Feeding Your One Year-Old (1)

            From birth to six months of age, feed your infant breast milk or formula. Start solids at 6 months of age and gradually advance the consistency up to 9 months. Don’t worry about how or what you introduce or what order different foods are begun. After 9 months, allow the infant to feed himself and allow him to eat whatever the rest of the family is eating at the same time that the rest of the family is eating.

            Up until one year of age, an infant can still have breast milk or formula between meals or before bed. Moms who continue breast-feeding beyond a year of age should still establish regular meals and give breast feedings between meals.

            Start with three meals a day eaten with the family. Don’t teach the child to be a fussy eater. Don’t cater to “likes” or “dislikes” by offering substitutions. The toddler who hates peas on Monday will love them on Wednesday, so put the peas on the plate and don’t worry.  A toddler who is hungry will eat what is in front of him. “Picky feeding” has a lot more to do with a box of fruit juice and a handful of goldfish crackers 30 minutes before dinner than what is on the menu.

            Toddlers are grazers and eat multiple times a day. But that isn’t what leads to obesity and poor eating habits. Many excellent diet plans are based on multiple, healthy, small feedings a day. The problem comes when the parent gives the toddler fruit snacks, crackers and juice all day long. These foods are high in sugar and low in nutritional benefit and have no place in anyone’s diet. (The same goes for soft drinks, sport drinks, energy drinks, vitamin water drinks and all other forms of added caloric, sweetened water) Rather than teaching the toddler that he should eat a constant stream of sugar all day, have breakfast and then don’t give anything to eat until the child acts hungry. When that happens, stop what you are doing, go to the kitchen and have a healthy snack – real fruit and a glass of water. When the toddler starts to play with the food rather than eat it, take him out of the highchair and go back to what you were doing. Teach the child that we only eat in one room of the house and, when we eat, we stop other activities. Conversely, when we are doing other activities, we are not constantly eating. Give one serving of milk with big meals three times a day and nothing but water to drink at any other time of day. That includes nap and nighttime. If you never put cow’s milk into a baby bottle, your child will never know it is possible to get cow’s milk into a bottle and will never ask for it. After a year of age, the only thing that goes into a bottle is water. If you follow that rule, you will never have a problem with bottles. Milk and juice in a bottle after a year of age gives the toddler excess calorie intake, teaches him the habit of sucking on sugar all day and it ruins the teeth.

            As the old song says, poor feeding habits and picky feeding habits “have to be carefully taught”. The time between one and two years of age is the parent’s opportunity to give the child the gift of healthy eating habits for life.