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Dinner time advise or tips really needed please x

Hello,

haven't been on for ages and don't really post too much as I'm more of a lurker but can anyone offer tips or advise please.

my little boy is just over a year old now and I hate feeding times as he is a little bu99er.  Breakfast is fine and I don't normally get too much of a battle but lunch and dinner times can be awful.  Last night resulted in him taking a spoonful of his spag Bol (I know he likes it as he had it the week before and ate nearly all of it) and spitting it straight back out.  But he happily ate the mini breadstick I gave him so dinner for him last night was a bowl of porridge which I gave to him whilst chasing him around the living room (not ideal but he rate the lot).  I have tried finger foods but he just gives it to the dog, I have also tried toys and tv to take his attention away.  Is there anything else I can do or is this just what a normal 1year old boy does.  I really don't get it as he does actually love his grub we have even put his highchair down low to the floor incase he is afraid of heights (clutching at straws here, lol).  I also cut his afternoon bottle yesterday wondering if that was perhaps filling him up but it made no difference.

TIA x 

Replies

  • Do you eat together? That made a massive difference here. I think make a routine of it, so he knows meal time is coming. I would sit him in his highchair, give him his tea and eat your own, lots of praise when he's eating, ignore (as far as possible with a 1 yr old) when he's playing up, chat to him and make it a sociable thing.

    Maybe keep that afternoon bottle out too x

  • I agree with Weekender. Eating together always makes a difference here. We do as much as possible (except Friday nights when we eat later) and it makes a huge difference as to how much O eats even now at nearly 2. If she pushes it away, we just ignore and 9 times out of 10, she'll start eating it again a couple of minutes later as she's bored.

    Can you keep your dog out of the way whilst eating so he's not distracted too? That could become a bit of a game for him.

    My other thought and I'm sure others might not agree is that I wouldn't offer anything else if he doesn't eat his dinner. If he knows there's no alternative, he might start eating his dinner as he will know there's nothing else. I'm presuming he has milk before bed too? So he won't be starving hungry when it comes to bedtime?

    Perhaps offering a snack in the afternoons instead of milk might help.

  • Boogie we do the same- if she doesn't eat what I've made for her she doesn't get anything else.

    If she won't eat it she stays sat at the table and we take her plate away while we carry on eating. Then try giving it back to her a few mins later. But if she still refuses she doesn't get to get down from the table she still has to sit there and wait.

    Dropping the afternoon bottle sounds like a good idea too.

    i would definitely recommend shutting the dog out the room- we have two cats and they do distract her sometimes so we take away as many distractions as possible including tv, so there's nothing else for her to do but sit and eat and if she refuses to eat then she just has to sit there anywhere. Most of the time it works for us.

  • I just wanted to reassure you a bit that it's happening here too! Isaac has been BLW but is hit and miss with food at the moment. I feel like he's playing me as he'll happily eat yoghurt, biscuits or crisps! I just leave him to it, he's still having a beaker of milk morning and night and sleeping through so can't be hungry. Teething has a lot to answer for too, he just doesn't want anything near his mouth. As PP said , I've stopped offering an alternative if he doesn't eat what's on offer as I don't want to get in that habit.

  • Huge thank you ladies.  What you all said about offering him an alternative is what I have been doing as I didn't know whether letting him go hungry was the right thing to do but now I have your advise I am going to stop offering him alternatives and if he does not eat most of his lunch dinner then he won't get his yoghurt or treat after.  I am defiantly cutting the 3pm bottle too.  Today he had a weetabix for breakfast and his bottle at 10am and then nothing until 12.30 where I did him a few chicken dippers in a bowl.  I made my lunch and sat next to him.  Well I must say it was the 1st time in ages that he sat there like a good boy and left half a chicken dipper.  Fingers crossed for dinner time.

    Thank you again ladies its so lovely to have a site where I can get outside advise and tips x

    McS - I really do feel for you as I hate meal times with Albert at the moment.  He sounds  the same as Isaac and will happily munch on sweet stuff, biscuits or skips but the moment I try to get him to eat healthy home cooked food the bugger kicks up.  Fingers crossed now though after all the advise I can get him to have fun at meal times x. I also do think he is cutting another tooth at the moment so that's ghee helping either x. 

  • I should say as well that M is now 3 and we still have a LOT of meals that are hit and miss. So if he still refuses meals occasionally or messes around sometimes it's perfectly normal in my experience x

  • My daughter is 15 months and is really hit and miss too. She'll eat something one week then refuse it the next. I don't give her anything else if she doesn't it - I figure she won't starve herself and I have days where I have less of an appetite than others, or don't particularly fancy something. She's cutting some teeth at the min too so I know days when they're playing her up she eats less. Sorry that's not much help but as you can see, you're not alone x

  • Thank you Weekender and MamaD.  It's nice to know that I'm not alone and that A is being a normally baby.  I'm deffanantly not offering him an alternative anymore and am going to cut out the daytime snacks for a little while as I did this yesterday along with cutting his 3pm bottle and he ate most of his lunch and over half of his dinner without the fuss and tantrums that I normally get.  I am also going to not give him his treat or yoghurt if he doesn't eat at least over half of him meals as he has a little sweet tooth so hopefully he will learn that if he doesn't eat his meals he won't get "the good stuff" after, lol x thank you once again it really has made me feel better about meal times with all your replys x

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