Does anyone else do "self-demand eating"?

[moomymama]

We've been doing this with DS from birth: demand breastfeeding, baby-led start to solid food and now he eats what he wants when he wants (which doesn't mean our family life is chaos and we never eat together). Anyone else use this method?

erm

we eat meals together, and I decide when and what they are, but we also let ds help himself to snacks during the day as he wants

this seems to alarm some people but I wasn't aware it warranted its own TITLE tbh

however yes in general this is the style I go for, except I choose what foods we have in the house and mostly limit his consumption to healthy stuff rather than whatever he might see in the supermarket

I thought you meant do I use self-demand eating MYSELF

pmsl, yes, I eat what I want, when i want

But I realise what you mean.

I think DS also eats what he wants when he wants, tbh.

I am pretty relaxed about food, and DS has snacks, the only thing I do try to ensure is that the food we have in the house is what I would want him to eat, iyswim.

The onl;y thing I despair about is veg, but then I remember I only ate peas and carrots for the first 7 years of my life, but as an adult I eat and enjoy a large variety of veg.

DS seems to self-regulate a lot. E.g. if he's eaten a very carby lunch, I notice he'll eat mostly protein & fruit for tea.

I have really enjoyed this method so far :-)

We still have mealtimes. DP gives DS his brekkie which is usually cereal but is sometimes quite bizarre - last week he ate parmesan cheese for breakfast every day :-)

Then during the day DS tells me if he's hungry and he chooses something. We do have biscuits and sometimes other sweet foods, and I never limit what DS eats of these. He doesn't seem to have any problems with sweet food - has a healthy enjoyment of it without obsession.

Although I self-demand my eating too, I am still institutionalised somewhat by the whole 3-square-meals a day ridiculousness so I do have a "lunch". DS usually joins me in eating - we always sit together.

He eats whatever, whenever througout the day and doesn't always want a full evening meal. We have a snack in the evenings all together, and often DP and I might eat later as well.

People (especially my MIL) think I'm NUTS to "let him have control" but I believe that he knows better than anyone when he's hungry and what he's hungry for.

Moomymama I do agree with a lot of what you say but I think that it's important to remember that the "whole 3-square-meals a day ridiculousness" forms a HUGE part of our culture and can give rise to a lot of enjoyment, pleasant ritual, social bonding etc

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater is what I am trying to say

Oh for sure - we love eating together. There's no baby being thrown out here I guess I just find the rigidity of set meal times can be stifling, and can often cause children to loose their innate sense of what food is right or wrong for them at a particular time.

Our cultural traditions of eating set meals at set times, are largely determined by the working day (the 9-5 atleast).

Sharing food and time together are really important to family life, but having set meals isn't the only way to do this.

We do what works for us a family and what works for our DS. It's not going to be right for everyone though. I think another point that not everyone considers is the pressure that "mealtime" can sometimes put on a child.

What I'm trying to say is, everything has it's goods and its bads.

Theres a great site about BLW called www.babybanana.co.uk ( i think) has loads of info on the subject and really helpful to those wanting to do BLW -

My dd only seems to want to eat carbs & veg which is a worry, she will eat cheese and olives in small quantities but its not enough.

She will happily eat a full cucumber in a day and several slices of bread, getting anything else down her is hard work. Saying that, she looks healthy and gains weight so i am trying not to worry too much.

One other thing, she won't eat a sandwich, everything has to be on it's own - fussy kids!