Dairy Free Baby and Toddler snacks
Thinking of dairy free snacks for babies and toddlers can be quite a challenge, fortunately there is a wide range of choices available both fresh and prepackaged. Usually once you know the staples to have in the house you’ll always be prepared.
Fruit – peeled and chopped apples, pears, kiwis, mango, pineapple and melon are all winners with my kids. They also love strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries. For the younger babies ensure to be trying one fruit at a time to check for reactions and I think kiwis, citrus fruits and some berries are better for those over 12 months.
Raisins -small boxes of raisins are very handy, the best before is always months away so you can always have some stashed in handbag/nappy bag/ car etc. for emergencies.
Cheerios – fill a little tub and your toddler can munch away to their heart’s content. It develops good fine motor skills too picking up the individual cheerios. I have seen sugar free cheerio -type-cereal once before and am always on the hunt to find them again, they definitely would be ideal if they had less sugar.
Fruit ice lollies – these are great to have on standby. They can often distract from bumps and bruises, are a healthy treat and are really good for teething babies. Up to now I have given my 16 month old water ice lollies I made myself, basically just ice, so he would get the cold against his gums with none of the sugar. It is very easy to put pear or apple puree into the ice lolly moulds and make pure fruit lollies. Or use a small amount of diluted cordial to make the ice lollies yourself. Ice lollies also are a must in situations where other children might be having ice creams, it is no harm to have them on standby.
Liga– Not terribly healthy as it contains a lot of sugar, but little ones are very mobile and well able to burn off the calories.
Baby Liga in the red box is dairy free, be aware the Liga junior for older children and the Liga snack packs both do contain milk.
Organix – many of organix products are dairy free, healthy and taste good too. These are some of our favourites: Gingerbread men, Animal biscuits, Carrot sticks, Alphabet biscuits
Bread sticks – these are great as children love something about the stick shape. They are wands, sticks, swords, it just tickles their imagination.
Rice or Corn cakes – another sugar free option, both my boys loved these from a young age, although not particularly tasty on their own, babies don’t mind. Another handy one. When they are older you could put peanut butter, jam, houmous, butter or anything else you can think of on them.
Wraps – both my kids love wraps on their own as a snacks, something about the round shape and the fact that they can roll them up. Another handy one to have in the bag on a day out. For lunch or tea it’s handy to put the ham or chicken and sliced cucumber and tomatoes and on the table and let the kids fill their own wrap.
Fun Sandwiches I have also been known to make sandwiches into shapes for fun snacks or part of lunch or tea. Just make the sandwich as normal and use a cookie cutter to cut out the shape you want.
