Once your little one is 12 months old, continue to introduce new foods with a variety of flavours, colours and more challenging textures. Your child can now eat most of the foods adults eat, although in a more ‘toddler-friendly’ form. For example they may need their food cut up, hard fruits and veggies lightly cooked and meals with less seasoning. There will still be plenty of mess, but it is all part of the fun.
Relative to their bodyweight, toddlers need a lot more energy, protein, iron and calcium than adults. The best way to ensure your toddler gets all the nutrients they need is by offering a variety of nutritious foods at regular meal and snack times over the day. Here are a finger food ideas:
- Soft boiled egg with toast fingers
- Celery with peanut butter
- Chopped banana, strawberries, kiwifruit, apricots
- Cooked carrot sticks
- Puffed crisp bread with peanut butter or avocado
- Club sandwiches
- Toasted sandwiches
- Mini pikelets, muffins or scones
Eating finger foods is great way to give your toddler more independence at meal times. It will also help them to develop hand-eye co-ordination skills. Finger foods need to be a size that can easily be picked up by a toddler. Ensure toddlers are sitting down and be sure to always watch them while they are eating to reduce their risk of choking.
For more inspiration, download our Snack Food and lunchbox ideas here.
