dreading every lunch and teatime..........................

[frumpyfred]

my 8.5mth ds son has just started to scream and refuse food at these 2 mealtimes, he DOES have his first tooth coming through but he still takes breakfast without a hint of fuss? , I am trying to give him as much finger food as much as possible but he just does not get enough in , any ideas? i give hima spoon with some food on but really he just wants to play with food , can sometimes sneak a spoonful or 2 in but worry that he wont get enough and my biggest fear is that he will wake hungry again in the night . His nights improved dramatically at 7.5mths after 7 mths of 2/3/4 hr wakings . I am probably making a bigger deal of this due to mass insomnia (nothing major on my mind , having lavender baths , drinking chamomile tea and taking valerian - any suggestions on this also? generally HELP!

I have no solution, just empathy. Ds has been the same for 2 weeks. At first he stopped eating because of an ear infection and cold, but still will not let a spoon near his mouth unless there's yoghurt or fruit puree on it. I've been putting proper food on his tray, sitting nearby in case of choking and ignoring him because I think it was a control thing. Seems to be working, he's eating quite a bit now.

My DS was like that when his teeth were coming through. (we are down to just the last molar now YEAH! ) I found that my DS didn't like anything that was even remotely warm when teeting (thus he always ate breakfast as the milk was cold in his cereal). For lunch a lot of time he would just have yogurt or something.

Though I am unsure if your question is about teething or about how much food he is eating.

Let him play, try something like yogurt, then when his tooth is through hopefully it will calm down.

thanks for those replies , we had a bit of a better tea time , just a few tantrums , alot of playing and some sly spoons went in . At one point was tempted to take the plate away because dont want to be a force-feeder but i know he is hungry because when i reach into his bib he greets my hand with a big open mouth ready for food and is alternating between trying with spoon and hands , accepting help and then just paddying - oh well , i have a big chocolate muffin and am settling down to watch waterloo road - tomorrow another day!

well done, keep it up

hope today went okay as well.

thanks again , today was fantastic , i bought a sucker mat to stick his bowl to his tray and he ate by himself , hands and a bit of spooning , pretended to be not too interested and got on with drying up , and after he had had a good go , helped him out with a few spoonfuls and lots of praise ......now i need to go to health for continued insomnia and relationships for continued idiot behaviour fom dp

yes, ignoring them does work wonders