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mealtimes with family help
hello ladies
we really want to start having family mealtimes as if we eat when LO is around and hes not eating he is a nightmare! hes nearly 9 months and eats normal meals. now he can move he crawls between us and trys to grab the plate and screams, to stop this we sometime have dinner after hes in bed but i dont really like eating near 9pm
the problems is times of meals, he usually has lunch at about 11/12 and dinner about 4, 3 days a week hubby doesnt get home until after 6 but 4 days 5 would be ok, my problem is then nighttime bottles
he has a bottle about 7 and goes to bed before 8, he usually has 8 OZ but before if we have been late with dinner he brings his bottle back, i dont want to make his bedtime later, my mum thinks we should drop his bedtime bottle and just give him juice at bedtime but the he''d only be having 5OZ a day and i dont really want to do that, i understand where shes coming from but i know milk is still important
any ideas
we really want to start having family mealtimes as if we eat when LO is around and hes not eating he is a nightmare! hes nearly 9 months and eats normal meals. now he can move he crawls between us and trys to grab the plate and screams, to stop this we sometime have dinner after hes in bed but i dont really like eating near 9pm
the problems is times of meals, he usually has lunch at about 11/12 and dinner about 4, 3 days a week hubby doesnt get home until after 6 but 4 days 5 would be ok, my problem is then nighttime bottles
he has a bottle about 7 and goes to bed before 8, he usually has 8 OZ but before if we have been late with dinner he brings his bottle back, i dont want to make his bedtime later, my mum thinks we should drop his bedtime bottle and just give him juice at bedtime but the he''d only be having 5OZ a day and i dont really want to do that, i understand where shes coming from but i know milk is still important
any ideas
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Replies
xxx
Our routine-
Anytime between 6-7:30 get up (7.45 once this morning lol)
8am breakfast (cereal of some sort made with milk) with milk in a beaker offered,
12-1 lunch again a beaker of milk offered
5pm- tea again a beaker of milk offered
7pm- bed!
as I said juice and water also offered throughout the day and with meals also. It means he usually has 18oz of milk a day both in food and in a beaker. He eats all his meals with me and we eat the same thing.
He is 10 months in a week.
I hope this helps, its just an idea you dont ahve to give milk at mealtimes but maybe if he isn't keen on bedtime bottle drop it and reintroduce it somewhere else in the day or mix it into food such as mash etc?
xxx
Maybe you could try putting him in his activity station or offering some supper in the form of toast or something - he can get on with it himself whilst you eat? Lol probably a good idea in theory..ds would more than likely chuck his toast away and beeline for my plate anyway!
I have been working with wonder nanny recently over my son's eating (3 next week) and one of the issues I had was not eating as a family as I work full time and hubby works shift. lo has always had his tea about 4.30pm and he goes to bed 7-7.30pm and we don't generally eat until he's gone to bed.
I asked her advice about him eating with us and going to bed later but he's up around 6am as we leave the house just before 8, so for him to go to bed after 8pm, he wouldn't be getting hte hours he needed. She said him eating on his own (mon-fri) is not an issue but he still needs a structured meal time with adults so what we do now is still feed him at 4.30 and he sits at the dining table, and we or one of us sit with him with a cuppa and we talk to him about his day and what's happening tomorrow etc - his eating has got better ten fold!! and he seems to like us sitting with him and chatting.
then on weekends or when we're off work we all have our tea together at 5pm so we are least having a whole family meal twice a week
its very hard with todays lifestyle to all eat together as a family so I think you need to adjust things to suit your family lifestyle. it would be nice to sit together 7 nights a week but for us its just not practical!!
Claire
with my ds1 to start off with I would feed him wherever, living room, kitchen etc etc and it came to the point where he would only eat if the tv was on and I was feeding him so I changed this to the more sitting round the table etc etc which worked a treat and then also once he was a bit older and his dinner changed from 4 to 5 same as mummy and daddy it was even better xx
dont worry it will all come in time and the amount of mums that I speak to who's kids settle once they go to school too as if they see all the other wee boys andgirls eating at the dinner table etc etc they follow suit xxx