What are some good go to snacks for toddlers?

Question

My daughter is 21 months old. I am really trying to keep the food with sugar to a minimum. Right now some of her snacks are Fruit cups in light syrup, sugar free jello or pudding, dried fruit, and crackers. She really eats well at meal time. She loves veggies like green beans, carrots, peas, tomatoes, and brocolli. I just wish I had other snack time things that seem better for her. Please give me some Ideas for healthy snacks

Answer 1

How about raisins? I mean, I know it's pretty standard, but my kids always liked them (still do). Granola bars, apple sauce, celery sticks (with or without peanut butter), cereal bars, oatmeal bars. There's plenty out on the market.

Our girls eat very well, too, so I know exactly where you're coming from. We started it very early on too (although I have to admit that I am impressed because I don't think we started with ours as early as you have with your daughter-kudos!).

Answer 2

Unsweetened applesauce
Goldfish Crackers (look for the whole grain variety)
String Cheese sticks
Pretzels
Fresh Fruit (try making fruit salad together)
Mini-bagel w/ cream cheese
English muffin with dab of peanut butter
Raisins
Craisins
Veggie Crisps (like potato chips but made from veggies such as spinach, tomato, etc.)
Yogurt (look for all-natural or organic varieties to cut down on the high fructose corn syrup)
Cottage Cheese (buy low fat, 1% or fat-free even)
Gerber Puffs (my 3.5 year old still loves these and they are very low in sugar per serving)
Dry cereal such as Cheerios or Kix
Pineapple is one of the only fruits packed in it's own juices without added sugar
Rice cakes

Answer 3

Dice the carrots ans some celerly in very thin machstick sizes and offer her some peanut butter or cream cheese to go along with them. You can top the celerly with the peanut butter and even a few rasins on top. A few sliices of cheese in small slices might be a nice treat. Bannanas are generally appitizing and well tolorated by most young tummies and how about tapioca pudding for an occasional snackt? You could also easily blend a fruit smoothie for mom and baby for a summer afternoon cool treat.

Answer 4

Nilla wafers and animal crackers are great, they are low in sugar and sodium. Fruits and veggies are even better. At 21 months old, you could slice veggies the long way (for instance, slice baby carrots the long way into quarters, or celery), to make it easier for her to bite and chew. Invest the $5 in an apple slicer/corer... keep a bag of apples on hand, and you've got an instant easy snack. Kids love things they can dip, so give her a little yogurt or peanut butter with sliced fruit or salad dressing for fresh veggies. With my 3 little ones, we also use a lot of low-sodium pretzels and cheeze-its (I separate them into single serving size baggies to throw in the diaper bag and leave in the car for snacking emergencies!). The last thing I recommend is canned fruit in *juice*, not syrup. They can be hard to find... if you can't find name brand, look for the store brands, I've never had quality issues with the store brands of fruit! Good luck!

Answer 5

It sounds like you have a VERY healthy eater on your hands. :) You're doing great by offering fruits and veggies instead of sweets and starches. Does she have any food allergies or sensitivities?

Here are some other ideas for you:

*Avocado slices on crackers or whole wheat bread
*Grapes, cut into quarters
*Cottage cheese, with or without fruit (unless she has a dairy allergy)
*Celery
*Rice cakes (plain)
*Mozzarella cheese sticks, cut into pieces
*Whole wheat Goldfish crackers

You can check this link for some more ideas. :)

http://www.snacksfortoddlers.com/

**She's a little too young for peanut butter or berries. Hold off on all nuts or nut products until she's 3, and berries are safe around 24 months.

Here's a link on food introduction and food allergies:

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/first-foods.html

Answer 6

Gerber has these fruit and veggie puffs my son likes those. (He's 19 months) Goldfish crackers, sugar free jello is his new thing, freeze dried fruits and veggies, He also likes to steal mommy and daddy's 100 calorie packs (the 100 calorie packs are all mini-sized- perfect for little fingers), other than that, I guess sliced apples. We cut some up and tossed them in lemon juice, and stuck them in a tupperware bowl (This was something he could eat in the car) he liked it and they weren't messy.

Answer 7

If you're trying to keep her sugar down, it should be pretty easy at this time. And if I were you, i'd stay away from the fruit cups! Fresh fruit is a lot better and cheaper!

My daughter loves trail mix! You can even make your own! I add grapes and pretzels to my daughters... she loves it!

Good luck!

Answer 8

well mine loves homemade or store bought TRAIL MIX:
like yougart covered rasins,banana chips,dates (mushy ones not the hard ones.), dried fruits. stuff of that nature.)

other snacks to consider:

granola bars
crasins
soyjoy snack bars
cheerios
veggie crackers
Nutri-pal bars, and drinks
goldfish crackers
veggies n dip (soft veggies)
apples slices in pb
ants on a log (celery with pb and a few rasins)
vienna sausages
a fruit salad made fresh:)
that new yougart that i just bougt now contains DHA its called..yoplait kids 25% less sugar and now with blues clues on the containers:)

Answer 9

my boyfriends daughter 2yrs 4 mos- loves yogurt!

also try grapes/fruit. cheese cubes. granola bites, mini rice cakes.
dried fruit can be high in sugar so watch the amt you give.

from what you say she's pretty set with healthy eating habits.

Answer 10

I always give fresh fruit (cut up and packed in those snack containers for trips. Ex. strawberries, peaches, apples).
Also rice cake, yogurt, cheese sticks.