Feeding a One Year Old

My daughter just turned one and it seems as if she has gone from a baby to a little person overnight.

Yesterday I was almost brought to tears as I watched her feeding herself a cut up pancake, cut up banana and cut up blueberries. She would then take a swig out of her sippy cup. She is growing up so fast!

While I am excited that she is learning new skills everyday this brings on the issue of what to feed her. I have no baby food left and it is officially real people food time. Here is a list of what I will be giving her to eat- some things I obviously will still have to feed her with a spoon.

homemade wheat pancakes

homemade turkey meatballs (made with oatmeal and veggies)

fruits- pears, bananas, blueberries, kiwi, watermelon, peaches

veggies (steamed)- sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, broccoli, green beans, peas, spinach

peanut butter on whole wheat bread

all fruit jelly on whole wheat bread

chicken

pork

well cooked wheat pasta

scrambled eggs with mixed in veggies

grilled cheese on whole wheat bread with mixed in veggies

puffed rice cereal (mostly natural brands, sometimes Rice Krispies)

Cheerios

homemade muffins (no sugar, with fruit and whole wheat flour)

plain oatmeal

applesauce

whole milk yogurt with pureed fruit

cut up cheese

whole milk

water (no juice until 2 years old)

I can definitely say that I have gotten a little lazy when it comes to what my 3 year old son eats. He started out eating like this and I have slowly but surely fed him less healthy things. He still eats pretty good but I need to start baking more so that I have healthy snacks on hand.

Now that my daughter is in the real food stage I will go back to making a concentrated effort to feed my kids very healthy. I am determined to not be a mom who feeds my younger child junky food because the older child eats that way. I think that certain foods like chicken nuggets and turkey hot dogs are Ok in moderation for a 2 or 3 year old to eat but a 1 year old is too young for that and should only eat 100% healthy all of the time.

Basically, when my daughter turns 2 I'll loosen up a bit and heck, by 3 she'll be eating Big Macs.

(And for anyone who is wondering- I do not buy organic food for my kids unless it is the same price or cheaper than the conventional item. I buy all natural most of the time and if the organic version of a processed food is healthier I'll buy that. Yes, I know non organic has pesticides- blah blah- but I think a well rounded diet is much more important than an all organic diet.)