At 18 months old, your babies are trying to skip baby foods
and eat foods served on the table. Children will be more agile and start using
their independence, sometime at the table. Offering them with choices of main meals
and snacks that are good for their health will provide your children with
energy needed for their playing and discovering activities in a whole day. It’s
also important that you set up healthy eating which will affect babies till the
rest of their life.
Daily diets
Your 18-month-old
child should have 3 meals a day.
At the time, your 18-month-old child should have 3 meals a
day and 2-3 snacks, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Try to
feed your children on 4 basic food groups a day: meat, fish, butter and eggs;
milk, cheese and other dairy products; fruits and vegetables; cereal, potatoes,
rice and whole grain. Don’t worry if your children don’t eat everything they’re
supposed to eat in 1 day. According to AAP, children at this age become picky.
You just need to keep on providing them with healthy foods and they will learn
to consume a variety of nutrients eventually.
Snacks
Because children
are active and have small stomach, snacks provide nutrients and sooth their
hungers between main meals.
Because children are active and have small stomach, snacks
provide nutrients and sooth their hungers which happen between main meals. Some
children skip main meals, which makes nutritious snacks become very important.
It’s recommended that you provide your babies with foods like fresh fruits
should be chopped into small pieces; crispy wholegrain biscuits; thin slices of
cheese; serve them sugar-less cereals for breakfast. Remember to maintain small
portions. Half a glass of milk and a banana would make a tasty breakfast. Serve
children main meals and snacks on schedule to help children learn to process
their hungers. If children don’t have lunch, they will know snacks will be
served soon.
Drinks
At that time, children should have about 2 glasses of cow
milk a day. If children don’t like the taste of cow milk, you should blend it
with breast milk or formula milk and gradually increase the level of cow milk
till children are used to cow milk. Limit serving 100% juice to 4-6 ounce/day.
In the later time of the day, you should provide children with milk or water
which contains fewer calories but many more vitamins.
Tricks at the table
An 18-month-old child often pushes her dish away and refuses
to eat. At the age, children try to control their environments and the dinner
table is not an exception. It’s recommended that you provide your children with
healthy foods and let children decide foods and the amount to eat. Introduce
them new foods among their love foods. Offer them the foods, do not ask them to
or tell them off. Serve children with foods that children can eat by
themselves. Children would love controlling the foods they eat.
Foods to avoid
Don’t make sweets
a part of children’s diets.
Confectioneries and snacks shouldn’t be in children’s diets.
Avoid process foods, fatty and sugary package. You should keep your children
away from soda, juice and energy drinks. Don’t forbid children from eating
cake, but don’t make sweets and confectioneries a part of children’s diets.
Those foods don’t provide nutrients; they only provide empty calories that
prevent good calories which support children’s healthy growth.
