When I open my DM’s on Instagram: I often see questions about what my toddler, Roux, eats.
He is now 4 years old, and we’ve been through all the twists and turns of baby to toddler eating habits. In no way am I a mama who has it all figured out – but I figured I would share parts of our journey and little things we’ve done to help keep the food he eats as healthy as possible.
Let’s do a THEN & NOW recap.
I’ll give you the briefest summary: once we started to give Roux solid foods, we chose the baby-led weaning method. It was a ton of fun and it went very well. I was surprised at how well it went. He ate everything and very rarely had any negative feedback. A resource I used as I learned about baby-led weaning was Feeding Littles. I absolutely loved their online courses and the things they shared on their social media accounts + Facebook community page.
Baby-led weaning went so well – I just assumed I would have the 2-year-old who ate all the things, all the time. Oh, was I wrong…
He quickly began to boycott many foods he used to love. He began to develop preferences and that was much less convenient for me 🙂 haha! We had a few staples in his daily nutrition that he still loved and we worked with those.
Here of some of the things he used to love + then started to refuse to eat:
- Eggs
- Cooked vegetables
- Oatmeal
- Most meats
- Black Beans
- Spaghetti
- Raw Carrots
- Raw Cucumbers
The foods he continued to love even in his pickiest stage:
- Bell Peppers [raw]
- All fruit
- Bread of any kind 😛
- Avocado
- Mac N’ Cheese
- Chicken Nuggets
- Chipotle Carnita Tacos
- Rice
- Yogurt
- PB&J
- Tomatoes [raw]
- Daily Sunshine [kid’s organic shake with healthy fats, protein, veggies, fruits] – he started drinking this at 8 months old – pediatrician approved
- Beachbar [wholesome ingredient snack par]
As you can see from the list of foods he liked – we really felt corned into chicken nuggets and simple carbs.
As parents do, we got creative and worked with what we could. I clung to the healthy choices he still loved.
Instead of scrambled eggs, we made french toast [break soaked in egg, heavy on the egg].
I snuck raw spinach into his Daily Sunshine shake.
We made pancakes with spinach in them.
I made sure we had bell peppers and tomatoes every week.
He ate French Toast and fruit for breakfast for a long time.
A big part of my approach focused on not making mealtime a stressful or chaotic event.
Did he eat a lot of chicken nuggets from age 2-3? Yes. Yes, he did.
[for reference: we really liked Applegate Organic Chicken Nuggets]
While we were in this picky season : we continued to make an effort to expand his food likes.
He got to eat the foods he loved, and I always included something new or different a few times a week.
As he approached year 3 – I found that his reasoning skills, understanding, and willingness to try different things really broadened.
Whenever I introduced a new raw vegetable onto his plate – I made sure it was in a silly shape. It is very easy to grab a little set like this on amazon, and suddenly your toddler is willing to try cucumbers shaped like T-Rex.
Something I learned along the way too, when introducing new foods – it’s always best to give a small portion. Big portions are just too overwhelming. So instead of stacking cucumbers on his plate – he got 3 T-Rex cucumber slices.
My husband and I made sure to eat a variety of healthy foods at home & when we were out too. We wanted to model healthy eating for him – and again, the older he got, the more he started to care. At 2, he didn’t care – just pass the fruit snacks.
Now, the next part – you may have issue with. And that’s ok. What works for us may not work for you or be in alignment with what you want to do.
As he began to develop those reasoning skills – I began to offer positive reinforcement for trying new healthy foods.
When he ate the new healthy food – he got to pick a special treat. [I’ll share examples in a minute.] The choice was his. If he chose not to try the new food, that was fine, it was his choice – but he would not have the special treat. My child is very motivated by special treats [sounds a little like me]. This worked well for him. And the most important part – the positive reward [although I know rewarding with food is not the BEST choice] made him WILLING to try.
Once he was willing to try ON HIS OWN, he realized – oh, I actually DO like this cucumber / carrot / etc. As this became more of a regular part of our meals [trying new healthy foods] I slowly backed off of rewarding with special treats every single time.
Now let’s talk about special treats.
Again, what I consider a special treat – you might laugh at. Or, you may think it’s a terrible choice. [again, this is ok!]
In our house, we aren’t serving him a bowl of ice cream if he eats his cucumbers.
He usually gets a little bowl with a few Smart Sweet gummies [BRITTANYLEGETTE10], and 2-3 little protein cookies. [Lenny & Larry’s]
Some of the alternative special treats that are pretty regular for us are Annies Bunny gummies, a dum-dum lollipop, or an all-fruit popsicle. We do eat sugary treats too – just less often.
Once we laid the groundwork for not FREAKING OUT about trying new food – we could move away from the whole hoopla of rewarding for things like cucumbers, carrots, etc.
Now we moved the hoopla over to salads haha!
If you know me, you know that it has taken a significant effort on my part to be able to enjoy salads as an adult. I just do not like them. And for years I just avoided them at all cost. I worked so hard on this over the last 5 years and want to help Roux find salads he loves early on. I’m not lying, for me it was a big thing.
