For mothers of 2, 3 and 4 year olds

amother

Mauve

Wed, Jul 04 2018, 6:36 am

My kids eat breakfast and lunch in camp.
But then2 weeks they were between school and camp....
Their diet consisted of breadays w yogurt, tuna salad, various forms of eggs horowitz or cold and cheese sandwiches for breakfast and lunch. Supper was various forms of chicken. Veggies soup (the only time they eat veggies) and a fresh or canned fruit for desert.
On between they'd have chickpeas, fuits, frozen fruits, homemade blended fruit ices homemade or store boughy cookies, a cake, sometimes a chip bag for snack.
Junk is reserved for shabbos or sometimes as a special treat.

Some days I had to bribe them to eat the yogurt and they had extra mini chocolate chips mixed into the yogurt.

But don't feel guilty, my kid's eat very decent food. But very little. Like my kid could hold a yummy fancy cookie in her hand for an hour becuase she's just not hungry. But if rather she eat it as she's almost 3.5 and she's below average weight of a 2 year old!
The only thing she'd ask for More is lollipops and corn syrup type ices.
*which she gets on occasion. B

amother

Mauve

Wed, Jul 04 2018, 6:41 am

Kiwi13 wrote:

I got one of those mass emails from babycenter.com once that put it perfectly, toddlers can subsist on “crackers and air.” I provide healthy food choices. My almost 3-year old eats (or doesn’t eat) what he pleases. I don’t believe in pushing food or making it a big deal.

LOL. My kids have those days.
But when they are hungry they are a nightmare to deal with.
One kid will not fall asleep if she hadn't had a filling supper. Like LITERALLY NOT FALL ASLEEP till after the sun goes up. Took a while to figure it out.

My other kids is underweight and that's a whole parsha for itself. But bh they like decently healthy foods.

I was recently reading a parenting book about the nutritional calorie intake children need to thrive. It's really low. So some days Crackers and a few bites here and there could really be enough....
Also, I find little-food days are usually followed by eat-all-you-can-see days.

Kiwi13

Wed, Jul 04 2018, 6:47 am

amother wrote:

LOL. My kids have those days.
But when they are hungry they are a nightmare to deal with.
One kid will not fall asleep if she hadn't had a filling supper. Like LITERALLY NOT FALL ASLEEP till after the sun goes up. Took a while to figure it out.

My other kids is underweight and that's a whole parsha for itself. But bh they like decently healthy foods.

I was recently reading a parent lingerie book about the nutritional calorie intake children need to thrive. It's really low. So some days Crackers amd a few bites here and there could really be enough....
Also, I find little food days are usually followed by eat-all-you-can-see days.

True. There definitely are days when he eats us out of house and home! He is also not underweight. He’s not overweight, either, but he is a bit higher on the weight percentile than height. I’ve discussed the whole food thing with his pediatrician a thousand times because as his mother I’m always worried if he’s eating enough. I’m always relieved when his weight is high enough, and when there’s a little bit of buffer so in case he gets sick or doesn’t eat enough for a few days he’ll still be okay. He’s also not terribly sensitive to these things. He doesn’t get too bent out of shape about a lighter food day. On rare occasion (I think it was twice EVER) I’ve taken him back downstairs after bedtime to eat something because he was genuinely hungry and crying about it.

I get it that there are kids for whom such a laid back approach to food wouldn’t be healthy. As in all aspects of parenting, you have to know YOUR kid.

amother

Wheat

Wed, Jul 04 2018, 7:19 am

My two year old eats a lot.. (I think) She's way way higher on the charts for weight than height.
For breakfast she usually has a bread with muenster cheese or peanut butter (she usually leaves over some of the crust) and bits and pieces of whatever I'm making for lunch (like a stick of pepper, or tomato... she wants whatever she sees)
She eats snack and lunch in playgroup.
When I pick her up she gets a snack (bamba, corn pops, animal crackers... whatever) and she eats almost or the whole bag.
For supper she gets whatever we eat, just a smaller portion. Like chicken, potatoes and broccoli. She'll eat most of her plate.
Sometimes if she's hungry before supper (we eat late - when my husband gets home) she'll have a cracker or cereal and milk.
She literally likes everything and will eat whenever she sees anyone else eating. I hope she'll grow out of it sometime because I don't want to have to deal with this in a preteen!

Iymnok

Wed, Jul 04 2018, 7:21 am

She eats well.
But I was told that you should average a toddler’s nutrition over 1 or 2 weeks (choose your expert opinion). So you could havehigh carb days, high protein days, high fat days, or whatever. Just try to ven it out over a few days and you’re good.
Givelits of water. A good water bottle with a straw is important in the summer. A water pitcher in the fridge is good too.

mommy3b2c

Wed, Jul 04 2018, 7:24 am

Breakfast: leben
Lunch: leben
Supper: leben

Other foods he may eat at times:

Tomatoes, cucumbers, peanut butter, rice cakes, pizza, French fries, vegetable soup, cantaloupe, rice, broccoli, chicken nuggets, pasta

On shabbos he’ll eat cholent and kugel.

