Not Fine Dining

Cara - posted on 05/20/2009

Thanks for your "advice". We will keep trying different things (same plate, same food). Once he gets upset, he has no way of communicating to us what he wants or how he feels. He just cries and cries. I really do not know if he is hungry or not. Last night I started giving him something I know he likes AND the food that my husband and I were eating. It went well. Hope it comtinues. Thanks again.

Antoinette - posted on 05/19/2009

My son will be 2 next week, we also try to make sure meal times are the same, he likes to have routine. Anyway, what we started to do with him is we give him his own utensils to feed himself, we make sure he has exactly what we are having cut up the same and so forth, once he is "done" eating we give him 2 little toy cars to play with and we proceed to finish feeding him. Their attention span can be short so the toys help to allow him to finish eating.

The reason our litle man started to act out was he had to have the same kind of plate and utensiles and glasses that we were using. He did not like those kiddie kind of dishes. Also his food had to be the same as ours, right down to the way it was cut up.

Now we have no real outbursts unless he is tired, but for the most part we have a very peaceful meal time at every meal. Oh I almost forgot he also prefers us to be sitting on either side of him too. I think it makes him feel more sucure.

Best wishes and I hope this helps.

April - posted on 05/19/2009

we were having the same problem, we tried everything! We finally just ignored him, ate our dinner and when we were done asked if he was finished, if he didn't want to eat, he was excused. He got milk at bedtime. Kids won't starve themselves. After a couple evenings, he began trying new foods because he knew we weren't giving in, and he wasn't getting anything else to eat. I also found out that his daycare was giving him a snack around 4pm... which is too close to dinner time so he wasn't hungry. It was really hard to see him not eat, but it didn't last long, and its been a LOT different. We finally eat in peace!

Jennifer - posted on 05/19/2009

Oh, I forgot to tell you that there were times my son was crying and wouldn't eat off his plate but he would calm down and eat off my plate. He had gotten to the point that he wanted exactly the same food that my husband and I were eating and didn't like the food on his plate to look different.

Jennifer - posted on 05/19/2009

Try having dinner at an earlier time if you think he's tired or later if you think he's not hungry yet. Also, consider where he is sitting. My son started throwing a fit at dinner and we didn't know why. We finally figured out that he wanted to sit in the chair like us so we moved him out of the highchair and in to a booster seat. Then he later decided that he didn't like the booster so now he sits in the chair and his chin comes just above the table (but at least he is happy). The few times he threw a tantrum I put him on the floor in the living room and let him cry. My husband and I ignored him and continued with our dinner. My son's dinner stayed on the table and he came back to eat it when he was ready. The thing about tantrums is that it gets worse if you give them attention. Good luck.

Jennifer - posted on 05/19/2009

Try having dinner at an earlier time if you think he's tired or later if you think he's not hungry yet. Also, consider where he is sitting. My son started throwing a fit at dinner and we didn't know why. We finally figured out that he wanted to sit in the chair like us so we moved him out of the highchair and in to a booster seat. Then he later decided that he didn't like the booster so now he sits in the chair and his chin comes just above the table (but at least he is happy). The few times he threw a tantrum I put him on the floor in the living room and let him cry. My husband and I ignored him and continued with our dinner. My son's dinner stayed on the table and he came back to eat it when he was ready. The thing about tantrums is that it gets worse if you give them attention. Good luck.

Jennifer - posted on 05/19/2009

Try having dinner at an earlier time if you think he's tired or later if you think he's not hungry yet. Also, consider where he is sitting. My son started throwing a fit at dinner and we didn't know why. We finally figured out that he wanted to sit in the chair like us so we moved him out of the highchair and in to a booster seat. Then he later decided that he didn't like the booster so now he sits in the chair and his chin comes just above the table (but at least he is happy). The few times he threw a tantrum I put him on the floor in the living room and let him cry. My husband and I ignored him and continued with our dinner. My son's dinner stayed on the table and he came back to eat it when he was ready. The thing about tantrums is that it gets worse if you give them attention. Good luck.

Jennifer - posted on 05/19/2009

Try having dinner at an earlier time if you think he's tired or later if you think he's not hungry yet. Also, consider where he is sitting. My son started throwing a fit at dinner and we didn't know why. We finally figured out that he wanted to sit in the chair like us so we moved him out of the highchair and in to a booster seat. Then he later decided that he didn't like the booster so now he sits in the chair and his chin comes just above the table (but at least he is happy). The few times he threw a tantrum I put him on the floor in the living room and let him cry. My husband and I ignored him and continued with our dinner. My son's dinner stayed on the table and he came back to eat it when he was ready. The thing about tantrums is that it gets worse if you give them attention. Good luck.

Jennifer - posted on 05/19/2009

Try having dinner at an earlier time if you think he's tired or later if you think he's not hungry yet. Also, consider where he is sitting. My son started throwing a fit at dinner and we didn't know why. We finally figured out that he wanted to sit in the chair like us so we moved him out of the highchair and in to a booster seat. Then he later decided that he didn't like the booster so now he sits in the chair and his chin comes just above the table (but at least he is happy). The few times he threw a tantrum I put him on the floor in the living room and let him cry. My husband and I ignored him and continued with our dinner. My son's dinner stayed on the table and he came back to eat it when he was ready. The thing about tantrums is that it gets worse if you give them attention. Good luck.