15MO DD eating & napping antics!

[superbabysmummy]

Hi Mums, DD is 15MO & being hard going when eating lunch. She's between having morning nap & not. It means she's exhausted by 11 and refuses to eat, we battle for a bit then I give in and put her to bed, she misses lunch and it takes her sometimes up to an hour to drop off, she lies in her bed chatting, perfectly happy.

She's really grizzly all the time and this week she's wanted a dummy, refusing to eat without it. (Actually she's refusing to do anything without it, the only time she's happy is with it!). Until last week she only had it for sleeping.

She's recently got over a cold and she's teething so really can't blame her for being a bit miserable. I just wondered what techniques you can use to cheer her up and encourage her at meal times and also to encourage less reliance on the dummy?

Trying to keep her in a routine however difficult to regulate as she's with grandparents and childminder all week.

[Goldmandra]

Don't encourage her at meal times. Put her food in front of her. If she chooses not to eat it, take it away again. Offer it again later if you like and keep a tally of what she eats in a week to ensure that, overall, her diet is reasonably balanced.

Give her a snack at 10.00am to keep her going until a late lunch.

Make a rule that she can have the dummy but only in bed. If she wants to get up she leaves the dummy behind. That might be a battle but, if you want to reduce her reliance on it, it's probably the only way.

The grizzling will pass

[mummyxtwo]

She sounds like my 15mo at the moment! Dd2 was a good eater but has suddenly become very fussy, doesn't want to be spoon fed but won't always feed herself. Refusing dishes that she previously ate happily. Refusing fruit except banana and occasionally picking at apple or nectarine. She stands pointing at the biscuit tin, crying! She was previously allowed a little plain biscuit mid morning but I have stopped this so that she doesn't think she can get away with not eating her meals and then get biscuits. I agree with the above, offer a balanced diet and just take it away and try not to stress if she doesn't eat. I will be trying to follow that advice myself...

[superbabysmummy]

Thank you Goldmantra, I know you are right re. food and to an extent it's what I do, grandparents tend to stuff me up by taking away what she doesn't eat and giving her something else or worse, straight to pudding! It's like the best restaurant ever! Dummy it's what we always did, I've got slack with it though, just goes to show how disciplined and consistent you need to be!

Hope grizzling does pass soon...

[superbabysmummy]

Mummyx2! Totally get the biscuit tin thing! DD does the exact same thing, she cries as if her whole world depends on getting that biscuit, which I guess in her mind it does...

[mummyxtwo]

This morning I let dd2 have a bit of an apricot oat bar as she had eaten all her raisins. Then I found the half chewed raisins behind the chair. This afternoon's snack is going to be apple, take it or leave it... We have to not let them get the better of us I think! Unfortunately dd2 seems to be running rings around me at present - she has learned how to climb onto the dining table, and yesterday I found her sitting in the sooty fire place - having managed to break through the fire guard - brandishing a poker. Not a good parenting moment They are little monkeys at this age. Although they probably do have sore mouths too, bless them. I have lost count of dd2's teeth, they just keep popping up at random. If you discover any tricks to help persuade your dd to eat, please post! Sometimes it helps if I let dd2 play with a spoon, then she might let me feed her. Or if I help her feed herself. Sometimes that doesn't work either. Sometimes she likes to eat finger foods, particularly her faves grated cheese and cucumber, and pasta. Sometimes she cries and uses them as missiles. Mantra: it is a phase, it will pass...

[Goldmandra]

This morning I let dd2 have a bit of an apricot oat bar as she had eaten all her raisins.

If you discover any tricks to help persuade your dd to eat, please post!

If she has to eat one food in order to earn another, eating the first food becomes a chore rather than a pleasure. That's not a message you want to give your child.

Why not give her a bowl with a little bit of apricot bar and a few raisins and let her decide which to eat?

[ikeaismylocal]

My ds likes to sleep over lunch, we have started giving him 2 lunches ( both small and often the same thing) one at 10.45ish, then he sleeps 11.15-1.15 he then eats another mini lunch at 2ish.

If ds doesn't want to try the food we put olives on his food, ds is obsessed by olives so he eats them and once he's eating he continues to eat the rest of the food.