14 month old obsessed with food

[Winterfellismyhome]

Hi all,

DS has always been a good eater. He will eat mostly anything. However we cant eat in front of him without him whining for whatever we're eating. He also whines as soon as one of us goes into the kitchen because he wants food. He eats 3 meals a day and has cows milk at bedtime. Any tips to help curb the whining?

Thanks

Could you eat all together? I am French and I understand that we have different sleeping schedule but breakfast and lunch would be taken together as a family, and young child will often eat the same thing as parents.

Maybe he is genuinely hungry. What does he eat on a typical day?

He goes to nursery 5 mornings a week, soon to be reduced to 3. So he has breakfast and lunch there. We dont eat dinner together as he eats early then goes to bed. He has plenty of snacks (probably too many) so i guess he has come to expect them from us. He would generally have what we have. Toast or porridge for breakfast. Then whatever we're having for lunch and dinner

Your DS is a similar age to my DD who is also a good eater. She's not quite as bad though and won't whine for food every time we go into the kitchen but she will shout at us until we give her some of what ever we are eating even if she has just been fed. She won't eat much of it because she's not hungry but I think she just likes to be included. We don't tend to all eat together because DH gets home too late from work and DD gets hangry. I would just keep offering food if that's what he wants.

This is my DD! She’s tiny but my god, that girl loves her food.

I don’t think there’s anything you can do but accept that you can never eat yummy things again in your child’s presence. Just hide your snacks, I have a stash that I get out as soon as DD goes to bed. It’s my treat to look forward to.

my eldest didn't seem able to go an hour without a snack and I was so worried about her possibly getting fat. it stopped suddenly at 3yo and she's totally perfect weight.

dd2 is v similar and I've decided little kids are designed to graze and have stopped stressing and just ensuring snacks are fruit, cheese, bread sticks etc.

I just make slightly more food for myself and expect to share with the little horrors.

I just let my 16 month old lead at this point to be honest. I think at this age if they're hungry they'll eat and if they're not they won't. Mine does best with little and often normally. They've only got tiny stomachs so I'm guessing they need refilling quite regularly. They're also generally burning off lots of energy so need regular refuelling.

I also don't mind if my dc want a bit of what I'm eating. The youngest especially tends to eat things she wouldn't normally if they're on my plate. In fact thinking about it there's a good handful of foods she'll eat regularly now that she wouldn't before after trying them from my plate.

Is he thirsty? Until his recent fussiness, DS used to point furiously at kitchen cupboards despite having just eaten so I'd give him a cup of water and that seemed to help.

Thanks all! He usually has a cup of water on the go but ill make a point of offering it more often. I think he just loves food!

I think under about 18 months (or at least it happened this way for DS1) their appetites can vary massively from day to day and meal to meal, and mine genuinely seemed to only eat when he was hungry. That meant sometimes a lot of snacks! He’s pretty big but very tall and not fat, so I just went with it. I have noticed my almost 1 year old’s appetite increasing, he’s smaller than his older brother and I agree with a PP, as long as you are not feeding them loads of rubbish then just let them eat to appetite. Could well be a growth spurt at this age (and yes we eat stuff we don’t want the DSs to have in the kitchen/after bedtime too 😊)