Toddler daily calorie requirements

Dear friends;
After a lot of search to find out what constitutes toddler's daily healthy food regime, I happened to read a book which specifically mentions the daily calorie requirements and its break-up.
Since, it is written by American author, the foods mentioned are mostly American. Hope you won't mind it, get the idea and apply with our cuisine.
All best
-Nitha

 

Ideal for toddler:

Height
Age Growth
0-1 year 18-125 cm
1-2 years 10-13 cm
2 to 3 years 5 to 6 cm

Weight
Birth to 1 year 12-171/2 pounds
1 -2 years 4 to 6 pounds
2 -3 years 31/2 to 51/2 pounds

-Nitha

 

Toddler’s Daily Dietary Requirements (900 to 1700 calories daily)

Break-Up

Protein- 4 toddler servings
One serving equals any of the following:;

¾ cup milk
¼ cup nonfat dry milk
½ cup yogurt
3tbsp cottage cheese
¾ ounce hard cheese
1 whole egg or 2 egg whites
¾ to 1 ounce fish/meat/poultry
2 ounces tofu
11/2 tbsp peanut butter
1 ounce high protein pasta or 2 ounce whole wheat pasta
1 toddler vegetarian or diary protein combination

Calcium foods (four toddler servings)
One serving equals any of the following;

2/3 cup milk
2 1/3 cup milk enriched with 1/8 cup nonfat dry milk
½ cup calcium-added milk
½ cup yogurt
About ¾ to 1 ounce low fat hard cheese
1 1/3 cup ounce full fat cheese
4 ounces calcium fortified orange juice


Vitamin C foods – two or more toddler servings(Increase to more servings if toddler has cold)
One serving equals any of the following;


½ small orange or ¼ medium grape fruit
¼ cups strawberries
1/8 small cantaloupe or 1/12 small honeydew
¼ cup fresh or frozen reconstituted orange juice
¼ large guava or ¼ cup papaya
1/3 large mango or ½ large plantain
¼ cup Brocolli or Brussels sprouts
½ cup cooked leafy vegetable
½ cup medium green or red bell pepper
1 small tomato
¾ cup tomato juice or ½ cup sauce
½ cup veg. juice

Green leafy and yellow veg or fruits (two or more toddler serving)

One toddler serving equals any of the following;

1 medium apricot
½ cup cubed cantaloupe
1/8 large mangoes
1 medium nectarine peeled
½ large yellow peach
½ medium plaintain
6 asparagus spears
½ cup cooked broccoli
¾ cups peas
2 to 3 tbsp chopped cooked greens
¼ small carrot
½ tbsp unsweetened pumpkin puree
2 thsp cooked mashed winter squash
1 tbsp cooked sweet potato
1 small tomato
¼ large red bell pepper
¾ cup veg. juice

Other fruits and vegetables(one to two or more toddler servings)

One toddler serving equals any of the following;

½ apple, pear, white peach or a large banana
¼ cup applesauce
1/3 cup cherries, berries or grapes
1 large fig
2 dates
3 dried peach halves
1 dried pear half
½ slice fresh or canned pineapple
2 tbsp raisins, currants or dried apple rings
2 or 3 asparagus spears
¼ medium avocado
3/8 cup green beans
½ cup beets, eggplant or diced turnip
¼ cup sliced mushrooms, zucchini or yellow squash
1/3 cup green peas
½ small ear of corn

Whole grain and other concentrated complex carbohydrates(six or more toddler servings)

One toddler serving equals any of the following;

1 tbsp wheat germ
½ slice whole grain bread
1 ounce whole grain pita
¼ whole grain bagel or English muffins
2 to 3 whole wheat cracker or breadsticks (about 40 cal)
¼ cup brown rice or wild rice
½ serving whole grain breakfast cereal
½ ounce whole wheat or high protein pasta
¼ cup cooked lentils, chick peas, pinto, kidney, navy or other cooked beans

Iron rich food- some every day

Sources: Iron fortified cereals; blackstrap molasses; whole wheat, wheat germs, dried peas, dried beans, dried fruits, liver etc.

High fat foods ( 5 to 8 toddler serving daily in second year; 5 ½ to 8 ½ in the third year)

One toddler serving (7 grams of fat approx) equals any one of following;

½ tbsp olive oil, canola oil, butter, mayonnaise
1 ½ tbsp cream cheese
1 tbsp peanut butter
¼ small avocado
1 egg
¾ cup whole milk
1 ½ cups 2 % milk
¾ cup whole milk yogurt
½ cup ice cream
3 tbsp half and half
2 tbsp sour cream
2 ½ ounce poultry
3 ounce salmon or other fatty fish
½ small slice pizza
9 French fries
¾ of a kid size burger
2 chicken nuggets 1/3 cup tuna salad

Fluids 4 to 6 cups

-Nitha

 

For vegetarian toddler who eats no diary products or eggs, there is more chance of less protein. Since protein is adequate for growth, parents should ensure that their kids gets enough protein.

• Do not make tofu or soybeans exclusive source of proteins for kids under 4 years as its short on methionine.
• If your toddler eats diary products or/ and eggs there is no worry about combining vegetarian protein combination. Even a small amount of diary protein will “complete” any vegetarian protein in a meal.
• If your kid is not taking diary products or egg or other meat, then include vegetarian protein combination and diary protein combination to her diet.
• Ask doctor whether your (pure vegan; no egg and diary)kid needs to go for vitamin B12 supplementation. As B12 is needed for development of healthy nervous system.
• Calcium supplementation. In a diary free diet it is difficult to get recommended calcium. If you are giving soy milk, look for calcium fortified soy milk
• Try not to give toddler food with empty calories. Every bite should count.
• To give the right calories of food; no need to get a measuring cup all the time. Keeping a track of the weight is enough. If the kid is on the same weight curve, there is not much to worry.

Vegetarian Protein combinations for toddlers
For a full toddler protein serving; combine one portion from legume section and one portion from grain section. .
Grains
½ ounce soy or high protein pasta
1 ounce whole wheat pasta
11/2 tbsp* wheat germs
1/6 cup oats (before cooking)
¼ cup cooked wild rice
1/3 cup cooked brown rice/bulgar/Kasha/Millet**
1 slice whole grain bread
1 small(1 ounce) whole wheat pita
½ whole wheat English muffin or bagel

Legumes
3 tbsp lentils,split peas or chickpeas, soybeans,mung, <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1lace w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">lima</st1:City></st1lace> or kidney
¼ cup cowpeas, balckeyed peas, white broad or Great northern beans
1/3 cup cup green peas
1 ounce tofu
¾ tbsp peanut butter

Tbsp= tablespoom
** these grains are poor in protein, so add 11/2 tsp wheat germ per portion.



Diary Protein combo for toddlers
Combine one of the following with one portion from Grains or legume list in vegetarian protein combination; for a diary protein combo

2 tbsp cottage cheese
½ cup milk
2 tbsp nonfat dry milk
1/6 cup evaporated milk
1/3 cup yogurt
½ egg or 1 egg white
1/3 ounce lower fat hard cheese like Swiss or mozzarella
1 tbsp parmesan cheese

All the best
-Nitha

 

Most welcome Usha. SAme here Since, Chinnu doesn't take milk nor eggs, I was so worried. After doing the calorie counting now, her weight has slightly gone up. Touch wood.
-Nitha

 

Yes, K. A typo, it is 25 cm. Strangely, I don't see an edit button in those posts.I wonder why? Maybe mod's can make the change.
-Nitha