Menu for a 1 year old child: allowed foods and simple recipes

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What can you give to a one-year-old child? If previously parents took into account the advice of pediatricians and introduced a variety of complementary foods to the menu, then the baby is already familiar with the taste of many products. Therefore, the appearance of another dish will not come as a surprise to him.

When creating a menu for a 12-month-old baby, you should take semi-liquid food as a basis. However, there is no need to grind it to a paste. Small pieces of vegetables or meat will help your baby master such a necessary process as chewing. In addition, the menu for a 1-year-old child should be as balanced as possible in proteins and vitamins.

So, what should a 1 year old child eat:

• lean meat or fish;
• cereals - wheat, buckwheat, oatmeal, corn;
• vegetables - peeled cucumber, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and cabbage, carrots, beets, zucchini, potatoes, radishes, radishes;
• fruits - green apples, banana, peaches, apricots;
• whole egg;
• milk and fermented milk products - cottage cheese, kefir, sour cream, cheese, yogurt, biolact;
• vegetable and cow oil;
• bread:
• garden greens;
• a little sugar.

A baby's diet at 12 months should still include formula and breast milk. But natural feeding must be gradually replaced by regular food products, so that by the time the baby enters kindergarten, the baby has completely switched to “adult” food.

Menu for a 12-month-old bottle-fed baby. Physical exercise

A 12-month-old child needs to constantly build and strengthen muscle mass. This can be done during morning exercises and home physical exercises. The complexes must include:

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• walking on various (straight, inclined, flat and bumpy) surfaces;
• exercises with hanging the baby on rings or a horizontal bar;
• all kinds of squats (with and without support from the handles);
• all types of crawling;
• bends;
• exercises with crawling through a hoop and under an obstacle;
• abdominal strengthening exercises;
• throwing a ball;
• circular rotation of the limbs;
• strengthening the skills of safely getting off a chair, bed or sofa.

You should do gymnastics only in a well-ventilated room and with the window open (of course, avoiding drafts). To make physical education activities enjoyable for your baby, you can conduct them with fun, rhythmic music.

A one-year-old child no longer needs a restorative massage: thanks to active and constant movement, his muscles begin to develop without external external effort (the only exception is a special prescription from a doctor). Slow walks over fairly long distances are very useful for him. Many mothers enroll with their baby in a development school and study under the supervision of qualified specialists.

Prohibited Products

A 1-year-old child’s menu should not contain fatty, spicy or difficult-to-digest foods. The baby should not be given sausages, store-bought convenience foods, fast food, hot sauces, spices and additives. Also, most sweets should be excluded from the menu: cakes, pastries, sweets, shortbread and butter cookies, jam. If you want to pamper your baby with something tasty, it is recommended to offer him marshmallows, marmalade or marshmallows.

It is necessary to clarify that the set of prohibited foods for a 1-year-old child can be very individual. It all depends on the individual sensitivity and state of the baby’s gastrointestinal tract.

What about store-bought yoghurts in bright jars? Pediatricians warn that sweet drinks with dyes and preservatives should not be given to a 1-year-old child. It is much healthier to prepare a tasty product at home or, as a last resort, buy yogurt without sugar and fillers.

Rules for introducing new dishes to the menu

As a rule, from the age of 6 months a child is ready to accept new food. However, it is better to start adjusting your diet with vegetable and fruit dishes. If the baby is thin and slowly gaining weight, it is healthier to prepare a viscous porridge with a piece of butter.

From root vegetables for a 12-month-old baby’s menu, you should choose something neutral - potatoes, zucchini, cucumber, cauliflower, pumpkin. Brightly colored vegetables can cause allergies, so they should be introduced into the diet carefully and slowly, literally a teaspoon at a time. From fruits, you can start with a green apple, and then move on to other fruits.

A food diary will help track a 1-year-old baby’s reaction to a new food, where the mother will record the type and quantity of foods introduced, the appearance of skin rashes, and also note her especially favorite foods.

Tips for creating your own menu

A child’s diet at this age can be very varied. The same foods offered to the baby should not be repeated throughout the day. Be sure to include meat, vegetables, cereals, dairy products and fruits in your baby’s menu every day. This will provide the body with all the nutrients and vitamins.

Here are some tips that will be useful for mothers when planning a menu.

1. For breakfast you can serve not only porridge, cottage cheese, fruit puree, but also meat, fish, and yolk. Drinks allowed include fruit drinks, fruit juices, compotes, and jelly.
2. Lunch must necessarily combine vegetable dishes, meat and fish. After this, you can please your baby with dessert in the form of fruit and berry puree, baked fruits, juices, mousses, soufflés.
3. Your baby should consume maximum protein before lunch.
4. For an afternoon snack, the baby must eat fermented milk products with the addition of fruits, dried fruits, and cookies.
5. Dinner is based on the principle of breakfast.
6. The child must drink after all the food.

