r/toddlerfood

Hi everyone!

I'm hoping for some advice because I'm feeling completely overwhelmed with this stage of parenting.

Our daughter just turned one, and we're in that awkward transition from bottles to actual meals.

My husband and I both work full time, and it feels like there's barely any time left to cook. We also don't really have family or a support system nearby to lean on.

I keep seeing these fancy toddler meal ideas online, but they seem so time-consuming, and I end up feeling guilty that I'm not doing enough. I want to make balanced meals for her, but I don't even know where to start. How do you make sure your one-year-old is getting balanced meals without spending hours in the kitchen?

What are your go-to meals that are quick, simple, and nutritious? Do you meal prep? Cook one meal for the whole family? Buy anything pre-made that you actually feel good about serving?

I'd appreciate any tips, favorite recipes, Instagram accounts, cookbooks, or even reassurance that this gets easier. ❤️

Thank you!

My daughter (2.5) hasn’t gained weight in the last 6 months. She hardly eats portion wise and has a very limited selection of foods she will eat- mainly carbs, some protein and some dairy. Veg and fruit have to be hidden. She went through a blueberry phase but that was short lived. She does still drink full fat milk but not huge amounts. It feels like she literally lives on snacks and will refuse to eat all day until she gets some.

She hates certain textures so won’t entertain a lot of foods. Even when she has toast with peanut butter (one of her favourites), she will spit it out if she doesn’t like the texture.

My daughter isn’t at nursery yet so she doesn’t have that opportunity to see peers eating.

It’s also been suggested we get her referred to the neurodiversity team for Autism. Possibly due to the sensory issues and she has delays with her speech etc. It does also make me wonder if she likes things that come out of a packet as they all taste uniform and fresh food doesn’t.

She also vomits frequently and I suspect this is the main reason she’s not gained weight. We will be getting a GP appointment on Monday to revisit this again with them and ask for an intolerance test.

Any advice at all?

My fiance and I have a 2-year-old son. We've been trying our best to get him to eat actual food but he won't eat any meat we give him (cooked chicken and steak, all bite-sized for example). I'm really lost on what to do and what to try because as of right now, he only eats/intakes baby food smoothies (baby food varieties mixed with milk), junk snacks like oreos that my fiance gives him and toddler-related crunchy snacks. I've tried getting him to eat baby carrots since he likes crunchy foods, but he doesn't like the cold/wet feeling (even after patting it dry with a paper towel). Between me and my fiance, I am the only one working and haven't even had time to make his 2 year doctor appointment, though I have asked my fiance to make the appointment a few times since I'm always at work, but it never ends up getting done. What I'm trying to get with that is I believe my son is AuDHD (autistic and ADHD) as I am on the spectrum and fiance has ADHD. Any help or advice on how to get our son to eat more healthy and even meat-related foods would be much appreciated since we're struggling and some advice from family and friends hasn't worked (the carrots, for example, as well as shredding the meat to seem more appetizing).

Thank you to everyone who commented so far, I will definitely keep trying new things to figure out everything he does and doesn't like and am relieved to hear this is normal. I will also make sure to schedule that doctor's appointment (we normally don't miss appointments because I normally set them up, but work has been crazy).

My 12 month old is allergic to dairy, eggs, wheat, and avocado. She was a pretty great eater for a while but just started some pickiness and I'm finding myself feeding her largely the same things every week.

For breakfast almost every day, she has overnight oats with chia seeds and soy milk. I usually put some nut butter, applesauce, cinnamon, and/or honey for flavor. Occasionally I'll make her gluten free pancakes.

For lunch or dinner our usual rotations are:

Chicken

Tuna salad (I use skipjack tuna but I still only give this to her every other week because I'm overly worried about mercury lol)

She usually likes salmon filets but I don't make them often because of cost. Canned salmon is hit or miss.

Beans and rice - any beans! I'm so grateful she loves beans.

Lentil pasta with tomato sauce

And I pretty much always give her a side of frozen peas/carrots/corn because she loves them.

She also likes broccoli and asparagus.

For fruit she consistently likes grapes, blueberries, and applesauce.

And if whatever I'm making my husband and I can be modified for her, she gets that too. For example, the other day I made a cottage pie and gave her some, and she just picked out the peas and carrots and ate those lol.

Current dislikes:

All meat other than chicken and canned tuna. I've tried breakfast sausage, hot dogs, ground beef, and various fish filets including tinned sardines. She used to like most of these until recently! I still offer them but they usually end up on the floor.

Edamame - she used to love this but not anymore.

