By Health Promotion Board in collaboration with A/Prof Mary Daniel Lourdes, Head & Senior Consultant, Clinical Services, Department of Child Development, KK Women's and Children's Hospital.
Congratulations! It’s been a tiring but rewarding 12 months feeding, playing with, and taking care of your little one.
Your baby has more teeth now and is able to swallow the food you prepare easily. He might also be using a spoon, although he hasn’t quite mastered the art of it just yet. Continue to prepare his meals mashed, chopped or cut into small pieces.
And remember: he still needs his milk feeds, although it’s now a good time to use sippy cups most of the time and set the bottle aside.
Related: Baby Bottle Tooth Decay
Recommended Number of Servings (12 months)
These numbers are only a recommendation. Let your baby decide how much he wants to eat and don’t force him to finish everything!
| Wholegrains | Fruit | Vegetables | Meat and others | Milk (breast/formula) |
| 1-2 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 500-750ml |
Mummy and daddy are now solid food pros, and the little one’s taking to solid food well. Over the past few months, you’ve tried out plenty of ideas and recipes, but you might still need a refresher every now and then to keep those food ideas fresh in your head.
We’re here to give you a hand: here are some new meal and dish ideas, and a bumper list of the different foods you can feed your 1-year-old bundle of joy.
Related: Nutrition for Your Toddler
More Yummy Ideas for Mummy and Daddy
Keep the inspiration flowing
You have a good idea about the kinds of food your baby likes and dislikes right now, and you’re regularly introducing him to new food, flavours, and textures.
But somedays you’re bored and have no idea what to prepare for your little one, and he doesn’t seem interested in the same old meals either. We know how that feels, so here are some ways to get inspired again!
Related: Superheroes of a Healthy Diet
Make food prep a game: Choose three colours and see if you can prepare foods that match the colour palette. For example, yellow, red, and purple can come in the form of millet (yellow) with chopped beef (red) and mushed brinjal (purple). In any case, it also helps narrow down the food you can prepare, which might help if you’re overwhelmed with too many options.
Related: Eat Your Veggies
Level up from basic shapes: A popular trend among young parents is to make bento based on cute cartoon characters, for example, shaping rice into cute pokemon and adding detailed like eyes using sesame seeds or cut nori seaweed.
While your little one might not appreciate the adorable characters right now, trying your hand at this activity could make meal prep a more fun activity for you.
For inspiration, there are plenty of blogs and websites dedicated to these bento (called kyaraben or chara-ben). You can even join classes to learn basic techniques! But if you’re trying it at home, all you really need is a good pair of food scissors and some creativity. (Don’t worry if your first tries don’t turn out well—your little one can’t tell yet).
Related: Cute Bentos for Kids
Talk to your friends: Out of ideas? Why not exchange recipes with your fellow mums and dads? They might have hidden gems or cooking tips and tricks you haven’t heard of.
Related: Easy Egg Cups
Mix and match and experiment
Whenever you feel uninspired, just take a look at this (not exhaustive) bumper list of food items, mix and match different food groups, try out different herbs and spice combinations, and attempt different cooking methods and food textures.
For example, try mixing mashed banana with some wholegrain flour for a modified pancake batter and cook up some yummy banana pancakes.
Or try some pureed broccoli soup topped with shredded cheddar cheese and served with a side of steamed chickpeas—a yummy option if your little one is going through a phase where he is fussy about his veggies.
