Gina Ford-ers: mealtimes / eating together

[SarahCaroline]

My baby is nearly 5 months and started solids a couple of weeks ago. She's very happy on the Gina Ford routine but once she's in a highchair I really want her to be able to enjoy mealtimes with us. At the moment the only meal she sees us eat is breakfast. If I stick to GF then when will we all be able to eat together?
Or is there a way of adapting the routine to allow this? I could probably manage tea at 5.30pm but not lunch at 11!

Any thoughts much appreciated.

TBH I left eating together until ds1 was 1 year old. That way he could have the same food as us, and he could also do most of the feeding himself so we actually got to eat while the food was still warm

Thanks Georgina. I guess it's just that I have lunch out a lot and see friends' babies sitting happily in highchairs and would like to do the same!
So what was your routine at 1yr? What time lunch, what time nap? Were you sticking with GF?
Thanks again

sorry sarah i never followed the gf routine i just used my own insticts fair enough done things right and done things wrong but he's still happy and healthy
just reread lunch at eleven i would call that snack time myself oh well guess the woman knows what she talking about next month you should have no problem starting her on finger foods so why dont you try giving her a snack when you eat your meals to get her used to eating with the family
and i wouldnt worry to much about her eat meals the same time as you at the moment the only meals we eat as a family is tea and sometimes breakfast
hth

Hi Sarahcaroline

Really interested to read your message. My dd is 20 weeks, on the GF routine (more or less) and I started weaning her 2 weeks ago. I've been wondering exactly the same thing as you about meal times. We've just bought her a Tripp Trapp chair with the idea that she'll eventually be able to eat with us, but can't really see how it's going to work in the short term. I think GF says that you should gradually start pushing back the 11 o'clock feed to 11.30 then 12, so that it does become a proper lunch. Breakfast is no problem, as you say, but I think dinner will have to wait a few years. DH often doesn't get home until after she's gone to bed, so it might be a few years before we have a proper family dinner. I'd be really interested to hear how it works out for you - keep me posted!

Oh gawd, I can't remember exactly! Ds1 is 3 years old now

I pretty much stuck with GF but if I wanted to go out by then I did (but I'm not huge on going out - habit due to ds1 being quite a high-need baby, so it was quite an effort to go out) and just worked around it.

Sorry, that's not that helpful is it?!

My DS is 7 months old and I just sit her in her Bumbo on the table when we or DS are eating. When she is more accomplished at finger foods I will give her a bit of what we're having but at the moment at least she can see what we're all up to.

Dd started solids at 4 months at 11am and by the time she was 12 months she was eating at 12.00pm. By the age of 2 she was eating at 12.30pm with her nap pushed back to 1pm.

We still don't eat tea together as we usually eat around 7.30pm when dh is home from work although occasionally I will have a sandwich around 5pm with her. Occasionally when dh is home early we will all eat together at 6pm. On those days she misses her bath.

I found that the sugessted eating times made sense. It meant that whilst she was at the having to be fed stage I could give her my full attention without my own food going cold but as she became more independant we could start to eat together.

Thanks everyone for your advice. I guess I just have to be patient! I'm posting a new topic to see if anyone's using Gina Ford's toddler book - I'm wondering if basically the routine we're on now will gradually evolve into one where we eat together - hopefully from what you say Julie that is the case.

i agree with julief, imo when they are v. young and unable to feed themselves, you're just as well off not eating together anyway. likewise, it's very difficult these days with the hours working parents are expected to do to sit down to a family dinner, although again like julief, i always sit down and have a snack with ds at his supper time. i would say breakfast and lunch start eating together about one year when they are very confident with finger foods and have probably moved on to beakers. dinner could take a lot longer to achieve, depending on your family's circumstances.

I roughly followed GF for my two (now 2 and 3). We all have breakfast and lunch together but rarely tea largely becasue my husband refuses to eat that early!

THe kids like to eat at 5pm but its no hassle for them to eat at 6pm but they are almost always in bed by 7pm. My husband, during the week, is rarely back from work till between 7 and 8 so an evening meal together never really works. Because he is used to having supper at around 8-9pm, trying for us all to eat at 5ish on the weekend doesn't happen!

I guess its more the fact as to whether you are happy eating earlier rather than the kids eating later.

i'm with your dh, foxinsox, i wouldn't want to eat that early either!

I tried for a bit sq (as dh is away a bit) and all I ended up doing was having a big tea with the kids at 5pm and then eating again between 8-9pm because I'd started getting hungry again. Not very good for the waistline! So from now on, the kids eat tea on their own!

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