Mealtimes and snacking

[talulahbeige]

I'm really struggling with my 15mth old eating habits and would really like some advice please.

I can't get her to eat a meal but 15 mins later she is crying for food. She nibbles bits throughout the day but never more than a few mouthfuls at a time. Her food diary looks like this!

7am shreddies & fruit
8am a few bites of toast (dad's breakfast)
9am raisins / few bites of my breakfast
11am - 8oz milk before nap
1pm - bread, chicken, tomatoes & fruit (lunch)
2pm rice cakes
3.30pm - other snack food
4.30 - shepherds pie or pasta, veg, fruit & yoghurt
6pm - milk before bed

She will eat more often if I let her, especially "bad" snack foods.

How do I get her to eat more at a time so she's not constantly asking for food and screaming if she doesn't get it?

Looks normal to me, I was told that toddlers often prefer and need to snack little and often rather than eat full meals

Sounds very similar to my 15month old tbh! He occasionally eats a decent amount at dinner time but he is not a big fan of breakfast or lunch. I mostly don't bother with an actual lunch now and just offer him various bits over the course of the day.

I think it's normal too but I also think you can gently encourage her to eat bigger amounts less often.

We have found the main thing to keep snacking down is just not having food available/visible to DD. So for example DH and I try to have our breakfast in another room from DD otherwise she will shout for it. We can never eat bread in front of her! And we don't leave her snacks visible or else she'll find and demand them. If she can't see food she doesn't ask for it until she's properly hungry I find.

I do think it will get better as she gets older too - she will be busier and distracted and less likely to turn to food as a form of entertainment iyswim.

You've got a slightly difficult schedule in that she naps before lunch, so she needs to have sufficient food inside her by naptime to sleep well. What time is her nap? Any chance you could move lunch to before nap (even if that means lunch is at 11.30)?

So eg our schedule is:

milk at 7
breakfast at 8
snack 10.30 (sometimes this is skipped and have slightly earlier lunch instead)
lunch 12
nap
snack 2.30/3
dinner 5/5.30
milk at 7

Thanks all, you've put my mind at rest a bit.

Hamnvik, I've started to go down that route too, it does make it easier.

Minipie, I'll try the food hiding and see how we go. I've actually tried lunch before nap today and she drank a lot less milk before she went to sleep which is positive as I'm sure she was relying on milk too much, she loves her milk.

My DS loves his milk too maybe that's part of it! I try not to stress about it I'm sure he will grow out of it when he is ready.