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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Spoilt or greedy?

85 replies

ChickenDipper22 · 01/04/2015 15:09

Can a 7 month old be greedy or is he just being spoilt?
He is well fed, he has 3 to 4 9oz bottles a day, 1 bottle of baby juice as he wont take water. Also 3 meals a day plus snacks in between yet every single time me or DP bring our food in he will stare at us all the way through frowning and whining until we give him some, if we don't give him some he will scream the place down... He's almost like a begging dog!

OP posts:

TynesideBlonde · 01/04/2015 19:24

Please don't give him baby juice

slithytove · 01/04/2015 19:27

DS used to drink watered down baby juice, now at 2 is happy with water.

Lunch we eat together as kids can manage their own food. Breakfast is a huge mess unless I help the baby (6 months) so I eat later, and dinner they eat together but no way am I eating at 5pm.

It's still social as we sit at the table and chat.

We used to let DS eat off our plates. Wish we hadn't as its been a hard habit to break. Maybe increase his quantity of food or time his snacks to be your meal time, there will be many things he can eat without help now.

I'd also consider dropping a bottle now.

Goldmandra · 01/04/2015 19:33

We've always eaten as a family, usually around 6 pm. DCs had snacks mid afternoon to keep them going if necessary. Babies sat in high chairs with finger foods as soon as they were old enough and gradually joined in with the main meal as they grew up.

I understand that some parents get in from work way too late to do this but I think it's a shame to feed children habitually at a ridiculously early time like 4.30 then complain because they want to engage in your meal later on. if the child is awake he could easily eat a main meal at the same time as his parents.

As a childminder I have always eaten with all my charges. It really isn't difficult at all.

Family mealtimes are social occasions and bring great benefits to everyone involved, even babies. It doesn't have to be a rigid routine or an unbreakable rule. Common sense can, of course, be applied and sometimes it is nice for parents to have special meals on their own. We all know that.

DisappointedOne · 01/04/2015 19:44

"I prefer him to have set times as he has a routine and I like to eat later."

Ding ding ding ding ding.

There's your issue. You want your son, who has evolved to need certain things, to fit into your idea of how a day/meals should be. Here's a hint - your child can't read. They follow their biological imperatives. It's your job as a parent to nurture, not to stifle. Relax on the routine thing - it won't be doing anyone any good.

DisappointedOne · 01/04/2015 19:47

"Some very mean responses on here. Fwiw, I rarely ate my meals with my babies, it's actually quite difficult to eat a meal with babies and toddlers... especially if you are spoon feeding, picking food up off the floor, making sure they don't choke etc... now they are school age, we eat together at the weekend at lunchtime, but I rarely eat dinner with them. They eat their dinner at 4.30pm...no way am I eating my dinner then. I wait till they are in bed and eat my dinner with a large glass of wine! Do all of you on here eat dinner every night with your kids? What time do you do this?!"

Yes. DD started full time school in September. I'd say we eat together 98% of the time. She gets a small snack straight after school, we then eat together at 6:45/7pm ish when DH has finished work. DD is in bed asleep between 8:30pm and 9pm.

TantrumsAndBalloons · 01/04/2015 19:54

The majority of the time we all eat together, since dd was a baby (she's 17 now)
But we eat shamefully late by MN standards- me and dh don't get home from work til 5.30-6pm so we've always eaten at 7ish.
Now they are teenagers we eat about 8pm

CarbeDiem · 01/04/2015 20:10

For fucks sake can people lay off the OP about the juice - she's already explained it more than once.

I think you get it now OP - he's neither spoilt nor greedy. More likely he's just curious and wants to try. He'll grow out of it.

willbillycome · 01/04/2015 20:36

He's not spoilt or greedy, just curious. I personally would never eat anything my kids can't have in front of them, then there is no potential 'no you can't have any' battle and theres no 'forbidden foods' (that MUST be so much better than what they are allowed)

If I fancy junk food, I wait until nap/bed time (or put cbeebies on and ram as much chocolate in my face as I can before they notice im not there). On the days I dont fancy eating with them, which are more frequent now I often end up having to spoon feed both 7 month old AND 31 month old, I always make myself a v small plate of what they have. Seeing me eat it convinces them im not trying to poison them and gives the family dinner experience.

I would possibly be concerned re vomiting. Is it whilst hes eating it happens? Is he maybe putting too much in his mouth and gagging? I would def keep an eye on it and maybe talk to hv about it. There may even be a weaning class in your area that could help regarding normal portion sizes, whether he is just overeating or maybe something else going on (dont want to be alarmist, im sure iv read something simple like tongue tie can cause problems when weaning)

Have you ever tried him on warm water? I was a bit when my mum suggested it for dd but it worked!

icelollycraving · 01/04/2015 20:59

Ok. Ds had juice watered down as he suffered dreadfully with constipation. He would scream in pain,I gave the juice to help. It is not a good idea but sometimes I was desperate.

anothernumberone · 01/04/2015 21:52

Yep icelolly when the choice is a bit of (prune) juice or a tear on his bum from constipation I did not struggle too much to decide which to do for ds. He is 3.5 now no constipation and we never give our 3 juice at home unless it is a party. Short term remedies don't have to last forever and I do agree that juice is rubbish.

We did not eat much with dd1 as she was mainly fed at nursery but now we all eat family meals at 6:30ish. By the time dd2 came along and the kids were with a cm instead of nursery we started having full sit down family meals together.

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