I am eating salads often at home – usually, about 3x a week, to model that kind of eating for Roux. We also decided to turn salads into a little game. It was as simple as this, if Roux chose to eat 3 salads a week – he could pick out a special something on the weekend. That usually meant a little toy of some kind from our Target trip.
[honestly moms, I was probably going to buy him the little Target toy anyway – but this way he’s associating it as a reward for healthy choices]
Again, it’s his choice. He doesn’t HAVE to eat salad. But if he doesn’t eat three salads a week – there is no special toy for him to pick out. [typing that sounds mean – haha – but it always worked out]
He also gets to choose which days he eats the salad – and homeboy keeps count. He KNOWS when he only has 1 salad left to eat for the week before he gets to pick something out.
Now, of COURSE every child is different. Your kid is likely motivated differently than mine. That’s the whole point. Find out what motivates your child & reward the way you want to.
Roux LOVES to eat salad now. We still reward him – but the whole process of him knowing he’s making a healthy choice makes HIM proud of himself. And it totally helps that Loren and I make such a HUGE deal about how proud we are of him when he chooses to eat his leafy greens.
A typical salad for Roux:
- Chopped up raw spinach leaves [chopped bc it’s easier for him to get the bits onto the fork when it isn’t the whole leaf]
- Raw Carrots
- Grape Tomatoes
- Raw Cucumbers
- Raw Bell Peppers
- Dressing: we have tried ranch and raspberry vinaigrette. He prefers the ranch.
When he first started tasting dressings – I just poured a little of each flavor into it’s own square on a plate and let him dip.
Now, I find it easier to pre mix a little ranch into his salad bowl – honestly, because it was just taking a LONG time for him to dip each bite into the dressing and dinner is already a pretty lengthy process with a pre-schooler!
He always chooses to eat his 3+ salads. Always.
And just like the trying of healthy raw veggies a few months ago, the effort to get him to eat the salad is way less. He KNOWS he likes it. He’s proud of HIMSELF. And it’s become something he knows we just do in our family. We eat healthy because it helps us to stay healthy.
Right around the time, Roux started to eat salads regularly – a company reached out to me asking me if I would be willing to try their new toddler plates. It’s a meal delivery situation for toddlers. My actual email back to her was: yes, we are willing to try – but my child is just started to get more courageous in trying different foods + textures – I won’t be able to post about this publicly unless he actually likes them. She said she understood and it was totally fine.
You guys.
Game changer.
Little Spoon delivers fresh, clean, and homemade meals to my door – just for my toddler. These are called TODDLER PLATES.
- There are hidden veggies + superfoods.
- Balanced Nutrition on the plate.
- 100% clean ingredients.
- Antibiotic + Hormone-free protein.
- No preservatives, artificial sugar, or junk.
- Ready to heat and eat.
They have an awesome variety that we get to pick from. The front of the meals are absolutely adorable – they take all the ingredients from the meal and create a fun animal. So when Roux picks his meal for the night – he gets to pick either the elephant, the sloth, the tiger, the toucan, or the hedgehog. I’m telling you, this makes a difference!
We tackled the raw veggies, we tackled the salads, but we needed help with the cooked broccoli, the black beans, the spaghetti even! I love these because he is trying different textures, seasonings, and honestly things that are just out of his comfort zone. The portions are perfect for littles & it isn’t overwhelming.
Obviously I’m obsessed.
I cannot say enough good things about this service.
They gave me a code for you all to use – we get $20 off with it! { BRITTANYLEGETTE }
For those wondering: their plates are sealed with our proprietary FreshLock seal that allows your meals to stay fresh in your fridge for 14 days, without any harmful preservatives. Our meals are also easy to freeze and can be kept in your freezer for up to 2 months.
The FreshLock seal is a proprietary technology that eliminates any oxygen and naturally preserves food freshness, ensuring the meal’s flavors and ingredients are enjoyed at their best. Plus, it naturally steams your meal in the microwave, making it easy to cook everything evenly so your meal tastes and looks amazing.
They have a really great FAQ at the bottom of their website if you have additional questions.
TYPICAL DAY OF MEALS FOR ROUX THESE DAYS:
- BREAKFAST: waffle, scrambled eggs + fruit OR Daily Sunshine + Magic Spoon Cereal [dry] + Banana
- LUNCH: PB&J, apple, carrots, pirate’s booty popcorn OR turkey sandwich, bell peppers, grapes, applesauce
- DINNER: Toddler Plate from Little Spoon or Applegate Chicken Nuggets, Salad, Brown Rice
If we are cooking a family dinner: he will have little basic portions of what we are eating – but that was a big struggle before we started doing Little Spoon!
PREFERRED SPECIAL TREAT OPTIONS: Smart Sweet gummies, Lenny & Larry’s protein cookies, dum dum lollipop, all fruit popsicle, Annie’s Bunny gummies [weekdays]
SIDE NOTE: some fav kids dinnerware I recently found on amazon
I hope this helps you all! And good luck to you in whatever season of motherhood you’re in!
As always, we would love to hear your experience and anything you could share about what’s worked well for you and your kids!
