The holy grail - which nutrients toddlers need

After significant research, I think I've found the answers I was looking for on what nutrients toddlers (and grown ups) need. As it turns out, there were no real surprises and here is the list according to Antonia Kidman and her nutritionist lady friend (and verified by the CSIRO):
- Carbohydrates
- Protein
- Good fats (essential fatty acids)
- Vitamins A, B, C, D and E
- Iron
- Calcium
- Zinc
- Magnesium

That's it! I don't know what else I imagined there would be but I think I thought there would be something I hadn't heard of.

Even more useful Antonia and her buddy have listed lots of foods that contain each of these things. It was very exciting to realise that Leo eats something out of each group and amazingly you could actually cover all groups by eating the following foods:

- Oats
- Milk
- Tomatoes
- Vegetable oil
- Sesame seeds
- Potatoes
- Egg
- Peas

Obviously it is heaps better to eat the full range of fruits and vegies but I found making this list super reassuring as these are all things that it is totally easy to get Leo to eat. Hurrah! He's not going to get scurvy or gout or osteoporosis!

Unfortunately all my new found nutritional self-confidence was brought back down to earth when I read that the CSIRO suggests that kids should eat a vegetable from each of the five color groups (green, yellow, white, orange and red) every day. Hmmmm, this is going to take a bit more work...

Crouching child, hidden dairy?

If I had to list my three most basic nutrition questions for toddlers it would be:

1. How many vegies do they need (see previous post)?

2. What nutrients are most important for toddler development (still researching)?

3. How much milk/dairy do toddlers really need?

I guess there is the whole breastmilk vs formula debate always going on but in the interests of tackling this the easy way, let's assume the toddler is on standard cows milk somewhere between 12 and 18 months.

I think after some serious hunting the answer always seems to be around 600mls (English sites seem to delight in noting that this is approximately one pint).

This used to be super easy when Leo was having bottles as he loved to chug down a couple of hundred mls whenever he got the chance but now that I phased them out it seems to be a bit tougher. He'll maybe drink 100ml from a cup but the whole experience doesn't seem to grab him - even when I purchased a plastic Buzz Lightyear/Woody cup.

My main tactics are Leo tea (warm milo), milk on cereal or porridge, and heavy doses of bechamal sauce a couple of times a week. The odd babycino seems to work as well.

Anyone else got ideas??