Help Me Be Healthy – I am 2.5
Please let me decide when I have had enough to eat
- I feed myself and use a spoon. I hold my cup with one hand. I feel proud.
- I want to learn about food. Please serve me foods I like along with a new food. You may need to offer me a new food 10 times before I will try it. This is normal.
- Don’t worry if I don’t eat a meal or snack. I will eat more on some days than others. Please don’t beg me to eat or x other foods for me.
- Please don’t force me to eat or make me “clean my plate.”
- I need some fat. You can put margarine, cheese, or a little peanut butter on my foods. Or let me dip my vegetables in salad dressing. A little sugar is okay, but not very much.
Let’s stay on schedule
If a meal or nap is late, I get too hungry or tired. I might throw
a tantrum. I don’t know how to wait.
- Offer me 3 meals and 2 or 3 healthy snacks every day. Try to have them at the same times.
- When we are away from home, please take a snack for me. We can sit and eat WIC cereal or some crackers.
- Find a quiet place for my nap. Read my favorite book until I fall asleep.
Give me water when I ask for a drink.
Make our family meals relaxed
- I want to copy what you do and be just like you. If you make healthy choices and try new foods, I will do it too.
- I like to be with you. Please make time to eat with me. Can we turn o all our TVs and cell phones while we eat? I like it when you talk to me during meals.
- I still need to sit while I eat and drink so I don’t choke. Put me in my highchair or booster seat at the table with our family. I can eat most foods you do—I want to be just like you!
- Sometimes I like eating with my fingers. I like using my spoon and fork, too. I may still be messy when I eat. This is how I learn to feed myself.
- Let’s both wash our hands before and after we eat.
Every day off me:
Grains
6 servings of grain
½ slice bread or ½ tortilla
¼ cup cooked cereal, rice, or noodles
½ cup cold cereal
2 to 3 small crackers
Half the grains I eat should be whole grains.
Vegetables
4 servings of vegetables
- ¼ cup chopped, cooked vegetables
- 2 ounces vegetable or tomato juice
Offer me a dark green or orange vegetable every day.
Fruits
4 servings of fruits
- ¼ cup fruit
- 2 ounces 100% fruit juice
Offer me a vitamin C fruit every day— oranges, strawberries, or WIC juice.
No more than 4 ounces of juice a day.
Protein
4 servings of protein
- 2 tablespoons meat, chicken, turkey, or fish
- ½ egg
- 2 tablespoons beans or tofu
- ½ tablespoon peanut butter
Beans, meat, chicken, turkey, and fish, give me lots of iron to keep my blood strong.
Dairy
4 servings of dairy
- 4 ounces nonfat or 1% milk
- ½ cup lowfat yogurt
- 1 slice lowfat cheese
No more than 16 ounces of milk a day.
WIC gives me lowfat milk. It’s what I need.
Fats, Oils & Sweets
Only a little bit
Let’s cook
Oatmeal with Brown Sugar
½ cup lowfat or nonfat milk, 1 packet Quaker Instant Oatmeal® 1 teaspoon brown sugar
Combine milk and oats in a large microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 1 to 2 minutes. Carefully remove hot bowl from the microwave. Add sugar and stir. Cool for several minutes before serving. Makes ½ cup or 2 servings.
Stir raisins or chopped bananas. Delicious!
I want to help
I want to please you. Here are ways I can help. Please say you are proud of me.
- I can put foods in the basket when we shop. Let’s talk about why they are good for me and how they help me be healthy.
- Can I decide the vegetable for dinner? Show me 2 vegetables. Ask me which vegetable we should choose.
- I might not be neat, but I am doing my best. Sometimes I drop things because my fingers are still small.
- When I help you, I feel good. I will probably eat better, too!
Look what I can do
- I like to sing! Teach me a song we can sing together. We can make up a song, too.
- I open cabinets and turn knobs. I want to know how things work.
- Watch out! I can reach the stove. Turn pot handles to the back.
Let’s play
- I run, jump, and climb. Play in the park with me. Let’s walk to the library to read a book.
- Play makes me forget I am hungry. I may not want to stop for a meal.
- Tell me we will eat soon. Let me draw a picture or work a puzzle while I wait.
- 20 minutes is enough time at the table for me. When I am full, let me go back and play.
Keep me safe and healthy
- At my checkup with the doctor, ask if I need a lead test.
- Keep me away from tobacco smoke, matches, and lighters.
- Watch me in the tub or near water.
- Keep cords up so I can’t pull on them.
- Lock up cleaners, sprays, and medicines.
- Buckle me into a child safety seat before I ride in the car.
- Keep my screen time to an hour a day.
Help me take care of my teeth
- Please take me to a dentist to be sure my teeth are healthy.
- Brush my teeth, front and back, 2 times a day.
- Use a small, soft toothbrush and a pea size amount of fluoride toothpaste.
- Start to floss my teeth for me.
- Don’t share forks or spoons with me. It spreads germs that can cause cavities.
- Please help me use a cup just like yours.
Utah WIC Program 1-877-WIC-KIDS
or 1-877-942-5437