Healthy foods for 18 months baby

30 Toddler Lunch Ideas (Healthy and Easy!)

Coming up with lunch ideas for your toddler—whether it’s for his daycare or preschool lunch box, or his midday meal at home—can be daunting. You want to be sure you're offering a variety of healthy foods while also including surefire toddler lunch ideas he’ll love, even if he's joined the picky eaters’ club. Here are some ideas for the kinds of foods you could include, and some specific ideas for lunches that are anything but boring.

30 Healthy and Easy Toddler Lunch Ideas

Whether it’s for a quick and easy lunch at home, or for a daycare or preschool lunch box, get your creative juices flowing with these ideas:

Italian pasta salad: Cooked penne tossed with olive oil, lemon juice, sliced cherry tomatoes, and diced mozzarella cheese
Egg salad: Hard boiled eggs mashed with mayonnaise and served with whole-grain crackers, bell pepper strips, and apple slices for dessert
Zucchini fritters: Grated zucchini mixed with an egg and a spoonful of flour, shaped into mini pancakes and pan-fried in vegetable oil, served with sour cream
Chicken and applesauce: Fried or baked chicken tenders with store-bought single-serve unsweetened applesauce and cubed cheddar
Eggs in purgatory: Eggs poached in canned or fresh tomato sauce with chickpeas and baby spinach and served with whole-wheat bread or toast
Waldorf chicken salad: Diced grilled chicken with diced green apple, diced celery, and sliced red or green grapes mixed with mayonnaise and served with whole-grain crackers
Hoppin’ John: Diced ham steak with canned black-eyed peas, cooked long-grain white rice, and diced green bell pepper
Cold lunch plate: Hard boiled eggs with cucumber sticks, and plain whole milk Greek yogurt with fresh blueberries for dessert
Black bean guacamole: Canned black beans mixed with diced avocado, shredded Monterey Jack cheese, diced tomato, and chopped chives
PB & banana sandwich: Whole-wheat bread spread with creamy peanut butter and half a sliced banana, served with a peeled, seedless mandarin or clementine for dessert
Bagel and “lox”: Whole-wheat mini bagel spread with cream cheese and topped with sliced tomatoes so it looks like lox
Mexican pizza: Brown rice cake spread with guacamole and topped with grated Monterey Jack cheese and diced tomato
Mini sloppy joe: Ground beef cooked with chopped vegetables (onion, tomato, carrot, and celery), spooned onto a bread roll and topped with grated cheddar
Ham and cheese roll-up: Soft 8-inch tortilla wrap lined with sliced Virginia ham, sliced Muenster cheese, and romaine lettuce, rolled up and cut into four pieces
Hummus and veggies: Store-bought single-serve hummus pack with a whole-wheat pita cut into strips and mini cucumbers or sliced cucumber for dipping
Tuna sandwich: Canned tuna mixed with mayonnaise on whole wheat bread with baby spinach
Cheese and crackers: Cubes of cheddar, whole-grain crackers, sliced cucumber, and sliced grapes
Mini omelet: Egg omelet cooked with baby spinach, grated mozzarella, and sliced mushrooms (if your toddler will eat mushrooms!)
Decosntructed BLT: Cooked lean pork or turkey bacon with sliced cherry tomatoes, iceberg lettuce, and whole-wheat toast cut into star or heart shapes, and mayonnaise for dipping
Savory muffin: Oat flour muffin with chopped carrots and broccoli mixed into the batter before baking, served with cream cheese
Macaroni and peas: Cooked elbow macaroni with cooked peas and cooked diced sweet potato
Meatball slider: Sliced, cooked meatballs layered on a bread roll with tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese
Chicken peperonata: Diced chicken breast and sliced bell peppers in different colors, sauteed in a little olive oil, served over pasta or rice
Southwestern pizzas: Top 6-inch corn tortillas with shredded Monterey Jack cheese, diced tomatoes, and chopped bell peppers; bake in the oven until the cheese melts
Cottage cheese with fruit: Cottage cheese with diced apple or pear, diced plums or pineapple, and sliced grapes
Tropical chicken and rice: Diced grilled chicken with jasmine coconut rice topped with diced mango, diced kiwi, and diced red bell pepper
Dippers plate: Chicken fingers and pretzels with mustard for dipping, and a dessert of sliced strawberries with yogurt for dipping
Buttered twisty pasta: Corkscrew (fusilli) pasta with melted butter and grated Parmesan cheese
Buddha bowl: Quinoa with steamed soy beans (edamame), cubed and roasted butternut squash, and diced red bell pepper
Mini pizza: Mini whole-wheat pita (or an English muffin split in half) spread with pizza sauce and shredded mozzarella, baked until the cheese melts.

