Meal Ideas: Month 12

Meal ideas for your 12-month-old baby, and mealtime tips for mummy and daddy.

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.

Related: Warm Tofu Salad

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.

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.

Related: Minestrone Pasta Soup

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.

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