Question
My baby is 1 year old. He eats a steamed egg, 1 slice of bread, and 3 florets of broccoli at 8:30 AM every day. In between, there is a time for drinking milk. At noon, he has a bowl of noodles, drinks milk again in the afternoon, and then takes a nap. At 4 PM, he eats a steamed sweet potato and 3 florets of broccoli, and at 6:30 PM he has a bowl of steamed apple. Finally, he drinks milk again before bedtime. Is this feeding arrangement appropriate?
Answer
I’m glad to help you with this! The diet you’ve provided for your baby seems reasonable. For a 1-year-old, it’s advisable to adopt a small meals, frequent eating approach, typically adding two extra snack times in addition to three main meals, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. When your baby reaches 18 months old, you can reduce this to three main meals with one snack, with the snack time recommended for the afternoon. However, when adding snacks, there are two points to note: first, the portion of the snack should be moderate, not excessive, to avoid affecting the appetite for regular meals; second, the snack time should be kept at a certain interval from regular meal times, not too close together, and avoid giving your baby snacks at will as this may lead to nutritional imbalance in the long run. Your baby should consume more vegetables and fruits and intake sufficient amounts of animal and plant proteins.