Your toddler's nutrition

What should my toddler eat?

Once your child is comfortable eating solids, it is time to transition from baby food to most of what your family eats.

After the age of one, your toddler is probably done with breastfeeding and formula or the amount of milk she drinks is a lot less. It then becomes important that she has a good mixed diet, providing her with all the nutrition she needs.

Your child's diet should include the right mix of foods because each food item has different nutrients. She also needs some nutrients more than others.

There are many ways of classifying food but to keep things simple, you can divide your child's food into the following groups that should be given in the following proportions:

Food group Examples Quantities
Cereal and starchy foods Potatoes (aloo), rice, wheat, pasta, noodles Give food from this group at each meal and at some snacks.
Fruit and vegetables Apple (seb), banana (kela), beans (been), spinach (paalak) Give foods from this group five times a day, so with each meal and two snacks
Proteins Meat, chicken, fish, seafood, lentil (dal), seeds, nuts Give two to three portions of protein-rich food a day.
Dairy products Milk, cheese, curd Give two to three portions of dairy products a day.
Fats and sugar Oils, butter, ghee, sweets Use the required amount of oils in cooking but avoid fried foods. Keep sweets to a minimum.

How can I be sure my child gets all the nutrients she needs?

A balanced diet means that your child gets a wide variety of foods in different combinations every day. If your child eats a varied diet, you need not worry about what nutrients are in each food because over a few days, she will get a bit of all that she needs. This is a major advantage because working these things out is complicated!

To ensure that your toddler is getting enough iron for example, try giving a variety of iron-rich foods. So, if you give her spinach (paalak) for lunch and potato with fenugreek leaves (aloo methi) for dinner, you are giving her body different sources of iron and increasing the chances that she will get enough.

Other good sources of iron include broccoli (hari phool gobhi), lean red meat, and dried fruits. This method is especially good for fussy eaters because if she refuses one dish, she will still get the required nutrients from another dish.

Similarly, your vegetarian child can get protein from a variety of sources. Legumes or beans like rajma, chana, lobia, kala chana and lentils like urad dal, tur dal, moong dal and chana dal are all protein-rich foods.

So are nuts like almonds (badaam) and walnuts (akhrot), and seeds such as sesame (til), garden cress (sabja), and flax seeds (alsi or agasi).

Soya bean products like soya nuggets, tofu, soya milk and soya bean flour contain all the essential amino acids and come closest to meat products in terms of the amount of protein they provide.

Calcium is found in milk, yoghurt, paneer, spinach (paalak), broccoli (hari phool gobhi) and nuts and these foods are also rich in iron and protein.

Are any particular foods essential?

Any nutrient is found in a variety of foods so no single food is absolutely necessary. But make sure that your child is having foods from every food group in the proportions mentioned above.

Bear in mind that it's important to keep your toddler well hydrated and to ensure she gets the fluids she needs.

Water plays a vital role in how well the body functions and also helps prevent constipation. Find out how much water your toddler needs to drink every day.

Is my toddler's diet good enough?

Toddlers can be fussy eaters and it can be tricky to get them to eat all the vegetables and fruits that you would like them to. But if your child likes fruit more than vegetables, make sure she has some with each meal. Or if she prefers vegetables to fruit, give her veggies more often including for a snack between meals.

If your child has allergies or follows a strict vegetarian or vegan diet and you are worried about whether she is getting the nutrients she needs, speak to her doctor. He might recommend vitamin supplements if he feels she does not get enough nutrients from her diet.

If your child doesn't have any particular dietary restrictions, try to encourage her to have a varied and healthy diet. The food habits your child develops now will follow her to adulthood.

So delay as long as possible or keep to a minimum foods that are high in sugar or salt and low in nutrients, such as fries, deep-fried snacks, fizzy drinks or deep-fried sweets or mithais.

Vitamin supplements can help when necessary but should not be used to compensate for a poor diet because of preferences. It is easier for the body to get the nutrients it needs from food rather than supplements.

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