That is the complete list of foods he eats.

amother

Papaya

Wed, Jul 04 2018, 7:39 am

Breakfast: chocolate milk/cereal and milk or oatmeal. Lunch-large fruit smoothie or yogurt or cheese or rarely a grilled cheese. snack-cookies or granola bar or pretzels. dinner-chicken or salmon, rice, 2 year old love soup, 4 year old loves sushi.
Honestly, my 2 and 4 year old eat way better than my seven year old who eats exclusively white carbs (sample day: breakfast=oatmeal. lunch=plain bread. snack=granola bar/prezles/crackers. dinner=pizza or pasta.

amother

Mauve

Wed, Jul 04 2018, 7:48 am

mommy3b2c wrote:

That's what my 20 year old niece eats.
I was making breakfast for the family one Sunday morning. She came to say with us overnight and she took a leben and sat down to eat.
(Luckily we had some left over from pesach. That's basically all my kids eat for breakfast and lunch on pesach)
and made a nuch bracha I opened big eyes. She said, fine, I'll have another one..... lol. We were all laughing. Only it wasn't so funny. That should have sustained her all day shopping till supper time. She had packed in some pretzels and almonds as a snack.....

She was always a terrible eater. But what can a mother do?

amother

Seagreen

Wed, Jul 04 2018, 10:42 am

My daughter is two.
Breakfast: some cereal and milk
Lunch: 1 or 2 slices of bread and 2 slices of cheese.
Supper: sometimes a chicken leg, if not, I give her a hard-boiled egg and she eats the egg, rice with split peas, sometimes also a slice of bread right before supper. Sometimes she will eat cucumbers or tomatoes also.
Snacks could be chickpeas, crackers, fruits.

Teomima

Wed, Jul 04 2018, 10:47 am

I can usually count on my little one to eat: cucumbers, rice crackers with cream cheese, apple slices, tuna patties, eggs, canned beans, edemame, cereal with milk, pizza, broccoli, hot dogs (usually the vegetarian version), french fries, schnitzel, raw pecans, raw cashews, and any junk food I offer, of course.

amother

Turquoise

Wed, Jul 04 2018, 11:09 am

You got some really great and typical age appropriate suggestions. So I’ll just add in my two cents.

I have 3 kids all within that range. One a little older, one within, and one a bit younger.

They all have such different eating habits. The older of them will barely eat. When he was younger he ate so nicely and as he got older he became pickier. The middle has her days. Days she’ll eat only snacks (healthy and not). Days of only wanting protein and days of only carbs. I always offer a balanced meal and the option is always there. I offer and they can choose from what there is. The youngest will get everything on his plate and will either eat around what he doesn’t like, or toss it off to the side of the plate and then ask for more of what he finished.

Every day is unpredictable with the youngest. Some days he’ll tell me what he wants and thst makes life so much easier even if it’s not what I would rather him eat. But I found that when I sit to eat with him he is more inclined to eat what I’m eating and try it!

The other two have already decided they know what they like and what they don’t, even if they never tasted it and it’s a first. But I find that the more I offer, that item they won’t touch, they do eventually try it and many times like it!

It’s not about what they eat for breakfast lunch and dinner. It’s about what they eat in general and applying that to every meal. Whatever we eat is what I offer them and they can choose what they want. I once read that if you offer a balanced meal, they will eat according to their needs. Some days it’s more protein and others it can be carbs. But this it is something from within that they can do on their own. So I always went with that.

amother

Emerald

Wed, Jul 04 2018, 11:29 am

mommy3b2c wrote:

This is literally exactly what my almost 3 year old eats.

amother

Seafoam

Wed, Jul 04 2018, 11:44 am

cucumbers, snap peas, tomatoes, carrots, peppers... ww noodles, cheese, chicken.., peanut butter and rice cake... raisins, olives, apples, melon, nature valley bars, bran flakes, cheerios, fish sticks, oatmeal, milk... basically whatever normal food I give her. My girls are thank G-d good eaters. Honestly my kids have other issues that a poor diet would exacerbate so they really need to eat healthy foods..., I can't imagine the disaster if she only would eat lebens or crackers. This isn't judging other people, just saying for my own kids with their own specific "issues"...

lefty1

Wed, Jul 04 2018, 12:41 pm

this thread made me feel a little better...
my kid eats dry cereal for breakfast. sometimes with a drinkable yogurt. snack at gan and lunch at home are some form of carb with cheese (bread, pasta) or yogurt or egg. also grapes, pear, or melon. dinner is most often chicken and occasionally she eats the vegetable depending on what it is.