subject: Preparing Nutritious Snacks And Meals For Toddlers [print this page] You should not only be looking at meals for toddlers when preparing the ideal food plan for your kids. All of the effort you put in making well-balanced daily meals is worthless if your little children consume junk during snack time. Here are a few ideas and pieces of advice on how you can ensure your toddlers' snack food items just as nutritious as their daily meals.
Grain
The younger kids need to have about six servings of grain daily, so you need to make certain their daily meals and snack foods have some grain in them. Providing them sugar-free or low-sugar cereal products are the most effective and most straightforward solution. Dry breakfast cereal is also fun for your kids to nibble on because they can pick the pieces and put it in their mouths on their own.
Fruit
If your main definition of food for toddlers replaces "fruits" with "fruits in yogurt or ice cream", you might want to reconsider that thought. While yogurt is good and small children love their ice cream, the amount of fruits found in these snack foods hardly meet the daily dietary requirement for your kids. You have to supply your small children at least one cup of fruit daily. The issue with integrating fruit in snacks and meals for toddlers is they don't appear too delicious. Be a little more resourceful when giving fruit to your kids. You can try cutting fruit using little cookie cutters to produce interesting shapes.
Yet another idea is to create home made fruit popsicles, which are great alternate options to ice cream. Chop up some fresh fruits, place them in a popsicle mould filled up with natural fruit juice, and you'll have nutritious, frozen treats your small children will definitely love.
Fresh vegetables
Similar to fruit, veggies are an essential food for toddlers, but the majority of small children will not eat them. Aside from looking unappetizing, veggies aren't sweet like some fruits are. This gives them one other reason to refrain from having them. To help make broccoli, green beans, along with other veggies appetizing, you could use the presentation technique you utilized for fresh fruits, or include things like some toppings or dip to make their taste bearable.
Water
When offering nutritious food for toddlers, water is one thing you shouldn't ignore. Toddlers have to drink no less than 1 and ounces of water per pound of their bodyweight. Don't replace water with juice. Most health experts state little ones should not even be consuming juice at all, though eight to 12 ounces each day is okay provided that it's natural fruit juice. Whole milk and water are still the ideal beverages you may offer your kids. If they don't know how to use glasses yet, make sure to help them learn how to use sippy cups instead of infant bottles.
Planning nutritious meals for toddlers isn't the best way to improve your little ones' food plan. Cooking nutritious, fun snack foods for them guarantees they get all of the vitamins and minerals they need to keep growing. It also helps them develop a better sense of taste when it comes to food, and discourage them from munching on unhealthy processed foods.
