weaning foods Archives - Easy Mommy Life

I have received a lot of queries on Instagram about what my toddler eats. Starting this month I’m launching a series called “What my toddler eats in a week”. This way other mothers can get an idea of what to offer toddlers. There are very few blog posts and videos online about Indian weaning foods past the initial stage. Hope this series acts as an inspiration for your toddler meals.

Disclaimer: I am not a nutritionist, and this is not a portrayal of an ideal diet. Any dietary issues you may face with your child need to be consulted with a doctor and trained nutritionist.

We practice baby led weaning in our home. And I try my best to bring variety to my child’s meals taking all the information I have about food and nutrition into consideration.

We are still breastfeeding at 20 months and breastfeeding consists of 2-3 feeds in the day and 2-3 feeds in the night. I don’t give him any other milk daily, but I do make almond milk at home once or twice a month, and also switch between offering cows milk or goat’s milk from time to time. Its not a daily; “have one glass of milk” type of thing. He gets his nutrition primarily from breast milk and solid foods.

At present he eats 3 full meals and 2 snacks, but there are days he can have as many as 6-7 mini meals a day. I just go with the flow. Being baby led weaned, he eats family meals. But since he eats frequently I prepare many mini meals throughout the day to keep him fed. So the main meals are what we all eat together as a family and the rest are sometimes made especially for him.

I haven’t added pictures of every meal either because many times dinner is the same as lunch or because a hungry toddler didn’t give me enough time to set up the plate and click a picture. To keep it uniform I stuck to 4 pictures a day with detailed description of everything he ate in the day.

Let’s begin,

Monday

Breakfast: Started the week with oats pancake and two hard-boiled quail eggs
Snack 1: Bowl of muskmelon
Lunch: Dal, rice, capsicum sabzi, and a side of mushrooms sautéed in butter.
Snack 2: Sprouted jowar porridge. I simply soak the sprouted jowar in water for 15 minutes. Then cook in 1:2 proportion water and let it cook until the water is absorbed. Towards the end of cook time I add a teaspoon on ghee and cardamom powder.
Dinner: Was the same as lunch.

Tuesday

Breakfast: Pohe. My husband makes some yummy maharashtrian breakfast dishes. Pohe is one of his specialties. (Flattened rice savory breakfast dish)
Snack 1: Chikoo, My son loves fruits and chikoos are one of his favorites. He had 2 chikoos as a snack this day.
Lunch: Dal, rice, okra sabzi, boiled and grated beetroot salad.
Snack 2: Leftover pohe from breakfast, some oat balls, and raisins.
Dinner: Pasta dish. We usually add whatever vegetables are left over in the house. Today in the tomato sauce I added broccoli, onions, leftover green and yellow capsicums. Pasta is a hit with my son; we make pasta atleast once or sometimes even twice a week. Also, its super easy for me to quickly whip up a one-pot pasta meal for dinner. We use whole-wheat pasta.

Wednesday

Breakfast: Upma, Little A’s grandma was home and she made delicious upma.
Snack 1: Watermelon and Brazil nuts. Now the thing is, my son is obsessed with watermelon. As a mother I feel like he is only getting in tiny amounts of calories through this watery fruit. So I made a Brazil nut powder and served that too on the side. This way he is taking in some healthy fats along with the watermelon.
Lunch: Dal, rice, cabbage and okra sabzi.
Snack 2: 2 hard-boiled quail eggs and oranges.
Snack 3: Oats pancake with teaspoon of honey.
Dinner: Dal, rice, cabbage sabzi and grated beetroot salad.

Thursday

Breakfast: Pohe once again. Yes, we eat the same foods on repeat!
Snack 1: Chapatti, banana, chikoo. We use a wheat flour and ragi flour mix to make our chapatti. Ragi is a good source of iron. I spread almond butter on the chapatti.
Lunch: Chickpea curry and rice.
Snack 2: Watermelon and scrambled duck egg.
Dinner: Chickpea curry, rice and thalipeeth. In my post on baby led weaning breakfast ideas I mentioned my cheats version to having thalipeeth flour ready at home always. This helps me out on days when I am running out of ideas and I can quickly whip up a snack or a side like this for my son.

