Food Ideas for Babies and Toddlers

I’ve been hesitant to post about this for multiple reasons. One main reason is that I don’t feed my babies perfectly, and I don’t want you to think I pretend to! I have to admit there are days I’d be a little embarrassed if someone knew what my babies had eaten ;). Another reason is that it’s tough to open yourself up for criticism, and I know there’s a lot people could say about this topic. But overall, I know it’s really helpful to share ideas about this stuff, because it’s really easy to get in a rut! So many of you left such great ideas in the comments on my Instagram post – thank you! I included each of them at the bottom of this post, so make sure you scroll down!

As for what my babies eat, the best answer is whatever we are eating ;). I really do try to keep things easy by giving them what we’re already eating! That being said, we try to eat fairly healthy. My food philosophy is sort of a mishmash of Whole30, Paleo, and Kelly Leveque’s concept of the Fab Four (you can read about that in her book, which I talk about in this post!) along with a large amount of cheat meals and slip-ups ;). So basically, I try to first think about giving them protein, fat, fiber, and greens. I’m fine with giving them other stuff (like a cracker or cookie higher in carbs or sugar), because I don’t want to be a psycho, but I try to make sure they’ve had the good stuff first if that makes sense.

The Process

I find the babies eat better if I don’t give them everything all at once. Usually I’ll give them the thing they like the least first, and the thing the like the best last. For example, right now they love rasberries, so if I put those on their tray in the beginning they’ll fill up on them first and leave the fats/proteins. That being said (and this might be getting too intense for this post) I also try not to use food as a reward…more on that another day ;).

Hang in There

Our babies had major feeding issues in the beginning (that kept them in the hospital for three months!) and then continued out-patient feeding therapy at the hospital for months, so I know all-to-well what it feels like to have your baby not eating. Be patient – things can change so quickly!! Just stick with it and hang in there! Sometimes I’ll have to try a food 3-5 times before they babies all of the sudden decide they like it. And some food they still won’t eat, so I’ll just wait a while and then re-introduce it.

Why are veggies so hard?!

Now, I REALLY need to work on giving them greens/veggies! This is my biggest downfall when it comes to feeding them! I have the hardest time getting them to eat vegetables, and it’s mostly because I haven’t figured out know how to prepare them in a way that they won’t mind the texture. So right now, they’re getting the majority of their vegetables and a lot of their fruits in purees. After reading all of your comments/ideas and putting together this post, I have a fresh resolve to try harder with the veggies (not pureed)! I’ll let you know how it goes, and keep you posted if I find some quick easy ways to prepare them.

Organic whenever possible

I also try buy organic as much as I can, especially with meat and produce. And dairy. So pretty much everything ;). I know it’s not always possible (especially when you’re getting food from a restaurant) and it can be expensive, but I think it’s important. That’s another post for another day ;).

Food Prep

I’ve never been a good meal-prepper, but it really does help to prep a few things for the babies. Often at the beginning of the week I’ll cook a pound of protein/meat, like organic chicken breast or thigh or ground beef, and then keep it in the fridge all week to pull from for lunches. I also like to prep some sweet potatoes – I just cut them into chunks and boil them, then keep them in the fridge and warm them up as needed for lunches or dinners. Sweet potatoes are genuinely one of the babies’ favorites, so I try to keep them on hand because I know it’s something they’ll eat.

I’m Ok With Frozen Foods

I use lots of frozen foods, and I’m ok with it. I usually just try to make sure I’m at least mixing a frozen food with other fresh foods. Some of my favorite frozen things to buy are forms of potatoes (sweet potatoes, hashbrowns, various kinds of fries, tots, etc.), sausage, gluten free/organic chicken nuggets, and different veggies.

