Give Healthy Snacks to your Baby
Your older baby or toddler may seem constantly hungry—how do you satisfy a never-ending need to eat? Remember their stomachs are only the size of their fist, and they can stretch to fit more food. Snacks are important, but it is especially important to make them healthy since they will have at least as many snacks as meals. Here are 15 ideas.
- Cheese. Give the older baby grated cheese and the toddler cheese sticks or cubes.
- Whole Wheat Bread. Cut a slice of bread into four pieces. For each snack tear one piece into bite-size bits. Occasionally put a thin layer of butter, jam or other spreads on the bread.
- Whole-grain Cheerios.
- Cut grapes. Cut the grape in half, and then slice each half in the opposite direction so you have very thin half-moon-shaped pieces. Expect the peels to come out in the baby’s diaper.
- Yogurt.
- Whole-grain crackers.
- Diluted Juice. Mix equal parts of grape juice (or orange or apple juice) and water for your baby over 12 months old. Un-diluted juice has too much sugar.
- Dried peaches (or any other fruit). Remember to give your baby lots of water with dried foods.
- Freeze-dried strawberries. These are often available at Wal-marts or online. Again remember to give your baby water.
- Unsweetened applesauce.
- Whole-wheat tortilla pieces. Break the tortilla into four pieces. For each snack tear one piece into bite-size bits.
- Apple slices.
- Orange slices. Cut each orange slice in 3-5 pieces.
- Milk. Give your baby whole milk if he or she is over 12 months old, and formula if not.
- Jello. Use fruit juice to flavor your jello.
Whenever possible let your baby feed him or herself. Do not force your baby to eat if he or she doesn’t want to. Most importantly, always make sure that what you are feeding your baby is safe—if it is a choking hazard (like grapes) you can cut it small enough to be safe. Let snack time be a fun and healthy time for you and your baby!
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Great tips. I always make sure I feed my two little ones healthy snacks. Make sure you cut food into tiny pieces before serving to your toddler. If the pieces are the size of the tip of your thumb or larger they are too big. Make sure food is small enough so it doesn’t get lodged in your child’s throat.