Sample meal schedules for toddlers! If you’re designing a meal and snack schedule for a toddler, here are some ideas to help get you started.
Toddlers can be all over the map when it comes to eating (or anything, for that matter!).
As your child enters toddlerhood, establishing a predictable eating routine is important.
What’s most important is to design a plan that works best for meeting your toddler’s needs and aligning well with your family’s routine.
Here are some things to keep in mind when planning your toddler’s menu, plus a few sample meal schedules that can work well for this age.
What Should Toddlers Eat?
Once you move past the initial stage of either purees, mashed foods or baby-led weaning, the food choices expand even more for toddlers.
When thinking about your toddler’s meal schedule, incorporate a mix of the following into their days:
- Healthy Fats: Avocado, nuts/seeds and their butters, extra virgin olive oil
- Protein: Legumes (beans, peas, lentils), nuts/seeds and their butters, tofu, tempeh
- Carbohydrates: Whole grains (quinoa, brown rice, barley, oats, amaranth), fruits and vegetables
In addition, we also like to emphasize foods rich in the following on every plate:
- Vitamin-C: strawberries, tomatoes, bell peppers, leafy greens, broccoli, citrus fruits
- Calcium: dark leafy greens, broccoli, nuts/seeds, calcium-set tofu, soy milk
- Omega-3: walnuts, flax seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds
- Iron: Lentils, beans, peas, seeds, tofu, leafy greens, tomato paste, legume pasta
- Vitamin B12: through B12-fortified soy milk and a supplement
For a visual example of how to plan your toddler’s meals and snacks, download a copy of The PB3 Plate for your fridge!
Sample Meal Schedules for Toddlers
Most toddlers can do well with an eating schedule similar to yours, with three meals and 2-3 snacks per day. Many kids this age can go 2-3 hours between eating, which can help them work up an appetite and be more likely to try what’s on their plate.
As your child moves from infancy into toddlerhood, it’s important to continue a predictable eating routine. To make it easier for your family, align your child’s eating schedule with everyone else’s in your household as much as possible.
Sample Schedule 1:
- 7 AM: Breakfast
- 9:30 AM: Snack
- 12 PM: Lunch
- 1 PM: Nap
- 3 PM: Afternoon Snack
- 5:30 PM: Dinner
- 7 PM: Bedtime
Sample Schedule 2:
- 6:30 AM: Breakfast
- 9 AM: Snack
- 11:30 AM: Lunch
- 12 PM: Nap
- 2:30 PM: Snack
- 5 PM: Snack
- 6:30 PM: Dinner
- 7:30 PM: Bedtime
Sample Schedule 3:
- 6 AM: Snack
- 7 AM: Breakfast
- 9:30 AM: Snack
- 12 PM: Lunch
- 12:30 PM: Nap
- 3 PM: Snack
- 5:30 PM: Dinner
- 7 PM: Bedtime
If your toddler is still breast- or bottle-feeding, you can continue to incorporate these feedings first thing in the morning, when they wake up from their afternoon nap, and right before bed. For example, around 5:30-6AM, 2PM, and 7PM depending on your toddler’s daily wake, nap, and bedtime schedule.
Sample One-Day Meal Plan for Toddler
Bringing together The PB3 Plate and feeding schedule ideas, here’s an example of what a day of meals and snacks could look like for a toddler.
- 7 AM: Iron-fortified oat cereal with peanut butter, banana, glass of fortified soy milk
- 9:30 AM: Citrus wedges, raisins
- 12 PM: Whole wheat penne pasta with marinara, peas, sliced strawberries, glass of fortified soy milk
- 1 PM: Nap
- 3 PM: Cascadian Farm’s O’s cereal, rinsed canned kidney beans
- 5:30 PM: Veggie burger patty, steamed broccoli, corn, blueberries
- 7 PM: Bedtime
We hope these sample meal schedules for toddlers give you a helpful starting place as your babe gets a little older. Designing a meal and snack schedule for a toddler may seem overwhelming, but with a variety of foods and routine at the forefront it will soon become a simple part of the everyday.
Chime In: What does your toddler feeding schedule look like? Have you experienced any obstacles implementing a meal and snack routine for your toddler?
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