Planning Your Toddler’s Lunches

Here are some tips for planning your toddler’s lunches and for dealing with certain concerns that may pop up during mealtime:

Finding the Right Nutritional Balance and Variety in Foods

When assembling your toddler’s lunches, aim to include a variety of nutritious foods from the basic food groups, which include:

Protein foods, such as meat, fish, poultry, and eggs
Dairy, such as milk, cheese, and yogurt
Fruits and vegetables
Whole-grain cereal, bread, and pasta, plus potatoes and rice.

Don't worry if a particular lunch doesn’t happen to include every food group, or if your toddler doesn't eat each type of food you serve. If you continue offer a selection of nutritious foods at mealtimes and snacks, with varying tastes and textures, your child's diet will balance out over the course of the day and week.

Determining How Much Food Is Enough

The amount a toddler eats varies from meal to meal and day to day. If your child is growing and gaining weight, changes are she's eating enough. Children this age are quite good at making sure they get what they need and don’t overeat. Some typical serving sizes for a 1- to 3-year old include: 1/4 to 1/2 slice of bread, 1 oz of meat, 2-3 tablespoons of beans, 1-2 tablespoons of vegatable, 1-2 tablespoons of fruit.

In fact, your toddler may need less food than you might think. Roughly 1,000 calories a day is about right. That's not a lot when you consider that your child might consume 300 to 450 of those daily calories in cow's milk (about 16 to 24 ounces) after she turns 1. All in all, your toddler will get the right amount of calories if you offer her three nutritious meals a day, along with about three sit-down healthy snacks. If you’re concerned about your toddler’s eating habits and/or growth, talk to her healthcare provider, who will be tracking her progress, and can offer specific advice tailored to her needs.

Surrendering to Your Toddler’s Mealtime Choices

At this age, your toddler should be allowed to make as many decisions as she reasonably can—including what she wants to eat. Offer her a range of nutritious foods to choose from, and let her take it from there. Your toddler’s needs will vary according to her growth rate, activity levels, and metabolism, so don’t worry if one day she eats everything in sight, and the next day she’s pickier than ever before. She doesn't need mushy baby foods anymore. In fact, if you give her foods with some texture to chew and swallow, her oral skills will improve, and her tastes will broaden. A toddler's appetite and growth tend to level off in the second year, so she won't need as much as she used to. Let her choose her own food from what the whole family is eating, but skip any added salt or spices.

Dealing With Picky Eaters

Sometimes mealtime can feel like a tug-of-war when your toddler doesn’t seem to want to eat anything, or refuses to eat anything other than buttered pasta, for example. There will be times like these, but this doesn’t mean your toddler won’t eat a balanced diet ever again. This is just a normal picky-eating phase that happens in toddlerhood. If it occurs, don’t push the subject of eating, or try to force any particular food, because it may make things worse. Instead, continue to offer different types of foods, letting her pick what appeals to her in that moment and letting her try new foods at her own pace.

Avoiding Food Bribes

It’s a good idea to avoid using food bribery during mealtime, like promising a reward such as sweets if she eats her broccoli, and to avoid making comparisons with siblings, such as by saying “Look at your big brother; he loves his vegetables.” These tactics can lead to future eating problems. Making mealtime a casual, relaxed, social time is the best way to help your child pick up good eating habits and acquire a healthy attitude toward food and nutrition.