To make your task easier, you should take care of drawing up a weekly menu for your baby in advance. You need to plan your diet taking into account all the products recommended at this age and your daily needs.

Video about feeding a baby at 8 months

Features of creating a daily feeding regimen and menu for children with allergies

We don’t think it should be pointed out that a child with allergies should eat only hypoallergenic formulas. Under no circumstances should you give such a baby cow's milk. According to generally accepted standards, complementary foods are introduced to children with allergies 1 month later.

If the child is 8 months old, the following allergenic foods should not be included in the diet:

• chicken eggs;
• whole milk products;
• fish;
• citrus;
• cheese.

You should be careful when introducing crumbs of orange-red vegetables, fruits and berries (carrots, red apples, cherries, etc.) into the menu. The basis of nutrition should be lean meats, fermented milk products prepared at home or purchased at a dairy kitchen, and vegetables. Porridge (gluten-free) should be cooked only with water. Meat is allowed to be introduced only at 9-10 months, and fish - closer to a year. As for fruits, the child should first be introduced to a green apple, and then gradually introduce pears, plums, bananas, and yellow currants into the diet. Eggs are completely eliminated until 1 year of age or replaced with quail eggs.

• Choosing hypoallergenic porridge for complementary feeding
• Assortment of dairy-free cereals for first feeding
• Child development by months to one year
• Wisdom of the first porridge
• When can you give your baby milk porridge?
• 8 month old baby's daily routine

What should be on the menu

If previously the child ate on demand and received breastfeeding 10–12 times a day, then with age, feeding becomes less frequent and by the age of 1 year is reduced to six times a day. Moreover, a second breakfast (lunch) at 10.00 and an afternoon snack at 16.00 are given only when the child is really hungry. But even in this case they should not be abundant. Breastfeeding is preferable at night.

When transferring a child at the age of 1 to a new diet, it is necessary to bring him as close as possible to the conditions of kindergarten in order to protect him from additional stress in the future.

Breakfast

For breakfast, it is good for a one-year-old child to prepare viscous porridge with milk or water, give him cottage cheese, an omelet or milk soup with pasta. Separately, it is allowed to offer fruit puree with pieces.

There is no need to be afraid of variety in the menu of a one-year-old child. Children at the age of 1 can already eat fresh vegetables, casseroles, vinaigrette, sandwiches, and crackers. As for drinks, it is permissible to give tea with milk, natural juice or rosehip decoction. Many children drink plain water.

Lunch

A 1-year-old child’s weekly menu should include a light snack at 10–11 o’clock. This could be one fruit in slices or puree, compote with dried fruits. Such a breakfast will satisfy your hunger for a while and will not kill your appetite.

If the lunch period falls during a walk, it won’t hurt to take with you a glass of natural yoghurt, bagels or crackers and some juice.

Dinner

The most important element of a child’s menu at 12 months is a full lunch. It should be tasty and satisfying, satisfying the maximum need for proteins. Before the first course, it is advisable to give your baby a light salad of fresh vegetables.

At one year of age, it is permissible to add cereals, herbs, pasta, and beans to the soup. For the second you can prepare a vegetable dish with meat or fish. It is not advisable to give lamb and pork to a 1-year-old baby, but you can offer high-quality sausages or sausages. Portions should be small so that the child can easily eat a set of three dishes. After lunch you can drink compote or tea.

Afternoon snack

To ensure adequate nutrition for a 12 month old baby, the menu offers a second light snack after nap time. A proper afternoon snack should consist of milk or kefir with cookies or a bun. For dessert you can offer fruit. Many children really like cottage cheese or homemade yogurt with berries and pieces of fruit.

Dinner

Products for dinner should be selected taking into account breakfast. If the child ate a dairy or vegetable dish in the morning, pediatricians recommend offering a cereal dish in the evening. It could be a casserole or porridge. It’s a good idea to give your baby pureed meat and vegetables.

Various mixtures in jars save time and make mom’s work easier. They can be meat, vegetable or with cereals and are designed for a child from 1 year.

Second dinner

Babies still receiving breast milk are often offered this as dinner. Children on artificial nutrition are given a formula or fermented milk product.