Mealtime Ideas for Babies and Toddlers

Breakfast

• Sausage – Chicken Sausage, ground sausage
• Eggs – My favorite brand to get is Vital Farms, we’ll usually do them scrambled but the girls also love them fried, poached, or hard-boiled.
• Waffles or pancakes – to keep it easy, I always keep these GF waffles in the freezer and I can just pop one in the toaster. They also love paleo pancakes, we use this mix.
• Fruit – cut up rasberries, bananas, mango, blueberries (I still cut these in half even though they’re small)
• Pouch of fruit/vegetable puree – my favorite is the “Once Upon a Farm” brand
  
• Avocado chunks
• Hashbrowns

Lunch

• Cheese – I’ll do shredded cheddar or cut up a mozzarella cheese stick into little pieces, recently I started trying fresh mozzarella and I think they’re still getting used to the texture ;).
• Turkey lunch meat – I always buy this organic and nitrate free!
• Chicken (sometimes just plain, sometimes I experiment with different seasonings and sauces!)
• Salmon (they love grilled salmon but are also obsessed with these Whole30 salmon cakes I prep and keep in the freezer, I’ll share the recipe soon!)
• Ground beef
• Hot Dog – another one that I will always, always buy organic! I buy the Applegate Organic Beef ones. They LOVE hot dogs…
• Veggie straws – something they love to snack on, I like to let them practice biting off pieces but sometimes they still gag, so sometimes I’ll just break them up into thirds. There are a few versions/brands, but we buy these ones.
• Sweet potatoes
• Fruit – cut up rasberries, bananas, mango, blueberries (I still cut these in half even though they’re small). There are other fruits I’ve tried that they don’t like yet, like apples and oranges, so we are still working on those!
• Cucumbers (cut into tiny pieces)
• Cottage Cheese – I buy these little cups from the brand Good Culture with fruit in them and the girls LOVE them.
• Pouch of fruit/vegetable puree – my favorite is the “Once Upon a Farm” brand
  
• Rice
• Black beans
• Lentils (the already cooked ones from Trader Joes, they’ll just eat them cold or mixed up with Bruschetta!)
• Shepherd’s Pie (we make the Whole30 version and they LOVE it – we usually try to have one of these on hand in the freezer or I’ll freeze smaller portions to thaw out just for the girls)

Dinner

This is one where they usually really do just have whatever we are having, deconstructed or cut up into smaller pieces! I promise to do more posts with some of our favorite dinners and how I feed them to the girls. For example, I made tacos for us the other night and just gave the girls everything that was going on the tacos separately on their high chair trays (ground beef, avocado, tomato, shredded cheddar cheese, lettuce, and a few pieces of ripped up tortilla .) They didn’t like the tomato or lettuce, but I think they liked that they had everything on their tray that they saw us eating. Another example – last night we ordered from one of our favorite restaurants here, Panini Kabob Grill. I ordered Beef Kabobs for Blake and I with salad and rice and ordered an extra kabob of meat to split between the girls along with some of our rice and salad. They loved it!

I really think they love to know that they’re eating what we are eating, and they appreciate variety! We love to joke about how they’ll even eat Thai food when we order it – they weirdly love Pad See Ewe with chicken, like a lot.

It helps me to think of it this way – if Blake and I eat a healthy dinner, I can just feed the girls the same thing. Motivator to eat healthy AND not have to cook something separate for the girls! Win, win ;).

Other meal-time stuff:

Counter chairs. We use the Fast Table Chair from Inglesina to hook on to our counter, and this is where the girls end up eating most of the time. I talk more about them including how to clean them in this post.

High chairs. We LOVE our high chairs from Micuna – you can find them here. They are seriously so so beautiful. I’ve had lots of questions about the trays – we don’t mind that they are smaller/round, but I’ve got a great surprise coming for you in a post soon about this ;). Another great (less expensive) option I love – the IKEA high chair! It’s $23 with the tray – you can’t beat it!

Bibs – we don’t use bibs! I just felt like they were annoying, and I usually end up washing their clothes at the end of the day anyways. And since I haven’t used bibs from the beginning, if I try to put a bib on the girls now they are like “GET THIS THING OFF OF ME!” Sometimes, especially in the summer, I’ll just pull their shirts off for meal time!

Disposable placemats – I get asked about these all the time when they show up in my stories of us eating out! We use these at restaurants to help with the germ situation – they’re disposable placemats that just stick on the table and then you pull them off and throw them away when you’re done! There are tons of options on Amazon, but these ones are cute :).

