Food diet for 2 year old baby
Feeding & Nutrition Tips: Your 2-Year-Old
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With your two-year-old's blossoming language and social skills, they're ready to become an active mealtime participant. They should no longer be drinking from a bottle, and can eat the same food as the rest of the family. Their diet should now include three healthy meals a day, plus one or two snacks.
Here are some tips to help your little one develop healthy, safe eating habits and get the nutrition their growing bodies need.
Mealtime tips for toddlers
Try not to fixate on amounts of food they are eating.
Avoid making mealtimes a battle.
Pay attention to adopting healthy eating habits—including sitting as a family at mealtime.
Focus on making healthy food choices as a family.
Unsafe foods for toddlers: choking risks
At two years old, your child should be able to use a spoon, drink from a cup with just one hand, and feed themselves a wide variety of finger foods. However, they are still learning to chew and swallow efficiently and may gulp food down when in a hurry to get on with playing. For that reason, the risk of choking at this age is high.
Avoid these foods, which could be swallowed whole and block the windpipe:
Hot dogs (unless cut in quarters lengthwise before being sliced)
Chunks of peanut butter (Peanut butter may be spread thinly on bread or a cracker, but never give chunks of peanut butter to a toddler.)
Nuts—especially peanuts
Raw cherries with pits
Round, hard candies—including jelly beans
Gum
Whole grapes
Marshmallows
Raw carrots, celery, green beans
Popcorn
Seeds—such as processed pumpkin or sunflower seeds
Whole grapes, cherry tomatoes (cut them in quarters)
Large chunks of any food such as meat, potatoes, or raw vegetables and fruits
The best foods for toddlers include:
Protein foods like meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, nuts, seeds and soy
Dairy such as milk, yogurt, cheese or calcium-fortified soymilk
Fruits and vegetables
Grains such as whole wheat bread and oatmeal
It is normal for toddlers to choose from a limited number of foods, reject foods entirely, and then change their preferences over time.
Never force your child to eat something they do not want to eat. The best approach is to let your child to choose from 2 to 3 healthy options, and continue to offer new foods as their tastes change.
Offering a variety of foods and leaving the choices up to your child will eventually allow them to eat a balanced diet on their own. Toddlers also like to feed themselves. So, whenever possible, offer your child finger foods instead of cooked ones that require a fork or spoon to eat.
Supplements for some children
Vitamin supplements are rarely necessary for toddlers who eat a varied diet, with a few exceptions.
Vitamin D. Infants under 12 months of age require 400 International Units (IU) of vitamin D per day and older children and adolescents require 600 IU per day. This amount of vitamin D can prevent rickets—a condition characterized by the softening and weakening of bones. If your child is not regularly exposed to sunlight or is consuming enough vitamin D in their diet, talk to your pediatrician about a vitamin D supplement.
See Vitamin D for Babies, Children & Adolescents for more information and a list of vitamin D-enriched foods.
Iron. Supplemental iron may be needed if your child eats very little meat, iron-fortified cereal, or vegetables rich in iron. Large quantities of milk (more than 32 ounces [960 mL] per day) also may interfere with the proper absorption of iron, increasing the risk of iron deficiency anemia.
Calcium. Your child should drink 16 ounces (480 mL) of low-fat or nonfat milk each day. This will provide most of the calcium they need for bone growth and still not interfere with their appetite for other foods—particularly those that provide iron.
Note: Children stay on whole milk until they are two years of age—unless there is a reason to switch a baby to low-fat milk sooner. Whole milk contains approximately 4% milk fat. It may help to gradually switch your child from whole milk to a lower-fat milk.
Therefore, many pediatricians recommend that children get reduced fat (2%) milk for a few weeks before switching them to low fat (1%) or no fat (skim) milk.
More information
- Sample Menu for a Two-Year-Old
- Feeding & Nutrition Tips: Your 3-Year-Old
- Selecting Snacks for Toddlers
- I Need a Treat: How to Tame Your Child's Sweet Tooth
- Diagnosis and Prevention of Iron Deficiency and Iron Deficiency Anemia in Infants and Young Children (0-3 Years of Age) (AAP Clinical Report)
- Last Updated
- 9/6/2022
- Source
- American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Obesity (Copyright © 2022)
The information contained on this Web site should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician. There may be variations in treatment that your pediatrician may recommend based on individual facts and circumstances.
