Once your toddler crosses his first birthday, the general consensus is that he should be able to eat everything that the rest of the family eats. But as Moms, we know that this is easier said than done!

Getting toddlers interested in regular family meals is a challenge in itself. They seem to be ready to scoff at whatever is being served and making them try even a spoonful is no small task. The main reason is mainly boredom, with toddlers needing a variety in both taste and texture. Many Moms complain that even if they have teeth, some children prefer swallowing their foods rather than chewing them.

Learning to control the tongue is a skill that has to be practiced. Having said that, some kids just have issues with the texture of the food. For them, introducing a new food can take many, many tries before they eventually come around. Some kids take to new foods after a couple of tries, but with kids like my son it’s more like 25 or 30 before he will reliably eat more than a bite!

5 Tips to get Toddlers to try New Foods

Here are few tricks that we tried with my son when he was REALLY little and hardly ate anything:

1. Keep offering the food you are attempting to get him to eat. He doesn’t HAVE to eat it, but he should be exposed to it. He may pick it up and play with it and feel it. That’s ok. He’s getting used to it–it’s a process.

2. Offer soft foods cut up in small pieces. He might be more inclined to actually put a soft bite of banana in his mouth than a crunchy cracker. Bananas, cooked peas and carrots, avocado, plain cooked macaroni, etc. And cut them smaller than you think necessary.

3. Sometimes it helped to give my son a spoon and let him try to feed himself. He might have only gotten a couple of bites into his mouth, but he was more likely to keep it in his mouth, chew, and swallow it.

4. Offer the new food first when he’s really, truly hungry. If you want him to try a banana but you offer it after his yogurt or whatever, he won’t be hungry and will have little motivation to try something new. Maybe while you’re prepping breakfast, sit him in his high chair and give him a few bites of the banana to look at/play with/attempt to eat while you chop up the rest of the banana to go in his breakfast.

5. Remain calm. We know this is extremely hard because it can be frustrating and nerve-wracking when your child eats a diet of about three bites! But if you are anxious at mealtimes, he absolutely will pick up on that. I can tell you from experience that it will not help the situation. Keep working with him and see if he improves. With our son we knew he could eat other things, he just didn’t want to eat some of them.

The recipes mentioned below are all easy to make, and perfect for Moms who have to multitask. They don’t take up too much time but don’t compromise on nutrition either. You can refer to the first version of the Toddler Food Chart here.

Indian Toddler Food Chart 2

	Breakfast	Mid Morning Snack	Lunch	Evening Snack	Dinner
Monday	Chocolate Muesli	Paneer Wheat Biscuits	Capsicum Pulao	Spinach Fritters	Missi Paratha
Tuesday	Cheese Corn Sandwich	Ragi Cookies	Egg Rice	Chinese Spring Rolls	Creamy Vegetable Pasta
Wednesday	Suji Toast	Roasted Chickpeas	Carrot Cucumber Curd Rice	Cheese Corn Balls	Vermicelli Pulao
Thursday	Instant Oats Wheat rava Idli	Fruit & Nut Granola	Dal Pulao	Idli Upma	Suji Kheer
Friday	Jowar Balls	Watermelon Smoothie	Beetroot Pulao	Carrot Oat Muffins	Cabbage Paratha
Saturday	Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes	Maple Oats Bar	Carrot Khichdi	Curd Fritters	Steamed Dosa
Sunday	Sweet Potato Dosa	Mango Yogurt	Steamed Rice with Vegetable Manchurian	Whole wheat Cooker Cake	Vegetable Pasta

Points to Remember:

1. This meal plan needn’t be followed word for word, you can mix and match any way you like.

2. A glass of milk (150 ml) can be given with the evening snack.

3. Lunch can be served with tomato ketchup or curd, as applicable.

4. Feel free to serve your toddler a fruit or vegetable salad, but try to stick to mealtimes.

Here are the recipes mentioned in the food chart.

Breakfast Recipes for Toddlers

1. Chocolate Muesli

2. Cheese Corn Sandwich

3. Suji Toast

4. Instant Oats Wheat Rava Idli

5. Jowar Balls

6. Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes

7. Sweet Potato Dosa

Milkshake Recipes for Toddlers

1. Strawberry Yogurt

2. Banana Walnut Milkshake

3. Ragi Buttermilk

4. Muskmelon Milkshake

5. Chikoo Milkshake

6. Watermelon Smoothie

Mid Morning Snack Recipes for Toddlers

1. Paneer Wheat Biscuits

2. Ragi Cookies

3. Roasted Chickpeas

4. Fruit & Nut Granola

5. Chocolate Trail Mix

6. Maple Oats Bar

7. Mango Yogurt

Lunch Recipes for Toddlers

1. Capsicum Pulao – from Sharmis Passion

2. Egg Rice

3.Carrot cucumber Curd Rice ( You can skip the chillies in the recipe)

4. Dal Pulao (This is a lovely recipe from Cook, Click and Devour)

5. Beetroot Rice (This is another recipe from Cook, Click and Devour)

6. Carrot Khichdi

7. Vegetable Manchurian

Evening Snack Recipes for Toddlers

1. Spinach Fritters

2. Chinese Spring Rolls

3. Cheese Corn Balls

4. Idli Upma

5. Carrot Oat Muffins

6. Curd Fritters

7. Whole wheat Cooker Cake

Dinner Recipes for Toddlers

1. Missi Paratha

2. Creamy Vegetable Pasta

3. Vermicelli Pulao

4. Suji Kheer

5. Cabbage Paratha

6. Steamed Dosa

7. Vegetable Pasta

Dessert Recipes for Toddlers

1. Matka Kulfi

2. Bread Pudding

3. Beetroot Halwa

4. Suji Kheer

5. Banana Cake

6. Mango Kulfi

7. Apple Cake with Pomegranate

There’s enough variety included here to appease the fussiest toddler! It’s okay if every meal isn’t balanced and he eats only one food at mealtime. It’s enough if your toddler’s meals are balanced across the course of the week, with a good intake of carbs, protein, fruit, vegetables adn dairy. Of course, water is also very important, so ensure they have some with their meals and in between as well. Do try this meal plan out and let us know what your toddler thinks!!

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