Mealtime madness!

[samoa]

Ahhhhhhhh! I am going crazy! Mealtimes with my 14mth dd have become so difficult. Dd can't sit down for more than 1 minute before she starts screaming and squirming all over the place. In the end we have to take her out of her highchair and she doesn't eat anything.

I have tried:

• sitting her at a small childrens table with her small chair. This works for about 2 minutes.

• changing rooms.

• forcing her to sit down and eat (but this leads to total meltdown).

I am at my wits end . Please does anybody have any ideas?

Thanks!

Do you know what's causing it?
Is she not hungry?
Does she not like the food being offered?
Is she unhappy in the environment?
Is there something else she would rather be doing?

Do you eat with her? Eating with adults and watching them sitting quietly might help.
Meal times with small children are never fun or relaxed, but there might be ways to help her.

I have no idea what is causing it. She is hungry and she does like the food that is being given to her. I have no idea about the environment, she does get distracted really easily so I do try to get rid of everything that might distract her.

I think she would rather be playing. We eat breakfast and lunch with dd. Dinner she eats seperately because she eats earlier, but we sit down with her and we chat.

I don't know, I am exasperated. Maybe she no longer likes the highchair.

This might sound really illogical, as you've said that she's easily distracted, but how about letting her bring a toy to the table?

I had similar problems with DS, at probably about the same age, and he improved a lot when I let him bring part of what he'd been playing with to the table. The downside is that not a lot of self-feeding goes on!

DD1 (usually a very good eater) had a phase of not wanting to come to the table & I found that what worked best was getting her more involved with preparing the meal, so we make pizzas (I buy the bases, I'm not that keen!) if we're having sticks & dips she "helps" me put the sticks & dip on a plate, if we're having a sandwich she butters the bread & if we're having toast she pushes the bread down & has to watch it & tell me when it pops up! If I'm preparing anything more complicated then she stands next to me on her step so she can see what I'm doing & gets to eat/sniff/lick various vegetables as i chop them up.

She could sometimes be persuaded to sit down at the table if she could have one of those Ella squeezy fruit things, or some olives and would then go on to eat her meal after that!

One of my friends reads stories to her DD while she eats, another puts the TV on. Hope you find something that works for you soon!