Day 13: Toddler eats*

*Can I tell you how grateful I am that I can even do a post about toddler eating?  I never would have thought we could get to a point in this journey that she eats completely by mouth, without the use of her g-tube.  I sometimes just stare at her while she eats, so amazed by her progress.

A post all about feeding our toddler.  Some tricks and what works for us.

As we entered the toddler phase, Luca became a lot more picky about food.  For example, I will offer her a choice for a meal.  I will point to two different items to offer her, and her reply to both is an adamant shake of the head accompanied by some stomping of the feet.  I then say, "okay, Luca, show me what you want to eat."  She points to the first item I had offered, which she had just refused and had a tantrum about.  Welcome to the story of our life for every.single.meal.  Ohhh, Luca.

She also goes through phases where she gets obsessed with a particular food, and wants it for breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner.  This might last a week or even a month, then she finds something new and becomes obsessed with that, and wants nothing to do with her previous obsession.  The list of food obsessions have included yogurt, guacamole, hummus, laughing cow cheese, and currently she loves cream cheese.  For all of these items, she would eat them on anything, but her favorite for any of these items is eating them on a bagel or crackers.

Luca hates sandwiches of any type - so it makes lunch a difficult meal sometimes.

I am constantly looking for new things for her to try and like so that when she gets sick of a current obsession, we have something to move onto.  And I do not know about you, but I hate making separate meals for Luca for dinner.  I try to incorporate some type of food that she can eat into our dinners.  And if I am introducing a new food, then I try to pair it with something I know she likes, even just as a side.  And finally, I try to offer her a side of fruit or veggies (although veggies are more difficult) at most meals.

So here's a list of foods that Luca will typically eat, and are the ones I can pair with a new food.  Note that all of them are vegetarian.  She does eat some meat (and loves it), but only if it is super tender or in a sauce.

• hummus
• guacamole (Wholly Guacamole is a huge lifesaver in our house)
• laughing cow cheeses
• cream cheese
• edamame (I keep a bag frozen and pour some into a bowl with a bit of water on it.  Heat in microwave for 30 seconds, stir, then pop the edamame out of the shells.)
• mini whole wheat bagels
• english muffins (We use these for breakfast or lunch items, and even for dinner with tomato sauce and cheese to make mini pizzas.)
• pasta (She loves tomato sauce on her pasta.  And if I make a bolognese sauce she loves that too.)
• fruit (kiwi, banana, strawberry, raspberry, watermelon, grapes, pear, apple)
• avocado
• ritz whole wheat crackers (her absolute fave)
• cereal
• toast
• yogurt (We buy the fage 2% for Luca.  She does not want help eating her yogurt, so the thicker greek yogurts work better and create less spilling as she learns to master the art of eating with a spoon.  Also, if we buy the plain yogurt, we just add a bit of strawberry preserves or apply/pumpkin butter to give it a flavor and a touch of sweetness.)

I will try to update this as she finds some new food faves.  What does your toddler love to eat?