What does your toddler eat in a typical day?

[Kintan]

Can you give me an idea of what/how much your toddler eats in a day please? My 14mo will have a yoghurt and some bread at breakfast; some breadsticks/an oat bar as a snack; lunch will be something like soup and toast; then another snack in the afternoon; and dinner at around 7 usually just a bit of what we are having, like shepherds pie, or a pasta dish with vegetables. He is still having breastmilk when he wakes up and at night. Do you think that sounds enough?

Sounds fine to me! Mine are 4 and 2 so a bit older but sounds about right for the age.

It depends on how much milk he's getting to an extent but every child is different. These websites are quite handy for portion sizes, I always worry my daughter's not having enough:
www.infantandtoddlerforum.org/portion-sizes-table-2015
www.healthychildren.org/English/healthy-living/nutrition/Pages/Portions-and-Serving-Sizes.aspx

Mine is 16 months. A typical day might be one Weetabix and a yoghurt for breakfast, raisin box for snack, peanut butter on toast and an orange for lunch, malt loaf for a snack and then two fish fingers, couple of tablespoons of mash and a couple of cucumber sticks for dinner.

Sounds fine, depending on portion size. Is he eating fruit? Are you worried about his weight?

Sounds fine to me.

Just like adults though they all have different appetites.

My nearly 14 month old has:

Bowl of cornflakes or a yoghurt at breakfast, followed by a small banana and quarter of a slice of toast.

A bottle of cows milk before a nap

A rich tea biscuit as a mid morning snack after a nap

A sandwich and some fruit for lunch

Some raisins or rice crackers for a mid afternoon snack after a nap

A baked potato/ beans/ pasta/ leftovers etc for supper followed by a yoghurt

A bottle of milk before bed.

Thanks everyone. His weight is fine, it’s just that some days he hardly seems to eat anything so I feel like I’m failing him! But on other days he eats loads. He goes to nursery for 3 days per week and eats well - even has seconds there sometimes! But some days when we are at home he would happily just have breast milk all day even though he goes without it all day at nursery and on those days he’s just happy having it when he wakes up and at night. It’s really helpful to read what other people are giving their DCs so thank you again, and @unihorn those websites are very useful, thanks for sharing :)

I think it’s perfectly normal for toddlers to have periods when you think they’re hardly eating anything! As long as he’s healthy and has access to good nutritious food and snacks I’d try and relax and trust he knows his own appetite. Sounds like he’s eating well and a good variety and breastmilk will still be doing him lots of good as well. Just keep offering a variety of tastes even if he doesn’t eat them at first. My 30 month old has just recently started to eat lots of things she wouldn’t previously touch. But it sound like you’re doing great.

I wonder if you could maybe up the fruit and veg a bit? I think they're meant to have five portions, like us.

DD, 21 months (though diet hasn't changed much since she was your DS's age) will have:

Brekkie: Weetabix and a pear

Morning snack; Banana

Lunch: something like beans on toast or scrambled egg, or an omelette with peppers, tomatoes etc and toast

Afternoon snack: Oatcakes and chopped up red pepper or something. Sometimes spready cheese on the oatcake if she's been very active.

Dinner: Something like fish pie, often with broccoli or something. Raspberries for dessert, or an apple. Sometimes I'll give her a yoghurt after dinner, depending on how much other dairy she's eaten in the day.

She has a small bottle morning and bed time, which is just a comfort thing. And I do confess to sharing a nice bun/cake with her sometimes if we're out and about and go to a cafe (I know that some people here view this as a terrible sin!)

16 month old DS- typical day would be;

Breakfast- 1 wheatbix, 1 slice of buttered toast or a crumpet

Snack- biscuit or a slice of toast

Lunch- one ham cob, small handful of pea crisps, a mini malt loaf, tomatoes, cucumber sticks, strawberries and blueberries

Snack- a banana and 2 satsumasa

Dinner- portion of spag bol to fill a toddler bowl. Yogurt and a oatbar afterwards.

