Immune boosting meal ideas 19 month old

[Catlady12335678]

Hello!

My 19 month old started nursery 6 months ago and I kid you not, has been poorly ever since! He has one good week before picking up another illness for 2 weeks and then the cycle starts again. I think he looks quite pale generally, has darker circles under eyes. He’s quite a fussy eater now (wasn’t initially) and I’m still breastfeeding occasionally at night.

Im feeling a bit overwhelmed right now with the constant illnesses (it’s taking a toll on my work, nerves as I’m quite anxious). Could anyone recommend any healthy recipes to try for toddler please? I need a weekly plan I can sort of rotate!

usually he’ll have banana porridge (I try and add mighty kids vitamin c or their multivitamin in) for breakfast or weetabix and banana.

lunch is usually pasta, or egg on toast with avocado etc.

Dinner is either pasta, (he likes pasta!) or we use those ‘little dishes’ meals with extra veg like brocolli and cauliflower as he likes those too.

hes not a big fruit lover but will have blueberries. He also likes his biscuits and Pom bears as snacks. Won’t eat things like cucumber or watermelon, peppers etc and not a great meat lover unless it’s more mashed or blended.

Any advice on all fronts most welcome! Thanks xx

Unfortunately, you can’t feed them out of the impact of nursery on their immune systems. It’s just something they have to go through. Better now than at school age. Best thing you can do though is to keep yourself from getting ill. I take high doses of vitamin C and zinc ans soon as anyone in the house gets a little sniffle, and I take vitamin D anyway every day. Get as much sleep as possible (even if it means no housework or socialising) and avoid alcohol.

Get LOn all the recommended vaccines. Give them the NHS recommended vitamins and minerals. Hey whatever vaccines YOU are eligible for. That's all you can do, unfortunately. If there was anything else that worked, the NHS would recommend it already.

Being sick all the time when starting nursery is normal and it will pass.

theconversation.com/if-you-think-your-toddlers-often-ill-youre-right-what-going-to-nursery-means-for-catching-colds-and-building-immunity-275587

You can do a lot to benefit his immune system with food. It sounds like he is lacking in iron.
Cut out the processed food - cut the pom bears and biscuits, they will be filling him up with no nutrition. Replace with snacks that at least have some nutritional value, like oat cakes, hummus, breadsticks.
Is the banana porridge homemade or the premade one? If premade, get organic oats instead and make your own with mashed banana. I make a mix of blitzed up nuts and seeds as they have so much nutrition and sprinkle on porridge and yoghurt. Include chia seeds and sesame seeds as they're high in iron.
Give fermented food like kefir yoghurt to improve gut health.
Batch up a ragu with beef mince, tinned lentils and a load of veg, blitz if you prefer and serve with pasta. Give wholemeal pasta or the pasta made from lentil flour.
Homemade pesto with spinach, pesto, nuts etc. Mine also loves pasta but I make sure whatever is with it is full of nutrients.
wakeup muffins - Boob to Food my toddler loves these
Keep cows milk as a drink to a minimum, if he drinks that, as it fills them up and too much calcium inhibits iron absorption.

Agree that you can’t feed them out of childhood illness and getting all of you vaccinated for everything offered is also good advice.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, could you do some gentle night weaning?

Alao agree that it sounds as though he might be suffering with low iron.

Id try and ditch the biscuits and the ready made meals and look for some things with iron.

So for instance you could offer a fortified cereal, like Ready Break for breakfast or almond butter on toast with some diluted fruit juice?

Does he also have the https://www.nhs.uk/baby/weaning-and-feeding/vitamins-for-children/ recommended vitamims[] everyday?