Most fruit including berries (other than blueberries), bananas, watermelon, peaches, mango, and canned mandarin oranges.

Potatoes in almost every form, even sweet potatoes. Just today I tried potato pancakes though and she liked them, so hope it sticks!

I just feel guilty and that she's not getting enough variety. If I could pick your brains I would appreciate some new ideas! And/or reassurance that she will be okay on beans and rice and veggies 🥲

My baby is almost 14 months old, and she’s never been a great eater. She was formula-fed, and we’re actually still having a really hard time transitioning her to whole milk, so she’s still drinking about 15 oz of formula a day.

The bigger issue is solids. She eats almost nothing besides yogurt and baby snacks like puffs or melts. If she takes 3 bites of a cheese quesadilla, that’s considered a really good meal. We’ve tried so many different foods, but she usually refuses them or barely takes a bite.

The only reassuring thing is that she’s growing well—she’s around the 70th percentile for both weight and height—so her pediatrician isn’t overly concerned. But I am. This honestly keeps me up at night because I worry she’s not getting enough nutrition or that I’m doing something wrong.

Has anyone else gone through this? What helped your toddler start eating? Did it get better with time, or is there something I should be doing differently? I’d really appreciate any advice or success stories.

My son is almost 15m and until a few weeks ago ate pretty much anything. I know it’s completely developmentally normal for them to go through this phase but please tell me how the f*** you got through this? The kid hardly seems to get enough food during the day and only wants the usual suspects: fruit, cheese, snacks bars. Anything else gets thrown on the ground and screamed about. We are trying to maintain a relatively “strict” food offering system where he can eat what he’s given and if he refuses, we say “ok not hungry? We can put it away for later” and we just reintroduce it again in an hour or so. But it’s starting to get to a point where I’m legit worried about his food intake (though he is a healthy kid). Am I stressing more than I should be? How long did this last for you all and do you have any tips to maintain sanity?

NOTE: my kid has a severe egg allergy + tree nuts & sesame.

For the past few days my 3y3m old toddler has been insatiable. Am I not offering enough, or is he going through a growth spurt? Or just boredom? Or…?

Today he had:
- Breakfast: 1 homemade whole wheat English muffin sandwich with an egg and a slice of cheese, with 1/4 tomato and sliced bell pepper, and a cup of milk.
- Snack: 1/2 banana.
- Second snack: Another 1/2 banana with 1/2 cup yogurt.
- Cup of milk.
- Lunch: chickpea, pork, potato, veggie stew. Asked for seconds.
- Snack: 1/2 large apple, a cheese stick, and 1/4 cup walnuts and sliced almonds.
- Snack: 1/3 cup chocolate cake (I’m on my period, I needed it. had to share. against my will.)
- Snack: 1 cup of cucumber and carrot sticks.
- Snack: Another English muffin with cheese and a cup of water-juice. And 1-2 tbsp raisins.
- Another cup of milk.
- Dinner: 3 homemade tortillas with 2/3 cup homemade guacamole, and another cheese stick.
- Probably another cup of milk or yogurt before bed.

And he’s still asking for more food as if he hadn’t seen food all day. He climbs down from the chair, walks around the house, and as soon as I sit down he’s asking for lunch again. Usually I offer 3 meals and 2 snacks, one cup of milk, but today he was begging all day. Fresh water in his bottle all day. I’m obviously glad that he’s such a good eater, but it seems like too much?

6 ingredients, organic, no sugar

Our 8 month old and 3 year old love them.

Helps sooth teething babies.

Check out the video and link on there for the recipe.

Love to make healthy baby snacks. If you love it, please do like and comment if you want to see a healthy version for another snack. But we are planning to show organic healthy muffins next.

I used to stand at the fridge every single evening with a hungry toddler pulling at my leg and absolutely no idea what to make.

I'd tried meal planning apps. Pinterest boards. Those 30 dinners in 30 days lists. Nothing stuck because I was too exhausted to think by 5pm.

What actually worked was having a printed list of 30 quick meals my daughter would reliably eat, already decided, already organised, zero thinking required. I just looked at the list and made whichever one I had ingredients for.

No apps. No scrolling. No decisions. Just dinner.

It sounds simple because it is. The problem was never knowing how to cook. It was having to decide what to cook when my brain was completely done for the day.

I turned it into a proper meal system - 30 quick family meals for kids ages 0-10, organised by prep time, all toddler approved. Printable so it lives on your fridge not your phone.

If you want it, it's called the No Brainer Meal System. Happy to share the link in the comments if anyone wants it.

What's your biggest dinner struggle with a toddler?