I was recently encouraged by Chobani and their #Chobanikids project about promoting healthy eating to share some of my tips on providing a healthy eating foundation for young children.
1. Meal Planning: I have recently gotten back in the habit of meal planning! This I feel is SO important for many reasons! First, I can make sure to plan healthy wholesome meals that we can eat together as a family. Also, it decreases the chance of us ordering Chinese take out or driving through Sonic on the way home from work! Most importantly, our grocery bills are actually much smaller because I am purchasing ingredients for meals instead of junk! Try it! It’s worth it!
2. Eating Healthy On The Go: Hallie and I are pretty busy! We are very active in our playgroup going to story times, play dates and parties not to mention we work every afternoon, so many days we are eating on the go and Chobani makes that so easy! I love that I can grab a Chobani Tots yogurt pouch and be out the door! They are easy to open with a twist off cap and I don’t have to worry about what I’m feeding Hallie, because these pouches are full of healthy ingredients: whole milk yogurt mixed with real fruits and veggies! I love that! But, not as much as Hallie!
3. Hallie Tries Everything and She Feeds Herself: I make sure to let Hallie try pretty much everything (Aside from the obvious no nos! ie: Honey, nuts, choking hazards, lol) and she definitely enjoys all of her food, and there isn’t much she shys away from! I give her small pieces of whatever our meal is, and most nights I let her feed herself, which she totally prefers anyway! In fact I think it is the reason we are finally now at 9 months on the weight charts! 5th percentile thank you very much!
4. Baby Signs: I think it is so important for a child to tell you when he/she wants more of something,
but also when they are finished eating. I want to make sure Hallie is getting enough, but also not to force her to eat too much! Hallie and I have been working on the signs “More” and “All done” to helpwith this! She’s getting pretty good at “all done” but doesn’t quite have “more down yet!
“More”
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| “All Done”
What are some things that you do to promote healthy eating for your kiddos? I’d love you to share your tips below!
<3 Kelly
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I am a huge meal planner as well! I love how Hallie tries everything! Annabelle has gotten to a super picky stage in her habits. All I can do is keep introducing food and hope that one day she will actually try food again!
Darn! I was hoping that was a trait that would stick with her! Good luck!
I'm dying of laughter that we are on the same wavelength today!!!!
I know! So funny! lol
I just love the baby sign language. I did LOTS of it with Marissa and it was such a fun special way to communicate with her before she could speak. Sigh, feels like forever ago.
LOVE that you are signing with your baby! I signed with both my daughters and it was like our own little secret language! So special! They both phased out of signing but I still sign "stop", "sit down", and "please" when I want them to do those things without actually saying the words. Great job, mama!
Aww thank you! I'm trying! She's starting to pick it up! I hope she takes well to it!
I didn't know chobani made these pouches! Too bad they didn't have them when Mia was still using pouches… although I may have to get some for when she needs a snack while we are out and about! Yum!
Amen to meal planning! I'm so much more motivated to be in the kitchen when I have a plan and did the grocery shopping for it and everything! Our diets have done a complete 180 since Mia came into the picture and we are sooooo much healthier now!
Hallie loves them! You should give them a try! I know what you mean! The first several months of Hallie were rough on our diets because whatever was the easiest and quickest is what we did! We called out for Pizza and Chinese more than I'm proud of and ate too many french fries than I'd rather admit, but now that Hallie is eating solids and wants whatever we are eating, I am trying to be better about what goes in my mouth! We eat a lot of chicken and a lot of ground turkey over here!
Chobani is the best! Yum!
She loves it!
It is so crucial to start this from the very beginning! Teach good habits young! We've used signing too, and it's so helpful. Thank you for sharing all of these great tips with us for Tuesday Talk! – Jess
http://www.sweetlittleonesblog.com
We love greek yogurt pouches! And more was the most helpful sign language she learned!