Toddler Meal Post: Snack Ideas

I dont know about you all, but as a mommy of a toddler I have a really hard time finding snacks that are nutritious, yummy, low in sugar, and gets a "thumbs up" from our baby boy. I recently read that a toddler should have no more than 17grams of sugar a day. I thought I had been doing great until I found that Bennett's applesauce pouches have 9 grams of sugar per serving on their own! His fruit bars have 7 grams of sugar, and his juice (if not diluted) has 15 grams of sugar! That is quite a lot of sugar to be feeding a toddler, folks! I had to get out of the rut of fruit bars and applesauce pouches and find something else to feed our baby. Besides, I do not want to grow up a child with an over reliance on sweets and start him out on the track to obesity!  I decided I wanted to post about some great ideas for snacks that I have been trying out with Bennett that are all of the above. I checked out several websites, did tons of research, and came up with a few ideas that are our go-to snack items for baby boy. Now, not all of these snacks are incredibly low in sugar. As the mommy, its your job to monitor how much sugar you are giving, so if you give your little one something that has 10 grams of sugar for one snack, you definitely want to pick something from the list that is either sugar-free or very low in sugar as to not go above the recommended amount of sugar a day. Also, I highly recommend very heavily diluting your little one's juice AND only giving juice once a day. I dont know about you, but I dont want a little one that wont drink water!

So mommies, here are some snack ideas for your little one! Enjoy! :)

1. Cheese and Saltine Crackers
2. Cheese and Purple Grapes
3. Cheerio, Dried Pineapple and Rasin Trail Mix
4. Peanut Butter and Banana Roll-Ups
5. Apple, Pumpkin and Zucchini Whole-Wheat Muffins
6. Grammy Sandwiches (Graham Crackers filled with yogurt and frozen)
7. Sweet Potato Chips
8. The Green Smoothie
9. Chips and Salsa (If your little one can handle chips/dipping)
10. "Ants on a Log" (Celery filled with PB and "dotted" with rasins)

I also really like the idea of making a "nibble tray" for your little one, though we have not tried it with Bennett yet. The main idea is to get an ice tray and fill each little hole with something different for your little one to snack on. That way, he/she may pick and choose what to eat and not be confined to whatever mommy gives for snack time.

Here is what it would look like: