Feeding Children Aged 12–18 Months
Feeding Children Aged 12–18 Months
Basic Principles
A one-year-old child should eat sitting at a table, enjoy a variety of foods and drink from a cup rather than a bottle with a teat.
The appearance of food becomes increasingly important as children grow older.
Soft drinks should never be offered to young children. Water, milk and freshly prepared fruit juices are the best ways to quench their thirst.
Parents should know that eating habits begin to develop at around one year.
Children who ‘eat with love and pleasure’ are known to show better physical development in weight and height than children who consume the same amount of food but have a negative emotional attitude towards eating.
According to the literature, positive emotions around eating also support brain development, which depends primarily on the child’s environment and nutrition.
Discovering new things and gaining experience are natural and appealing activities for a one-year-old. Children are developing a sense of independence.
If we take a relaxed approach to mealtimes, children gradually learn to decide when and how much to eat and to recognise feeling full.
Forcing children to consume the full recommended amount for their age can adversely affect their appetite.
Remember that children’s needs are individual, and recommended food quantities for each age are guidelines.
Recommendations
Some parents find it difficult to accept that their children are becoming more capable and are eager to participate actively in feeding, even if their attempts are not always successful.
Do not dwell on mistakes caused mainly by clumsy movements; offer encouragement instead.
Some basic tips can help prevent unwanted eating habits in one-year-olds:
– Do not allow children to leave the table during a meal to play and then return to eat. Set a consistent boundary and patiently discourage combining play with eating.
Let children play first, and bring them to the table when they actually want to eat. When hungry, they will accept the boundary against eating while playing and learn to put their toys away before meals.
Guided by hunger, they will eat enough and develop appropriate eating habits.
– Children often put their fingers into food to explore its texture.
Child nutrition specialists advise allowing children to discover what interests them about their food. They will naturally begin to use a spoon gradually.
– Children want to hold their own spoon, but cannot yet use it skilfully.
Let them try! As they begin to manage, gradually reduce your involvement and let them feed themselves.
This is the age when children want to feed themselves. Naturally, food will spill from the spoon, but do not scold them: they will gradually learn to manage this too.
Difficulties
– Sometimes children refuse food that their mother considers suitable.
This is one way a one-year-old can show independence. Do not force them.
During the first and second years of life, many eating problems that persist into adulthood first appear.
When children drink enough milk and new foods are introduced gradually, they become accustomed to different flavours and develop their preferences by trying them.
This is the most important year for establishing food preferences. Milk remains a major food at this age.
If a child refuses milk, milk-based foods such as puddings, milk desserts and cheese offer an alternative way to provide enough of this staple food.
– Children very often prefer sweet foods. People of all races and cultures are known to have an innate preference for sweetness.
Strictly limit children’s consumption of sweet foods.
Children who eat sweets every day become more prone to obesity.
These recommendations reflect a patient approach and the child’s best interests, supporting both emotional and physical development.
Patience helps children develop physically while encouraging a lifelong enjoyment of ‘eating with love and pleasure’.
Recommended Foods and Quantities
Milk and Dairy Products
After the first year, MILK AND DAIRY PRODUCTS remain a major source of easily absorbed protein, minerals and vitamins.
During a child’s first year, milk is their main food, providing all the nutrients their growing body needs.
After this age, a daily intake of two to three and a half cups of milk (400–450 g) is sufficient.
Larger quantities of milk may leave children unable to eat other foods, which can contribute to iron-deficiency anaemia.
The recommended daily quantity of dairy products (white brined cheese, yellow cheese/) is approximately 25–30 g.
Other Staple Foods
Other staple foods, including meat, fats, flour-based foods, fruit, pulses and vegetables, should be offered in sufficient quantities and prepared in different ways.
Meat
For early childhood (ages 1–3), lean MEAT, such as veal, chicken and pork, is recommended as a source of high-quality protein, fats and minerals.
A child’s needs are met by 50–60 g of meat or fish 4–5 times a week. Meat must always be minced or cut into small pieces measuring 0.5–1 cm.
If children continue eating only puréed food, learning to chew becomes increasingly difficult later.
Protein nutrition is considered most complete when the menu includes both plant and animal proteins.
Fruit and Vegetables
Firm FRUIT AND VEGETABLES should have stones removed and be grated for children up to 18 months, or cut into small pieces for older children.
Bulgaria offers a wide variety of delicious fruit and vegetables that should feature in children’s daily menus in quantities of 250–300 g as juices, nectars and fruit or vegetable salads.
(bread, potatoes, rice, sugary foods and baked goods) are necessary for young children, but should not be offered excessively.
Carbohydrates
A high consumption of bread is characteristic of Bulgarian eating habits and, unfortunately, adversely affects young children’s nutrition.
For example, do not add crumbled bread to soup, because children may fill up on bread and refuse their main course or dessert.
As a result, they do not receive enough meat, milk and other foods needed for growth, leading to poor nutrition.
Children’s daily intake should include 60 g of bread, around 40–45 g of sugar, honey or jam, and 20 g of baked goods.
Unhelpful Practices
When families do not prepare separate food for their child and simply offer adult meals, the child’s diet may be inappropriate and nutritionally inadequate.
Adult meals may contain fats and meats unsuitable for very young children, as well as too many spices.
Children are also sometimes given only the sauce from a cooked dish mixed with crumbled bread. This is entirely inappropriate, yet unfortunately common in Bulgaria.
With such an unsuitable diet, children may fail to gain enough weight and sometimes develop gastrointestinal problems.
Recommendations After the First Birthday
After turning one, a child can eat a whole EGG, a particularly valuable food because egg white has high biological value,
while the yolk contains fat-soluble vitamins and easily absorbed fats.
A whole egg is recommended 3–5 times a week.
Child nutrition specialists recommend offering mainly plant-based FATS. Among animal fats, butter is recommended.
Daily fat intake, including animal and plant fats, should be approximately 20 grams, with more than half preferably coming from plant sources.
Naturally, children need enough WATER every day. The recommended daily amount of water and other drinks for ages 1–3 is 750 ml.
Transitional Foods
At this age, children eat so-called TRANSITIONAL FOODS, introduced from around 11–12 months.
They already have six to eight teeth. Together with improved digestion, this allows them to process and absorb thicker meals containing larger food particles.
For children up to 18 months, meat must be minced, and firm fruit and vegetables should be grated.
Food should not require much chewing, since molars have not yet emerged. It should be soft and mash-like, but not blended.
Routine
The feeding routine remains four meals a day, at four-hour intervals. Each meal should contain a similar quantity of food (around 300–350 ml/.
At 18 months, boys weigh an average of 11.2 kg and measure 81 cm; girls weigh 10.6 kg and measure 80 cm.
– 250 g of rice pudding, milk with bread
Sample Meal Plan:
| SAMPLE MEAL PLAN FOR CHILDREN AGED 12–18 MONTHS: |
7:30–8:00 am BREAKFAST: 250 g of rice pudding, milk with bread softened with butter and white cheese, a bread roll + fruit (50–80 g) 11:30 am–12:00 pm LUNCH: Soup (50 ml), Main course /130–150 g): stuffed peppers, meatloaf or moussaka made with minced meat; fruit or fruit desserts (120–150 g) 3:30–4:00 pm AFTERNOON SNACK: 250 g (choose from the breakfast options above) + fruit (50–80 g) 7:30–8:00 pm DINNER: 120–150 g Meat-free dish/ stews, green beans, vegetable casserole or peas), 150–200 gyoghurt or a milk dessert |
read also: 10 Essential Requirements