What meats are good to start a 13 month old on?

[Peggy O]

LO has never eaten meat. I have been a vegetarian for over 25 years, I REALLY don't know what to cook for her. She will not be a vegetarian, I am only for personal reasons. OH eats meat. I have chicken breast in the freezer, also ground beef and ground turkey. Would any of those be OK to use somehow?

 

[sbl]

I would go for chicken first. It was the first meat I gave lo.
My lo loves chicken. Its her favorite meat.

 

[Peggy O]

Should it just be cut into small cubes, or maybe strips? Plain and dry? She really doesn't eat too many finger foods yet (Broccoli, cheerios, banana, french toast, cheese, rice crackers). I am so scared she will choke on it.

 

[lozzy21]

I found minced beef and turkey made into meatballs the easiest.

 

[MindUtopia]

Any meats are fine. We find strips of roast chicken and roast beef have been favourites. I'm a vegetarian and while I don't have a problem making meat for our daughter, I don't actually know how to cook it and I get nervous I won't cook it well enough for her, as I've never eaten meat in my adult life. Usually my husband cooks meat if he's going to have some and sets it aside for her too. But I also find things like beef raviolis or chicken tortelloni are great ways to get meat into her diet even when my husband isn't around to cook for her. I buy her fresh stuffed pastas and then freeze them in baby sized portions to be boiled when I need them.

 

[Peggy O]

I cook it all the time for OH. Before I "retired" (quit to be a SAHM) I was a commercial caterer. Elbow deep in meat all day, Ha ha.

She likes pasta, the ravioli idea is great! Thanks so much. I wouldn't have thought of that. I'm going to buy some next time we shop. I still haven't made her chicken or anything. I like the idea of small ground beef/turkey meatballs too. I was thinking of giving it to her crumbled up, but that would be really messy I bet.

 

[MummyMana]

I don't eat meat and before I met OH I'd never cooked it! my daughter is 11 months and loves chicken, I got some mini chicken breast fillets from morrisons, wrapped them in tinfoil and cooked at 200 for just over half an hour (my standard cooking time/temp ) she's also had Richmond skinless sausages (made into rippy bits because she likes to try and eat the whole thing) that's the only meat I've given her so far but she happily tucks in, if the mood is right lol

 

[Sarah Lou 80]

Stalking this thread for ideas! My LO seems to like roast chicken but if I make anything with minced beef he spits it out and I made turkey burgers last night and he didn't want to know. I wonder if the texture is too dry?

 

[biglebowski]

My lo loves chicken, turkey (or fish) in risottos. Also has chicken in stroganoff and stews. Think the sauce helps to keep the meat moist. Beef cooked slowly in a stew is another massive hit with my lo.

 

[Peggy O]

I was thinking of cooking her a chicken breast in our mini crockpot, in salt free broth, till it falls apart like pulled chicken. I bet the shreds would be easy to get down. She likes her broccoli shredded up in small pieces. Anything big ends up on the floor lately.

 

[Sarah Lou 80]

We go through phases where anything big also goes on the floor and then the next day it's the small things that end up on the floor! So frustrating as you never know which way it's going to go! Most of the time, the floor takes a battering though!

 

[joeyjo]

DS1 barely touched meat till 13mths when we went to a wedding. My meal was an amazing medium rare fillet steak and he must have eaten half if it! Since then he will eat meat but much prefers good quality red meat cooked medium rare to any other type! He also likes fish - smoked salmon, grilled tuna steak, haddock, etc.

He will eat ham but again prefers expensive cured hams to ordinary stuff!

DS2 is much more of a carnivore, he likes his expensive meat too but is happy with chicken and sausages too!

 

[FAB mama]

I started LO on chicken and beef a few months ago, with bite size baked chicken pieces and ground beef just cooked crumbled in a pan with salt and pepper. Lately he's been eating that plus little meatballs (he loved the pork and beef ones I made last week), and ham and turkey lunch meat from the deli (I microwave it a few seconds to be safe). Mostly I make sure meat is cooked thoroughly and avoid anything overly processed (sausages, etc)…although I guess deli meat is processed.

If you're near a Target, I got some little tiny meatballs in the frozen kid food section and he seems to like those. There's turkey I think and a beef & cheese one. I can take just a couple out at a time and microwave them quickly for him if I don't have something else ready.

 

[Peggy O]

I bought some beef ravioli at Wegmans Saturday...and cheese ones for me. We'll try those this week sometime I think. She is familiar with pasta, so I bet she will like them. I chose the ones that had the fewest ingredients.
The secret to a clean floor in our house is two lab-mutt dogs who gobble up anything that LO throws, in seconds. The down side to that is that she finds it amusing, and throws food at them sometimes.

 

[Sarah Lou 80]

I bought some beef ravioli at Wegmans Saturday...and cheese ones for me. We'll try those this week sometime I think. She is familiar with pasta, so I bet she will like them. I chose the ones that had the fewest ingredients.
The secret to a clean floor in our house is two lab-mutt dogs who gobble up anything that LO throws, in seconds. The down side to that is that she finds it amusing, and throws food at them sometimes.

I've got some meaty ravioli to try too! Unfortunately my two cats turn their noses up at the food on the floor. Perhaps I can convince OH that we need a dog!!

 

[Bevziibubble]

I tried Holly with chicken first. She wasn't too keen at first, but she ate a little more over time. She rarely eats meat these days though as she's just not keen.
I've also heard that even if they just chew on the meat and then don't swallow it, they still get a lot of the nutrients from it