Menu for a 12 month old baby. Complementary feeding at 12 months: menu for a one-year-old baby

• Porridge. Such as: rice, corn, oatmeal, buckwheat, millet. If previously they had to be crushed, now this is not worth doing, since a child under one year old already has his own teeth. Porridge in complementary feeding for 12 months is well absorbed and brings vitamins and various microelements to the body. You can add pieces of fruit to the finished dish; chewing skills will develop well. You can cook cereals either in water or in milk, but you should not use full-fat milk right away from the first days; introduce it gradually.
• Meat . There are no particular contradictions in complementary feeding, be sure to exclude fatty foods, it is best to prepare it in the form of puree or minced meat, you can boil, steam or stew it, but it is too early to give it fried. It is good to feed a meat dish for lunch along with vegetables or porridge. Meat mixes will be very useful: rabbit, chicken, veal.
• Fish . Take better white varieties such as: pollock, hake. It is still too early to give red fish at one year old, prepare it in the same way as meat - in the form of puree, add fish dinners twice a week.
• Vegetables . Gradually introduce new fruits and vegetables into complementary foods for your 12-month-old baby. Be careful only with red and orange fruits to avoid an allergic reaction. Prepare mashed potatoes or serve as salads, you can season with vegetable oil, which is rich in vitamin E. Add vegetable casseroles and stews, juices will be useful. Vegetables can be mixed with porridge or served as a side dish for meat or fish.
• Bakery products . For easy digestion in a child's stomach, you need to give up fresh, soft, hot bread and replace it with denser bread.
• Dairy products . Products such as kefir and cottage cheese are good to give during walks or before bedtime, so as not to overload the baby’s intestines. Take only fresh dairy products, any glazed cheeses will be too early, natural cottage cheese is better.
• Broths. To begin with, it is better to cook complementary foods from vegetables, as well as their broths and soups. It’s worth holding off on meat, it’s too early to give at a young age, it’s better not to rush. Get rid of unnecessary cholesterol.

Sample menu for the week

It is very important to create a menu for a child at 12 months so that the mother does not have to spend days in the kitchen, and at the same time the baby receives a sufficient amount of energy and nutrients.

Porridge, for example, can be cooked in the evening, and in the morning you can simply heat it up and feed the whole family. Soup is optional, although it is advisable to prepare it every day. In general, it is recommended for a mother to use recipes for feeding her 1-year-old child that will allow her to provide tasty and nutritious food to the rest of her relatives.

Below is a detailed menu table for a 1 year old child for every day.

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

When creating a diet for a small child aged 1 year, you should correctly distribute the set of foods throughout the day. It is better to give meat foods in the first half of the day. For dinner, it is recommended to offer vegetable, dairy or cereal foods. It should also be noted that some foods should be included in the diet of a 1-year-old child every day, while others only 2-3 times a week.

It is recommended to prepare salads for children from chopped vegetables, including pieces of root vegetables in the puree. For meat dishes, you need to use chicken, beef, veal or rabbit meat boiled and minced in a meat grinder. A sample menu for a child for a week includes daily consumption of dairy products, butter or vegetable oil, and bread.

Principles of PP for children

It is important for parents to understand that proper nutrition is not a diet, but a well-designed daily menu that ensures that the entire range of nutrients enters the child’s body.

When developing a diet for a child for every day, you should be guided by the following rules:

1. Try to have your child eat at least 4 to 5 times a day at the same time, both on weekdays and on weekends.
2. The calorie content of meals, depending on the age of the child, is 1300 - 1800 kcal per day: breakfast accounts for approximately 25% of kcal, lunch - 35 - 40%, dinner - 25%, snack and afternoon snack - 10 - 15%.
3. Servings of dishes should be small, but at the same time satisfy hunger well: optimally - 250 - 300 g of the main dish, 20 - 30 g of bread and 200 ml of drink.
4. Make sure that your child’s body receives a balanced and sufficient amount of proteins, carbohydrates and fats every day.
5. Include the most healthy and natural foods in your diet, minimize the consumption of foods with food additives, preservatives, and dyes.
6. Steam, boil and bake dishes to retain maximum benefits.

And a few more useful tips that will help you create a balanced menu for your child:

• Try to prepare fresh food before each meal. This way you will be able to retain maximum nutrients in your foods.
• Buy only fresh and high-quality products. Be sure to pay attention to expiration dates and ingredients; do not feed your child foods with added dyes, food additives, or preservatives.
• Follow all cycles of technological processing of products to preserve maximum vitamins and minerals in them.
• If your child attends preschool, ask what he ate during the day. This way you can supplement his diet with the missing substances.
• Particular attention should be paid to creating a menu for children who attend sports clubs. Due to increased energy costs, the amount of carbohydrates and proteins in their diet should be increased.
• You should not completely exclude sugar from your child’s diet, even if you yourself have given it up. Glucose is extremely important for a child’s body, because children are very active throughout the day. Due to glucose deficiency, they may develop hypoglycemic syndrome, manifested by sticky sweat, irritability, and fainting. However, remember that sweets can and should be consumed in moderation.
• If your child eats little, do not rush to force-feed him. If at the same time he feels good and develops in accordance with his age, then the substances consumed with food are quite enough for him.

Recipes

There are many recipes for preparing food for a 1 year old child. We will look at the simplest and most delicious ones, which do not require much time and at the same time turn out to be nutritious, satisfying and healthy.