Sample Daily Toddler Meal Plan (And Feeding Schedules)
Deciding what to feed your toddler every day can be a challenge so these sample toddler meal plans, feeding schedules, and information on what and when to feed, should help eliminate some of the confusion.
Toddler Meal Plan
To give you examples of what a toddler might eat in a day, I have 5 sample toddler meal plans from my own real life when my middle kiddo was 2 years old. These days represent average days and will show how an appetite might fluctuate and the diversity of foods that we can be offering to our toddlers.
What should toddlers eat?
Each day, toddlers should have a mix of:
- Protein from dairy, nuts/legumes (in forms that are safe for their age), meat, poultry, and fish.
- Complex carbohydrates from whole grains and produce including sweet potatoes and squash.
- Healthy fats such as avocado, flax seed, chia seed, hemp seed, egg yolks, and nuts and seeds.
- Produce including fruits and veggies.
Toddlers also need iron-rich foods and fiber-rich foods, which they’ll naturally get if they eat from a mix of categories above. It’s also a good idea to aim to serve them a wide range of foods to ensure that they’re getting the nutrition they need to grow—and to help avoid falling into a rut of picky eating.
This may sound overwhelming, but really, if you aim for 1-2 food groups minimum at most meals and vary what you serve throughout the week, you don’t need to spend time tracking food groups or counting grams, promise.
TIP: Get a printable Toddler Daily Nutrition Chart here.
How many meals a day should a toddler have?
Most toddlers will do well with three main meals and two smaller snacks a day. Tune in to your toddler though because they may prefer a snack first thing, then breakfast later in the morning at what is typically morning snack time. Many toddlers are also hungry for a dinner-size meal at 4 pm and would be satisfied with a smaller snack closer to bedtime.
You can adjust as needed.
TIP: It can help to think of all of the food your child eats in one day as “mini meals” and to serve the same sorts of foods at each meal—instead of saving “snack” foods for just snack times. That can improve your kiddo’s disposition at all meals!
How much time should I allow between toddler meals?
Depending on the age of your toddler, and their activity level, whether they have a cold, and what you’re up to, etc, you can aim for 2-3 hours between meals and snacks. That window of time will give them plenty of time to work up an appetite, which can help them be more interested in eating what you serve them.
Having set meal and snack times is a good routine to aim for since it can set a cadence to your day and help your toddler know what to expect. (I.E., try not to allow grazing on snacks all day since that is the fastest way to ruin an appetite for an actual meal!)
TIP: Learn what to do when your toddler won’t eat here.
Toddler Feeding Schedule
Here’s a look at three sample options for toddler feeding schedules that might work for your toddler. These are not set in stone because I realize that everyone has a different daily schedule but are meant to be examples for you to consider and adjust.
- 7 am: Breakfast
- 9:30 am: Morning Snack
- 12 pm: Lunch
- (1 pm nap)
- 3 pm: Afternoon Snack
- 5:30 pm: Dinner
OR
- 6 am: Breakfast
- 9 am: Morning Snack
- 11:30 am: Lunch
- (12 pm nap)
- 2:30 pm: Afternoon Snack
- 5:30: Fruits and/or Veggies while waiting for dinner
- 6 pm: Dinner
1 Year Old Feeding Schedule
For a one year old who’s still taking two naps a day and having bottles or breastfeeding, here’s a look at what their schedule might be. (For more info on how to wean a toddler and gradually drop bottles or breastfeeding (if you want to), this post has all of the weaning info you might need.
)
- 6 am bottle or breastfeeding
- 7 am: Breakfast
- 9 am: Morning Snack
- (9:30 am nap)
- 10:30 am bottle or breastfeeding
- 11:30 am: Lunch
- (1 pm nap)
- 2:30 bottle or breastfeeding
- 3:30 pm: Afternoon Snack
- 5:30 pm: Dinner
- 6:30: bottle or breastfeeding
- (7pm bedtime)
TIP: Find out more about 1 Year Old Feeding Schedules here.
