Tips on feeding your toddler + Little Bellies giveaway

Many of you would have seen how much Maxi loves his food and I have received many questions over the year on what I did and what foods I introduced to him to encourage that love of food, so below are some of my tips in feeding your toddler:

A walking toddler = A hungrier toddler

Maxi is 16 months old and is a ball of energy! Now that he can walk (and practically run!) there is NEVER a still moment whether we are at home or out. Gone are the days where he would happily stay in one place and play. These days, he is so excited and curious about his surroundings, that he is on the move all the time.

The first thing I noticed since he has started walking is his increased appetite. As a result, snacks have become an essential item throughout the day to keep him going and meet his energetic needs. As a Mum, I am always conscious about what I put in his little body and will look for organic snacks to feed him. Enter Little Bellies! I love a brand that keeps it simple and natural when it comes to snacks for kids and I don’t have to worry about the nutritional element. A brand I can absolutely trust and that Maxi loves to eat.

Encourage self-feeding

From a young age, I always encouraged Maxi to self-feed. Even though it can get messy, I found that his interest in food was heightened when he could feel and look at the food up close before putting it in his mouth. Their curiosity and sense of control I think is what gives toddlers the confidence to put new foods in their mouth. I noticed this especially when I would try and introduce a new food to Maxi. If I tried to feed it to him on a spoon, he would turn his head. But If I left it on his plate, his curiosity got the better of him and he would eventually touch it, pick it up and put it in his mouth. When I first introduced Maxi to the Baby Bellies Puffs, I would put it in his hands and watch him put his little fingers tightly around the puff, look at it for a while and eventually start eating it. What a great introduction to Maxi’s snack journey!

Play with your food

This probably goes against everything our parents said to us “Don’t play with your food!”, but getting toddlers to play with their food, helps introduce them to new tastes and textures and distracts those fussy eaters to play and eat without even realising! One of the games that I played with Maxi from a young age was by using the Baby Bellies Round-a-Bouts. I would put one on my finger and show it to him and then take it off and give it to him. He would then mimic me and put the Round-a-Bout on my finger and take it off and I would give him a round of applause, which he loved! I then did it on his fingers and he squealed with excitement. I would then put a Round-A-Bout to his mouth, and he was having so much fun that he would open his mouth and start eating it without even realising. Not only was he exercising his gross motor skills while playing with the Baby Bellies Round-a-Bouts on his fingers and taking them off and on, but he was eating a nutritious snack at the same time. Win-win situation!

Mix flavours and textures

When Maxi first started his solids journey; I would introduce one food at a time to him. Once I felt like he had a grasp on eating solids, I wasn’t afraid to mix different foods in his purees. Mixing fruit and veggies was always important in his solids journey. Now when I feed Maxi snacks, I would serve him a plate of Little Bellies Tomato Fiddlesticks with a piece of fruit. This not only gives him a mix of flavours, but also a mix of textures as he navigates between the Little Bellies Fiddlesticks and the softness of most fruits. 

I know feeding toddlers can be stressful at times! I can’t emphasise enough the need to make it fun if you do encounter a fussy eater. The Little Bellies range creates some fun snacks with shapes like the Nibblers range which comes in stars and round shapes or the Little Bellies Gingerbread Men and Little Bellies Animal Biscuits. Make eating fun and before you know it, they will be encouraged and distracted enough to eat. As a Mum, you will also get piece of mind that the Little Bellies range is natural, organic and will deliver your kids the nutritional elements they need for their growing little bodies.

Written in partnership with Little Bellies

Win a box full of Little Bellies snacks!

Win a box full of snacks from Little Bellies