Menu of a child in 2 years: principles of nutrition

Two-year-old children gradually join adult food, but it is still too early to fully switch to the common table at this age. What kind of eating habits of a 2-year-old child should parents remember, what products are still too early for a child to try and how best to build a menu for a child of this age?

At the age of two, children's meals are four times a day and include breakfast and lunch, as well as afternoon tea and dinner. More frequent meals have a bad effect on appetite, and more rare meals - on the digestion of food and well-being of the baby. Breaks between meals are 3.5-4 hours.

1. The ratio of proteins and fats, as well as carbohydrates in the diet of a 2-year-old child should be 1: 1: 4 or 1: 1: 3. Proteins are the main building material for the growth of the body of the child, so the diet should include such sources as dairy products, poultry, meat products, egg dishes, fish. Carbohydrates are the main source of energy for the child's body. The child gets them from cereals, fruits, sugar, of bread, vegetables. Fats are also needed for the energy needs of the baby’s body.
2. A two-year-old child receives an average of 1400-1500 kcal per day. The calorie intake should be distributed as follows: 25% of calories for breakfast, 30% of calories for lunch, 15% of calories for snack and 30% for dinner.
3. It is important to ensure adequate intake of macro and micronutrients, especially those that are responsible for the state of the bones. Calcium baby will get from cottage cheese, milk, cheese, peas, dried apricots, cabbage, prunes, oatmeal and other products.
4. Spices and salt in the child's dishes should be in a minimum quantity.

• Dairy products baby should consume about 600 grams per day. Kefir is recommended in amounts up to 200 ml per day.
• In addition to the yolk, you can begin to give and boiled egg white. The norm is half the boiled egg per day.
• Cheese The baby is recommended only with a small fat content and in the amount of 20 g per week.
• Cottage cheese 50 g per day is recommended. It can be mixed with fruit, sour cream, sugar. Puddings, cheese cakes, dumplings can also be made from cottage cheese.
• Meat dishes cooked from lean veal, beef and pork. Also, children are given chicken. These dishes are recommended for use in the morning as they are digested for a long time. A sufficient amount of meat per day for a 2-year-old child is considered 50-80 g. It is acceptable to include low-fat boiled in the child’s diet. sausage and lean boiled ham. Also, at two years old, you can begin to offer your child braised meat pieces and liver pate.
• Several times a week, a child's meat dish is replaced with fish. The fish is boiled, stewed, and cutlets and meatballs are also made from it. A two-year-old baby can be given a piece of herring. For a week, the child should eat up to 175 g of fish.
• Vegetables the baby should consume up to 250 g per day, but at the same time it is advised to use potatoes up to 150 g per day. Vegetable puree can be single-component or complex. A two-year-old child can be given cabbage, beets, carrots, onions, pumpkin, eggplants, tomatoes, turnips, radishes, cucumbers, sweet peppers and other vegetables.
• Fruits and berries recommended in the amount of about 150-200 g per day.
• In the diet may be pasta and flour dishes.
• The norm of bread count up to 100 g per day (wheat - about 70 g, rye - about 30 g).
• The norm of pastry is 10 g per day, and sugar - up to 50 g per day.
• In addition to cereals, the child can try cereal casseroles, as well as children's muesli. The most useful oatmeal, buckwheat and rice porridge, as well as millet and corn. In the diet of a two-year-old child, you can enter barley porridge.
• Vegetable dishes should be added vegetable oil in an amount of up to 6 g per day.
• Butter advised to use up to 16 g per day.

Water per kilogram of the weight of a 2-year-old child requires 100 ml per day. In this daily amount of water include any liquid that the child consumes (soups, compotes, milk and others). If the weather is hot, the volume of fluid should be increased. On average, a child aged two years is advised to drink 1500 ml of water per day.

• For breakfast, the child is given a main course of 200 g and a drink in a volume of 100-150 ml, as well as bread with butter or cheese.
• For lunch, it is helpful for the child to eat a salad of fresh vegetables or another snack in the amount of 40 g and the first dish in a volume of 150 ml. Also for lunch the kid is given a meat or fish dish in the amount of 50-80 g and a side dish in the amount of 100 g. In addition, at lunch they give a drink, the volume of which will be 100 ml.
• For an afternoon snack, a child is recommended milk or kefir in a volume of 150 ml, as well as cookies (15 g) or homemade cakes (45 g). In addition, in the afternoon, it is worth giving fruits or berries.
• For dinner, the child, as well as for breakfast, is given a main course of 200 g and a drink in a volume of 150 ml.

