Feeding schedule for a 1-2 year old?

Question

Do you have one? Do you have Breakfast, lunch, diner + snacks? What about drinks? Do you give your child juice w/meals or snacks or both? Or do you give them milk or water? Also, do you use a bottle or cup? I am asking YOUR experiences (or somone you know) not "what the book says".

Answer 1

Here's what I do with my 2 year old. She gets a cup of milk first thing in the morning, about 1/2 hour later a bowl of cereal - Cheerios, usually with raisins, or banana. For lunch she gets whatever she wants, usually she asks for either scrambled eggs or a jam sandwich. Nap. For a snack I try to stick to fruit, summer's great for peaches, blueberries, that kind of thing, I hate winter fruit that comes up from South America (no offense to S. Americans) it's just not the same as fresh from here you know? Anyway, I'm getting off track. For dinner she gets whatever we're eating. I try to give her only water with her meals, I found that she'd slurp down the juice and then have no room for her meal. So juice only once between meals per day (sometimes twice) She doesn't drink from a bottle anymore, but she is still on a sippy cup - she just can't get a handle on not spilling from a regular cup. Practice practice practice I guess.

Oh yeah, and she gets water whenever she wants throughout the day.

Answer 2

As a nanny I give children 1 to 2 years of age breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as snacks so that they eat a small amount every two hours. This is a good way to figure when a child needs to eat. If child is under age 5 they should eat at a minumum every 5 hours if age 3 every 3 hours. This does not mean a meal but a small nutricious snack. I give no drinks with meals but after the meal a drink. Water, milk , juice fill the child up without the vitamins and nutrients the food has.Children older than 5 need 3 meals and 2 snacks daily ususally the snacks are after school and in the evening.

Answer 3

My 4 year old had 3 meals and 2 snacks at 1 and 2 yo. She got milk in a cup with breakfast and with dinner. I gave her water if she had fruit for her snack and juice if she had teether cookies for a snack. My 16 month old is totally different, she still gets 3 meals a day but the one thing I can't take from her yet is her bottle because before she started walking she realized it was easier to crawl around and play with the bottle hanging from her mouth then a sippy cup. She is drinking from the cup more and more now. My kids usually eat every 4 hours starting at about 8 am.

Answer 4

Having three kids in very different stages of life, each with varied activities, it's tough to stick with a schedule, but I make sure everyone gets breakfast on time each day..... from there I usually need to wing it.

My youngest is 21 months and her breakfast is usually a generous portion of oatmeal... she loves the stuff! Then she's given a sip cup full of whole milk and set free in the livingroom while I prepare school lunches and while the other two are eating cereal or english muffins (which the little one has suddenly gained an intrest in eating as well).

She's good with a regular cup, but when I can't supervise I always give her a cup with a lid, although we treat it like a regular cup... always making sure it is set upright and put on the table or counter instead of being left on the couch or floor. I give as much milk as she asks for and any juice I give her, I mix half and hafl with water. She also has a water bottle (a spring water bottle with a pop top) that she has access to and I keep full for her all day.

I don't always have time for a sit-down soup or sandwich type lunch so we often take plastic bags full of carrot sticks, raisins or apple "cookies" with us where ever we go and then have a yogurt or cheese and crackers when we get back. Essentially grazing over the snacking/lunch/snacking period.

We then have supper all together at 5/5:15 when my husband gets home and the littlest one eats almost everyhting the rest of us eat.... she's not a fan of peas, but mostly everything else, she just goes with the flow.

With my other two I needed to make them wait until after they finished their meals to have a drink (and always milk with meals) but with the youngest, she needs a sip of milk after every few bites and she has no issues with chugging the whole cup down like the other two did. So she's welcome to have her milk whenever she askes for some.

We usually have some sort of activity immediately after dinner so the kids are pretty hungry by the time we get back home so we let them have a snack food or some other junk if they ate well at dinner.... sometimes it's a dessert, sometimes it's chips or popcorn while they watch TV. Then everyone has water for the rest of the night until bedtime.

Answer 5

My daughters are now 3 and almost 2. Since they were a year old, I've offered 3 solid meals a day plus a morning and an afternoon snack. (We don't always have a morning snack anymore.) Snacks are generally an apple, a banana, a box of raisins, yogurt, a piece of cheese, a small bowl of dry Cheerios/Kix, or something similar.

The girls have a small glass of juice with breakfast, milk or water with lunch and dinner, and water the rest of the day. My older daughter also breastfed until she was 14 months old, and my younger daughter is still nursing.

Neither girl ever took a bottle, so they always got milk, water, and juice in either a sippy cup or a regular cup once they were old enough.

Answer 6

Yes I have an almost 1 year old son. Yes he has breakfast, lunch and dinner also snacks in between. I give juice in a sippie cup and milk in the bottle. Also I try to include at leat 4-6 ounces of water throughout the day in either a bottle or sippie cup. He usually eats at least 6-8 times a day a combination of veggies fruit meat noodles and or cookies/ crackers. For a treat I usually give him pudding or yogart. He is definetly a good eater, and so far no problems with allergies to food.

Answer 7

honestly I feed him when he is hungry lol. I am a stay at home pregnant mom (due in a week) and whenever I eat I offer him food too. sometimes he is hungry sometimes he is not. he is not big on breakfast so when he wakes up I eat breakfast and he will have a snack. Then by lunch we both eat then we usually have a snack before daddy gets home then I make dinner. usually we have another snack around 7 or 8 (bed between 9-10). Thats my schedule I hope it helps. He is 26 months old by the way

Answer 8

I myself think that you should feed your kids when your hungry . Just like if you were cold you would asome that the are cold too. my children are 3 and 4 but I feed breakfast, lunch, and dinner and sometimes two snacks. i always make sure that they eat a fourth to half of theit plate , before they get something to drink and it usually is milk or juice.NO POP! Just a reminder childrens stomaches are as big as their little fist. If you have children who use the bottle still and you want to ween them off that give them a cup and dont give in if they throw a fit for that bottle. I would only give the bottle to them at nap or bedtime and then take it away at nap and so fourth.Hopefully this will help good luck

Answer 9

my son is 14 months, when he gets up in the morning he has cereal or eggs, toast and milk for breakfast, then mid morning he will usually have some juice with a snack like crackers or fruit, then he will have lunch which can be whatever i am having and usually he will have juice with lunch, then he lays down for a nap for about 2 hours, when he wakes up he will usually have another snack some animal crackers or goldfish with juice again or milk, then at dinner time he again usually eats whatever we are eating with a glass of milk, then at night before bed he usually has a snack of fruit and some water to drink. he drinks only from a cup and i usually mix his juice with water about half and half. works for me

Answer 10

We have a schedule for our 19 month old. He always drinks from a cup, we took him off a bottle when he was one. Our son only drinks whole milk in the morning and at night because he is so active during the day that when he gets hot he throws up the milk. He drinks juice alot during the day and he eats about every 4 hours and goes to bed around the same time everynight.