Advice with DS's eating

[Ozziegirly]

DS is 16 months and has always been an ok eater.

Recently though he has just taken such a dislike to the high chair and i don't really know how to proceed. He will eat a few mouthfuls and then just constantly tries to stand up. If I strap him in I get a huge dramatic screaming fit.

My main aim is to make meals a non stressful part of the day for both of us.

What I am doing at the moment is after he has stood a couple of times I just calmly say "right, dinner over" and he doesn't get anything else.

But I can't say it's working that well as he is hungry and i think maybe he's just too young to adopt this tactic.

He eats brilliantly when we're out in a cafe, even strapped in. I think it's boredom but it's kind of tough shit, we can't always eat out.

any suggestions plllease?c2w

I had one of those little table and chair sets from IKEA and DS would get most of his meals there. Seemed to enjoy being at his 'special table'. For family meals, I swapped the high-chair for one of those booster seat attachments that fits over a regular chair a bit like a car-seat. Still couldn't get him to sit still in restaurants, though! Good luck

I was thinking of getting him a booster actually, but I didn't want to spend the money if he doesn't like that either.

Table and chair is a great idea actually - but how do you stop them getting up and down, or do you not?

If I let him roam around he would eat brilliantly, which worries me a bit - am I just underfeeding him the whole time? he looks a normal level of chub and he sleeps through the night ok so I am guessing not?

I found he didn't want to get up that much from his little table... not until the food and drinks had gone, anyway. Of course, it was always accompanied by lavish praise at how clever and grown-up he was eating his lunch at the table etc. I have to say, he's 11 now and still gets twitchy if he's finished eating and isn't allowed to get down!

Tesco do booster chairs for less than £15. They're great because it means they are sitting up at the same level as everyone else. DD still can't sit for long periods but she's much better in it than she ever was in the high chair. The rest of us huddle round the other end of the table to avoid the splattering!

Right now we are having problems with her being hungry and grumpy, because she refuses food unless she can feed herself and demands adult cutlery so completely fails to get anything in her mouth.

This too shall pass etc. DS at 4 can polish off a bowl of spaghetti bol without too much mess or fuss so take heart!

Also got DS 16months.

I prefer that he eats mainly in his highchair, as I think it prepares him for sitting down for lunch and dinner as he grows up.

He has his veg first, and I give this to him on the sofa in front of cbeebies. I do this because if he has the WHOLE meal in his highchair, it is a long time for him and I understand that he would get restless and bored. Plus he always eats every last bit of his veg when he is sitting on the sofa in front of cbeebies.

Then I pick him up and put him in his highchair in the kitchen, with no TV on. I keep a stack of books by the highchair. I also change around some little toys. I have a radio that he likes to play around with. It seems to keep him amused in between shovelling food into his mouth, or me feeding him.