Food and Your Toddler

I’ve been a little unsure about how much of everything I need to feed Alex.  How many servings of meat, veggies, how much milk etc.  I’ve really just been trying to ensure he gets all four food groups at all meals and that he gets enough milk.   However I just received an update on Nutrients and Toddlers from babycentre.com that I thought was pretty good.  It breaks down how much Calcium, Iron, Zinc, Vitamins A, D, and C is needed, and how much of each you will find in various foods.  Anyhow – I thought I would share in case you other new mothers are wondering too.  There is also a short age by age breakdown here.  If you have a good source on toddler nutrition please share too!

Baby Food

Since Alex has been home, we have been trying to introduce as many new foods as possible to him.  We probably do too many at a time – but for the most part he hasn’t had any bad reactions – except for the egg yoke spitup…not nice.  Anyhow, we try whenever possible to simply adjust our food to work for him – puree chicken and veg, mash potatoes, pureed roast beef, peas, plain rice, and even cut up spaghetti.  He also eats cheese, grapes, strawberries, bananas, crackers… the list can go on and on.  However I’m not a supermom and do rely on jarred food quite a bit.  I must admit Alex loves the beef and alphabet pasta in a jar – he just inhales it! 

But in an attempt to save money, make more healthy meals, and to turn into supermom, I’ve been pureeing and freezing vegetables and meats.  Right now on the stove I have a pot of carrots boiling.  Yesterday was sweet potatoes, and a few days ago was squash.  Simply puree the mixture of your choice, put into an ice cube tray, freeze, and then remove from tray and put into a labelled freezer bag – Simple!  And you have many more meals – for instance the bag of carrots was $1.50 – and it will make about 20+ vegetable servings – much cheaper than the jarred stuff!

There are a lot of fancy purees and baby food mixtures you can make – just check out the recipee section at your local library – the 641.5622  section.  I enjoy the Annabel Karmel books – and yes – she has a website!  http://www.annabelkarmel.com/  Great recipes and ideas for all age groups.  Can’t wait to try some more!