15 mo DS will only eat if he has toys to play with!

[shoobaloo]

DS is 15 months old and will only eat if he has a load of toys on his high chair tray to play with (will eat proper food most of the time here) or is running around (when he will only eat sarnies / toast / bagel etc). I can spoon the food in whilst he is distracted! Am I making a rod for my own back, or should I just be grateful that he eats?

Probably abit of both. My dd will only eat if she is watching kids TV. I know it wrong but anything for a quiet life as far as I am concerned. If it make life easier for the both of you then I wouldn't worry.

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Getting my DS 15 month old to eat is a bit of a battle at times too. I find if he has his own spoon, he's happy enough and will eat fairly well. He doesn't use it to feed himself though and waves it around or bangs on the table . He has now moved on to a fork, which he actually uses properly!

I tend to think mealtimes should be pleasant for everyone so I'd do whatever works!

Doubt that helps you, but don't have any helpful suggestions!

Oh, and my DS eats far better if he's not confined to the table. No idea why! We sometimes have a picnic on the floor - he knows he has to sit while he has food in his mouth so plonks himself down next to me, has a few bites of something then runs off and comes back in a couple of minutes for some more. We don't do this often but I think he eats more this way than when we sit at the table.

my ds only eats when distracted, and personally I would rather he finished off a plateful of toast while watching Fireman Sam than refused to eat a single thing as he otherwise would! Maybe I will be shot down in flames for having TV on during eating, but after nearly a year of worrying myself stupid over him hardly eating anything I am going with whatever works, and this way I am getting some food inside him! gasp sometimes he even tries new things [falls over in amazement emoticon]

'feeding himself' doesn't have to mean with a spoon or a fork.

he likes finger food when he's running around? do you just use the highchair when you spoon food him?

how about finger food in his highchair. i don't mean just obious things like toast but really most foods can be eaten with fingers. he might play with it and will make a big mess but i think that might be better than him haing to be distracted to eat.

my dd's 7 months and she feeds herself. she'll hapily spend a good half hour playing with and eating a pear, or an hour on sunday dinner.