Feeding toddlers can be a tricky business as they’re often fussy eaters. Authors Debbie Wareham and Kim Jurgens offer some creative eating ideas in their book Mealtimes Made Fun, which is published by Struik Lifestyle.
Durban - Many moms complain that their children stop eating or eat less when they reach the age of one and a bit. Other children do the exact opposite and start enjoying solids more around the same age. This is quite normal as every child is different.
Some moms find it helpful to continue offering a variety of healthy foods and no sweet treats unless it’s a special occasion. If toddlers insist that they are not hungry, and they haven’t been eating chips, sweets and biscuits, you have to believe them.
Another thing toddlers are famous for is eating a favourite food for days on end, or only one type of food, and then just refusing to eat it again for months.
Providing a variety of foods at different intervals during the day, rather than at each meal, may help.
A mom who breastfeeds her toddler need not worry that the breast milk is filling up the child and thus putting him off food. These times (when your baby or toddler eats less) are when milk provides excellent extra nutritional insurance.
Toddler treats
Dried fruit
Dried fruit with no additional sugar added is a convenient snack and great substitute when you are running low on fresh fruit.
Fresh fruit is better, but dried fruit can be quite handy. With younger babies ( those just starting on solids), use the more leathery dried fruits so that they don’t bite off chunks they could choke on. Or use very soft dried fruits that will mush when gummed.
Dried fruit is a great alternative in winter when the fresh fruit supply is limited. You can also increase your baby’s vegetable intake during this time.
Some tasty dried fruit options are: apple rings, pears, mango and banana rounds.
Raisins, sultanas and dates, pineapple squares and diced dried strawberries are fine as well, but these can get stuck in your baby’s teeth and may cause decay.
Starch
Try to include at least one or two starch portions a day.
These may include thick wedges of baked potato, chunks of baked sweet potato and rice. Babies love picking up the grains and especially enjoy the taste and texture of wholegrain rice and brown rice.
Couscous is great for older babies and toddlers who enjoy the change, as well as the challenge of trying to get the couscous onto the spoon.
Pasta
Babies usually enjoy big pieces of penne because they can pick them up easily and the pasta is soft enough to bite pieces off. Mini pasta shells and novelty pasta shapes are always a fun option. Ravioli is also easy to pick up, can be gummed easily and can be filled with any number of delicious soft foods such as chicken, mince, spinach or butternut.
Meat
If a baby is being spoon-fed, it is generally recommended that meat be offered within a month of the baby first eating fruit and vegetables.
When offering meat on the bone, there should be mostly bone and just a bit of meat. Leave more meat on the bone as the baby gets older and more skilled. Remove sharp or loose bits of bone or cartilage that could be a choking hazard.
Consider offering ribs, lamb chops and thick strips of steak that a baby can hold easily or thin slivers that can be picked up using the pincer grip. Don’t serve cubed meat, as this poses a choking risk.
Remember to debone chunks of fish such as hake, slivers of salmon, tuna and sardines.
Also introduce chicken livers fried in a bit of butter with garlic – serve them whole and allow the baby to pick them up.
Beef, chicken or ostrich mince are other options.
Avoid calamari as it can be quite tough and stringy. Beware of sausages; serve soft pork sausages by splitting them lengthways so that the baby can hold them. Boerewors should be reserved for older children as it can have hard chunks, which pose a choking risk.
Salt
Although it is fine to give babies food that has been cooked in salt, or that has had salt added to it, avoid foods with high salt content such as biltong, which has been dried using very high amounts of salts. So-called “baby biltong” may also be high in salt. Excessive salt intake can damage the kidneys. You may give your baby a bit of dry wors or soft wet biltong. Everything can be eaten in moderation.
Dairy
As long as babies are not allergic, they can be fed dairy products when they start eating solids.
Offer small blocks or strips of cheese such as gouda, cheddar and feta.
Some children enjoy stronger flavoured cheeses too, so if your baby seems eager to try them allow him to do so.
Yoghurt (you can try spoon-feeding this but most babies are convinced that it is a finger food). Offer full-cream yoghurt until your child is at least two years old.
Snack options
When planning an outing it is helpful to have a few snack options on hand for when the hunger pangs strike.
Popular snacks that are portable and fit into most containers are:
Rice cakes ( plain and whole-wheat)
Pretzels (plain or sesame- covered, preferably not the salted variety)
Rice cakes with a yoghurt topping (these are more of a treat than an everyday snack)
Digestive biscuits
Other at-home favourites
A slice of bread with peanut butter or marmite or plain cottage cheese, cut into triangles. Toddlers often enjoy these when they are cut into shapes using a cookie cutter. Toast cut-out soldiers with peanut butter or marmite or plain cottage cheese
A whole or halved hard-boiled egg is delicious. Toddlers can be given a softer egg into which they can dip their toast soldiers. Egg is an allergen and, if there is a history of egg allergy in a family, it is best to proceed with caution. Well-cooked scrambled egg is another option (the pieces can be picked up). You can also make French toast.
Mix any flavour of yoghurt and a bit of full-cream cow’s milk together. Serve in a spouted cup.
Here are a few simple recipe ideas that are big on presentation:
Shark sub
Serves 1
½ x 170g can shredded tuna in water, drained
15ml (1Tbsp) mayonnaise or smooth plain cottage cheese (retain a spoonful to stick on the eyes and fins of the shark)
2 cherry tomatoes, washed and diced ¼ small onion, peeled and grated
1 hot dog roll, buttered if preferred
2 raisins
4 slices Gouda cheese, sliced into triangles.
Mix the tuna, mayonnaise or cottage cheese, tomatoes and onion together. Fill the roll with the tuna mixture and place in the middle of a plate.
Dip the raisins in a drop of mayonnaise or cottage cheese and place on top of one end of the roll as eyes.
Dip the longer end of each cheese triangle into the mayonnaise or cottage cheese and place in position as shown.
Jelly boats
Serves 8
2 oranges, halved
1 x 80g packet instant raspberry jelly
1 x 80g packet instant lime jelly
1 sheet coloured paper, cut into triangles to resemble flags
8 toothpicks (snip off the sharp points)
Using a spoon, carefully scoop out the orange flesh without breaking the peel.
Make the jelly according to the packet instructions, pour raspberry jelly into two orange-skin halves and pour the lime jelly into the remaining orange-skin halves. Place the orange halves on a baking tray and refrigerate until set.
Glue a paper triangle on each toothpick to make a sail.
Remove the oranges from the fridge and cut them in half again (forming quarters). Insert a ‘sail’ into the jelly of each orange quarter to make a small sail-boat.
Vegetable stir-fry with egg noodles
Makes 4 baby portions
250g uncooked egg noodles
15ml (1Tbsp) salted butter
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1 small piece ginger (same size as clove of garlic)
¼ baby red cabbage, finely chopped
¼ red pepper, seeded and finely chopped
½ carrot, peeled and grated
1 slice fresh pineapple, diced
3 spring onions, chopped
8 mangetout, chopped
Salt
15ml (1Tbsp) sweet-and-sour sauce
Cook the egg noodles according to the packet instructions, strain and set aside.
Crush the garlic and ginger together in a pestle and mortar to form a fine paste. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat and add the garlic-ginger paste, cabbage, red pepper, carrot and pineapple and cook until soft.
Add the spring onions and mangetout, season to taste and cook until soft.
Add the sweet-and-sour sauce and cook until the flavours have infused. Mix together the strained noodles and vegetable stir-fry and serve.
The Mercury