Nutritional Needs of Toddlers Between the Ages of One and Two

There are a lot of transitions that happen after your baby turns one. Toda, I’m diving into the nutritional needs of toddlers aged 1 to 2, a crucial stage often overshadowed by infancy and picky eating concerns that happen in toddlerhood. 

From caloric requirements to balanced meals, we explore the transition from baby feeding to toddler feeding, emphasizing the importance of healthy fats for brain development and the AAP's recommendations on limiting added sugar and salt. 

I break down the daily calorie intake, highlighting the challenge of providing nutrient-rich options within a toddler's limited appetite while offering practical guidance for incorporating a variety of foods into your toddler’s diet. This episode helps you figure out WHAT to feed your toddler and what nutrients to focus on for optimal growth and development.

Free guide: Daily and weekly nutrient needs for 12-24-month-old & sample meal plan

Workshop: Feeding Your 11 - 18 Month Old

Want to hear more? Listen to episode 6 with Jess Irwin from Rooted in Routine about toddler eating habits.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Congratulations on getting through the first year with your sweet baby. But what's next? Today we are talking all about the nutritional needs of toddlers between the ages of one and two. We know that before a baby turns one, we need to prioritize either breast milk or formula. But what happens after your baby turns one? What are their nutritional needs and how does this change? You do not want to miss this one. Let's dig in.

Speaker 2: 0:28

Welcome to the Baby Food for Busy Moms podcast, where you will get the knowledge you need and the support you deserve so you can finally feel good about feeding your baby, whether you're breastfeeding, formula feeding or offering solids. I'm your host, erin Moore, a mom of two boys, a practicing pediatric nurse practitioner and a lactation counselor with years of experience helping moms feed their babies, tune in each week for bite-sized, judgment-free education you can trust, all with a busy mom in mind. Before we start, this podcast does not provide medical advice.

Speaker 1: 1:05

Information on the podcast is for educational purposes only, and no information on the podcast or my website is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Speaker 2: 1:17

I am a pediatric nurse practitioner and a lactation counselor, but I am not your baby's NP or CLC. Please consult your pediatric provider for any questions.

Speaker 1: 1:27

Are you looking for more information about nutritional needs for your one-year-old? Check out the show notes to get a link to my free guide, which will give you a nice chart that'll tell you what your toddler needs to eat throughout the week. Now, if your toddler will actually eat that well, that's a different story, but at least you'll know the week Now. If your toddler will actually eat that well, that's a different story, but at least you'll know the guidelines. We spend a lot of time discussing introducing foods to our babies and then we often skip over to common concerns like picky eating or feeding older kids, but nutrition after one is still very important. So today my goal is to teach you all about feeding your baby from age one to two. We'll go over one-year-old basics, including caloric needs, creating balanced meals and snacks and sources of great healthy fats for your baby great healthy fats for your baby. Let's dig in. I want to start with a little disclaimer. So all of this information is stuff that could happen. Now. Every baby and every toddler is completely different. So while some babies have all the typical eating patterns and habits, some babies don't eat, and that is really frustrating for parents. So when I talk about this stuff. It's very generalized things that could happen, but just know that that is not the case with every baby and it is not the case with every toddler. So if you are having any struggles, ask for help. So in the podcast today I am talking about the big picture of things that could happen when feeding your one-year-old, as you're sort of making this transition from baby feeding to toddler feeding. So nutritional needs for a one-year-old they need around 1,000 calories per day and half their calories should be coming from healthy fats. The majority of their calories are coming from food versus milk, and they're often eating around three meals and one to two snacks per day and they're often moving from babies, may or may not be getting breast milk still, and they may be transitioning away from formula and onto whole milk or milk alternatives. They're starting to drink a lot more water from cups, though I do like to say that a lot of babies haven't mastered cups by age one. And finally, many toddlers become more selective in what they will and will not eat, and they can love food one day and then refuse it the next day, or they may be the complete opposite and they may love to eat and they will still accept most foods. So what are the nutritional needs for a one-year-old?

