A balanced toddler diet

Toddlers need variety! After all, even their favourite foods don’t contain every nutrient that they need for healthy development. Ideally, their diet should be made up of all the different food groups – milk and dairy; fruit and vegetables; meat, fish, egg or beans/pulses; breads, cereals and potatoes – as well as the right fats and oils. Even though your toddler may have definite likes and dislikes, encourage them to keep trying a range of flavours and textures to help them enjoy a wide array of foods as they grow older.

The ‘eatwell’ plate

The Government's Food Standards Agency uses the ‘eatwell plate' to show what proportion of your toddler's foods should come from each food group:

Carbohydrates

Base every baby mealtime on starchy foods such as rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, chapatti, cereals, yam or plantain (and offer starchy foods at some snack times).

Fruit and vegetables

At every one of the mealtimes include some sort of fruit and/or vegetables - whether they're part of the recipe, or served separately. Try and aim for five toddler-size servings per day. Find out how much fruit and veg is in HiPP Organic products.

Protein

At one or two meals a day, give your baby ‘protein' foods such as meat, fish, eggs, beans or pulses.

Dairy

Give them about three drinks or servings a day of dairy products such as milk, yogurt or cheese. Toddlers need less milk than babies under one year.

Fats or sugar

Foods that are high in fat and/or sugar can be a valuable source of the extra energy that toddlers need, but should only be given in limited quantities – for example, as part of a pudding with fruit.

Balanced mealtimes

Try to encourage your toddler to eat some foods from each of the five groups above. Don’t worry if it's always the same favourite foods, just try and make mealtimes as balanced as possible.

For example, if your toddler has eaten pasta with a tomato sauce at lunchtime (a ‘starchy' meal plus vegetables), you might like to give them a meal that includes meat, fish, eggs or other ‘protein' food at teatime, such as beef casserole or tuna sandwich.

If they have toast as a snack in the morning (a ‘starchy' food), you could let them have a piece of fruit or vegetable, or some dried fruit, as a snack in the afternoon.

For more advice, watch Helen's video below.

A 3-day meal plan

Meal time	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3
Breakfast	HiPP Organic Breakfast Cereal Dried raisins Milk*	HiPP Organic Breakfast Cereal Dried raisins Milk*	HiPP Organic Breakfast Toast and honey Milk*
Mid-morning	Fresh fruit	Half a toasted teacake with butter	Banana
Lunch	Chicken, mashed potatoes, broccoli HiPP Organic Dessert Diluted fruit juice	Tuna sandwich Carrot and cucumber sticks	HiPP Organic main meal Rice Pudding Diluted fruit juice
Mid-afternoon	Pitta bread with hummus Milk*	Fresh fruit	HiPP Organic snack Milk*
Tea-time	HiPP Organic main meal Yogurt with fruit	Spaghetti Bolognese Yogurt/ fromage frais Diluted fruit juice	Scrambled egg on toast, baby tomatoes Fresh fruit

Give your toddler their normal milk at bedtime.

More ideas for simple meals or snacks for toddlers

• Banana sandwich
• Mashed tinned sardines on toast
• Jacket potato with grated cheese and baked beans
• Pitta filled with cream cheese or tinned salmon
• Couscous, peas, sweetcorn and flaked fish
• Chapattis with dahl
• Pasta with sauce and cheese sprinkled on top
• Stir fried chicken and vegetables
• Fish fingers, potatoes, carrots
• Homemade casserole
• Fish pie with broccoli
• Veg as finger food - cooked broccoli, carrot sticks, green beans, courgette sticks - with a hummus dip
• Fruit as finger food - mango, kiwi, halved grapes, dried fruit, satsuma, pear, peach, berries
• Yogurt or fromage frais with chopped fruit mixed in
• Unsalted popcorn

Puddings are good

Having a dessert at both of the two main mealtimes a day is an important part of a toddler's diet so try to always serve one after their savoury food. Examples of nourishing puddings include fruit and yogurt, rice pudding with stewed fruit, fruit crumble and custard - or of course any of the HiPP Organic delicious desserts. Just take care that having a pudding doesn’t become their ‘reward’ for eating.

Eat a rainbow

Offer your toddler fruit and vegetables of as many different colours as possible - they all contain varying vitamins and minerals. To mix it up a bit, try:

• Green - broccoli, green beans, peas
• Yellow or orange - swede, carrots, butternut squash, sweetcorn, apricots, oranges
• Red - tomatoes, red peppers

Going organic

It's good to feed your toddler organic foods. In non-organic vegetables and fruit, the pesticide residue levels are based on what’s acceptable for adults, rather than babies or toddlers. By choosing organic foods at this important stage, you'll be limiting your baby's exposure to these potentially harmful chemicals. You can easily find organic fruit and vegetables, meat and eggs in the supermarket. Not only do they taste great, there's the added bonus that farming organically helps to make the world a healthier place for our children to grow up in.

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