I started Miles on purees around four months, which was probably a bit early because he wasn't very good at eating until he was closer to six months (which is what most pediatricians now recommend). He progressed fairly quickly with eating on his own and around eight months of age he was picking up foods and feeding himself. We still went on with the purees for a bit and yogurt, but for the most part he was feeding himself.
After about ten months he was consistently feeding himself and I rarely had to feed him. I started making him smoothies on a regular basis and that was an easy, quick breakfast. Now that he is fourteen months old he is obviously still feeding himself and working on using utensils. But I'm also wondering if he's getting adequate nutrition. The kid loves fruit, no joke, he could probably live off of those applesauces pouches if I let him.
So to ease my mind about how much of what kinds of food Miles is eating I looked around on a few websites and gathered these general guidelines for toddlers.
Fruit – 2-3
servings (1/3 cup = 1 serving)
Veggies -
2-3 servings (1/3 cup = 1 serving)
Carbs – 5-6
serving (1/2 slice or ¼ cup = 1 serving)
Protein – 2
servings (1 oz or ¼ cup, 1 egg
Dairy – 3-4
servings (4 oz milk or yogurt, ½ oz cheese = 1 serving)
And then I decided to make this chart so I could check off how many servings he eats from each group. Crazy right? I don't care. I printed this chart out and put it in an old picture frame. After hot gluing some super strong magnets to the back I placed it on the fridge and then used a dry erase marker to cross of which food Miles ate today.
I think he did pretty well today. What do you obsess over with your children (or self)?
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