Toddler Meal Plan for 2 Year Old
Here’s a look at a few sample toddler meal plans from real life with my two year old. This first was a weekend day and we typically go lighter on snacks to help our toddler have an appetite for her meals. She ate a solid breakfast this day so the banana was all she needed for her morning snack.
- Breakfast: Applesauce Waffles, applesauce, nut butter
- Morning Snack: Banana, water
- Lunch: Spinach Pesto Pasta with Peas, grapes, fruit leather, milk
- Afternoon Snack: Cherry tomatoes, raisins
- Dinner: ½ Cheesy Meat Bun, broccoli, milk
Sample Toddler Meal Plan Day Two
This toddler menu was another sample day in our life.
On this day, my two year old ate more substantial snacks and didn’t eat all of her main meals, as sometimes happens.
- Breakfast: Breakfast Cookie, reusable pouch with plain whole milk yogurt
- Morning Snack: Cheese stick, clementine
- Lunch: Butternut Squash Apple Soup, Veggie Straws, fresh snap peas with ranch (she didn’t eat all of this and mostly ignored the soup!)
- Afternoon Snack: Joe’s O’s, kiwi, milk
- Dinner: Taco filling with ground beef, peppers, beans, and corn; cheese quesadilla (she mostly ate the quesadilla in this meal)
Sample Toddler Meal Plan Day Three
I love to make a batch of muffins on the weekend to have on hand for easy weekday breakfasts—and the Banana Oatmeal Muffins are always a hit with my kids.
- Breakfast: Banana Oatmeal Muffin, cantaloupe, milk
- Morning Snack: Sauteed Cinnamon Apples
- Lunch: Bean and Cheese Quesadilla, corn, Roasted Zucchini, Strawberry Applesauce
- Afternoon Snack: Cheese Crackers
- Dinner: Teriyaki Shrimp with Zucchini and rice
Sample Meal Plan Day Four
This may or may not be the right amount of food for your child, so adjust what you serve based on their typical hunger patterns and allow more food if they let you know they’re still hungry.
- Breakfast: Spinach Pancakes, pineapple, peanut butter
- Am Snack: Siggi’s 2% yogurt, cucumbers
- Lunch: Sweet Potato Grilled Cheese, peppers, freeze-dried strawberries, chocolate chip cookies
- PM Snack: Cheese stick and clementine
- Dinner: Egg Muffins with veggies, salsa, applesauce, Triscuits
Sample Meal Plan Day Five
We do oatmeal at least twice a week and I’ve found that having it in a regular cadence each week increases the likelihood that my toddler will be happy to eat it.
- Breakfast: Oatmeal with blueberries
- Am Snack: Banana
- Lunch: Carrot Cake Muffins, Roasted Carrot Fries, cottage cheese, grapes
- PM Snack: Cottage cheese, raspberries, graham crackers
- Dinner: Baked Chicken Tenders, Cheesy Rice with Carrots, watermelon
TIP: My kiddo was on a cottage cheese kick on this day, hence having it twice.
How do I know if my toddler is eating enough?
If your toddler is healthy and is energetic, is meeting milestones and is gaining weight, you can trust them to eat as much as they need for their hunger assuming there are no medical issues at play.
(If there are medical concerns, always check in with your pediatrician.)
To help them do this, try to:
- Limit distractions at the table, turning off screens so they can focus on their food.
- Sit with them while they eat so they start to learn table manners and can mimic what they see you doing.
- Don’t pressure them to eat more than they seem to want.
- Read up on the Division of Responsibility in Feeding to avoid power struggles.
- Set meal times and decide what to feed at each meal.
- Let the kids decide what of the food to eat and how much.
- Aim to serve a variety of healthy foods throughout the week.
- Remember that just because a toddler refuses a food doesn’t mean that they don’t like it.
- Keep foods you want them to eat in regular rotation so they’re familiar.
- Serve small portions to avoid overwhelming the kids.
- Be patient, they’re still learning!
- Remember that appetites naturally fluctuate and that is not a cause for concern.
TIP: Learn more about normal picky eating in toddlers.