Friday

Breakfast: Idli and coconut chutney
Snack 1: Overnight oats; I add whatever is available at home to the oats in the night. This day I added, oats, almond milk, almond butter, chia seeds, banana, desiccated coconut and hemp seeds. This one is again one of my son’s absolute favorites.
Lunch: Dal, rice, cauliflower sabzi, grated beetroot salad.
Snack 2: Paneer (cottage cheese), potato patty.
Dinner: Dal, rice, sautéed mushrooms and steamed broccoli with a drizzle of olive oil. We ran out of the lunch vegetables. Hubby and I wanted to eat some take out, so I quickly made Little A some sautéed mushrooms and steamed broccoli to go along with his dal rice.

Saturday

Breakfast: Idli. He didn’t want any chutney with his idli. Toddler food choices are random; one day they enjoy eating one thing and the next day they don’t want to touch the same. We don’t fret over it, we just move on to planning the next meal and he usually forgets about his own specifications in the coming days. The key takeaway here is don’t stop preparing things because your toddler won’t eat, repeated exposure makes them get over their initial apprehensions.
Snack 1: Strawberries and some more plain idli’s!
Lunch: Dal, rice, dum aloo (baby potatoes) and spinach sabzi. He was ravenously hungry by this time and loved the dum aloo dish. Win for mommy!
Snack 2: Milkshake (goat’s milk, banana, cardamom powder, and saffron)
Dinner: Same as lunch.

Sunday

Breakfast: Dosa and chutney. So today with dosa he enjoyed dipping his chutney and eating it. This proves their choices vary every day.
Snack 1: Oats balls and raisins.
Lunch: Dal, rice, pumpkin sabzi
Snack 2: Uttapa and chutney, I used the dosa batter to make a thicker pancake called uttapa.
Snack 3: Coconut water and tender coconut meat.
Snack 4: Duck egg, chapatti with almond butter and chikoo
Dinner: Mushroom fried rice. There are days like this where he keeps asking for meals, so I make him many mini meals throughout the day.
If you want to take a look at some more snack ideas I use for my son you can check this post on how I get my child to eat healthy everyday for some recipes I shared.

Since I get a lot of questions about some of our baby led weaning equipment and pantry products, I have included a mini favorites list below:

Equipment:

Favorite Pantry Products:

We buy most of our organic staples like rice and dals from Amazon Pantry. The rest like eggs,milk, fresh fruits and vegetables we either buy organic from Nature’s Basket stores or local vendors.

I hope you found this post useful. If you have any specific queries or want to know more about products I use leave me a comment below.

For more food ideas for your child follow me on Instagram. I regularly upload pictures of what my son eats in a day.

For more recipes for toddlers 12-18 months

and what my toddler eats in a week, read here.

There are a lot of negative connotations associated with the word “fat”. But growing children need healthy fats in their diets. Fats are important for their proper growth and developmemt.

Importance of fats

The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) states that:

Fats are the main source of energy for satisfactory growth and physical activity during early infancy.

Fats should also be considered in terms of their structural function during the first two years of life. They provide the fatty acids and cholesterol needed to form cell membranes in all the organs. Moreover, important organs such as the retina and the central nervous system are mainly composed of fats.

Most of the fats needed to form these tissues are essential fatty acids (EFAs) which cannot be synthesized by the organism and have to be acquired through nutrition.

Mother’s milk has a special fat composition that makes it unique for good child nutrition.

But how to go about including fats in a child’s diet post the exclusive breastfeeding stage. Let’s read on.