The Bottom Line

Planning your toddler’s lunch can be relatively simple, and even fun. There may be times when your toddler doesn’t want to eat at all, only wants to eat one type of food, or seems to refuse anything green—or even a food that he loved just last week. This is all just a normal part of toddlerhood. Eventually, picky eaters will become more adventurous eaters. Just keep offering a variety of tasty foods, and let him choose and determine what he wants to try. Preparing your toddler’s lunch also doesn’t have to mean twice the cooking. Your whole family might enjoy the ideas on our list, so you can cook up a big batch and get everyone’s meals ready in one go.

Toddler Meal Plan: 18-24 Months Old

AndieM.Ed., RD, LDN, CLC, RYT-200

Follow their cues: Your little one knows when they are hungry and full, let them guide how much they eat
Tips for picky eating: You provide healthy foods at mealtimes, let your toddler choose what and how much to eat

By 18 months, your child can eat the same foods as the rest of the family, making mealtime much easier to figure out. At this age, offer your little one food every 2 to 3 hours since their tummies are still pretty small and they’ll need to eat frequently throughout the day to get the nutrients needed for development.1 This usually ends up being 3 meals and about 2 to 3 nutritious snacks daily.

Follow your toddler’s hunger and fullness cues

Your little one may be able to verbalize when they are hungry and when satisfied. Their developing communication skills may also include voicing their likes and dislikes when it comes to which foods they prefer to eat. Make sure to listen to your little one’s hunger and fullness cues to help them build strong internal feeding cues as well as a healthy relationship with food.2To help nurture your child’s internal cues, provide meals without distractions such as the TV or other screens.3

Read more: Understanding Your Baby’s Hunger and Fullness Cues

Tips for picky eating

You may find your little one becoming a bit picky at this age. Try not to let this be discouraging. Your goal as the parent is to provide healthy food choices and set specific times to eat. Your child’s job is to decide how much of the foods you provide to eat, or if they eat them at all!4,5 This is called the Division of Responsibility. While them leaving food on the plate may feel frustrating, don’t force your little one to eat something. Over time, and as they watch you eat these foods, they will become more comfortable and may eventually eat them.6 Keep mealtime a positive experience and offer disliked or new foods over and over again!

Read more: The Division of Responsibility: Helping Avoid Picky Eating

Utensil time!

By 18 months, your little one may be fairly proficient at eating with a spoon. At each meal, provide toddler utensils to allow your child lots of practice.7,8 The same goes for cups. At meals, provide water or milk in a plastic cup to help your little one develop their skills.1

Read more: Transitioning to Cups for Babies and Toddlers

Fully transitioned to cow’s milk

By now, your child should have transitioned from infant formula to whole milk or soy milk. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends drinking about 16 ounces per day, with a max of 24 ounces (2 to 3 cups).9 If you are still breastfeeding, you can continue to do so as both you and your child desire.10,11 The American Academy of Pediatrics also recommends that your little one be fully weaned from a bottle between 12 and 24 months.12

Read more: What Type of Milk Should my Toddler Drink?

The below meal plan for 18 – 24-month-olds provides snack and recipe ideas that will help you to provide your child with nutritious choices that will continue to influence their taste development and food preferences.

Pro Tips for feeding your 18- to 24-month-old:

As your child gets older and life gets busier, it may seem easier to choose quicker, more convenient foods. However, many ready-to-eat convenience foods are highly processed and contain added sugars and excess salt; read the label before you offer these to your tot.13Your child’s taste preferences are still developing so be sure to offer them mostly whole, fresh foods, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. The food you serve your child during this stage can influence what they prefer to eat later in life.14

Need healthy snack ideas? Check out: Healthy Snacks for Babies and Toddlers

For more information on picky eating, please visit our Picky Eating Hub.

Breakfast

Option 1: Whole grain toast topped with nut butter and sliced bananas
Option 2: Oatmeal made with milk and frozen berries
Option 3: Broccoli and Cheddar Egg Cups
Option 4: Whole grain waffle with ricotta cheese and berries
Option 5: Freezer-friendly Spinach Waffles

Lunch

Option 1: Whole wheat pasta mixed with white beans and tomato sauce
Option 2: Turkey roll up: whole wheat tortilla with hummus spread, turkey and sliced cucumber
Option 3: Pumpkin Mac & Cheese
Option 4: Avocado Tuna Salad in Mini Pita Pockets
Option 5: Tex-Mex pizza: whole grain pita topped with tomato sauce, cheddar cheese, and black or pinto beans

