How many Ounces of food should a 13 month old eat a day?

Question

I have been reading diff websites about what not to feed a baby and etc. I give my 13 month old alot of variety of food. but i find alot of the time, he doesnt want to eat alot? He is healthy and weight is fine, but i am worried that he isnt getting enough? how many ounces of fruits, veggies, meat, grain, and juice should he have daily? I give him 16 oz of whole milk a day and he drinks gatorade ALOT. Please help, thanks.

Answer 1

Ditch the gatorade as that will fill him up and take away his appetite for healthy food.  I know gatorade has half the sugar of juice but its still not a great thing to drink.

But realistically if your baby is gaining well and looks healthy then they are eating enough for them, the reason why food guides do not cover children under 2 is because its far to variable.  If you are really worried your first step is to keep a food diary for two weeks -you may be surprised how much your son eats, or by how much junk you are giving him.

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/T031100...

Step 2: Examine your child for signs of nutritional deficiency . In consultation with your child's physician, do a head-to-toe examination of your child for signs of possible nutritional deficiency:

    * Hair: sparse, brittle, dry, and easily plucked.

    * Skin: pale, dry, flaky, wrinkled, and loosely attached to muscle, easily bruised in areas not usually exposed to falls; spiders (broken blood vessels in the skin), delayed healing of wounds

    * Eyes: dull, dark circles underneath

    * Lips: cracking and fissures at the corners of the mouth that are slow to heal, pale

    * Gums: soft and bleeding

    * Teeth: brittle with many cavities

    * Tongue: pale and smooth

    * Nails: brittle, thin, concave

    * Bones: bowed legs, prominent ribs

Note: Most of these signs indicate severe nutritional deficiencies of vitamins and minerals, as well as overall under-nutrition. If a child is only slightly undernourished, you may see only a few or none of these signs.

Step 3: Do a nutritional analysis . The first two steps will give you an indication of whether your child has a moderate to severe nutritional deficiency, but they do not tell you if your child is getting optimal nutrition for optimal growth. The only way you can be absolutely certain of that is to do a detailed nutritional analysis. Here's how.

    * Record everything your child eats for a week. Because children have such erratic eating habits, a week-long record is more informative than a daily one. Record the type of food, the brand, and the amount eaten (e.g., ounces, cups, tablespoons, pieces).

    * Next, set up an appointment with a nutritionist who is knowledgeable and equipped to do nutritional analyses. The nutritionist will take your food record and put it through a computer program that analyzes the nutrient content of what the child has eaten and prints out the child's daily average intake of calories, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. The nutritionist then compares these values with the RDA or optimal values for your child's age. If deficiencies are identified, you and the nutritionist work out a plan to remedy the problems. This would include changes in the child's diet, and possibly some supplements to make up for any vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

http://www.drgreene.org/body.cfm?id=21&a...

Thirst is an extremely strong drive. As long as a baby’s own regulating mechanism isn’t tricked by getting too much juice or water, healthy babies will take enough formula or breast milk to meet their nutritional needs. This is one good reason not to put juice in the bottle.

http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/toddler/f...

It can also help to avoid common mistakes, such as:

    * drinking more than 16-24 ounces of milk each day.

    * drinking more than 4-6 ounces of juice each day.

    * letting your child fill up on sweets and snacks.

    * forcing your child to eat when he isn't hungry.

    * giving servings that are too big. The average toddler serving is going to be about 1/4 of an adult serving size. Don't go by the serving size listed on nutrition labels, as these are mainly for older children and adults.

http://www.earthsbest.com/toddler_nutrit...

Get a grip on reality. And that reality is:

   1. Little children are growing slowly so they don’t need as much, pound for pound, as they did when they were babies.

   2. In a study at New York University, researchers compared recommended portions to customary portions. Their findings of customary versus recommended serving sizes included: Cookies were as much as seven times as large, muffins can weigh up to three times as much, and the diameter of a bagel may be twice again as big and twice as many calories. In other words, customary sizes were geometrically larger than recommended portion sizes. Serving sizes on the Food Pyramid are based on nutritional needs, while serving size on labels are based on surveys of the public that reflect the amount of food customarily eaten at one time. The two sizes seldom agree. The Pyramid is designed to help you meet daily nutrient recommendations while the Nutrition Facts label helps you compare similar foods. Following the serving sizes on the Food Pyramid, not the nutrition facts panels is the best way to get your nutritional needs without g

Answer 2

Try not to worry about how much he should be eating , if he is growing he is eating plenty. Try to provide snacks. You can not force him him to eat anymore than he is. Just trust he knows what is good for his body and he will let you know when hes hungry.

Also Gatorade is not good to give a small child unless you are adding about 80% water to it. The electrolytes in it are to much for their small bodies. AT that age I would suggest mainly water and maybe dont give a drink until after he has eaten because he may be getting full on drink

Answer 3

You can't really weigh and give toddlers that much food.  They are messy eatters for one and half of it will be spilt or splashed all over themselves.

As long as he's eatting some things and you're offering him a good variety I wouldn't be too worried.

I would be concerned about him drinking gatorade though.  That has a lot of sugars in it and if he's drinking it a lot then it will be filling him up so that he doesn't have room for nutrients.  Stick to normal juices, milk and water for drinks.  If he likes drinking from the bottle, just re-use the bottle with a different drink.

Good luck.

Answer 4

My daughter is 13 months old as well and she eats every time i eat, which is 3 times a day. She also gets 2 snacks during the day, one after she wakes from her nap and one about an hour before she goes to bed.

You cant really measure how much food he is eating anymore because a lot of it probly goes on the floor and some falls down onto his lap so even if you did measure, it wouldnt be accurate. When you go to give him his meal just put more then you know he can eat , this way he has lots of food there to pick at :)