I consider Little M a pretty good eater. We did BLW with him starting at 6 months. I followed his lead, paying attention to how he slept at night and when he was interested in eating. He ate one large meal of solids a day at breakfast and breastfed for the rest of the day until he was 11 months old, when we moved to two meals (second meal was a yogurt at lunch) and then eventually three meals at ~14 months. I tried to offer him lots of flavors, textures, and heat – he likes spicy – during his early meals. Even though his meal was in the morning, it was rarely “breakfast” foods! Little M has been eating three meals a day for a while, which means his breakfasts are more “breakfasty” now. But it’s still his biggest meal so I try to introduce new things to him then and do my best to focus on veggies in the morning. Except when mummy’s craving waffles, of course!
Here’s a look at what Little M ate today. It’s a pretty typical day for him.
Breakfast
smoothie, fruit & omelet
We started the day by making a smoothie together, which I’ve been making once a week lately. He used to drink smoothies every day when he was younger (one recipe would last two days), but he’s pretty good about eating veggies and seemed to be getting bored with smoothies, so I’ve cut back. While I made the smoothie he ate some blueberries. He asked for some of the banana and strawberries intended for the smoothie too.
Today’s smoothie is similar to the one I blogged about here except we use Greek yogurt now for extra protein. It has banana, a Chobani Greek yogurt (strawberry banana flavor), kale, carrots, strawberries, chia seeds and some water since the chia absorb a lot of liquid. He drank half of the smoothie straight from the food processor through a big straw before moving on to his smoothie cup.
I kept the omelet simple today: cheese and spinach. Sometimes I’ll add mushrooms or other veggies from the fridge. Today I used half a box of frozen spinach, thawed it in the microwave, squeezed out the liquid and mixed it with shredded mozzarella cheese and a few twists from the pepper grinder. I cut it into squares once it’s cooked so it’s easier for him to eat. Usually Little M will eat the entire thing in about thirty seconds, but today he left three squares behind, which I’ll give to him tomorrow morning. I think he was pretty full from the smoothie.
Little M eats breakfast with my parents via FaceTime most weekday mornings, so we gave Mamie and PawPaw a call. Today they discussed the latest snowfall at their house and the baby doll outfit that Little M and I sewed for his baby together yesterday.
Lunch
Greek yogurt, PB sandwich & smoothie
Usually lunch is at noon and nap is at 12:30, but we were at a play group this morning and I got delayed chatting as we were leaving, so lunch was at 12:30. I gave Little M a Chobani Greek yogurt and a half of a plain PB sandwich on wheat bread. I used to use a little honey or a little jam on his PB sandwiches, but stopped because I wanted to cut out the added sugar because of the treat you’ll see later in the day. We switched from Yo’Baby/Yo’Toddler yogurts a while ago too because I wanted a yogurt with less added sugar for the same reason. I was giving him plain Greek yogurt with a touch of honey from my mom’s bees, but he’s on a kick about wanting “daddy’s yogurt” lately and I’m out of plain yogurt, so daddy’s yogurt it is today.
He eats every last bite of both and asks for more. I tell him it’s time for nap and that he needs to save room for dinner. I’m pretty sure he’s one bite from exploding. Sometimes I do worry that he doesn’t have an “I’m full” signal, but he’s a really skinny little guy so all must go somewhere.
Treat!
Little M has been potty trained for a while, but he’s still wearing training underwear for nap. If he wakes up dry, I give him a little cookie. He’s dry again today so he gets a little cookie!
I’ve been using my lactation cookie recipe so his treats are little more nutritious. And I use mini chocolate chips and the tiniest cookie scoop – it’s less than a teaspoon – so they’re very small. But because they come from daddy’s cookie jar, he thinks they’re super special treats. Our potty rewards have evolved, so I’m sure the cookie treat won’t last for too long. But for now we’re doing what works.
Dinner
grilled cheese w/ tomatoes, tomato soup & peas
When we started family dinner last December right around his second birthday, Little M’s dinner became a more substantial meal rather than a bite or two as it had been for a while. I think he’s excited to have us sitting with him and to be eating what we are. We eat together as a family except when Mr. Stroller is away, and even then Little M and I will usually eat together. It’s one of my favorite times of the day.
I’ve been making a lot of meals that require significant prep time lately – quinoa risotto, squash & black bean burritos, enchiladas, just to name a few – so I decided on an easy meal tonight: grilled cheese and tomato soup. We have greenhouse tomatoes from our CSA so I load up on them in Little M’s and my sandwiches, but none in Mr. S’s since he doesn’t love raw tomatoes and I’m not wasting our delicious treats!
Mr. S and I have salads too, but Little M doesn’t really eat more than a few pieces of lettuce yet, so I heat up some frozen peas for him. He loves peas lately. Tonight he put all his peas into his tomato soup and I had a sinking feeling that he wasn’t going to eat either, but after he devoured his sandwich, he sipped all the soup and then scooped all the peas out with his spoon. I don’t ever care whether he eats one bite or fifty, but I gave him a high-five for clearing his plate tonight. A few months ago he was hesitant to eat soup even though it had been a staple in his BLW diet. Tonight was the second time he’s had soup in the past week and I think we’ve turned the corner on the soup issue, so a clean-plate-club high-five was in order.
