What a Plant-based Toddler Eats in a Day
When it comes to food and Jensen, we are pretty relaxed. But it is a tricky issue that I know can stress some parents out. I read Baby Led Weaning (I think even before Jensen was born!) and loved how feeding a kid that way took all the pressure and stress out of the situation. I literally breathed a sigh of relief reading it, as I could feel the control freak in me itching to get obsessive and anxious about it all! The philosophy they follow is that babies and children naturally know how much food they need. It favours skipping pureed, mashed food and letting babies feed themselves with bigger chunks of food. This also helps develop their fine motor skills. Although currently Jensen is going through a ‘I’ll only eat it if you feed me’ phase, it was amazing to watch him learn how to feed himself in a relatively fast time frame. It was a little messy, but never a crazy mess from one side of the kitchen to the other, and he seemed to enjoy himself.
Besides the one big rule - no animals or animal products - almost all his options are healthy and he can eat when and how much he wants. We offer breakfast, lunch and dinner, with snacks in between, and don’t worry if he doesn’t eat much. He still nurses a lot and some days hardly eats anything else. On days like that it’s nice to have the peace of mind he’s getting nourishment from my milk, but sometimes it seems like he’ll never wean! He has also been a notoriously slow, painful, teether and I can tell when his teeth are bothering him as he’ll want to nurse ALL day. He also doesn’t really ask for specific foods yet. If he does we will always try to give it to him if it’s a reasonable request. The only food he usually asks for, and gets upset about not getting, is mama’s milk!
Jensen has been plant-based since conception and is a happy, healthy, thriving, two and a half year old. He was in the 25% percentile for birth weight and now sits bang in the 50% percentile. On the day I chose to log what he ate we had our swimming lesson and a playdate with a coffee group friend. Our friends are always understanding about supplying plant-based snacks. This means the kids can raid the coffee table once they are tuckered out from playing and it’s no big deal. I’m very grateful for having such awesome mummy friends. I think that Jensen’s teeth were a bit sore on this day as he did nurse a bit more than usual.
5am: Breast milk
Woke for some milk and then went back to sleep.
7:30am: Breast milk
Up for the day and had his usual morning feed before we got out of bed.
8.30am: Breakfast choices & multi vitamin
Multi Vitamin - we follow Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s recommendation of giving a multi vitamin everyday. We use Thompson’s Animals Junior Immunofort which has safe levels of beta-carotene, a wide range of vitamins and minerals, and no and artificial flavours or colourings. And as a plus side Jensen LOVES them. He’s been having them since he turned two and I did notice a great reduction in colds and germs this past winter.
Breakfast Choices - it was one of those days where a lot of food was offered (and asked for) and not much was eaten. We aren’t morning people in our house and breakfast is usually spread over a couple of hours.
What was offered:
-Green smoothie, left over from the day before - only had a few mouthfuls.
-Blended nut/seed milk - a few mouthfuls.
This is another recipe recommendation from Joel Fuhrman’s book Disease-Proof Your Child. We’ve been supplementing with nut/seed milk since Jensen was a year old. I make a batch every four days from oat milk blended with sunflower seeds, walnuts, and dates. Walnuts are a great source of omega-3 fats and sunflower seeds are full of polyunsaturated fats. They both also include a wide range of vitamins and minerals including Vitamin E, selenium, fibre, folate and iron. Some days he drinks a full bottle, other days he doesn’t touch it. Today was a hardly touch it day!
-Orange slices - didn’t want them.
-Toast with marmite - asked for this but didn’t eat any of it. He did lick the plastic knife and got a few mouthfuls of marmite which is a great source of vitamin B12.
-Oat milk fluffy - requested a fluffy like dad’s coffee. Only had a couple of sips.
-Asked for more breast milk and nursed again.
-Gold kiwi fruit chopped up - ate a whole kiwi fruit as he sat with me while I ate my breakfast.
12pm: After swimming snack
-Pretzels - Our swimming lesson is at 11.30am and Jensen is usually starving after it. He loves pretzels and they keep him distracted long enough so I can get us both dry and changed!
-Breast Milk - he then asked for more milk when we got back to the car and nursed again.
12.30pm: Lunch choices
-Rawsome Greens Smoothie from Tank - Jensen loves these and having one after swimming has become a tradition. Today at lunch he only had a few sips of a full tank.
-Apple - a couple of bites
-Only Organic Coconut Banana & Acai Smoothie Pouch - didn’t want it. (I find these pouches are a great way to get food into Jensen when his teeth are a bit sore. They can be recycled with soft plastics at the supermarket in New Zealand. This makes me feel a lot happier about still buying them!)
-Marmite sandwich - didn’t want it
-Orange slices - same ones offered at breakfast, had a couple of slices at lunch.
-Breast milk - asked for more milk when we got back to the car to go to our playdate and nursed again.
3.30pm: Afternoon tea choices
-Breast milk - asked for some more and nursed again. Only briefly as he was having too much fun with his friend.
-Smoothie pouch - I offered him this again and he had it this time.
-Apple - shared a whole apple with is friend. He probably ate about a quarter of it.
-Rawsome Greens Smoothie - drank this on the ride home and had about two thirds of it.
5.30pm: Pre-dinner snack as things turned to chaos!
After a great playdate we rushed home and squeezed in a dog walk. I offered him another pouch of food, this time Only Organics Mango, Sweet Potato, and Quinoa. He had about a quarter of it on our walk in the backpack and it kept him happy.
6.30pm: Dinner
Veggie bean goulash and organic soba noodles - we try to eat with Jensen when we can but today wasn’t one of those days. He had leftovers of what we had for dinner the night before. Dinner can be 50/50 with him but today was an eating dinner day! He ate all the noodles and all of the goulash except for the leeks. For him this was a lot of food and I was surprised. It reminded me that I always need to offer him a decent dinner just in case he eats it!
7.30pm: Breast Milk before bed
Our bedtime routine includes stories and then some milk. Jensen doesn’t nurse to sleep but likes to have some milk before bed. It seems to help him relax and wind down. He usually says ‘bed’ when he’s ready and we say goodnight.
And that’s a wrap of what a plant-based toddler eats in a day! How much he consumes varies greatly day to day and he is a typical toddler that can love something one day and not want to touch it the next. I just to try and be consistent at offering him whole, plant-based foods and leave the rest up to him.