Reader’s Advice

And this might be the best part of this whole post – your own advice as readers!! I really suggest scrolling down through the comments people left when I asked what they feed their babies – there are lots of good ideas and little tricks! Thanks so much to those of you who contributed!

• oneilltwinmom My 15 month old twins love grilled cheese and any fruit
• _adrianjoy Twins girls- 15 months – I feed them what we eat. They love pastas. Egg salad sandwiches. Protein pancakes. Oatmeal. I try to do lots of one pot meals with protein, veggie and whole grains such as chicken, veggies, quinoa. Also it can get messy. I recommend the bumkins long sleeve bibs. Available on amazon.
• ryleeandoaklie Cooked zucchini with Parmesan cheese and Italian seasonings is one of their favorite veggies!
• aukema12 14 month twins and a (picky) almost 3 year old.. I feed them whatever we’re having, twins surprisingly love all fish, veggies, hummus and bananas are an absolute favorite.. not big fans of overly sweet things which makes it easy!
• mrsjvf My son is 10 months old and is a very good eater so we’ve been lucky he’s not very picky. With that said, he actually doesn’t seem too crazy about fruits which I find WILD. Bananas, blueberries and strawberries go straight for the floor which our dog welcomes. Yet steamed broccoli and carrots he’ll eat? I’m not complaining. Because he’s working on his pincher grasp, I like to give him things like peas and chunks of chicken to pick up. But by far, go to snacks are yogurt and avocado (not together) he also enjoys a baked sweet potato or homemade blends which usually include up to 4 veggies mixed with chicken and a little milk (breast milk or formula). But when we’re out and about, we also like pouches by Ella’s kitchen or hienz! Can’t wait to read your post for some new ideas! Oh! And eggs! LOVES EGGS!

