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Behaviour/development

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19 month old - messy meal times

3 replies

Hannahlou1994 · 15/11/2025 19:34

Hi everyone! Looking for some advice about meal times - every meal is a mess. My little girl is 19 months and throws her food, feeds the dog, smears her food into the table and on her clothes, basically anything other than eating. Even when she does eat, she shovels so much in she cant actually chew it and ends up spitting it out. She was such a good eater from 6 months but has lately started eating a lot less than she did. There was always a mess from day one which I expected but I had assumed that the mess would get less over time but it seems like it's getting worse. I have 2 concerns- I'm not sure how to correct the behaviour and if this is normal for her age? And two, I'm worried she's not eating enough as this happens every meal time and the only way I can get her to eat is if I distract her enough to feed her myself. I always tell her no and tell her what we should do with food, I've tried playing games at meal times to 'copy what mummy eats', I've tried taking the food away but this just gives me too much guilt. Looking for any advice or to share your own experiences of similar behaviours so I know what's normal

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SleafordSods · 16/11/2025 08:42

Is she actually hungry at mealtimes @Hannahlou1994? How much milk does she have a day and which kind is she on?

Hannahlou1994 · 16/11/2025 09:15

She definitely should be hungry at meal times because she doesn't eat much, especiallyat lunch time, so by tea I would expect her to be hungry. She'll have breakfast about 8am, lunch around 12 and tea at 6.30pm. She'll have a snack in the afternoon about 3.30. She only has a beaker of cows milk at bedtime, other than that she just drinks water or juice through the day

OP posts:
SleafordSods · 16/11/2025 09:17

Hannahlou1994 · 16/11/2025 09:15

She definitely should be hungry at meal times because she doesn't eat much, especiallyat lunch time, so by tea I would expect her to be hungry. She'll have breakfast about 8am, lunch around 12 and tea at 6.30pm. She'll have a snack in the afternoon about 3.30. She only has a beaker of cows milk at bedtime, other than that she just drinks water or juice through the day

That all sounds pretty normal then. Does she have any milk overnight?

And what are her centiles like? Is she following her weight and height centiles?

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