What do you feed your one year old?

[Swearlikemalcolmtucker]

Feel like DS has too much fruit as he’s gone off veg and refuses it at the moment.

He usually has a weetabix and a half sometimes with a teaspoon of puréed prunes if he’s a bit bunged up, or porridge, or toast, followed by a mid morning snack of the melty puffs things or fruit or yogurt, then lunch normally a sandwich (if he didn’t have toast) and 3-4 berries or leftovers from the night before.
Dinner is pasta or couscous or rice or lentils, normally with tuna or salmon, beef or lamb mince, veg sauce as it’s the only way I can get it into him, plus half a banana or berries depending on what he had earlier.

He also occasionally has a bit of crumpet, tiny bit of croissant, I make him oat fingers as a snack (they have a bit of fruit in but not loads), rice cakes.

He won’t touch raw things like carrots or tomatoes or cucumber, and isn’t confident enough for breadsticks yet, tries to ram them all in so we are easing him into them.

I feel like I’m just loading him up with fruit and carbs?! He would eat raspberries, blueberries and melty puffs all day if I let him (obviously I don’t) but I’m struggling with giving him a good variety and keeping it balanced.

Have you tried him with eggs? I often make an omelette with grated courgette or chopped up mushrooms, grated cheese on top then cut it into strips. Or some egg muffins with spinach/chopped up broccoli/bits of ham/tomato? Oh and pizza pinwheels with a homemade pizza sauce full of grated veg.

He struggles with pinwheels as they can be a bit dense but quite enjoys them.
He does have eggs, scrambled, doesn’t like omelette strips anymore unfortunately! Used to wolf them down

The same as my other children, this weeks menu has a lot more treats as it’s Christmas. 13 month old had everything except the popcorn.

Breakfast toast and weetabix

Lunches:
Thursday brioche cheese cookies strawberries cherry tomatoes
Friday cheesy bread sticks , cream cheese, cucumber , banana , yoghurt, ham
Saturday pancakes, chicken strips pear, carrot, pepper
Sunday wrap , ham, cheese, apple, tortilla chips

Monday cheese , crackers , chocolate coins , cucumber , tomato
Tuesday pizza , raisins , cucumber, salted popcorn , carrot
Wednesday rich tea, choc spread, hummus , wrap, carrot , apple

Dinners
Spag Bol and garlic bread
Burritos and salad
Spicy fried chicken in pea rice
Shepherds pie and broccoli
Chicken curry and rice
Beef casserole and dumplings
Salmon stir fry

Smacks are mostly fruit or melty sticks,

Could you also try homemade smoothies if your worried about veg- carrots and spinach especially can’t be tasted if wizzed up with berries.
Have you tried him with avocado smashed on toast my little boy loves that! Have you tried shoving spinach in any type of sauce - if you chop it really small it just melts into the sauce - or you can blend it with other veg (which you say you already do anyway)
Cheese and pineapple sticks - my son loves that with a picnic type lunch - he thinks it’s a really special treat lol
Also as a side note my son when he was one went through a spectacularly fussy phase where he wouldn’t eat veg/fruit that had happily enjoyed before. I kept offering but didn’t make a big deal out of it- now suddenly he’s turned 3 and is back to trying everything and enjoying vegetable again.

My DD generally loves her veg, but when she teethes she can be a nightmare with food refusal. I'm a big fan of mac and cheese using blended cauliflower as the base for your cheese sauce instead of bechemel. Or different veg soups alongside their sandwiches for lunch - traditional Scottish lentil soup, leek and potato etc? Great for getting a variety of veg in them.

My DD also never refuses peas or beans, because she can just sit and pick at them. Keeps her occupied for ages as she eats them one at a time

Maybe try varying the fruit too so its not all sweet berries?

DS2 is 11m, meal wise he eats the same as us (BLW), he often leaves the vegetables but loves meat/fish/pasta.
Veggie foods he likes (and are easy to eat) are spinach and ricotta crespelle, or quiche/frittata. Also home made bean burgers without the bun.
Vegetable snack wise I give him pepper sticks (but he is not a fan), and cucumber (which he likes)
He likes all fruit apart from banana...favourites are berries, orange wedges, and apple (wafer thin slices)
He is a big fan of bread sticks, puffs, and cream crackers (might be a bit easier than a bread stick?)
and he likes formage frais and biscuits

Have you tried home made falafel? You can add all sorts of veg.

Thanks so much for all these suggestions
We have to avoid tomato and broccoli and not give too much dairy or it results in really terrible wind that wakes him up at night which makes things a bit tricky.
Yes he likes avocado on toast or potato cakes actually!
Smoothies are a good idea.
He’s quite picky with fruit even though he likes it - doesn’t get on with watermelon, gags on it, mango depends how soft it is, anything with a skin like grapes or apple not a fan of unless I peel and stew the apple he won’t eat them. Banana, pear, berries he loves.

He’s not great at pacing himself so dense foods like pinwheels he tries to shove them all in at once which has resulted in some scary gags/coughs which I know he needs to do, but fray my nerves!
He didn’t get on with gnocchi for this reason, think it was the texture.
I’m not really sure how to move him into pieces of meat and harder food as he seems a bit stuck at one texture level if that makes sense.

Have you tried just letting him rip in a sausage or strip of chicken? I say this because at about ten months I was getting something else out of the fridge and DS grabbed a sausage and proceeded to gnaw happily on it (and went ballistic when I tried to take it away).

I did not at all thing he was ready for it, but he had other ideas.

I’m not really sure how to move him into pieces of meat and harder food as he seems a bit stuck at one texture level if that makes sense.

Stew/shredded chicken/shredded pork are probably the easiest texture wise.

Or you could make chicken cotolette/schnitzel as they are nice and thin and the bread crumbs make them easy to pick up.

Ours were eating what we ate at that age.

Honestly, let him try anything and everything. Don’t even worry too much if it’s meal times, if you’re prepping veg give him a bit to chew on. Just pull a bit of (cooked) chicken off and let him have a go.

Don’t get too het up on quantities, just let him try as much as possible.

If he’s previously rejected stuff just keep offering, you might find something he couldn’t manage 6 weeks ago he can manage now.

The gagging thing is totally normal, it helps him learn.

B: usually egg on toast (mostly scrambled but loves soft boiled, poached or fried), or yoghurt with honey and fruit. Occasionally, she'll entertain porridge or peanut butter on toast. Sometimes has Cheerios or crossiant.

L: usually just put a selection of things on a plate for her to help herself (ham or chicken or tuna, cheese, pasta or crackers or bread, cucumber, tomatoes, fruit) occasionally she has a pizza wrap, leftovers, homemade sausage roll or quiche, depending on what we have in. She's not really keen on sandwiches.

Dinners are whatever we have so the usual Bolognese, risotto, fish and chips with peas, curry ,etc. She's not keen on spice so there's always something on her plate what she's likely to eat. Dinner is followed by fruit and yoghurt.

She still has milk at bedtime.

Thank you. We had a scary almost choking incident which scared the shit out of me and because he rams everything in and tries to swallow sometimes without chewing it’s made me really nervous