Your Toddler's diet

Watch Your Child's Hunger and Fullness Cues

Help your child have a healthy diet by serving a variety of nutritious foods each day in age appropriate portions. These portion amounts are just suggestions. Always listen to your Toddler's hunger and fullness cues and let her decide how much to eat.

Let your child's developmental cues help determine when to introduce new foods. By this stage, your child may be ready to try more complex textures, such as coarsely chopped foods with noticeable pieces, and bite-size finger foods.

Milk

2 cups (16 fluid ounces) per day

Serving Size Example:

• ½ cup whole milk or yogurt
• 1 slice of American cheese
• 1/2 carton GERBER® GRADUATES® SMART SIPS™ dairy beverage

Vegetables

3/4 cup vegetables per day

Serving Size Example:
1/4 cup soft, peeled, and cooked vegetables, such as

• mashed or chopped green beans
• chopped spinach
• diced yellow squash
• GERBER® GRADUATES® Carrot Dices

Fruit

1 cup fruit per day

Serving Size Example:
1/4 cup soft, peeled, mashed, or chopped fruit (always cut to bite size pieces), such as

• peaches
• bananas
• blueberries
• cantaloupe
• kiwi
• GERBER® GRADUATES® Apple Dices

Fruit Juice

Half of your child's fruit intake may occasionally come from fruit juice: 1/2 cup (4 fluid ounces) 100% fruit juice per day,* such as

• 100% orange juice or apple juice
• GERBER® NatureSelect™ 100% Fruit Juices**
• GERBER® Fruit Juice Blends
• GERBER® Harvest Juice

*Limit your child's fruit juice to no more than 4 fluid ounces/day. 4 fl. oz. = 1 serving of fruit per the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP); limited to once a day. The AAP encourages the consumption of whole, peeled fruits that are mashed or pureed for the remaining fruit servings.

**NatureSelect™: Ingredients carefully selected to meet Gerber high quality standards.

Meat/Beans

3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) meat, poultry, beans or eggs daily

Serving Size Example:
1 to 2 tablespoons (1/2 to 1 ounce) cooked, mashed, or easy-to-chew chopped meat, poultry, beans, or eggs

• chicken
• cod fish
• ground turkey or beef
• beans (black beans, pinto, chickpeas)
• scrambled egg
• GERBER® GRADUATES® LIL' STICKS® meat or poultry sticks (3 sticks equal 1 ounce)

Grains

4 servings per day

Serving Size Example*:

• 1/4 cup cereal
• GERBER® GRADUATES® Fruit and Cereal Bar (any flavor)
• 1/2 slice whole-grain bread
• 1/4 of a 3-inch bagel
• 1/4 cup cooked bite-size pasta

*This is not a complete list of foods to serve. See the Gerber Menu Planner for Toddlers for additional food examples.

Whole Grains

Try to have at least half of your child's grain servings come from whole grains.

Serving Size Examples

• 1/2 slice whole-grain bread
• 1/4 cup cooked bite-size whole wheat pasta
• 1/4 cup whole-grain brown rice

Fats and Oils

2 tablespoons fats and oil per day

Serving Size Example:

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1/2 to 1 tablespoon soft margarine

Menus for Toddlers

Make sure your Toddler gets the nutrients he needs with menus that are nutritionally balanced for his stage.