Opinions on my 18 month old's diet?

[creamorwhite]

My DD is a bit of a fussy eater and enjoys a lot of carbs and refuses a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables. I've had mixed opinions from people in RL and would love MN to say what they think/ how it compares to their own children around a similar age.

A typical day:

7am small bowl of muesli with cows milk (usually the organix toddler muesli)

9am whole grain porridge made with cows milk with fresh raspberries on top

11am bottle of milk before nap

1.30pm lunch - it's usually cheese on toast with a corn on the cob. Or Philadelphia with oatcakes and a corn on the cob followed by a natural yoghurt.

3pm snack - melty sticks and a fruit pouch

5pm dinner - jacket potato with cheese and spinach. A small amount of poached salmon. An oaty bar snack thing and usually another fruit pouch.

6.30pm weetabix and a bottle of milk.

You know it's carby.

Things that I'm sure you've tried but sometimes work. Growing food. My DD will eat anything from the garden/window box. Just always having fruit/veg with every meal regardless and without commenting. Invite (not at the moment) a good-veg eating friend to visit. Modeling veg eating.

The food is not bad- id up the fresh fruit- but I don’t get the two breakfasts and another bowl of cereal an hour and half after dinner- why?!
We roughly did
7am breakfast
10am snack
11.30/12 lunch
3pm snack
5pm dinner

2/3 bottles of whole milk a day.

It looks fine but my first thought was 'wow, that's a lot of cereal - three breakfasts in one day!'. I suppose there's also quite a lot of milk (drink plus on the cereal). Maybe if they're not so hungry at meal times?

The first bowl of muesli is very small and then she seems properly hungry mid morning. I really want to increase the fresh fruit and vegetable intake but she refuses most things. She used to be better than she is now.

That's a good point she's probably filling up all morning then not wanting a proper lunch.

I have an 18 month old and it seems a lot more than mine eats! That’s 5 meals plus 2 snacks.
Mine has a weetabix with milk for breakfast with a handful of berries, or banana and Greek yoghurt. Sometimes half a slice of toast with some peanut butter and a banana.
Mid morning snack of an apple or some crackers.
Lunch is something like half a cheese sandwich with some chopped carrot and cucumber, or a little ‘platter’ or ham, cucumber, crackers etc. Maybe a yoghurt after if he didn’t have it for breakfast.
Mid afternoon snack of some rice cakes.
Dinner is whatever the two older DC have, so standard stuff like meatballs and pasta, sausage and mash, curry and rice.

He has a cup of milk when he wakes up and one before bed.

What yours eats sounds fine, just lots of it! Could he have actual whole fruit rather than fruit pouches?

My 16 month old has;

Snack- fruit or a bit of my breakfast to keep her going till breakfast at nursery

Breakfast- cereal and toast

Lunch- nursery do something substantial like stew, curry or a chicken roast. At home it’s something lighter

Snack- sandwich, wrap etc

Tea- whatever we are having. If she’s at nursery she won’t eat much, she’ll eat more if it’s a home day.

To me that seems like you are feeding her a lot of small meals rather than bigger meals when she’d be hungrier and more likely to eat her veg? But whatever works for you. I’d cut out the fruit pouches and just offer proper fruit. They are that sweet regular fruit probably seems rubbish in comparison

The actual stuff sounds good to me.

But it sounds a bit like she's eating all day!
What do you mean by a bottle of milk? After 12 months my boy was just having a cup of whatever drink with his meals??

My son is a month older and eats nowhere near that amount. He has milk when he wakes then a huge bowel of porridge and fruit then some toast and peanut butter. He's always liked a big breakfast. He then grazes in the day and eats an OK dinner but sometimes be doesn't fancy it. And we do another bottle of milk before bed.
I'm not saying what we do is right. But it sounds like a lot of food to me. Is your son big?

We still do bottles of milk BTW. I'm fine with it, I know it should be in a cup but it's OK for the minute

What do you mean by a bottle of milk? my LO was a huge bottle of milk fan- never a dummy, never sucked her thumb etc but loved a bottle of milk before a bed and nap time. Never bothered me- all her meal drinks were in a proper cup from the age of 1.