As you can see, except for the little cookie treat, Little M doesn’t snack very much. I find that when he does, he’s much more picky at meal times and won’t always eat what I’m serving. One exception is that I will bring a snack cup with some Puffins cereal with us to tumbling class once a week so he can eat it on the way home. Class ends close to nap time and he’s usually hungry when we leave. So he eats the Puffins in the car and then has a yogurt at home before nap. I also pack the cup of puffins in my bag when we go to the grocery store to use as a distraction from all the good food going into our cart. I haven’t had to use it lately, but it makes life easier to have a little snack available when the little guy is looking at rows and rows of food for an hour. And if he wakes up early from his nap or dinner is going to be later, I’ll ask him if he wants and apple or some other fruit.
What does your toddler’s typical day of meals look like? Do you ever feel like you’re feeding a bottomless pit?
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
What a good eater you have on your hands!
blogger / kiwi / 675 posts
Very good eater! Summer is just starting solids and loving them! Gemma is my bottomless pit, lately she is eating like crazy! Average breakfast is about 5 small meals, cereal, greek yogurt, scrambled eggs, oatmeal… it is nuts! She must be growing. I love the grilled cheese with tomatoes.. G loves grilled cheese. Love these pics too!
blogger / pomegranate / 3491 posts
What a good eater!!
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
A day this week for my 22m
Breakfast: scrambled eggs on bagel, Grapes and milk. We both wohm so LO & I usually share breakfast in the car
Lunch: Vietnamese grilled pork, roasted sweet potatoes, edemame and a fruit. We don’t like daycare lunch so we always pack her lunch.
Dinner: baked Hawaiian chicken breast, saute Swiss chard W pineapple and baked sweet potatoes
blogger / pear / 1563 posts
Oh man. I’m jealous he eats so well! I WISH DS would drink smoothies! I feel like we could get so many fruits and veggies in him that way, but so far he isn’t a fan.
I’ll keep trying though.
blogger / nectarine / 2010 posts
@Mrs. Pinata: Maybe try more fruits, less veggie and slowly work in more veggies as you go?
I’m still expecting a picky stage to rear its head sometime in the future, but we take a pretty no-nonsense approach to food so I’m hoping it won’t be too bad. A girlfriend with a super picky eater said like a switch at 5 he started to branch out and is eating what she cooks now. She says she actually enjoys cooking now whereas before she passionately hated it. So there’s hope!
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
wow! He is quite the eater! J usually eats a lot but the last week or so he’s been eating a little less and slightly more picky. I am hoping it’s a phase.
guest
What a great eater! I wish my son would sit still long enough to finish his meals. My 2yr old, eats an egg for breakfast and with a piece of cheese bread. He eats some rice or noodle dish with chicken and veggies. He then takes his nap. Afterwards, we feed him fruit and yogurt. For dinner, he eats what we eat, but we cut it into small enough pieces for him to eat.
blogger / pomelo / 5361 posts
Thanks for sharing this! You gave me an epiphany that we should be giving them Greek yogurt instead of regular. They aren’t big protein eaters right now, but the love yogurt so that would be a tricky way of sneaking in some more protein.
Question: What kinds of spicy things did you give him in the earlier days? We eat a lot of spicy food, but I’ve been nervous about giving them some. Did you just give him what you ate and watched how he reacted or did you start with milder “spicy” foods and work up to hotter things? Thanks!
blogger / nectarine / 2010 posts
@Mrs. Blue: his daycare provider is from Sri Lanka and would give him her native dishes – a lot of curry lentils and rice dishes, which are spicy. Because I did BLW his morning meal was our dinner leftovers. Mr. S likes his food spicy so it had full heat. M loves Tabasco sauce and salsa – we use Pace medium, which I think is hot! I don’t like him to use katsup because of the HFCS so I offer him salsa instead. He will drink a lot of water durimg spicy meals, but keeps going back for more heat! The only season I moderate is salt, which is best for all of us, of course.
blogger / pomegranate / 3300 posts
Yes….sometimes it seems like I have four bottomless pits other days they hardly touch anything. It can be so frustrating.
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
I am dying laughing… the pictures of little M eating are all so awesome. He makes food look so yummy and even though I JUST ate my lunch, I’m hungry just watching him!!
blogger / pear / 1563 posts
@Mrs. Stroller: I wish that would work! Honestly, he just doesn’t care for liquids other than water and milk. He won’t even drink juice when we’ve tried it! So, I figure if he’s drinking water and milk I won’t push it for now.
blogger / nectarine / 2600 posts
Wow what a good eater, I wish I had one of those
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts
His meals sound good!
blogger / persimmon / 1231 posts
We so need to make some smoothies! Just trying to figure out what we want to use as our base since LD’s sans-dairy. I love that picture of M sipping it straight out of the food processor cup
blogger / nectarine / 2010 posts
@Mrs. Deer: try almond milk – I’ll use it to thin it out sometimes