Appropriate Serving Sizes for Toddlers

Appropriate Serving Sizes for Toddlers

October 21st, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Toddlers are obviously much smaller than grown-ups, and it stands to reason that they will therefore require smaller servings of foods than an adult would. Many parents, however, serve toddlers much larger portions of foods than they should really be eating. This doesn’t matter all that much if they are having a double portion of vegetables, but when it comes to portion sizes of some other foods, it can lead to serious problems.

Serving Sizes and Labels

The nutrition label of most food products states what a serving size should be for that particular food, but beware! The serving size usually stated on the package refers to a 2000 calorie per day diet, and most toddlers need about half of that. In fact, on average a toddler’s serving of any food should be about ¼ of what a standard adult serving should be. Don’t go by the label; instead learn how to properly measure the appropriate amount of food for your toddler.

The Right Serving Size for Toddlers

For each food group, you can learn to recognize what a serving size looks like by taking the time to measure out your toddler’s food for a while. Eventually, you won’t need to measure as you will easily be able to recognize what constitutes an appropriate amount. Here are some easy measurements you can perform to start serving proper portions.

For dairy foods, your toddler needs the equivalent of about 16-20 ounces of milk in a day. Not all of the dairy servings need to come from milk, but if your toddler is fond of milk you might find that no other dairy is really needed. If your toddler doesn’t like milk, you can replace a serving of milk with a serving of cheese or yogurt. The average serving size for either milk or yogurt is about ½ cup, or 4 ounces. ¾ of an ounce of cheese will also make up the equivalent of one serving of dairy.

Proteins such as meat or beans aren’t needed in large quantities. A serving of meat for a toddler is about 1 ounce. Other protein sources that make up a serving include ½ an egg, a few tablespoons of beans or a tablespoon of peanut butter. Your toddler only needs two servings a day, so keep a close eye on how much protein you are serving.

For grains, you can measure out ¼ cup of cooked cereal such as oatmeal, or ¼ cup of rice or pasta. ½ of a slice of bread or the same amount of a tortilla make up another serving of grains.

Fruits and vegetables can be the hardest to get into your toddler, but it’s a bit easier when you realize how small the serving size actually is. A serving of fruit juice can make up one of your child’s fruit servings for the day, but should be no more than 6 ounces. For the rest of your child’s servings, about ¼ cup of cooked or fresh fruits and vegetables provides a serving. This is equivalent to about half of a banana or other whole fruit.

For foods like candy, baked goods and other snacks, there is no real serving size as they are not part of your child’s balanced diet. Add these treats with caution and bear in mind that a small amount is as much as your child needs. A toddler doesn’t need a whole cookie, and will likely be happy to get anything at all!

Providing Enough Nutrition for your Toddler

Providing Enough Nutrition for your Toddler

October 12th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

When your toddler graduates from breast milk or formula to cow’s milk, she is no longer getting all the nutrition she needs in liquid form. Cow’s milk can’t replace all of the nutrients that were being provided by the breast milk or formula, so you will need to make certain that your toddler gets everything she needs from her food.

The key to good nutrition for your toddler is to make sure she eats a balanced toddler diet that offers a variety of foods. Different foods provide different nutrients, so the more variety in her diet, the better and more complete her nutrition will be.

Expanding Food Horizons

In the early stages of toddlerhood, before your little one decides to start getting picky about food, you should start offering as many different foods as you can, to introduce many new flavors. Spend some time in the produce department or at a local farmer’s market. Ask questions about fruits and vegetables you don’t recognize. They might turn out to be something you toddler loves, and could replace the nutrition missing from foods she refuses to eat.

Your toddler won’t eat everything you put in front of her, but the more different foods you offer, the more likely she will be to find something she likes. Every child, and even every adult, has some foods they simply don’t like and never will. Rather than forcing your child to eat something she really dislikes, try to find other foods that offer similar nutritional value to make up the difference.

Feed a Balanced Toddler Diet

The best way to make sure your toddler is getting all the nutrients she needs in her diet is to serve the right number of servings from each of the food groups. Aim for 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables, 2 servings of protein, 4 servings of dairy, and 3-4 servings of grains every day.

Spread all of these servings out over 3 meals and 2 snacks during the day, so that your toddler is only faced with a few foods at a time. The snacks are especially important as snack time is often when less than nutritious foods tend to hit the table. Make sure that every meal and every snack offers servings of nutritious foods, and skip empty calories that might fill your toddler up and cause him to skip out on healthier foods.

Using Supplements

If your toddler is getting the right number of servings from each food group every day, and eating a variety of different foods on a regular basis, it’s likely he is getting the right nutrition. Still, many pediatricians recommend a multivitamin supplement that can help to fill in any nutritional gaps in your child’s diet. Supplements are meant only to back up the foods your toddler eats, and shouldn’t be relied upon to provide all or most of the needed nutrients. Don’t skip servings of vegetables on the belief that the supplement will make up the difference.

Because toddlers are notoriously picky eaters, supplements are generally a good idea for those times when you just can’t get him to eat right. Think of them as a backup line of defense to keep your toddler healthy – but only a backup. No matter how difficult it might be, you should keep trying to get all the needed foods into your toddler’s diet every day.

How to Quickly, Easily, and Safely Make Your Own Baby Food

How to Quickly, Easily, and Safely Make Your Own Baby Food

February 22nd, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Making your own baby food is an easy way to save money, to introduce your child to the same foods your family eats and to control what items you’re feeding your child. Making your own baby food is simple – you’ll need something to process the food such as a hand mill, blender or food processor. You’ll want storage containers such as ice cube trays as you can freeze baby food to keep it fresh much longer than storing it in the refrigerator.

Selecting Food Items

The majority of baby foods made at home include fruits and vegetables. To get the safest produce, you might opt to buy organic as these items will be free of pesticides and other toxins used in growing commercials plants. But you have the option to use fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables. Use fresh fruits and vegetables very soon and freeze the extra portions to ensure they are stored safely. Avoid vegetables high in nitrates such as carrots, beets, green beans and squash. You might use the organic varieties of these or buy them frozen as nitrates are less likely to appear in the frozen varieties.

Prepare the Raw Ingredients

To prepare the vegetables and some fruits, such as apples for the food processor, you’ll need to cook them. You can cook them until soft by steaming, baking or boiling. If you elect to boil the vegetables, use as little water as possible and pour as much as possible back into the blender with the rest of the food item. Remove peels, pits and seeds from applicable food items.

Preparing Fruits and Vegetables

To prepare the baby food, place the soft fruits and vegetables into a food processor, blender, or food mill. Add a bit of liquid – water, formula or breastmilk and puree until the mixture is smooth and soupy. If the food has small seeds, be sure to strain it before serving. Most preparations produce more than a single serving of food, so place the extra into ice cube trays, freeze and then store in freezer bags. You can simply thaw the item to have freshly prepared baby food at any time.

Preparing Grains

You can puree grains as well. Rice and millet can be cooked according to package instructions and then ground in a food mill or blender until smooth.

Preparing Meats

To make meat dishes for baby, you must first remove the skin and as much fat as possible from the piece of meat. Cook the meat and then place it into the hand mill or food processor. Add a bit of water and puree or grind it up. Older babies can handle the meat if it is cut up into very small pieces.

Storing Baby Food

As mentioned, you can freeze the extra portions of baby food and store them in the freezer. Ice cube trays make a nice serving size and are easy to use. Keeping the frozen food cubes in plastic bags allows you to label each with the date. You can keep fruits and vegetables for up to eight months if solidly frozen and meats and grains store up to two months.