There’s No Such Thing As a Perfect Toddler Diet
And most of all, take images of meals that other kids are eating with a grain of salt. No two kids are the same, no two families are the same. There is not one perfect way to feed a toddler, but I hope that seeing some examples do help!
Click here for a printable Daily Toddler Nutrition Guide.
I’d love to know how you approach toddler meals and timing in your house, so please comment below to share!
2 year old child's menu with recipes
Menu author: Natalia Dik — pediatrician. She graduated from the Chelyabinsk Medical Academy, clinical internship and residency, specialty pediatrics. She has been working in her specialty since 2007, from 2005-2008 she has been the head of the Allergy Department of the City Clinical Hospital No. 1 of Chelyabinsk, since 2008 she has been a specialist in clinical trials of drugs. She enjoys cooking and practices the Menu of the Week system in her daily life. |
By the age of two, most babies are able to eat many foods and dishes on their own, there is no need to grind food in a blender or knead with a fork. Rejoicing at such changes, some parents want to give the baby to try more new dishes. Some, on the contrary, are afraid to introduce something new, and they are in no hurry to transfer it to the general table. There is some common sense in both approaches. Although the digestive system of a two-year-old baby is already much more mature compared to a one-year-old, nevertheless, it is not yet strong enough. Therefore transition to adult food should be gradual .
The sample menu for week below is suitable not only for feeding a two-year-old child, but also for the whole family.
Do not worry if one of the days the child has not eaten all the dishes you have prepared.
Our ideas about how much a two-year-old baby should eat often differ from reality in the direction of overestimation. In addition, children may have their own characteristics and preferences. Everything new is best offered in small portions. Often, babies carefully try unfamiliar or otherwise prepared foods, but if they are offered the same dish next time, they can eat it with pleasure.
MONDAY
Breakfast: Porridge made of oatmeal with caramel apples
Lunch: Pumpkin soup with chicken+salad “Sunny”
SUPPLE: Smoothies with shepherd
Dinner: Stewed vegetables with freaksheels
Pediatrician's comment: As with all ages, it is very important to diversify the diet of children, including different types of foods . At the same time, vegetables (fresh and cooked), fruits, cereals, milk and dairy products, vegetable and butter should be on the children's menu daily. Recommended norm of milk and dairy products - up to 600 ml (of which at least 200 ml are fermented milk products), vegetables 300-400g (of which potatoes - no more than 150g), fruits - 130g, meat (red or poultry) - up to 90g per day , bread - up to 90g (of which black - no more than 30g). It is advisable to eat fish 2-3 times a week (weekly norm 175g), eggs - no more than 3 times a week. |
TUESDAY
Breakfast: Kindergarten-style scrambled eggs
Lunch: Borsch-mashed potatoes + Potato casserole with vegetables
Snack: Baked apples with cottage cheese
Dinner:
Pediatrician's comment: Make sure your child drinks enough liquids. The norm is 35 ml/kg of water per day ie with a weight of 12 kg your baby should drink 420 ml. |
It is desirable that it be clean water. If the child refuses it, you can try to give unsweetened compote, herbal tea, but not store-bought juices. MEDIUM
Breakfast: Millet porridge with pumpkin in a slow cooker
Lunch: Borscht puree + White cabbage salad with apple
Afternoon snack: Banana smoothie with cookies and nuts
Dinner: Buckwheat porridge + Braised liver
Pediatrician's comment:In the diet of two-year-old children, there should be no such things as fast food (in addition to hamburgers and french fries, these are various chips and store-bought crackers), smoked meats, semi-finished products (sausages, sausages), canned and pickled foods, mushrooms and seafood. |
THURSDAY
Breakfast: Cottage cheese casserole with apples
Lunch: Soup with fish meatballs + Carrots and dried apricots
SUPPLE: yogurt+milk cake
Boutiker porridge+carcass liver
Pediatrician's comment: Of course, it is best to prepare baby food from natural products. Manufacturers use many tricks to confuse customers (for example, they write "No preservatives" even if the composition contains citric acid, a powerful preservative). |
If, nevertheless, there is a need to purchase finished products (yogurts, curds, etc.) - be sure to read the information about the composition of on the labels, since at present, even in products intended for baby food, you can often find various flavors, thickeners and preservatives. FRIDAY
