Saturday, August 3, 2013

Easy snack ideas for babies & toddlers

While trying to watch a movie tonight after the girls went to bed I caught myself thinking about different types of snacks to give them tomorrow instead of actually paying attention to the movie. This brought me to get online and blog about it. I'll start off with a few things I would feed my 1 year old Emma.




 
Chopped, peeled & cored pieces of fruit are a great snack. Make sure you cut them small enough for the baby to eat. Grapes and blueberries need to be quartered. If the baby is not quite one yet and has no molars in yet be sure to cut everything the size of a pea, incase it is swallowed whole. Also, I try not to feed my one year old apples yet. Even when I peel them I notice she still has problems chewing through it enough (maybe she just tries to eat it too fast).
 
 
Yogurt is something else that is an easy option. There are a ton of those yogurt shops open now like pinkberry, yogurtland and sweetspot (just to name a few). Those shops are so yummy and every time I tell my girls I'm taking them out for ice cream, I trick them and take them to a yogurt shop. I think it taste just as good as ice cream and its healthier (depending on what you top it with).
 
 
Avocado is a healthy fat and little ones need healthy fats. Dice up some of this and let them give it a try.
 
Everyone loves cheese cubes, right?! With so many different types of cheeses out there, your little one should have a great time trying out all the flavors.
 
 
 
Cooked pasta is another favorite in my house. Fast, easy and inexpensive.
 
 
Every now and then make some homemade muffins. Toppings such as peanuts and other hard and crunchy toppings are not good for babies but better for toddlers and those who have more experience with chewing. If you have a younger baby around, skip the hard-to-chew ingredients on theirs. That's the best part of making them from home, you choose what goes in them!
 
 
My 3 year old Alina LOVES smoothies! Her grandma got her into this as a breakfast favorite. This like muffins and any other homemade item is a good option for kiddos. A lot of the times they refuse to eat certain things because they are not sure what is in them. Making these with your child around can help them see with their own eyes that the only thing being used to make these are things they like to eat. Every now and then when they aren't looking you can always throw in something like kale that has amazing nutrients in it and taste much better then people give it credit for.
 
 
Trail mix is another favorite for Alina. She gets the healthier foods like almonds, nuts and dried raisins as well as the colorful bits of chocolate.
 
One of my favorite snacks for the hot summers is frozen grapes. Almost half the time I always forget to put the grapes in the freezer so I don't eat them as much as I'd like but when I do remember, its a nice healthy way to cool down. (I don't recommend frozen grapes for babies)
 
 
A favorite snack during a cold winter for me are mini pigs in a blanket with some hot chocolate. If they are just snacks, make them mini sized. For meals or sides to a meal a regular sized pig in a blanket is more filling.
 
 
 
Now I'm off to bed and this post made me hungry! Not good..
 


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