Your baby is now a toddler.
From their first birthday, your baby is no longer an infant. They are now a toddler, but breast milk or formula should still have a place in their diet. Their milk requirements will vary depending on the amount of solid food they are already eating.
As in the first year of life, during growth spurts, illnesses, or teething, your toddler may also experience a greater focus on milk feedings. Naturally, however, your toddler will gradually reduce milk feeds in favor of solid foods at their own pace, starting around their first birthday. It's important to reiterate that the biological weaning age is between 2 and 7 years.
Currently, there is unfortunately no uniform concept to serve as a guideline for infant nutrition. There are three different recognized pyramid models: those of the FKE (Research Institute for Child Nutrition), the DGE (German Nutrition Society), and the AID Infodienst (now the Federal Centre for Nutrition). These differ only in their graphic representation and supporting materials.
A varied food selection and meal planning are fundamentally important. This can be quite challenging, especially if your child develops a taste for fruit and vegetables. Don't worry, this is a perfectly normal phase and part of their development. Pressure, coercion, and rewards are not the answer! Often, they even exacerbate and worsen the situation. Children learn through imitation.
Therefore, it's good if you yourself eat a colorful variety of foods. A colorful selection can also help, following the motto "we eat with our eyes," and involving the children can be beneficial – go shopping together or cook together. An alternative and a tried-and-tested tip 😉: Simply hide the vegetables or fruit now and then. For example, in sauces, waffles, pancakes, or fritters.
But how much fruit and vegetables should your child eat?
The German Cancer Society's simple message of "two portions of fruit and three portions of vegetables daily" makes it easy for everyone to consume enough fruits and vegetables. The portion size used here is based on the hand. This ensures an age-appropriate selection of amounts, regardless of whether you have large or small hands. For larger pieces of fruit and vegetables, such as an apple, a handful counts as a portion; for chopped and smaller pieces of fruit and vegetables, such as blueberries, two handfuls held in a bowl count as one portion.
Drinking is also a major concern for most parents. As mentioned earlier, milk intake is gradually reduced by the child, so the amount of other fluids consumed should also increase. Water should be ideal, as juices and teas, with their (sometimes added) sweetness, can influence eating habits.
How much your child should drink depends on various factors, such as temperature and activity level. There is no consensus among professional organizations. However, it can be summarized that the total intake (including fluids from food, breast milk, and formula) should be approximately 80-100 ml per kg of body weight. Instead of constantly reminding the child to drink, it's important to set a good example, just as you would with other children, and always have drinks readily available so they can drink when they feel thirsty.
Are there any general rules you need to follow when buying food? No, even though the advertising claims for so-called children's food sound very tempting, these should be viewed with a critical eye, because these supposedly excellent children's foods offer no nutritional advantage over conventional foods. On the contrary, some tested products even showed clear disadvantages.
Besides a colorful selection, the most important thing for your child to eat a healthy and balanced diet is a relaxed atmosphere at the family table.
Your Scarlett Highley