohydrate, for example bread, rice, noodles, or pasta, along with protein-rich foods such as meat, fish, poultry egg, or meat alternatives such as lentils, dhal, or baked beans. Try little sandwiches with chicken, lean meat, egg or peanut butter filling. Include some vegetables too – for example, raw or lightly cooked finger-food pieces of carrot, or green beans or peas, or peeled avocado wedges. Finish with a piece of fruit. As a drink, offer water or diluted fruit juice in a cup.
Dinner time
Your toddler may soon be able to eat a small, simplified version of the family's dinner.
A sample dinner: a small serve of meat, chicken, fish or egg with vegetables - (include potato, pasta or rice, a green vegetable and a yellow or orange vegetable). A hungry toddler may finish with custard and fruit and/or a glass of milk.
However, if your toddler has eaten everything offered at breakfast and lunch, as well as in-between snacks, don't be surprised if they're not up to eating much at dinner time.
Nutritious timing: Swapping lunch and dinner meals
If your toddler is going through a phase of not wanting to eat the vegetable/ meat meal in the evening, try giving that at lunch time. Then offer a lunch-style meal for the dinner at night – for example, little cheese sandwiches, scrambled egg, or custard and fruit. Finish with a milk drink.
Or try some baked beans on toast, or a little pasta dish such as macaroni cheese. Put a little cooled boiled water or diluted fruit juice into their cup and if they still seem hungry, finish up with a little fruit and custard or yoghurt.
Nutritious snacks
Your toddler's tummy is at least 5 times smaller than yours, so he/she needs to eat small amounts of nutrient-rich, high-energy foods frequently throughout the day. It's not surprising then, that mid-morning and afternoon snacks play such an important role in their diet. Try to have some of the following nutritious snacks to hand:
- Plain biscuits
- Fruit pots
- Rice cakes
- Fresh and dried fruits e.g. apples, bananas, raisins etc.
- Cooked or raw vegetable sticks
- Toast fingers
- Unsalted crackers
- Mini muffins / mini sandwiches
- Pikelets
- Cheese- grated, cubed or slices
- Cooked pasta shapes
Encourage your toddler to drink their milk
Offer your toddler ½ a cup or a small cup of milk with mid-morning and afternoon snacks or offer milk after meals.
Toddlers need about 500 to 600mL of milk (2 to 2 ½ cups) a day, as well as some water. Avoid giving your toddler too much milk; more than 600mL a day will fill a small tummy and spoil appetite for meals.
Do not give toddlers' (before the age of two years) reduced fat milks because they are lower in energy and fat-soluble vitamins than full cream milks.
Specially designed toddler milk makes a lot of sense at this stage, as these often contain added iron and vitamins to support your toddler when their diet may be inadequate or even if it is just to give you reassurance that your busy toddler is getting enough nutrients to grow and develop!