15 month old. Obsessed with food and boob

[rachel200811]

My 15 month old has always been a VERY good eater. He has 3 meals a day and snacks and is BF on demand when I'm not working. He mostly sleeps through the night though. I make everything from scratch and control his salt, sugar and fat intake well. In the early days I did BLW and let him try a variety of finger foods, he has always fed himself and now we give him a spoon to and he gives it a go. My concern is his relationship with food. If I were to give him toast soldiers for example, he would pick them all up and shove them all in his mouth at the same time and cry (with his face full) once they're all in and he's run out. He screams for our food if he finishes his first (which he always does), if I let him keep eating until he stops rather than portion control his meals I worry he never would 😄. If we don't eat with him then its not even half as bad though and he's fine when he's not in his high chair. He cries at the kitchen door for snacks sometimes too as he knows where they come from. I use a silicone toddler portion plate and he definitely has double what he should at some meal times and is still desperate to share our food too. He is over 91st centile for his weight and us under 25th for his height, these figures have been pretty consistent although he was born 2 weeks early just under 50th centil. The health visitor said to only give him a little bit at a time, when we did that he shoved that 'bit' in and shouted until I gave him the next bit, that makes for a very stressful meal time! He is also pretty boob-obsessed too, I think he uses me to pacify though and isn't too worried about the milk but I can't sit down without him trying to latch on and he gets upset when I walk in a room as he wants to immediately feed on me and will stop what he's doing to chase me down. He won't just sit and cuddle with me, it has to involve boob. Basically, I wonder if anyone else's chubby cubs might have gone through this phase, and can reassure me that it is in fact just a phase and won't affect his relationship with food or his weight in his older childhood years. Thanks!

I think it's pretty normal fir them to become a bit obsessed with the boob at this age, so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

Cani ask what he eats in a normal day?

Sure. He would have a small handful of cereal and chopped fruit OR 1 wheetabix for breakfast. He has something like smashed avocado on 1 piece of toast OR a 1 egg veggie and cheese omelette OR tuna pasta for lunch, and then fruit and Greek yogurt for desert, I bake mashed banana, oat and egg muffins or fruit flapjack squares, so he might have one of those as an afternoon snack or a couple of mini crackers and a baby bell. And then a homecooked meal like shepherds pie, curry, roast dinner or a fish meal in the evening, probably a quarter of an adult portion, and then fruit afterwards. He has a BF first thing in the morning and before bed and then probably 4 more mini feeds spaced out throughout the day too. He eats well, he has the occasional jaffa cake or other small treat but not often. It's the behaviour that worries me as he screams and shouts for our food and when he share he's so happy, until its gone. If he's not at the table or he's eating without us its very different though. He eats so quickly! I'm hoping its just a phase. If I followed advice and let him eat until he's 'full' I wonder if that would ever happen.

So he has a 1 course breakfast, 2 course lunch, 2 course dinner and 1 snack essentially. But it's gone in an instant, no matter how much i give. If there is something he's not keen on he will throw it on the floor if we're eating still, but once that's the only food left on the table he'll eat it. Unless its egg (other than omelette), thats a no no.

This sounds exactly like my 21 month old was from about 10-18 months! He would shove all food in his mouth and constantly want more/never seemed to be full. He ate healthy and less healthy things equally well so he was still getting a balanced diet but everyone who saw him eating were totally amazed at how much food he could put away.

He's 21 months now and recently has started realising he's full and leaving little bits on his plate, so I reckon it was a phase. Your DS sounds like he eats healthy foods so he'll probably grow out of it at some stage too.

That is very reassuring!! Thank you. Its quite a spectacle to behold. Like he's a starved, wild animal who doesn't know where his next meal will come from. But its so much worse if we're eating with him. Its like he thinks we're having something better than him at dinner time! I'm kind of glad we're not eating in restaurants or in front of other people these days as I wonder what others would make of a (LOUDLY) begging toddler as they enjoy their mains! Lol

My 13 month old has had 1 1/2 weetabix followed by a banana for breakfast since about 9 months- I think you're fine! That's about an hour after a feed first thing too

It really is quite a spectacle! I remember from the very first day we started weaning him he gobbled purées down him and was on properly lumpy food by 6 months and managed absolutely fine (weaned about 5 months due to reflux). He was really chubby until a few months ago but has since had a big growth spurt and he's thinning out now as he's getting taller. He's been the same weight since he was 13 months so he's finally slowed down still 91st centile though but he's dropped down from over 99th over the past while.

My 22-month old is similar - constantly begging for food, helping himself to the fridge etc. Also shoves everything into his mouth and then has to spit it out (usually into my hand!!) as he can’t possibly swallow it all. I saw a mother at the park recently giving treats to her kids. Her little boy (similar age to mine) shoved the whole thing in his mouth then cried, while the girls just ate it normally.

I assume at some point he’ll learn to eat like a normal person

Oh also, he did go through a phase of thinking our dinner was better than his (the exact same meal) and whining for ours. We just let him eat bits off our plates and he soon (well, by 18ish months) figured out it was the same. He still throws a glance over everyone’s plates at dinner time, just to make sure we don’t have anything better than he does!