What do Toddlers like to eat?

What do toddlers like to eat? or, what should your toddler eat?

Most toddlers have the unusual habit of changing their likes and dislikes of different foods on a weekly basis. So what should you feed a toddler who will only eat cheese? or pizza? or cookies?

Well, what do you think? Feed them cheese, pizza and cookies (in moderation). You can do this and get away with it because with most toddlers they will change their "preferred" food on a very regular basis. You can also get away with this by hiding other food that they would not normally eat in their favourite foods.

A good example is when making pizza, although it may be time consuming to make your own pizza, for a fussy eater it is time well spent. Making your own pizza sauce means you can add in a wide variety of vegetables and they will never know if you blend it up.

Toddlers and their relationship with food should be treated as an adventure, experimenting with different things may bring you a new understanding of how your toddler views food.

The important thing here is not "how much food should a toddler eat?" but "Is my toddler eating enough for his/her needs?"

There is no real measurement for how much food is enough or even how much food is too much. All children have different nutritional requirements. If your toddler is eating a healthy varied diet, is active and healthy, chances are they are eating enough.

Even so, you will find it very difficult to find a parent who is fully satisfied with their toddlers diet. Parents worry constantly about what their children are eating, are they eating too much junk food? will they become obese? why won't they eat? and so on.

To make the best of your toddler's diet, variety is the key, making sure they have a good mix of healthy and nutritious food, regular mealtimes and a positive approach to food are the most important factors in your childs diet.

See also how to get your children to eat healthy food

 No matter what you do, denying your toddler "treats" will not work, they will get in one way or another and so they should.  You must teach your child that it is ok to have the "nice things" every now and again.  It is an important part of teaching your toddler to have a healthy relationship with food.

If you are one of the parents (and most are) that though, when having your first child that you would give them fruit as a treat instead of chocolate and that they would be super healthy eaters because of it, then you may have come to the realization that it is not an easy task to accomplish.

You can blame grandparents (usually guilty for the introduction of chocolate), neighbours, teachers or the world for failing to achieve this goal, it is a near impossible task and not only that but it is taking a slightly limited view of what a healthy diet should be.

That is not to say that we all dont want our children to eat what is best for them, and many parents will have had ideals about their toddlers diets, but restricting one food type because it is deemed unhealthy is an approach that could backfire on a very large scale later on.

To sum up, yes, your toddler should be allowed treats, but you are the parent, you get to decide the treats and you also get to decide the when, where and how much.  It is your responsibility to teach them to have a healthy relationship with food.  There will be times in the future when you are not going to have control over their diet and if you have shown them how to behave around food, their choices may surprise you.