Should we let 1yo "go hungry"

[IndiaBound]

Hi,

We have a 12mo DD (10mo adjusted) who is on stage 2 of feeding (lumpy food) and will pick food and even a spoon up and try and guide it into her mouth - I say try as we have had food on walls, floors, TV, my good self, etc. - all part of the fun ;-)

Anyhow, she has 8oz of bottled milk about 6:45am, then a breakfast of lumpy porridge about 9am. Next meal is lunch (normally pasta or a fork-mashed child's meal) at 1pm and then tea at 6pm (same as lunch witha yogurt) and final bottle about 7:30pm.

Anyhow, she seems to be getting fussy - refusing the savoury food - we have for a few weeks been dipping each spoonful in yogurt so that is the first thing to hit her mouth.

Some meals (never breakfast) she will only eat a few spoons of anything - whether it is pure yogurt or not. Other times, she will eat willingly.

What we don't know is if she is just not hungry at times, whether she is off food for some reason, whether we should just let her miss a meal now and again (her choice of course) or whether we need to be feeding her until she eats something (although she lets us know by dodging with her head when she doesn't want anything/anymore).

thanks in advance!

my POV has always been they will eat when they are hungry and it is best not to stress too much. You do have a big gap in the afternoon though of 5 hours between lunch and dinner. I'd bring dinner forward a couple of hours because if they are too tired they won't eat either.

Have you tried just giving her finger foods instead of spoon feeding her or trying to let her feed herself with a spoon?

My ds is 13m and I don't try giving him something different if he doesn't eat. Some days he barely eats all day, other days he eats really well. Personally I don't worry about it. My ds is healthy and developing well.

Have you looked into BLW? DS is 16mo, never been spoon-fed, never had pureed food and eats anything and everything. He just always had whatever we were having. Don't worry if your DC isn't eating up every meal, it will even out over the course of a week :)

I did blw but ds did go through a fussy phases with savoury food at 12 mo. Refusing anything green. Due to blw I would just put a range of things in front of him so he would eat something I am sure he spent a month eating breadsticks a humous everyday)

Finger food does not lead to an unfussy eater.
I'd be feeding a lot more often, small portions. Could you give her a banana between lunch and dinner?
DS eats when hungry, then sits with us as we eat and either eats all his food, has a bite, plays with it, or pushes it away. Nothing else is offered.
I find some days I'm hungrier than others, some days I have no appetite, some days I'll have a bowl of cereal.an hour after a monster bowl of potidge - just because my appetite fluctuates, as it does for DS.

When does she have snacks?

The experts seem to think you should look at her intake and balance of food types over 3 days or so, as most children stock up on one day and almost fast the next. Our approach has always been not to fuss - we just say, 'ok that's fine' and don't offer anything else unless there's carrot sticks or similar healthy food we have around. We don't let them snack on sweet foods afterwards either.

i like the motto 'food is fun until you are one' which i think means don't stress about it, i also remember someone told me that you should look at what they eat over a week rather than a day,
i do wonder if you have too long between meals, my ds at the same age would breakfast around 7/7.30, lunch 11.30/12, supper 4.30/5ish? he would have milk morning and just before bed.

Dipping food in yoghurt - no! Don't start hiding things and trying to sneak stuff in, it's not a good habit to start.

I always have/had baby sitting at table with me pretty much 5 times a day and they were offered a selection of food for breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner. They often just had a portion off my plate. Some days they only had fruit, other days they only had break. As said above, look at the food intake over a few days and it should be fairly balanced if you offer a healthy selection of foods throughout the day.
If it's only been going on for a few days/couple of weeks then I wouldn't worry too much. If it's been going on longer then keep a food diary for a couple of weeks then re-assess.