Apple soup

For apple soup with rice you will need:

• 150–200 g apples;
• 30 g rice;
• 250 ml water;
• 1 tbsp. l. Sahara;
• cinnamon.

Wash the apples and bake in the oven, cool and wipe. Boil rice in a glass of water with 1 tsp. sugar and a pinch of salt, cool slightly and combine with applesauce. Add the remaining sugar, cinnamon and beat well with a whisk. Then put on low heat and heat for 2-3 minutes. The finished dish for a 12-month-old baby should have the consistency of jelly. It's rare that a child will refuse to eat such soup.

Semolina porridge with carrot juice

Photo from redmondclub.com

Unusual pink semolina porridge will interest even the most picky child. To prepare it you will need:

• 3 tsp. semolina;
• a glass of milk;
• 50 ml water;
• 1 tsp. cow butter;
• salt, sugar.

Combine half the milk with water, bring to a boil and pour in all the semolina in a thin stream. Boil over low heat for 5 minutes, add sugar, salt and the remaining milk. Remove from heat, add butter and cool. Add 50 ml of fresh carrot juice to the prepared porridge, mix and immediately give to the child.

Buckwheat

To prepare you will need:

• 1 tbsp. l. buckwheat;
• 200 ml milk;
• 100 ml water;
• 1 tsp. butter;
• sugar, salt.

Boil water and add washed cereal. Boil for 10 minutes, cool and rub the finished porridge through a sieve. Then add salt, sugar, butter, pour in milk and boil for another 2 minutes.

Vegetable salad

For a 1-year-old child, a salad made from fresh cucumbers, broccoli or cauliflower and sweet peppers is very useful. To prepare it you need:

• 100 g cabbage;
• 100 g cucumbers;
• 60 g pepper;
• dill greens;
• 1 tsp. vegetable oil;
• salt.

Peel the cucumbers and grate them. Boil bright cabbage inflorescences in salted water until soft and mash with a spoon or rub through a sieve. Cut the peppers into small pieces. If the skin of the fruit is too thick, you must first pour boiling water over it, peel it, and chop the pulp. Mix all ingredients, add oil and chopped herbs.

Rice and Raisin Casserole

For breakfast, it's good to make rice casserole with rice and raisins. To prepare 1 serving you will need:

• 30 g rice;
• 30 g water;
• 1 tsp. Sahara;
• ½ egg;
• 10 g raisins;
• 1 tbsp. l. sour cream;
• 5 g butter;
• 50 g milk;
• salt, vegetable oil for greasing the baking sheet.

Rinse the rice and boil in hot water until softened. Then drain the liquid, add milk, sugar, salt and continue cooking for another 10–15 minutes. Beat the egg into the prepared chilled porridge, add the washed raisins and butter. Mix the mixture and place on a greased baking sheet in a 5 cm layer. Bake at 280° for 20 minutes or until golden brown on the surface.

Mashed potatoes with chicken

For 1 serving you will need:

• 100 g boiled chicken meat;
• 200 g potatoes;
• 70 g milk;
• 1 tsp. butter;
• salt.

Make broth from the chicken, then remove the meat and put raw potatoes in its place. Keep on fire for 15–20 minutes, mash well with a masher. Add chicken meat and butter minced through a meat grinder to the puree, add a little salt. Whisk the mixture and give it to the baby immediately.

To improve the taste of casseroles and main courses, a child of 1 year can make one of the children's sauces. For example, for sour cream sauce you will need 100 ml of broth, 1 tbsp. l. sour cream, 1 tsp. flour and a pinch of salt. Half of the broth is heated and mixed with flour, the second part is combined with sour cream, brought to a boil and poured into the diluted flour. Heat the sauce over low heat for 5 minutes, cool and serve with boiled vegetables and cereals or meat dishes.

The menu for a one-year-old child requires thoughtfulness and careful selection of products. Children at this age have a great need for vitamins and microelements, which can only be provided by a well-balanced diet.

Author: Elena Medvedeva, doctor, especially for Mama66.ru

Useful video on how to feed a child aged 1 to 3 years

List of sources:

• WHO Guidelines “Feeding and nutrition of infants and young children” / updated reissue, 2003.
• Baby food. A variety of menus for every day from birth to five years / T. M. Borisova // Tsentrpoligraf, 2011.
• Children's menu from 1 year to 7 years with advice from a pediatrician / O. A. Ivanov // Eksmo, 2008.
• National program for optimizing the nutrition of children aged 1 to 3 years in the Russian Federation (with annex) / gr. authors // Pediatr, 2021.
• Nutrition at the beginning of life. From pregnancy to 3 years / gr. authors // Eksmo, 2015.
• We cook for children from 6 months to 3 years / gr. authors // Eksmo, 2016.

Author
Elena Medvedeva

Specialist

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