All the individual elements sound fine but I agree that 3 breakfasts is over the top and her filling up on carbs won't encourage her to try other things. I would swap the muesli for the porridge and then just offer fresh fruit plus the milk til lunchtime - if the fruit isn't eaten it doesn't matter that much and she'll be ready for lunch and hopefully eat more then. Likewise I would lose the weetabix and offer veg sticks and a yoghurt or a slice of toast or similar before bed. And also put more fruit/veg on her plate with all the meals (as well as things you know she will eat) and don't worry or comment if it doesn't get eaten.

She's not big no she's 25th percentile for height and weight. She doesn't polish off everything I have listed there she does pick at it. It's more that those are the foods she will actually eat, she refuses many other things I have tried!

@Myunhappyfeet thanks that seems like a good idea I'll cut back on the carby stuff in the morning. I am always a bit worried about her being hungry so tend to offer her stuff all the time.

Hunger isn’t something to be feared, it’s a normal feeling. It doesn’t do her any good for future healthy weight and relationship with food to never be hungry!

Breakfast, snack of fruit, lunch, milk, dinner and milk before bed is fine. She won’t waste away!

Sounds perfectly fine to me. Why 3 breakfast though? Sounds quite cereal heavy.

Wonder if 9am has more fruit rather than more cereal type thing?

Wish my son would eat salmon! 😊

Sorry I meant why 2 breakfasts

The 3 bowls of cereal seem a bit excessive to be honest. Could you offer some fresh fruit first thing? DS doesnt rend to eat fruit with a meal (except banana), but will happily have an apple etc for a snack. I would cut the fruit pouches as they are recommended to have a multivit anyway and they are basically sugar- but persevere with actual fruit as a snack. As has been said, hunger isn't something to be feared, as long as they are having a balanced diet, 3 meals and healthy snacks then they won't waste away.

Someone once said to me keep offering the foods your baby doesn’t seemingly like, don’t remove them from the diet. I think it’s a really good tip

Yeah I would increase the size of the museli at 7am and cut the 9am down to just fresh fruit (which you may need to do gredually) or fruit and an oat bar or something.
Don't beat yourself up though, my son is 23 months and won't eat anything but jam toast at the moment and has it at home (2 slices) then at nursery. Also insists on a bottle when he gets up and when he goes to bed. I just go with it because I can't be arsed to compare to other people!!

DS is a similar age and has something like...
Breakfast:
Toast Fingers with Scrambled Egg for Breakfast
Snack:
Sliced Grapes, Strawberries, Raisins, Apple
Lunch:
Steamfresh Veg, Chicken Strips, Mini Potato Waffle.
Snack: Yoghurt
Tea: Spaghetti Bolegnese

If meals run early due to early get up he sometimes has toast fingers or weetabix for 'supper'

I was terrible for offering DD food in fear of her being hungry and not being able to tell me. Or trying to increase her fruit intake by overwhelming her with choices. Slowly I started adding some fruit and sticking to the one for a week or so. She now eats various fruits.

My DD was never hungry when she woke so I would offer her a banana. She would eat half at say 7.am then have breakfast at 9am. Normally scrambled eggs on toast. It's tough OP but you'll get there. DD now 3 and I can't really think of something she won't eat, or at least try.

I'd have been thrilled if my 18 mth old DS would have eaten that

Like others have said, I wouldn't worry about her being hungry - I've found that ds is willing to embrace a much wider range of food if genuinely hungry. Upping activity levels may help too - is she walking well yet? You may find her getting naturally more active as she gets more mobile will help with appetite too.

Hi Op,

I just wanted to say that it's important to keep offering the fruit and veg - even if she doesn't try it. Just low pressure offers, you can just say "here you go" and even when they play with it, or touch it or throw it on the floor it's still exposure to the food.

My daughter is 17months old, and it took me 5 months of offering strawberries consistently until she ate one!

I follow snackswithjax on Instagram and she's really helped me to change my mindset around offering food to my little ones.

She says that it's our job to offer a healthy balanced diet/ when we offer meals and it's their job to decide what / how much they eat.