A two-year-old child can eat during the week on a menu like this:

At the age of two, children are not given:

• Fried food.
• Mayonnaise and ketchup.
• Chocolate.
• Dairy products with flavors, thickeners, dyes and other additives.
• Wieners and sausages.
• Barley porridge.
• Spread and margarine.
• Duck and goose meat.
• Smoked meats.
• Marinated products.
• Mushrooms
• Salted fish and seafood.
• Carbonated drinks.
• Coffee.

Take 50 g of beets and 25 g of fresh cucumber and green peas. Boil peas and beets. Finely chop the cucumber, add cooked peas and grated beets. Add 5 g of sunflower oil.

Wash and peel the apple (70 g), grate on a coarse grater. Prune (30 g), clean the seeds and soak for a short time, then chop finely. Combine grated apple and chopped prunes, add a teaspoon of sugar or honey.

Take 300 ml of fish broth, bring to a boil, put in it cut into small cubes potatoes (50 g), carrots (15 g), onions (10 g) and parsley root (5 g). Cook until the vegetables are ready, then put the meatballs into the fish fillet soup. For them, take 60 grams of fillet, half an egg, 10 grams of white bread and 20 ml of milk. Wait for the meatballs to pop up. Season the soup with fresh dill (3 g).

Prepare a cutlet mass of 100 g of meat, a quarter of chicken egg, 30 ml of milk and 20 g of white bread. Mix the ingredients well and place on a gauze moistened with cool water. It should make a layer of minced meat with a thickness of about 1.5 centimeters. Separately, prepare a steam omelet from one egg and 25 ml of milk. Put the omelet on the minced meat, carefully combine the edges of the gauze to make a roll. Steam for about 30 minutes.

Take 150 ml of milk or water, bring to a boil, add pumpkin, peeled and diced (100 g), and leave to boil for 7-10 minutes. At this time, rinse 30 g of millet groats in hot water several times. Pour it into water or milk with pumpkin, add a spoonful of sugar and cook for about 1 hour over low heat. Serve with butter.

For two portions, take 200 g of cottage cheese, grind it through a sieve, add 20 g of washed raisins. Spread chicken egg yolk with 20 ml of milk and 16 g of sugar. Combine the mashed yolk with curd mass, add 10 g of butter (it must be melted beforehand) and 4 teaspoons of semolina. The last type of chicken egg whipped protein. Put the resulting mass in oiled molds. Steam for 30-40 minutes.

At the age of two, the child seeks with independence. At this time, many babies begin to develop a developmental crisis, which also affects the food industry.

If the child completely refuses to eat, it is not necessary to insist and force. Offer your baby a meal at a certain time (according to the established diet), avoid snacking and make sure that the meal is at the right temperature and structure.The best tactic would be a constant supply of food, but lack of access to easily digestible sweets and other foods that a child can eat between meals. When a child gets hungry, he will eat what you give him.

In most cases, poor appetite is not associated with diseases, but with the presence of frequent snacks and the lack of a diet. Another difficulty may be caused by an unnecessarily large portion. Having seen a large amount of food, the discouraged child will hasten to refuse to eat at all. It is best to give the child a small amount of food, and when he eats everything, suggest a supplement.

However, poor appetite is indeed a sign of illness, for example, diseases of the digestive tract or any acute infections. The idea that poor appetite is associated with the disease, parents can bring the presence of other symptoms - fever, nausea, weight loss, changes in stool and others.

Try to instill healthy eating habits in your child. It is best if the child eats at the table along with other family members.

Never use food as a reward or promise your child something on the empty plate.

• Try to give your child less muffin, shortbread, cakes, pastries and similar products. They are high in calories and low in nutrients. The sweets that can be given to a two-year-old baby include marshmallow, jam, honey, cookies, jam, waffles, jam, marmalade, marshmallows.
• If you give a child cottage cheese, not intended for baby food, he should always undergo heat treatment.
• Since the porridge for a 2-year-old child is advised to cook a semi-viscous, then you need to take fluids 4 times more than the cereals. Cook porridge can be on the water, and on the fruit or vegetable broth and milk.
• Do not let your child eat on the go, as this is dangerous.
• If your child is still drinking from a bottle, at the age of two it is worth abandoning it. For babies who have not yet mastered the usual cup, buy a special (training).

Vitamins for children from 2 years give many parents. The expediency of this issue is discussed in another article.

How mums feed the kids in 2 years old, you can look in the following videos.