Wholegrains and staples
- Brown rice, oats, barley, millet, quinoa, couscous
- Potato, sweet potato
- Brown rice bee hoon, brown rice mee sua, brown rice noodles
- Wholegrain pasta in various shapes, e.g. macaroni, penne, fusilli (spiral), farfalle (ribbon), shell-shaped
- Wholegrain bread, pita bread, thosai
- Wholegrain flour which you can use to make pancakes and waffles
Vegetables
- Spinach, kale, watercress, chye sim, bok choy, kai lan
- Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, butternut squash, cucumber, carrot, brinjal, corn, celery, bean sprouts, dou miao, nai bai, onions, spring onions, leek, tomato, long beans
Fruit
- Apple, pear, jambu, guava
- Banana, mango, papaya, pineapple
- Strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, kiwi
- Watermelon, rock melon, honey dew
- Avocado, peach, plums, apricot, nectarines
- Grape, longan, chiku (cut to size, seeds removed)
Meat and others
- Fish: salmon, cod, light tuna, ikan bilis, pollock, flatfish
- Poultry: chicken, turkey, duck
- Meat: veal, beef, lamb, pork
- Tofu, lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans, red beans, egg yolk, cheese, yoghurt
As usual, introduce new food 3 or 4 days apart, and look out for signs of allergy, e.g. rashes, facial swelling, wheezing, diarrhoea.
Related: When Allergies Occur
Try These Solid Meals!
Breakfast
- Wholegrain pancakes topped with unsweetened red bean mash mixed with breast/formula milk
Simple wholegrain pancakes
Ingredients:
- Whole-wheat flour/wholemeal flour, 120 g
- Baking powder, ½ tsp
- Eggs, 2 whole
- Breast/formula milk, 200g
- To cook: Oil, 2 tbsp (choose one with the Healthier Choice Symbol)
Steps:
- Combine milk and eggs in a mixing bowl
- Whisk wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until barely mixed. There should still be lumps
- Pour batter into lightly oiled pan until the desired pancake size
- Pan fry till golden brown on both sides (Tip: only flip when all the bubbles in the batter are popped and there are holes in the batter)
- Serve while warm, and top with healthy pureed or chopped fruit!
- Grilled cheese and apple wholemeal sandwich
Lunch/Dinner
- Beef stewed with cubed potato, carrots, peas, and celery
- Brown rice bee hoon in fish broth with chopped cabbage and cod fish slices
- Wholegrain macaroni with pureed tomato, mince chicken, topped with cheese. End with a portion of sliced apple
- Brown rice porridge with shredded duck meat and carrot puree. End with a portion of sliced pear.
Related: Canola Oil, Olive Oil, Soybean Oil, Is There a Difference?
Friendly Reminders for Mum and Dad
10 to 12 months: mashed, chopped or cut
At this stage, the food you feed the little one needs to only be mashed, chopped or cut into small pieces.
Food prep pointers
If you’re making your own baby food, make sure to prepare it without oil. Some great cooking methods are steaming, boiling, baking, or microwaving. Your baby can now eat chunky soups and stews too. No stir-frying or grilling yet for the little one! Remember to skip the sugar, salt and any other seasonings (e.g. soy sauce) when preparing the meals.
Be patient
If your baby isn’t interested in a certain food, do not force it. There’s also no need to force your child to finish everything on his plate! Stop feeding him if he rejects the food, and try again during the next meal. Right now, your baby knows best about how much he wants to eat.
Related: Your Baby Needs Soft Skills Too
What makes 1 serving?
| Wholegrains | ½ bowl of brown rice/rice (100g) ½ bowl of noodles, spaghetti or beehoon (100g) 1 large potato (180g) 2 slices of wholegrain bread (60g) 4 plain wholemeal biscuits |
| Fruit | 1 small apple, orange, pear or mango (130g) 1 wedge pineapple, papaya or watermelon (130g) 1 medium banana 10 grapes or longan (50g) |
| Vegetable | ¾ mug or 1 small bowl of cooked vegetables (100g) ¼ plate of vegetables |
| Meat and others | 1 palm-sized piece of fish, lean meat or skinless poultry (90g) 2 small blocks of soft beancurd (170g) ¾ cup or 1 small bowl of cooked pulses (e.g. lentils) (120g) 3 eggs (150g) 5 medium prawns |
For more information on early nutrition and weaning recipes for your little one, visit Early Childhood Nutrition.
Visit Parent Hub, for more useful tips and guides to give your baby a healthy start.
Download the HealthHub app on Google Play or Apple Store to access more health and wellness advice at your fingertips.
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Contributed By
- Health Promotion Board