Dietary Needs for 12 Month Old

I can't help you all that much on the first two. My son loves his whole milk; in fact, he sucks it out of the bottle faster than he ever did my breastmilk or formula and did from the day he turned one. He's 15 months, now, and we're still having some issues with the sippy cup transition. As for breakfast... he eats plain, non-low-fat yogurt with baby-food fruits mixed in almost every morning along with some oatmeal or flavored applesauce. He seems to get a diaper rash every time he has anything with cinnamon in it, so we stick to the strawberry or blueberry flavored ones. Have you tried rolling fruit pieces in crumbled up graham crackers? We've had issues with some fruits, but he'll eat them like that. It's a little messy, but he can easily pick up pieces of peach or kiwi that way. Hope this helps.

I just found an awesome site that I think will answer all of your question... www.wholesometoddlerfood.com
Here is a link to the part of the site that shows sample toddler meals for suring the work week (ie when in daycare). I know it will help- or at least get you thinking of some new ideas! Good luck- I have a 13 month old- and I am getting to that part too, of what the heck do I feed this boy??!! :)

R.,

I am a mother of 3 girls. I have a 17 year old, a 19 month old and an 8 month old. With the 17 year old, we used formula, as she was in the hospital and that prevented me from breastfeeding. She stayed on the bottle until she was 14 months old, but, as a single mom at the time, I had to have her in daycare so I could work and she had to be off the bottle by 18 months. My parents and I started her on a sippy cup at 13 months old, along with the bottle. By the time she was 18 months old, she was only using a sippy. My 19 month old started to throw the bottle away at 10 months of age. So, by the time she turned 12 months, which is when my ped said she should be on whole milk, that was an easy change. Milk and a sippy. At 8 months old, it was suggested that we start introducing the sippy cup, with water in it a few times a day. For the first week after her first b-day, we gave her a bottle first thing in the morning and right before bedtime. During the day she only drank from sippys. To this day, she uses her sippy and drinks whole milk with no problem. The 8 month old is just being introduced to the sippy so we shall see how easily she breaks of it.

The 19 month old, refused our food at first at 12 months of age. So, we used the Gerber Meals exclusively with her. They were a lifesaver, as I had a 2 month old at the time also. They warm in the microwave for 30 seconds and they are the perfect size for her. She did not finish them at first, but, now she does. She mostly eats adult food now, but, when we eat turkey or ham she has a Gerber Toddler meal. She has trouble with turkey, makes her sick and ham is too hard for her to chew. But, for the most part, she is on all adult food. We keep, my husband and I, Gerber meals in the house, so when we are crunched on time, we can warm one up and feed it to her and she loves them. I make my own applesauce and that is her favorite fruit. She has never had any trouble eating veggies, she seems to love those, no matter what they are or how they are made.

Eggs, waffles, raspberries, and fruit and veggie puffs are wonderful snacks. Best of luck! Every child will be different. You just have to try different things and find out what works best for you and your child.

I switched my son to whole milk right about at 12 months and he loved it. I just kept giving it to him in the sippy cup and over time he took to it more. He still prefers it out of the bottle, so if I want him to drink it quickly, I give it to him in a bottle. Otherwise, he drinks a little with his meal and then finishes it up while playing after that.

My son has the opposite problem- he will eat any fruit you give him, but fights a bit with some vegetables. I try to mix things together so that he eats them better. For instance, I'll put broccoli or peas in a quesadilla. For breakfast, he loves eggs too. I also give him oatmeal with fruit mixed in (either gerber pureed fruit, applesauce or actual fruit) or yogurt (he really likes the YoBaby fruit yogurt). Sometimes though, it ends up being just some cheerios or whole wheat bread with some fruit.

Hope that helps!

Have you checked out any of the recipes, feeding advice and more at www.weelicious.com?

I couldn't wait to switch to whole milk. (I used formula.) I switched right at 12 months. I also started working to get rid of the bottle at the same time. Always offer the milk in a sippy cup, give him some time to try it, and then after a while ( 10 minutes or so) offer the bottle.
As far as meals go, I always fed my boys finger foods or whatever we were having: rice, cut up soft veggies (bell pepper, sweet potatoes, cooked green beans, cooked carrots. My boys LOVED frozen corn and peas. I poured them right out of them bag onto their tray.
Good luck!

Greetings ~

1) we switched around 12-months, just fine.
2) try going to the take-n-toss cups with a straw. we skipped the sippy cup phase and moved straight to these with great success (and they are just about as spill proof).
3a) we tried to keep with 'adult' food (so as not to make meal-time too time consuming) just making sure the food was properly cooked and not seasoned and the right consistency.
3b) both my DC LOVED their breakfast shakes - 50/50 yogurt and milk and some dry cheerios in a cup to munch on. I keep eggs down to 3-days per week.

1) I switched both my kids to whole milk at 12 months.
2) Try straw cups - my son would only use those when he was that age.
3) I highly recommend using a crock pot! I plan my meals out a few weeks in advance and have at least one crock pot per week. I can prepare it the night before and fire it up before I leave for work.

My daugter has also gotten more finiky with fruit. However she eats it all in the form a fruit shake and drinks from a straw which she loves. For breakfast I make up a large batch of quaker oats and cook fresh and dried fruit into it. (rasins, dried appricots, fresh apples). The fruit makes it sweat and I refrigerate the left overs. It clumps so I give it to her as finger food in the following days. I also give her costco frozen bluberries whole her favorite food hands down. Another breakfast favorite are the Morning Star sausage links or patties (they are a healthier meatless option for protien) and I know many a meat eater who love them, its not just for vegitarians. I also made the switch to whole milk and I'm not remotly an organic granola type, but I'm doing organic because we don't know why our litte girls are hitting pubery so young so until its proven safe, I'm not using hormone induced cows milk. for great healty finger foods we do a lot of canned beans. Lentil stew with carrots and cottage cheese makes for a very healthy meal. Check out a great book called First Foods.