How to Make Sure Your Toddler Eats a Balanced Diet
It’s not just a parenting cliché, it’s a fact: Toddlers are notoriously picky eaters. Sure, you might be the lucky parent whose kid will eat a rainbow variety of wholesome, nutritious food at every meal and snack time—but know that most parents struggle to get their little eaters to try anything that’s new, colorful, slightly flavorful, textured, aromatic, or in any way different than the simple carbs that make up the stereotypical toddler diet.
The good news is, for most toddlers the beige-food diet is just a stage—one they will outgrow. But there are little things you can do now to help foster a taste for nutritious whole foods, while also making sure they get the vitamins and nutrients they need to grow healthy and strong. Add these tools to your mealtime kit.
Add power ingredients to familiar foods
If protein is a problem, add protein boosts to other dishes: make extra-eggy french toast, swipe hummus on turkey or cheese sandwiches, make cottage cheese pancakes. For veggie-averse toddlers, layer vitamin-packed veggies into your favorite dishes: Think butternut mac and cheese, carrot puree-enriched marinara sauce, cauliflower “cream” sauce, and zucchini muffins. While you might choose to keep silent about the secret ingredient while they take their first few bites, once it appears they’re enjoying the food, tell them what’s in it. This way, they’ll have positive food memories around say, zucchini, and might be more inclined to try that vegetable again in the future.
Supplement with toddler nutritional drink
This supplemental beverage can help give your picky lovebug a nutritional leg up. Aussie Bubs toddler nutritional drinks are nutritionally balanced with either whole-fat cow or goat milk, vitamins A, B, C, and E, calcium, magnesium, and zinc, and both prebiotic and probiotic. And they have the same great taste as Bubs infant formulas, with the same clean ingredients list and no sketchy extras like GMO, corn syrup, maltodextrin, growth hormones, artificial sweeteners, chemicals, pesticides, colors or preservatives.
Toddler nutritional drinks can be a familiar-tasting and nutritious supplement to your toddler’s developing diet as a beverage—just stack those credentials up against the standard “juice” box, and see what makes more sense for your family. It can also also be incorporated into different recipes in order to boost their vitamin and nutrient intake. Try using freshly-prepared toddler formula in homemade veggie muffins, a blueberry smoothie, mashed potatoes, pancakes, and even macaroni and cheese.
Model healthy eating patterns
Studies have shown that when parents eat fruits and vegetables and other nutritious foods in front of their children, kids are likely to be less picky about their own meals. While you’re munching on those melon slices or rainbow carrots, be sure to talk about the flavors and textures of the food you’re eating, to help build your child’s food vocabulary. For example, “these carrots are sweet and crunchy” or “this melon is smooth and refreshing.” The more your little one is able to articulate what they do like, the easier it will be for you to suggest similar foods they might enjoy.
Offer choices
No need to roll out a holiday-worthy buffet, but giving children a choice between two different vegetables, fruits, proteins, or sides can help empower them and potentially lead to actual eating. So offer broccoli and cauliflower, or chicken and black beans, or brown rice and potatoes. Ask them to taste each one, and decide which they’d like to eat. (And if you’re really lucky, maybe they’ll want both!) You can also bring choice into meal planning by asking your toddler whether the family should have this or that tonight for dinner. Then at mealtime, be sure to credit your little one with deciding on the meal.