breakfast: Sweet pilaf with dried fruits and nuts
lunch: Soup with fish meatballs + Salad “Vitamin”
SUPPORT: yogurt+milk cake
Dinner: Potato cutlets with turkey and raw
Pediatrician's comment: At the age of two, it is already allowed to introduce a small amount of fried , however, try not to abuse this cooking method, preferring boiling, stewing or baking to it. |
SATURDAY
Breakfast: Cottage cheese casserole with pumpkin in a slow cooker
Lunch: Ratatui soup in a multicooker+beetroot salad with prunes and feta
Polteria: Kisel from cherries
Dinner: Potato cutlets with turkey and raw
Pediatrician's comment:The diet of children at the age of two remains 5 times a day: three main meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and two intermediate ones. If the break between the main meals is short, then in between it is enough to give an unsweetened fruit (apple, pear) or a vegetable salad (for example, apple + carrot). If the break is long, you can offer the baby a fermented milk product (yogurt, cottage cheese) with bread or cookies. |
SUNDAY
Breakfast: Pancakes with carrots Some experts do not recommend introducing sugar and confectionery into the diet until the age of three , or even for life. Health to you and your children! Author: Anastasija go back Lush, tall, dense and sweetly fragrant! Omelet is a forgotten taste of childhood. I propose to cook it according to kindergarten technology, and at the same time debunk a few myths around this simple, and at the same time difficult dish. I will tell and show the secrets and tricks of making an omelette like in kindergarten. I learned how to make the right omelet from my mother in kindergarten. She has been working in kindergarten for more than 40 years. In fact, omelette is a French dish, and it is truly an exam and a test even for the most eminent chefs. For example, in Michelin-starred restaurants in France, any applicant for a chef always passes a culinary test: he is asked to cook scrambled eggs or scrambled eggs. ★★★★★ 39 Rate recipe Ingredients : Preparation: Wash and dry chicken eggs, break into a work bowl. Pour milk over the eggs. Salt and continue beating. It should be said that fanaticism is inappropriate here. Lush foam is not required, but gentle accuracy is even welcome. This is a guarantee that the omelet will not settle at the exit from the oven. Turn on the oven and set the temperature to 200 degrees. Grease an ovenproof dish with butter. Pour the egg-milk mass into it and put in the oven for 10-15 minutes. The oven should already be preheated to 200 degrees. Drizzle the finished omelet with hot melted butter. Cool slightly and cut into serving squares. And now it's time to start talking about myths. Here, on the cut, is the “correct” omelette. If the cooking time is “too much”, then the omelet will be porous on the cut, will give a lot of liquid, and this can be ruthlessly counted as a culinary fakup. The “correct” omelette is homogeneous on the cut. The more holes, the closer to prescription failure. I deliberately returned this portion to the oven in order to “overexpose” and clearly show how the structure of the omelette changes. The number of irregular holes has increased markedly. The height of the omelet itself has also noticeably decreased. If you take into account all the tricks and tricks, it turns out that an omelet is far from being a “standard” dish.
Lunch: Ratatouille soup in a slow cooker + Beetroot salad with prunes and feta
Afternoon snack: Cherry jelly
Fish casserole 10019 Fish casserole1 9000
Pediatrician's comment: 
If you are already giving your child sweets, remember that the daily intake of sugar for a two-year-old child is up to 50g per day, and the less, the better. Chocolate and chocolates should be avoided as they stimulate the nervous system of children, often cause allergies and can cause constipation. Do you like these recipes?
Kindergarten omelet
A medical specialist who draws up a menu for 10-14 days and controls the nutrition of preschoolers.
Pierce the yolks with a fork and beat lightly until smooth. It is very important to learn: eggs for an omelette are beaten exclusively with a fork. Even professionals do not use a whisk, much less mixers.
Many people remember almost a skyscraper on their plate. So, according to the official document of the Government itself, the height of an omelet cannot exceed 4 cm. The norm is 2.5-3 cm in height.
Almost like a chicken! Although the technology of the correct omelette, as can be seen from the documents, is 200 degrees and 10 minutes. But if the home oven does not hold heat well, then the time can be increased by another 5 minutes so that the omelette grabs.
