Could you run down your 18m daily menu please?

[CrushWithEyeliner]

I would really really appreciate this - I know how banal it is but it would so help me get an idea of DD diet comparatively as I suspect it is ridiculously unvaried and we are having some problems at the mo.

Many thanks in advance xx

DD is 17 months.

5:40 - breastfeed
7:00 - four teaspoons of cheerios with whole milk, quarter of a slice of toast with butter and marmite, normally regurgitated onto floor within seven seconds of entering mouth 1 cup full fat cows milk
10:30 - Seemingly amazingly large quantities of raisins or similar dried fruit, or buttons if DH is around
1:00 - Half slice of garlic bread, one slice of melon, two tubes of pasta, throws rest on floor, or refuses entirely to eat. One cup of milk.
2:30 - breastfeed
6:00 - couple of tablespoons of spag bol, or two yorkshire puddings with tiniest bit of beef you could possibly cut (and even then we can't guarantee she's not chucking it at the cat on the sly).
7:00 breastfeed.

She's on the 99th percentile btw and used to eat everything and regularly but is going through a little bugger phase - at least we hope it's a phase

DS is a bit older than 18 months - he's just shy of two, but he's been eating about the same for the last few months so...

Breakfast
toast and peanut butter
or muesli and yoghurt
or porridge
or weetabix
or bagel and cream cheese
or sometimes scrambled eggs at the weekend if I have time!

plus usually some fruit

morning snack
usually a selection of the following:
apple slices
grapes
hovis biscuits with cheese
cream crackers with cream cheese
raisins

lunch
usually something sandwichy/bready like:
croque monsieur/madame and salad (the salad normally ends up on the floor)
cheese and mushroom omelette
beans on toast
cashewnut butter sandwich
pasta and pesto
pasta and mashed broccoli (probably his favourite food at the moment)

followed by fruit and/or yoghurt

afternoon snack
hotcross bun and butter
scotch pancakes
toast and jam
plus fruit

supper
whatever we ate the night before! But typically something like:
spaghetti bolognese
spinach and ricotta cannelloni
non-spicy chilli-con-carne
lamb stew and couscous
risotto

If I've been organised this is followed by something like fruit salad or apple crumble, if not DS gets yet more fruit.

Some days he will eat the whole lot - other days he will have 1/4 slice of toast, 3 pieces of apple, 5 pieces of pasta and half a hot cross bun and that's it.

Bearing in mind that some days she eats next to nothing and other days more than her 5yo brother, DD's menu (she is 17mths) is roughly:

B'fast: shreddies & milk, sometimes a banana

Lunch (packed @ nursery): hot meal - usually "extra" portions of family meals I have frozen - e.g. pasta and meat sauce (with loads of veg in) or fish and rice, cottage pie and peas, that sort of thing

Yoghurt and fruit (banana or grapes)

Snacks - also packed for nursery - 1 savoury (cocktail sausages, cheese sticks, etc) and 1 sweet (e.g. homemade muffin/waffle/drop scone/whatever else is in the freezer)

Supper: whatever we are having! More fish, occasionally roast meat or some leftover disk from it (risolles, pie, etc) plus veg

Pudding - usually another yoghurt. Occasionally "proper" pudding.

She has 1 (very occasionally) 2 bottles of milk and otherwise drinks loads of water.

HTH.

DD is 19 months

7am
Bottle of rice milk (she is allergic to cows milk).

8am - breakfast
Usually a banana with either 1.5 weetabix mixed with fruit, marmite on toast or Cheerios (currently she demands Cheerios everytime ).

10am - snack of raisens or rice cakes

12 noon - lunch
Usually left overs from our dinner the night before (she will eat any meat or fish based dish). If no leftovers then either pasta pesto with sweetcorn or ham sandwhich. For desert she loves grapes or blueberries.

3pm - bottle of rice milk and sometimes toast with Marmite.

5.30pm - dinner
Usually either baked salmon steak with new potatoes and broccoli; chicken and rice with veg; pasta and tuna bake or something similar. She eats a HUGE dinner. Sometimes as much as I would eat. We don't usually offer bussing beyong a satsuma or other fruit.

DS is 22 months but his diet hasn't changed much...

Breakfast
Porridge with honey & cinnamon
AND Toast and jam or marmite or ham
AND Oatibix or Cheerios
AND more toast when he arrives at nursery which he wolfs down, while attempting to steal other children's toast at the same time
He also enjoys a Full English when he gets the chance...

Morning snack
A biscuit, & piece of fruit

Second and third morning snack
Something he's found on the floor when I'm not looking (eg a biscuit he'd hidden under the sofa), or he'll steal from the larder when my back's turned. If we're visiting he'll shout 'ungry! ungry!' as we walk through the door, as if I never feed him...

Lunch
Something like mixed vegetables and baked salmon with butter, or whatever we had last night - eg. spag bol, chicken or lamb casserole, homemade chicken soup, risotto

Afternoon snack
Fruit or a yoghurt but he's not as interested in eating a snack in the afternoon

Dinner
I offer him a meal which he usually picks up piece by piece and drops on the floor, but occasionally will surprise me by eating it all up and shouting for more. It's usually mixed steamed vegetables with ham or chicken, or beans on toast, or scrambled eggs on toast.

He's very tall and skinny, so clearly needs all the food I can get into him!

7am 7oz milk

7.30am One weetabix; one piece of toast

10am Banana and usually biscuit/rice cakes too

12noon Huge packed lunch usually consisting of ham/chicken sandwich, portion of sweetcorn, cubes of cheese, fruit (usually grapes), organix crisps, piece of cake or biscuit

3pm Afternoon snack, usually apple, raisins or dried apricot

4.30pm Sausages or fishfingers and mash with peas / beans or cheese on toast.

5.30pm Piece of fruit cake / biscuit / more dried fruit

7pm 9oz milk

Not very varied, but hopefully quite balanced. He tries new things at nursery but reluctant at home.

thank you all so much - we are on the right track but as I suspected a little less and more rigid than your examples. Lately Breakfast is a pisser and I need more ideas - she is so fed up of weetabix and honey so I have been giving her breadsticks and hummous which can't really be all that good. maybe I will try an egg...

scrambled egg is a big hit with DD for weekend breakfast.

Also a hit is DH's weekday breakfast regime of letting her eat biscuits in the car on the way to nursery - fortunately only occasional as if I take her early she takes her breakfast with her!

we have breakfast in bed sometimes which is great fun - although messy! You have to choose the menu with care.

Croissants are good - flaky but can be swept up relatively easily.

Crush - I have resorted to making a milkshake with a banana and full fat milk when DD is in her full on little sod mode.

Or eating muesli with greek yogurt myself and refusing her permission to 'steal' any