Speaker 1: 4:21

Like I said, one-year-olds need roughly a thousand calories per day, just like adults. Some babies need fewer calories and some babies need higher calories, based on activity levels, but roughly a thousand calories per day. So they've had this year of very, very rapid growth and development between the ages of birth to one, but around one the rapid body growth slows down. So, though the body growth still bends right, it is definitely going a little bit slower. That being said, their brain is growing super rapidly right now. Their brain is growing super rapidly right now. So that's why, when we're talking about nutrition for one to two year olds, we're talking a lot about these healthy fats. That helps support brain development and no pressure. But the majority of myelination or a specific type of brain growth happens mostly before the age of two. So no pressure, but that's why we're pushing these healthy fats so much.

Speaker 1: 5:31

And then, in true toddler form, they're often little balls of energy, and carbs are super important, as well as fiber to help them poop, because toddlers love constipating foods, like their jam is often bananas and cheese and crackers and rice and these like beige foods that can often cause constipation. Finally, the AAP recommends choosing foods that are lower in salt, and they also recommend no added sugar before the age of two. That means that sugar that naturally lower in salt and they also recommend no added sugar before the age of two. That means that sugar that naturally occurs in food is okay, but the goal is not to add any sugar into your baby's food. So we have this number of 1,000 calories. So what I want to talk about is what does 1,000 calories look like over an entire day? So the recommendation is that your one-year-old drinks about 16 ounces of whole milk or milk alternative per day. Eight ounces of whole milk is about 150 calories, meaning your one-year-old will be getting around 300 calories just from milk per day. So that leaves around 700 calories for three meals and and that's really a lot it's about 140 calories per eating session if you're dividing it up evenly.

Speaker 1: 6:57

I want to offer a little list of common foods that you feed one-year-olds and how many calories they have in them. So one baby food pouch is somewhere between 50 and 100 calories. A half a cup of Greek yogurt with fat in it is around 100 calories. Two tablespoons of peanut butter is 180 calories and a slice of bread is about 75. One egg is about 75. And a medium banana is about 50.

Speaker 1: 7:24

So the purpose of me telling you about the calories in certain foods is not so you worry like, oh, is my baby overeating or undereating? But it's more so to show you that a thousand calories split throughout the day is really not a ton of food. So then, when we see these kids on social media eating these behemoth meals and we're feeling like, oh, our baby is behind or our toddler is behind because these kids are eating adult-sized plates of food and my baby is only eating three strawberries and a scoop of yogurt, well it makes us feel like we're not feeding our babies enough. But really, in all actuality, your baby is able to tell you exactly what they need. So I just want to show you this, because I know that I am guilty of it when I show you videos of Max eating huge portion sizes. But what you're not seeing is that Max never stopped moving. So I think the amount of energy that he spent and the amount of food that he needs to take in to keep up with the amount of activity he has is very different. So that doesn't necessarily mean that if your baby isn't eating a ton, that they're not getting enough nutrients, like this is the exception to the rule, though I feel like when we see kids eating on social media, it makes us think that this is normal. As always, you feed your baby when they're hungry, you feed your toddler when they are hungry, and I would not worry about calories too much if you're practicing responsive feeding and offering nutrient-rich foods. That being said, if your baby is not gaining weight or your toddler is not gaining weight, that's definitely something that you want to talk about with your pediatric provider.

Speaker 1: 9:07

So what does a balanced diet look like for a one-year-old? Instead of talking about creating these balanced individual meals, I want to focus on a variety of foods throughout an entire day. Yes, in an ideal world, a one-year-old would be having a protein, a fat, a carb and fiber in each sitting, but I also want to be realistic. So, by the age of one, families are often busy, parents are often working and there's often snacks and meals on the go. Sometimes we are creating these picture perfect meals that are completely balanced, and sometimes we are grabbing whatever we can find that is easy to feed our babies. Both are fine, so, with everything, it is our job to offer proteins, fats, carbs, fruits, veggies throughout the day, but each meal or snack does not need to be perfect. So when I like to talk, I like to talk in an overview form.