Dinner

Option 1: Veggie lasagna
Option 2: Crispy Cumin White Fish with Pineapple & Avocado Chunks and Cilantro Rice
Option 3: Whole Grain Chicken Nuggets with Green Bean “Fries”
Option 4: Stir fry with chicken, squash, peas and brown rice
Option 5: Black bean tomato quesadillas

Snacks

Option 1: Sliced apples with a thin spread of nut butter
Option 2: Cottage cheese and fruit
Option 3: Veggies with hummus
Option 4: Chocolate Avocado Yogurt Popsicles
Option 5: Blueberry Banana Blender Muffins

Let’s Chat!

We know parenting often means sleepless nights, stressful days, and countless questions and confusion, and we want to support you in your feeding journey and beyond.

Our Happy Baby Experts are a team of lactation consultants and registered dietitians certified in infant and maternal nutrition – and they’re all moms, too, which means they’ve been there and seen that. They’re here to help on our free, live chat platform Monday – Friday 8am-6pm (ET). Chat Now!

Read more about the experts that help write our content!

For more on this topic, check out the following articles and recipes:

Family Meals: Developing Healthy Eating Patterns

Why folate matters for babies, tots and mama

Picky Eater Meal Plan: Recipe and Snack Ideas

When it’s More than Picky Eating: 4 Warning Signs

Our meal plans offer recipe and meal suggestions for your child. They are not designed to replace your doctor’s recommendations, nor do they take into account special nutritional needs, including allergies and intolerances. The meal plans suggest serving sizes that may or may not be appropriate for your child. Please consult your doctor to determine what is best for your child.

Union of Pediatricians of Russia

Nutrition for children from 1 to 3 years of age

The period from 1 to 3 years of life is a crucial stage in the transition to an adult type of nutrition, which has certain features. In order to ensure that all the necessary nutrients enter the child's body and at the same time prevent an excess of individual nutrients, nutrition should be balanced and varied.

The daily amount of food for children aged 1 to 1.5 years should be 1000-1200 g, from 1.5 to 3 years - 1200-1500 g, the amount of food in one feeding should not exceed 300-350 ml. The diet consists of three main meals per day and two snacks. It is considered optimal when breakfast is 25% of the total energy density of the diet, lunch is 30–35%, dinner is 20%, and additional meals are about 10%. In general, the child can eat the same food as the rest of the family.

In the diet of a child of 1–3 years of age , must be present daily: meat of animals or poultry, dairy and sour-milk products, vegetables, fruits, bread, cereals, vegetable and butter; fish and eggs are included in the diet 2-3 times a week.

Cereal products: bread - 2-3 servings per day, cereals and side dishes - 1 time per day
Fruit and/or vegetables: at least 5 times a day
Dairy products: at least 3 servings per day (including those used to make cereals, yoghurts, fermented milk drinks, cottage cheese, infant formula or breast milk).

Domestic pediatricians recommend, when compiling a diet for children aged 1–3 years, preference should be given to specialized children's dairy products of industrial production that meet high quality requirements and safety indicators for this age. Most children's dairy products are additionally enriched with vitamins and/or minerals and other biologically active components, taking into account the physiological needs of children of this age. At the same time, in foreign recommendations, children over 1 year old are offered the gradual introduction of whole cow's milk, which is rich in fats necessary for proper growth and development, the absorption of vitamins A and D, the development of the child's brain and nervous system.

Meat dishes: 2-3 times a day
Fish dishes: 2-3 servings per week
Eggs: 2-3 per week
Dietary fats: 3-4 teaspoons of butter and/or vegetable oils per day

When cooking, use the minimum amount of salt and sugar, and do not add them to industrial products.

Offer your child a variety of foods and let them choose for themselves. Children love to eat on their own, so if possible, offer food that the child can eat with their hands.

It is important to remember that a baby can choke on pieces of food, so whatever you give your baby should be crushed or cut into small pieces that can be easily chewed.

Do not give to a small child: nuts, whole grapes, cherry tomatoes (unless quartered), whole carrots, seeds (such as pumpkin or sunflower seeds), round candies, legumes, raisins, because a child can eat them choke.