• bsully80 My daughter loves avocado, eggs, spaghetti squash with sauce, veggie straw sticks, organic fruit snacks, and days she doesn’t drink a lot of water I give her chocolate coconut water (she thinks it’s chocolate milk)
• gillian.18 My 15 month twins eat what we eat, I just watch the salt and sugar content. One loves risotto and the other eats anything!! Snacks are mainly fruit (I think I maybe give to much fruit) and I try cheese to balance the fruit!!
• ealaramore 16 month old- mostly whatever we eat! She also loves zucchini, avocado, sweet potatoes, all fruit, Greek yogurt (which she likes to fed to herself and is very messy 🙄), whole grain crackers with hummus, healthy homemade pancakes or waffles. She’s pretty picky about meat so I have to get creative with beans, veggie chili, lentils- LOVES lentil soup, etc. then there’s the back ups- easy Mac, grilled cheese, veggie burgers, pouches, sweet potato fries 😜 #survivalmode #workingmom
• heidilyns My 15 month old only has 2 teeth so feeding her has been such a challenge. She wants to feed herself but it has to be things she can gum. Usually ends up being fruit, pees, corn, pieces of bread, cheese, and I’ve been trying to have bran muffins and banana bread on hand as well! She is sooo picky and I honestly hate meal time so I’m really glad you made this post. I hope I can get some good ideas from it!
• kanncrowder 21 month old daughter mostly eats what we eat, but in a pinch she loves sautéed zucchini and trader joes teriyaki marinated tofu. Also loves trader joes freeze dried mangos and strawberries. And hippeas are the best snack! Taste like cheetos but made with chickpea flour and have protein and fiber
• sam_maas My 15 mo old loves food- a lot of the above, plus garbanzo beans, lentils, edamame already peeled (Trader Joe’s), and beets (also the ready to eat from TJs) have been a hit too! I also make a ground turkey with corn and beans and taco seasoning and it lasts for a week- lots of dinners and lunches made out of it.
• nicolebhayes 10 month old twin girls pretty much eat what we eat and sometimes out eat my 4yr old. Love eggs and toast in the am, chicken sausage, roasted veggies especially beets, and of course fruit!
• laurenrrichert 10 month old and he LOVES blueberries and raspberries for snack time!
• alyssampz 15 month old and 2.5 year old- ramen bowl packs from Costco, pasta with a little cheese, hummus with carrots, toast with almond butter, edamame, avocado, strawberries, lentils from TJs, the pumpkin muffins from TJs, actually most everything from TJs… 😊
• swimzip Sweetest babes. My kids loved grilled salmon (great for high fats), and whole fat yogurt with fruit mixed in, smoothies, and avocado toast!
• jadeblank What a great post! Saving all of these idea for when I start solids with my youngest
• _morgangrimes Kendall (2.5 years) eats pretty much what we eat with the occasional one-off dinner because Mom and Dad want to eat something not so kid friendly! But we do a lot of “bowls” – teriyaki chicken or flank with sautéed veggies and rice, marinated steak with string beans and rice, marinated chicken with peas and rice. As I’m writing this I’m realizing we eat a lot of rice 🤣 We always make a big batch of coconut rice and use throughout the week with our meals. I’ll also make a veggie loaded bolognese to eat with brown rice pasta. Kendall loves her meat and carbs so the bowls are easier to chop everything into smaller bits and forces her to eat everything together! I am looking for more ideas for our 8 month old that currently only shows interest in Cheerios 🤦🏻‍♀️ Can’t wait to read this post!
• lilwhil My friend gives her 9 month old bamba snacks from trader Joe’s. They are.just peanut paste, canola oil and salt
• ldrinker_putnam This is the biggest challenge for us right now – twin girls, 13 1/2 months old – fruit is a huge favorite, peanut butter smeared on whole grain frozen waffles, green peas, Shepard’s pie, eggs, cannot do dairy but had previously loved cheese. Apple slices are suddenly big favorites. Would love some more good meal suggestions and really appreciate the post
• ecejka We have 8 month old b/g twins. Still mainly baby food (not many teeth), but love avocados and bananas… excited to see what you and others started out with for real food!
• swheeler1109 What’s your recommendation for infant cereal. My daughter is 5 months. I’ve heard good things about Happy Baby?
• meredithlauren Breakfast is the biggest meal for our 19 month old. She eats anything (eggs, yogurt, toast, smoothies) lunch is grilled cheese or pb and j or turkey and cheese. Dinner is not her fave these days unless it’s long noodles (of any kind) and fruit.
• laurenboyce22 11 month old son eats a piece of toast with light butter, cut up strawberries/blueberries, a hard boiled egg yolk, and a yo baby yogurt on the days I’m not working! He loves it all!
