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Need suggestions about what food you can give your infant/toddler for daycare?

Writer's picture: Rasika NimkarRasika Nimkar



I followed a baby led weaning approach and it really helped me. What is baby led weaning? My favorite experts at Solid starts define it like this: "Baby-led weaning is a method of introducing solid food to babies whereby purées and spoon-feeding are skipped entirely in favor of finger foods that a baby self-feeds."

While working towards building healthy eating habits for my child, I also had to factor in another parameter, I am a vegetarian myself, so most of the food I naturally was inclined towards was vegetarian. Hence you will find those recipes in the guide below.

My toddler eats by herself in okay-ish quantities. Here are some resources that I have collected over time. They have helped me immensely and I hope you find some value in them.


Instagram pages


I learnt how to cut fruits and veggies for specific age without it being a choking hazard on this page and it also has a lot of good self feeding tips.

This page has some great recipe suggestions. Veggie infused muffins, oat bars, etc. There's also a lot of nut free recipes if your daycare is nut free like ours was.

This is an Indian mom in Surrey who has great food suggestions, photos, and shares her infant- toddler food journey experiences. I love her recipes and meal planning tips.


Facebook page

  1. Traditional weaning solid starts - India - this has some good Indian recipes. This page also has Monday menu inspirations.


Daycare snack ideas


My go to snacks were-


> Bite sized muffins

> Homemade veggie oat bars

> Homemade applesauce

> Grapes cut in quarters

> Carrots and hummus

> Berries , fruits


Here's a favourite from our household -

Grilled veggies

Grilled french beans, cauliflower and broccoli snd sweet potato was a hit at the daycare. Easy to eat by themselves and yummy.

Recipe for grilled veggies



Daycare lunch ideas


Lunch used to be 1 self feed item , 1 spoon feed item

  • Self feed- pancakes/parathas cut to strips/ roti with ghee , moong daal chilla

  • Spoon feed- khichadi, dalia, rice, pasta, ragi malt, jowar malt alternated, oats with chia seeds and flaxseeds

  • Protein- egg bites, boiled egg- cut to pieces, tofu.



With a toddler or an infant, a consistent feeding routine is very important. If you can try to follow the daycare schedule on weekends whenever possible, it really helps infants and toddlers understand fixed mealtimes. Part of that includes having a family dinner time on weekdays after they come back from daycare. Having the entire family sit down and eat together has numerous benefits.


Talk to other moms:

  1. Have you tried other ways / methods to help your toddler or baby new or nutritious foods?

  2. What did you find the most difficult when trying to maintain a fixed meal time?

Share your ideas below so other mommies can benefit from your wealth of experience.



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