12 months weaning planner

Grab our ‘from 12 months’ handy weaning planner for lots of yummy ideas for meals and snacks for your growing toddler!

12 months – 3 meals and 2 snacks

You now have a toddler at the table! Your little one might be taking their first steps, growing their molars and starting to use cutlery. This opens up a whole world of foodie fun to explore!

As they’re still growing fast as well as becoming more active, they’ll need 3 balanced meals and 2 nutritious snacks each day.

Your little one has better biting and chewing skills as well as hand-eye co-ordination so the range of textures you can offer is more diverse. Chunks in mixed meals can be larger (about 1cm chunks) but best to still make sure they’re soft enough to squish under a fork and served with a nice thick sauce.
You can also offer a wider range of finger food meals. Make sure finger foods are still soft and easy to chew and continue to avoid flaky, crumbly, brittle or hard foods.

Continue to make sure that everything is a safe texture. Avoid whole grapes, whole cherry tomatoes and whole nuts. Slice round foods lengthways into quarters.
Now’s the time for snacks but that doesn’t mean sweets! Think of a snack as a mini meal containing the food groups highlighted below. Snack time is still a great opportunity to include wholegrains, dairy foods (or alternatives), protein foods and fruit and veg.

By now, your little one can either continue to breastfeed on demand, or you can switch their usual milk for full fat or semi-skimmed cows’ milk or a no-added-sugar, fortified milk alternative. Offer around 350ml a day.

Top tips

Here’s our guide to make a balanced meal or snack:

Include a protein food like meat, fish, tofu or pulses twice a day.
A starchy food like pasta, potato, rice or oats at each meal and snack.
Some vegetables or fruits at each meal and snack.
A dairy food, or alternative, such as milk, yoghurt, cheese, 3 times a day.
Offer water at mealtimes and 350ml breastmilk or cows’ milk / alternative each day.