Recommendations

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) states that “no restriction of fat and cholesterol is recommended for infants <2 years when rapid growth and development require high energy intakes.” The fast growth of infants requires an energy-dense diet with a higher percentage of kilocalories from fat than is needed by older children.

Keep total fat intake between 30 to 35 percent of calories for children 2 to 3 years of age and between 25 to 35 percent of calories for children and adolescents 4 to 18 years of age, with most fats coming from sources of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, such as fish, nuts and vegetable oils.

Types of Fats

Unsaturated Fats

Are considered as good fats because they can improve blood cholesterol levels and reduce inflammation. Unsaturated fats are predominantly found in foods from plants, such as vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds.

Unsaturated fats are further classified into monounsaturated fats (e.g almonds, pecans, pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds, avocados) and polyunsaturated fats (e.g fish, oils of soybean, flaxseed, sunflower, and nuts like walnuts)

Saturated Fats

Are considered as bad fats as they raise the levels of bad LDL cholesterol in the blood. And the rise in LDL cholesterol is linked to risk for heart disease.

But as long as saturated fats are a part of an otherwise healthy and balanced diet they are not that harmful to health. The key takeaway here is that saturated fats have to be consumed in moderation.

That was the background on fats, now getting to the part where I give examples of the different types of fats and how to incorporate them into every meal.

These are strategies I use at home and work for my family. I offer my son all types of fats, keeping the saturated sources from natural foods to a minimum and avoiding trans fat-containing processed foods altogether.

Different families and cultural backgrounds give all of us biases in our choices of healthy fats. I am in no way prescribing a specific diet or way of eating food. For specific advice regarding your child and family kindly consult the experts in the field. Use this blog post more as information to help plan your family meals.

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way lets get started with the different sources of healthy fats and how you can incorporate them into different meals throughout the day.

Nuts

Nuts have an abundance of good fats in them. Though young children won’t be able to eat them whole, there are many ways in which you can include nuts in their diets. Don’t give whole round shaped nuts and seeds to young children for risk of choking.

Nut Powder Walnuts, almonds, pecans, pistachios, can be powdered and stay well in a cool environment in an airtight box for about 7 days. They might last longer in other dry climates.

Breakfast – Add the powdered walnuts to oatmeal or any other porridge or chia pudding.

Nut Butter You can make nut butter at home or buy from the market. Look for ones that have no salt and sugar added. Varieties include almond, peanut, cashew.

Snacks – Spread over rice cakes. spread over whole wheat chapati, add a spoonful to oats, offer as a dip with apple and pear slices.

Almond Meal Almond meal leftover from making almond milk can be added to soups. To give your baby’s soup some density and flavor.

Lunch/Dinner – I add the leftover almond meal to broccoli soup and make a pesto sauce with it that can be used in pasta or on sandwiches.

The combination of broccoli soup and pesto pasta for dinner is one such go to dinner for us on days I make almond milk at home. It’s a great way to reduce waste and make a yummy meal too.

Cashews are a great option to add to the base of any curry dish.

Lunch/Dinner – You can make a cashew paste and add to chicken curries, vegetable curries, koftas.

Groundnut In India we get whole groundnuts in the market, boil these in a pressure cooker for 3-4 whistles until soft and give older children (5 years and above) as a snack.

Seeds

Another powerhouse of good fats is seeds. Examples of seeds that you can use for your family are sesame seeds, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, chia seeds.

Breakfast – Roast flaxseed and make a powder. Store in airtight containers. This powder can be used daily as a topping on your child’s oats porridge.

Snack – Sesame paste can be used to add to dippings like hummus or in salad dressing.

Roast pumpkin seeds and offer as a snack to older kids (above 5 years of age)

Sesame seeds can be used in homemade granola bars and energy balls.

Oils

I change my cooking oils from time to time to bring some variety in flavor to the dishes we make at home. We use everything from sunflower oil, soyabean oil, to coconut oil, sesame oil, groundnut oil, mustard oil.