• nygilbert29 My 14 month old loves banana+egg pancakes for breakfast, while grain waffles, avocado, beet and zucchini noodles, pasta, especially red lentil pasta, whole wheat quesadillas with sweet potato and/or broccoli and organic mozzarella, peas and any and all fruit! Not big on meat at all, but used to love organic chicken meatballs packed with veggies!
• kristenmariebrown_okc 13 month old daughter and we feed her (sometimes deconstructed versions) what we eat! Baked oatmeal is a favorite for breakfast, smoothies, quesadillas for lunch (and can sneak lots of veggies she doesn’t like in there and she’ll eat it!), and one pot things for dinner like turkey black bean quinoa that include a protein, veggies, and whole grain all in one!
• cecilia_kendzior 15 mo old b/g twins. They eat what we eat but their favorite meal is breakfast. Normally it’s an omelet packed with diced veggies and cheese, avocado toast, and fresh fruit with either yogurt or cottage cheese. We have really good eaters!
• traeleec Unless we go out my twins eat a pretty consistent diet. They are 1 year as of December 29 & I meal prep about every 5 days, so about 6 times a month. I make eggs and potatoes, Mac n cheese, rice with finely diced veggies in veggie broth to make it easier to chew with some shredded chicken, and then pasta. Every morning we start with a smoothie each, before naps eggs and potatoes. After their morning mini nap they get yogurt and diced fruit and then before their main nap Mac n cheese, maybe I’ll throw organic hotdogs in or broccoli depending on the week, then they nap and then they get usually the rice veggie and chicken mix and then before night night time, pasta with red/white sauce, sometimes I’ll do a pasta primavera or something with lots of diced veggies depending on the week. My boys absolutely love to eat. They eat more than I do in a day actually, but at one year they are both just a few inches away from 3′ tall and are about 30lbs. However both of us are over 6′ tall so they are just growing big hungry boys.
• _amwilliams My 13mo daughter has loved chickpeas, sautéed with a bit of garlic since she was 6 months! I used to break them apart in half cause I was nervous lol. But she can handle them just fine for several months now
• indylise My 14 month old loves avocado, berries and anything with cheese. Lots of pasta dishes and chicken quesadillas. He doesn’t like to eat his veggies, so I hide them in his food instead of serving it separate to trick him into eating them. I sometimes will give him Annie’s organic Mac and cheese cuz he loves it and shoves it in his mouth, but I always add some peas and carrots 🥕 I thought I was only going to feed my kid super healthy lean meats and veggies and whole grains, until I realized he’s not going to eat something unless it tastes good to him so I had to loosen up the plan a bit.
• kellbellwalker My 12 month old twins love pancakes, eggs, avocado, yogurt squeezes (messy but love them), sweet potatoes, butternut squash, apple sauce, quiche, bean quesadillas and Mac and cheese (my toddlers fav)
• bbhomer 2 and 4 year old. I keep fresh fruit in the house always so they can snack all day and I feel guilt free. They also snack on pickles, string cheese, goldfish, granola, veggie sticks, dried mango, whole fat yogurt (sometimes I freeze them and they ask for yogurt popsicles😂🙌🏾). They love roasted broccoli, carrots boiled in chicken broth, tacos, eggs, chicken salad from scratch, roasted sweet potatoes, homemade fries, ground meat (beef/turkey), rice! Kids are so crazy though…I’m sure mine will change their minds in like a year 😂
• klrb28 @swheeler1109 I used Earth’s Best for my daughter. She was really sensitive to soy and dairy and it was one of the few that didn’t have those in them.
• kayleecng Love that you posted about this! I’m always looking for more ideas. Meal Prep for the week is key now that we have 3 kids under 5 🤗I make a large batch of oatmeal and refrigerate it for a few days. Easy to reheat and top it. The boys love to top it with a scoop of Nutzo butter (or any nut butter), frozen blueberries (fruit), drizzle honey or maple syrup and sprinkle with cinnamon! Yum! I make a lot of variations of egg muffins. Yesterday I made it with spinach, turkey bacon and cheese but you can whip up 6 eggs (or egg whites) with any ingredients your kids like and make a full dozen muffins. I also make variations of banana spinach muffins (some with oats, some with applesauce, add dark choc chips). Any type of muffin is great but I love that I can pack them with healthy spinach and the kids love them. Protein bowls – tofu or shrimp (or any protein they prefer), black beans, rice and veggies. Crock pot is my best friend. I literally hug it sometimes ;). Chicken tortilla soup, lemon chicken, chicken pot pie. Veggie chili. Search these as “crock pot “ “ under Pinterest 👌🏻 Banana “sushi” – spread any type of nut butter on a whole wheat tortilla, place banana on the wrap and roll it. Slice it like a sushi cut hand roll. Place them flat and sprinkle chia seeds on them. You got banana sushi ;). Trader Joe’s has great pasta choices (brown rice, black bean, quinoa, beet/veggie) and I alway make a side of turkey meatballs and a veggie. Pinterest has great ideas for baby/toddler meals! Xoxo