Speaker 1: 10:05

So let's talk about this ideal world. In this world, a balanced snack looks like a protein, a fruit or a vegetable and a grain. In this world, the majority of the food would be whole or non-processed. In this world, you would offer different colored foods and a variety of fruits and veggies throughout the day to ensure a wider variety of vitamins and nutrients. Each plate should have a small amount of food and then, if your baby or your toddler is still hungry, you have food available. Now, most of the recommendations from the AAP are roughly around a half cup. Now, if your baby is eating less, totally fine, and if your baby or toddler is eating more, totally fine.

Speaker 1: 10:56

So if you want to get down to the nitty gritty and get your pens out, because I have a guide or a visual that tells you exactly what an ideal picture perfect eating day would be or eating week really you can visit the show notes and you can have this that you can put in your fridge or just look at it. But I'll offer this free guide. So in an ideal world, in one day a one-year-old should eat roughly one cup of veggies, one cup of fruit, three ounces of grain, two cups of milk or dairy, two ounces of protein and 13-ish grams of fat. So when we split that up throughout three meals and two snacks, it's really not as much as we think it is. So that is in the picture perfect world. Now, I always like to be very realistic about what eating looks like in our world. Right, because it's not always going to look like that. So in the real world, we do our best to offer a variety of foods. We offer some protein, we offer some fats, we offer some grains, we offer some fruits and we offer some protein, we offer some fats, we offer some grains, we offer some fruits and we offer some veggies, and then we can focus on getting a variety of colors of fruits and veggies throughout the week. So it makes sense.

Speaker 1: 12:26

If you are going to the grocery store and you see a sale on raspberries, well, you're going to give your baby raspberries multiple days in a row. Then maybe you're like okay, we got this red fruit today and now blueberries are on sale, so we're going to go and get blueberries. Now, in what world are berries and blueberries and raspberries on sale all the time? That would be wonderful. We would all save a whole lot of money. But in reality we're probably buying things in larger amounts food that is easier or more convenient. But if we can kind of focus on okay, I am getting a blue food, so then maybe for another one, we're going to get a green food or an orange food, and then you plan kind of your meals around that. So if you are offering your baby your food, then your goal is to get yourself a variety of colors too, and you can feed your baby what you're eating. That often makes it easier if you're used to making your own food. Now, if you're not used to making your own food or creating balanced meals for you, things can be a little bit more difficult. So if you're ending up using more of the commercially prepared foods you're looking for maybe a pouch that has a red color, a pouch that has an orange color, a pouch that has a green color, and that is A-OK.

Speaker 1: 13:57

So when Max was one and now that Elliot is one, I have these five, six foods that I always order from the grocery store every week, or I always had them in my pantry. That is whole grain bread and we eat Ezekiel bread. Elliot doesn't love it, max still eats it. I like it. Definitely good fiber in there, but we have whole grain bread, peas, berries of all sorts, beans, avocado and nut butter. So even with those few foods, it covers so much of the nutritional variances that we need in a week.

Speaker 1: 14:36

I feel like I end every single episode saying, wow, that's a lot, and this is no exception. I hope you leave feeling less overwhelmed, though I do have a feeling that there's a potential that you might leave feeling more overwhelmed. Your goal is to do your best. Your goal is to offer a variety of foods and continue this food exposure in small amounts, even if your kid does get a bit pickier and know that some weeks things look absolutely amazing and you're like, wow, I created these picture perfect meals, and some weeks you're really busy and you just have to feed your baby what you have. So know that it is your job to offer a variety of foods and it's your toddler's job to actually decide what they do or do not want to eat.

Speaker 2: 15:28

Thanks for tuning in, hey mama, I hope you loved this bite-sized episode. This podcast is powered by your reviews, ratings and shares. It helps other mamas find the show so they can finally feel good about feeding their baby, just like you do. Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Need personalized feeding help for your baby's unique situation? Let's work together with a one-on-one consult. I can't wait to meet you. Until then, happy eating.