My daughter is 13 months old now and has a couple of snacks a day. I was just wondering what kind of nutritious snacks people give their young toddlers. We do a lot of the fruits and cheeses, occassionally crackers and cookies, but I was looking for more variations. (Hopefully, more along the lines of finger foods she can feed to herself without making a huge mess!).

At this age, I stuck to the fruits and cheeses as my son could maneuver them well and chew them good too. Softer vegetables (cukes) were good and we also would put cream cheese or peanut butter on crackers and that worked well too. Banana bread was a favorite as was cottage cheese (albeit a little messy!).

I do whole grain crackers, fruits, cheese, yogurt, and the occassional pudding. I try to stick to relatively healthy things.

Any kind of good food will do as long as they are soft and easily chewable and accessible for the kids. Don't forget milk as a partner of your snacks as they still need it very much.

Thanks for the advice. Yes, my daughter still gets milk with every snack. She also gets it when she wakes up and about a half hour before bed. As far as the peanut butter, I have heard some people say you shouldn't give it to kids under 3 and others say it's fine after 1. What have others heard?

Peanut butter is a great high protein snack for children - I think the fear of under three comes from possible allergies, so I would just be very wtchful the first few times of inroducing it to your child's diet.

I've also read that you do not want to give a young child peanut butter veyr often, as that can lead to allergies. I do not remember how often, often was, but I'm sure one wouldn't give peanut butter every day anyway.

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Thanks for the information guys, that's great to know. I definitely don't think I would be giving her peanut butter every day! lol!