He eats a lot! Some days it’s less than others but he does like his food. Apart from vegetables which he won’t touch so have to be disguised!

He also has 5oz of toddler formula milk before bed.

I also think it's normal for their appetites to fluctuate a bit from day to day. If they eat more one day, they tend to eat less the following day, as if to balance it out. As long as he's eating a healthy balanced diet, and is tracking his expected centile, I wouldn't worry.

This is all super helpful. Thanks everyone :) I think you are right rainatnight we should definitely be upping the fruit and veg.

Breakfast weetabix, milk, small banana
Snack apple
Lunch brown bread sandwich cheese/marmite/peanut butter, raisins, satsuma
Snack rice cake/kiwi
Dinner what we are having
Pudding pineapple/yoghurt.

My 14 month old typically has:
Breakfast: porridge with chopped up apple and cinnamon mixed in, or weetabix and fruit
Lunch: usually leftovers, yesterday was fish pie and veg. He will have peanut butter sandwiches but he's not hugely keen on anything with bread. Followed by a yoghurt.
Dinner: yesterday was lasagna, followed by pudding such as rice pudding.
Snacks are usually: fruit, breadsticks, rice cakes, cheese.

That sounds like a lot but he is more of a grazer, so he doesn't eat a huge amount at lunch or dinner time. He's weaned onto cow's milk and has around 12oz a day of that.

As soon as he wakes I heat him a 70g pouch of porridge, an hour later he always has
1 egg, 1 streaky bacon chopped for breakfast. Sometimes i grate zucchini and carrot into the egg and make an omelette.
With that he has fruit in summer he likes pear banana or any melon and half a piece of grilled strawberry and banana toast with mixed spice, or grated cheese toast. and orange juice or sugar free Iced tea he also likes blueberry juice.

I am a believer in encouraging big brekfast.
70g yogurt for morning tea with a wheat biscuit or a few m&ms and some crisps
Lunch: tuna and cheese toasties or ham, sometimes beef and veg patties with 2 tablespoons of fried edememe beans, baked beans or sticky rice.
or A sausage with potato gems followed by a banana smoothie
he doesnt like salads but I sometimes include beetroot and cucumber.
Naan bread pizzas also a hit sometimes.

Dinner is various, he just doesnt like many vegetables or meats especially chicken.
He loves meat patties which helps to hide veg and he does try sweet potato chips but never a hit.

Mine is 19 months and normally has…

For breakfast

• porridge with chia seeds, honey and I normally add some Apple compote or add in a few raspberries

Snack: normally a yogurt pouch and some organix sticks

Lunch:
Some kind of pasta (he loves pasta) or something ricey and some broccoli on the side

Dinner: some kind of pasta variation, cod risotto or creamy mash potato with salmon

He’s being quite picky at the moment and is having more pasta than I’d like… but I just always try to change it up so sometimes a fresh tomato sauce, sometimes cheesy broccoli pasta with petit pois… hoping he’ll come out of this phase soon. He eat a piece of bread but is never interested in a sandwich… refuses fish fingers when he used to love them ahhh

Oh he breastfeeds 100 times at night but that’s a whole other thing

Sounds just like my 16 m/o who also had a lot of breastmilk still… some days he’ll eat fairly well but most days he has pretty small amounts, eg:

B/fast : half a weetabix with some banana
Morning snack : a few berries or grapes or some apple, maybe a 1/4 slice bread and butter
Lunch: a bit of crumpet or toast with houmous, maybe a hard boiled egg and some tomato and cucumber
Aft snack: fruit or a biscuit
Dinner: whatever we’re having (spaghetti Bol, chilli, chicken fajitas, salmon with rice, pasta etc) but sometimes he might only eat a few mouthfuls

He eats better at nursery but he’s generally just not that into his food. He eats minuscule amounts compared with what I read other babies his age do. I do worry about it, but I figure I can’t force him to eat more than he wants to, and as long as he’s healthy, it’s fine.