Also in the diet of children of the first 3 years of life should not be present:

Mushrooms; canned snacks, pickled vegetables and fruits
Home canned food
Dry concentrates for side dishes
Hot sauces, mustard, horseradish, pepper, vinegar, mayonnaise
Natural coffee
Juices and drinks in the form of dry concentrates; sweet carbonated drinks
Products containing food additives (flavorings, dyes of artificial origin, including chewing gum), popcorn
Combined fats; cakes and pastries

It is important to remember that children of this age should not be given too spicy and spicy foods.

18-24 months - mama.ru

At the age of about 18 months, the motor, speech and intellectual abilities of the child begin to develop rapidly. Now he runs faster, speaks more clearly and thinks better. Before doing something, the kid can imagine it in his mind. By the end of the second year, the child understands almost any phrases related to everyday affairs and can even help his mother around the house.

Boys at 24 months

	low	below average	medium	above average	high
Height, cm	76.9	79.6	82.3	85.0	87.7
Weight kg	8.8	9.8	10.9	12.2	13.7
Head circumference, cm	44.7	46.0	47.4	48.7	50. 0

Girls at 24 months

	low	below average	medium	above average	high
Height, cm	74.9	77.8	80.7	83.6	86.5
Weight, kg	8.1	9.1	10.2	11.6	13.2
Head circumference, cm	43.5	44.9	46.2	47.6	49.0

Baby's health

18-24 months

Baby nutrition

18-24 months

Closer to two years, parents often face a problem: the child refuses to eat. You should not worry too much about this and force your child to stuff the entire contents of the plate into himself at all costs. Such a decrease in appetite has a completely scientific justification.

A child's growth slows down significantly by the age of one and a half. If in the first year of life his body weight increases by about three times, then from one to two years he grows by only 30 percent. Therefore, the baby needs less food. In addition, the growth of the baby in height is much greater than in width, and as energy reserves, the child spends fat accumulated in infancy. That is why children of this age begin to visually “lose weight”.

A baby's diet at this age should include approximately 1000-1300 calories per day. Protein requirement: 2 grams per kilogram of body weight per day. Ideally balanced diet: 50-55% carbohydrates, 35-40% fats, 10-15% proteins. Frequent feedings are helpful. Sweet foods and sweets should be avoided.

It can be very difficult to fully balance the daily meals, because a child can eat more today and almost nothing tomorrow. Therefore, it would be reasonable to strive not for a balanced day, but for a “balanced week”.

Top 10 most nutritious foods: avocado, beans, cheese, eggs, fish (salmon, tuna, cod), nut butter, bran pasta, brown rice, tofu (bean curd), turkey.

Baby development

18-24 months

Runs, plays catch-up.
Jumps in place, jumps off steps.
Jumping for joy.
Kicks the ball without missing.
Climbing stairs without the assistance of an adult, may have difficulty descending.

By the age of two, the baby learns to ride a tricycle, can independently get out of the crib, climb onto a chair, open and close doors. Keep dangerous objects away and do not put the cup on the table closer than 30 cm from the edge!

Vocabulary increases to 20-50 clear legible words. Every day a child learns at least one new word.
Can form three-word sentences "I want more."
Purrs under his breath and sings.
By 24 months, the question becomes “What is this?”
Loves and tries to pronounce difficult words: "dinosaur", "helicopter", distorting them in his own way.
Can give his first and last name.
Understands and remembers two-step requests: "Go to the kitchen and bring an apple to mom."

Some children still do not speak by the age of two, but are more silent. Do not worry if at the same time they understand well the speech addressed to them, fulfill requests, and show logical thinking. They just have that kind of character. A little time will pass and the child will begin to speak no worse than his peers.

It is necessary to visit a doctor if by the age of two the child cannot understand the speech addressed to him, does not meaningfully use the words "mom" and "dad", does not repeat the words after adults.

Baby behavior

18-24 months

Most of the time the baby spends in motion. Running, jumping, playing - these are his favorite activities, and you should not deprive him of this opportunity. Skills and abilities are improving, he can already: