s/o Minimal Daily Diet for Toddlers

emmyloustu

I was reading about toddler eating "Super Baby Food" this morning and she has a section on picky toddlers. She quotes Dr. Brazelton when she says toddlers don't need that much food to remain healthy. In "Touchpoints", Brazelton defines a daily minimal intake for toddlers 1-3yrs as:

one pint of milk or its equivalent in cheese or yogurt. 

2oz iron containing protein or cereal fortified with iron

1oz juice or fresh fruit

a multivitamin 

That's it! Way, way less than the list posted yesterday! I thought it might make the mamas of the little birds out there feel much better about what they need eat to get by. I feel like even the pickiest eaters are likely to eat at least that on a daily basis, no?

I know this probably isn't ideal on a long term basis, but if it's all you can get into them, at least you know you have your bases covered!

SeaSoul

Wow!  Good to know!

brideinOC

That's not much!  Claire's kind of diet!

charmcitygirl

Jacob comes and goes with his eating, so I try not to stress too much about it.  But there are a few things that I can hang my hat on:

He takes a multivitamin.  I know its not everything, but its something.

He drinks a ton of milk.  He loves milk.  It has a lot of good vitamins that he needs and good calories to keep his belly full.

He eats fruit, veggies and cheese most days.  Not all days.

 

RoxBride

At our 2 year old appointment our pedi sent home a long sheet on how parents need to chill out about food.

Toddlers will eat, then won't eat, will eat everything then only one thing...etc.

Fussing over every morsel in their diet, according to me pedi, sets them up for control issues over food, and the potential for eating disorders later in life.

Their general advice was offer healthy choices, a daily treat, and let it go.

epphd

 

Sam is a slllooooowwww eater and while he eats a variety of foods, he doesn't eat much generally. He's skinny (70th percentile for height and 17th for weight) but he has ALWAYS been that way.  I figure he must be doing fine.

One thing that I did realize after his last pedi appt is that there is no way he gets enough iron.  He doesn't eat a ton of meat and I don't give him infant/toddler grains. He eats regular oatmeal and breads. he eats lots of legumes, but even a CUP of black beans only provides like 20% of the daily iron requirement. So, I started adding an iron-containing multivitamin drop every day, and beyond that we'll just keep doing what we're doing!