Olive oil and sesame oil can be used to dress salads, pasta, and quinoa bowls.

There is a lot of debate on which oils are best suited to human health. I will be honest, I have not been able to understand the shifting trends with oils. So I use ones that work well with Indian cooking and are cold pressed as they maintain the nutritional value of the seed.

Avocados

Avocados are a rich source of monounsaturated fats and sometimes referred to as Butter fruit, because of their high-fat content. They are packed in omega 3 fatty acids and a whole bunch of vitamins and minerals like Vit B6, Vit C, Vit A, Vit K, manganese, calcium, and potassium. Makes it a must include fat for little ones.

Breakfast – Avocado and egg on toast.

Snack – Chopped avocado with salt and pepper, spread on rice cakes, dipping sauce like guacamole, avocado smoothies.

Lunch/Dinner – Avocado and quinoa bowl, include as a side in the form of avocado and egg salad to your kid’s meal.

Coconut

Coconuts contain fat that is mostly in the form of medium chain saturated fatty acids (MCFAs) in particular, one called lauric acid. Lauric acid is converted in the body into a highly beneficial compound called monolaurin. This compound helps protect against infectious diseases. In India, we are blessed with an abundance of this tropical fruit. My son loves coconut and all coconut dishes.

Coconut Meat Fresh grated coconut meat is super delicious as is and can be used to prepare snacks for little ones.

Snack – Malida is a grated coconut and beaten rice snack, served with jaggery.

Desiccated Coconut is nutty flavored and crunchy to eat.

Snack – Add desiccated coconut as toppings to homemade chia puddings, overnight oats, homemade icecreams.

Coconut Milk This creamy milk can be used to make thick Indian and Thai curries or as a base in pancake recipes.

Eggs

Eggs are a source of a combination of monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and saturated fats. Eggs are a great option for proteins and essential vitamins like Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D. Also, it’s so easy to make a number of yummy dishes by incorporating eggs.

Breakfast – Hard boiled egg, Scrambled egg, Egg Omellete.

Lunch/Dinner – Egg curries, egg sandwichs, egg and avocado salad, egg fried rice.

Meat and Fish

Most health organizations advice sticking to lean meats and fish when it comes to meat. Not all kids take a liking to meat from the beginning, you can try with simpler preparations liked steaming fish, pan frying fish, meat mince gravies etc.

Dairy Products

Full Fat Yogurt and Milk is recommended until age 2.

Cottage Cheese and Cheese are other great options. Pan fry cottage cheese or add to gravies like palak paneer. Cheese can be offered as a snack as is, or in sandwiches, pasta, etc.

Butter and Ghee As adults most of us shy away from butter and ghee, but these are great options to add to kids meals.

Breakfast- Butter on toast, butter/ghee in porridge.

Meals- Butter in pasta dishes, butter in soups, pan sear fish with butter and garlic, stirfry vegetables in butter, add ghee to chappati and dals.

Snacks- Can be yogurt bowls, smoothies for kids or frozen yogurt bark.

Strategies To Using Fats For Kids

When selecting meats and fish, choose good quality produce. Clean and store the meat well.
Include fats in some way in every meal of baby. This increases the energy density of the meal and satiety level for your child.
Mix it up from time to time. Kids get bored with the same flavors. Try different combinations and varieties of fats.
Keep the level of unsaturated fats high compared to the saturated fats in your child’s meals.
Stay away from trans fats, these are found in processed foods like biscuits, candies, noodles and other packeted items. There is a lifetime to try these foods. Let’s give the first preference to building a healthy food foundation for our kids.

My aim with writing this post was to compile a list of all sources of fats for children. Sometimes as mothers we tend to get stuck in a rut and feel a lack of inspiration when it comes to offering meals. I hope this post can be used as a resource for healthy fat ideas by mothers.

If you like what you read, do leave me a comment below and follow me back on Facebook and Instagram for more ideas.

What My Toddler Eats In A Week