• brooke.a.miller 16 months old – loves cottage cheese 😂 spaghetti and meatballs (we mix up the kinds of meatballs), cherry tomatoes, avocado, bananas are the faves right now
• lisaaa_mariiie My one year old twins love hard boiled eggs or scrambled eggs, avocado, peanut butter sandwiches, meatballs, quiche, toast with a piece of cheese melted cheese on top, any and all fresh fruit, cubed sweet potatoes
• caylatdougherty I have twin girls 14m! For breakfast we do lots of scrambled eggs with cheese, kodiak cakes for easy pancakes or waffles, yogurt and fruit! For lunch, hummus and shredded chicken, deli meat and cheese, chicken salad or organic chicken hotdogs by True Story. Dinner we do Mac and cheese with veggies, Shepard’s pie, chili, spaghetti, veggie fried rice from TJ or any leftovers from what we’re having! Snacks- yogurt, oatmeal bars, bambas, finger fruit!
• sarahbresna 11 month old lora of reusable pouches in our house since we travel tons-easy to make easy to eat out: berry banana oatmeal smoothies for breakfast and avocado bean squash smoothies done afternoon. He loves rice crackers and goat cheese! And steamed veggies.
• the.crosby.crew My baby had salmon and pesto orzo for the first time last night and LOVED it. Great quick and easy meal
• salliebeth528 Our little one is 12.5mo old and enjoys almost every meal we eat cut up into tiny bites! Catfish, beef, chicken, pork, all types of veggies (dislikes avocado 😭, loves carrots 🥕 of all colors). The Baby Foode blog is a FANTASTIC resource!
• _adrianjoy @day12studio kodiak cakes. It is from Costco but they also have it at regular grocery stores just a smaller box.
• maddie_tippens_witter Twins- 15 months. We love the recipes in Foods Babies Love. All my kids love it (ages 6,4,15 months)
• ashbrett @swheeler1109 I’ve had good luck with Happy Baby. My baby had very bad GERD and HB was the perfect consistency to thicken milk and start solids without being too thick. He’s 13 months now and I use it to thicken his whole milk, as he still can’t tolerate it regular.
• jonbrown5 Lauren (4 years old), on Tuesday’s we feed her 6 shredded beef tacos from Del Taco. It’s 3 tacos for $1.29, crazy right?? On other days, she’ll pound about 16-18 Dinosaur chicken nuggets from Costco and about 1/2 cup of ketchup. That’s pretty much all she eats. Regarding snacks, she’ll cram a full pack of Gushers in her mouth and chew/suck on them for about 2-3 min before meandering her way to garbage can to spit them all out.
• alyssa_steinie So excited about this post!! I have 15 month old girls. We are a dairy free & gluten free family. I do a ton of roasted veggies. Easy to do and then store in jars to take with us when we’re on the go. Some of their favorites…Brussels sprouts with honey, butternut squash or zucchini or pretty much anything with cinnamon. I’m trying to add as many spices and flavors as I can right now! Cauliflower rice with any veggies! We also do lots of quinoa, lentils, millet, beans…I try to find time to make salmon cakes, black bean burgers, kale muffins, all of that stuff in big batches and then freeze. I try to do everything homemade. Although I have recently found a few things that are allergen free, organic, healthy…for quick easy meals. One of my new favorites is Hilary’s organic veggie burgers. I love the idea of baby lead weaning and feeding them what you eat….but I kinda do it opposite! I make their meals and we eat what I’m making them😂. And it (usually) end up being delicious and always edible!
• wymimama Whole wheat French toast with Greek yogurt and apple sauce on top, brown rice with cheese and little broccolis, smoothies!, muffins with zucchini/carrot/apple.
• brittanyyymarievela I have a 12 month old who barely eats a few bites of food a day 😫 any tips on getting babies to eat?!
• mrsseyller I need new ideas!! My 1 year old loves cuties, apples, grapes, cheese sticks, veggie straws, scrambled eggs & pasta just to name a few staples! Not a fan of meat though!
• mrsseyller Oh and I also make a banana & pb mini muffin that both the babe & toddler love and it’s simple ingredients and easy to whip up!!
• mrsseyller @kayleecng thanks for sharing!! Literally taking a screen shot of what you typed for more ideas!!
• sugarshakersd 17 month boy over here – Breakfast: pancakes or waffles with grated zucchini in them. Eggs. Avocado. Fruit. Sweet potato “fries”. Quick snacks: bread of choice with almond or peanut butter and thin sliced apples. Fresh mozzarella cheese balls. Nitrite free deli meat. Cuties. Fast meal: quinoa pasta and mixed veggies from the freezer, add a little butter, done. Dinner: whatever we’re eating
• lifeasagriffin My best advice is to just feed them what you’re eating and if that fails then bread, fruit/veggie, and a protein 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ if that still doesn’t work, throw them some goldfish and take a nap 😆😂

Feel free to comment and ask questions or add more of your own advice!

xx

Jen