Hi! I would like suggestions for how to get my 1 year old to expand her protein horizons. She loooooves cheese, and will sometimes eat a bit of egg, but she seems to hate meat. The only meat she has eaten so far is summer sausage, which of course has lots of stuff in it that I don't want her eating on a daily basis. What kinds of meat did your toddler love? How did you serve it to them? Any help would be much appreciated.

Oh, and she is still nursing, so the majority of her calorie intake every day is from breast milk, which of course is the perfect food for her. We don't plan to wean any time soon, but I would like to get her in the groove of eating lots of different good proteins before we do wean.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Hello.
My toddler is already 2.5 years and 1 year in the zone (as much as possible, since he goes to day care)...
when he is with me, he will eat zoned meals... protein.. I mix in milk and chocolate or strawberry (blends)
also turkey deli ham.. he loves.. chicken, also, but he does not eat meat.
I do not understand why, but meat... he will refuse every time, any kind of meat preparation. He eats brocoli and leave meat there... another protein source I use is cottage cheese.. (mixed with strawberries and a bit of sugar.. as dessert)... and he loves cheese, just as your daughter..
Keep looking. Then you will find surprises like my kids did yesterday to me...
I served milk, nectarine and a slice of chocolate cake for dinner (I got for a offiice b-day and divided for 3 of us).
they drank the milk, eat nectarine.. and tasted the cake.. but left it on the table... it was delicious I can tell, I ate my part of the slice.. but it was too sweet for them... so I prepared something else.. jajaja.
Have a nice day... you are being nice to your daugther by teaching to eat on the zone.

If you can find the deli meats without the nitrates/nitrites, you can make roll-ups out of them. My kids get a kick out of them. I spread hummus inside, but also may spread some cream cheese onto them before rolling them up.

It is a challenge to find the right deli meat. I found Hormel has a line of natural deli meats, but our local grocery does not carry them, so I will need to stock up when I go shopping out of town.

Maybe try giving her a dip to dip her meat into? My youngest also did not like meat as a toddler but she would eat it if she had something to dip it into as it made the meal more fun....I used ketchup, plum sauce, etc (obviously pre-Zone days) but you could make a ranch or dill dip from yogurt and see if that entices her to try.

Also, kids seem to enjoy Canadian bacon as a protein source or try cutting chicken breast into strips, sometimes just the different shape will be more interesting to young ones. Good Luck!

Hi Katie!

Something else to to keep in mind is that, in terms of food, 1 yr olds only know what you give them. Children sometimes need to taste a food something like 15 to 20 times before they develop a taste for it, so be patient with her. Keep giving her good choices and you'll be providing her with the best start on a lifetime of healthy eating.

Thanks ladies! She is starting to tolerate chicken a little. She had a piece of a tofurky sausage at a BBQ the other day, and loved it, so I will pick some of those up for her. The dip idea sounds great, I will give it a try, and the rollups, too.

Our 2 yr old doesn't really like meat either. Her protein comes mostly from milk, string cheese, yogurt (reduced sugar or plain - add blueberries, mandarin oranges, strawberries, etc.), organic peanut butter, french toast since I soak it up with an egg, and the Barilla Protein Plus pastas. When she was 1 she would eat any meat but once she hit 18 months or so, things really changed. We keep trying though. I agree that it takes many introductions before they actually like something. Now she even eats oatmeal for breakfast which was a definite NO in the past. Oh and she'll occasionally eat Turkey Bacon. She does like the Hormel natural ham or turkey lunch meats too. I usually cut a piece in half and put a piece of cheese in the middle and microwave for a few seconds to sort of melt it and then I cut it up into little squares. I've been able to sneak ham or turkey into her grilled cheese sometimes too. She used to eat egg whites from a hard boiled egg but that isn't working anymore either. At one time, she would also eat egg salad sandwiches. Surprisingly she loved grilled Salmon. But as you know, with a toddler it's a day to day thing as to what they'll eat. I'm trying to get her to eat Naked Nuggets from Costco but she isn't interested. She did take a few bites of a turkey burger w/cheese the other day so maybe you could try that? I think the texture weirds her out and all the chewing takes too much time for a busy toddler, LOL!! Good Luck and keep us posted!

Theresa & Jason

Thanks! She is getting more adventurous with her food day by day. Now she will eat chicken any time, but only "naked." If it looks like it has any kind of sauce on it she won't even consider it. She's stopped eating scrambled eggs, unless they come out of my breakfast burrito. She will eat fish for her Grandpa, but not for anyone else. Since he lives 400 miles away, that's not much help! She still loves the cheese, and has decided that cow's milk is OK too. Of course she still gets most of her nutrition from her "mama milk," so I'm not too worried yet.

You're welcome Katie! You'll find she'll probaly go through lots of different stages of food preferences. There's no need to worry, even if she seems to want only one food for a couple of weeks, as long as you keep giving her the best foods to choose from. It's a fun adventure to watch your baby develop her tastes for certain things.