18 month old not eating well

[jojo2202]

My 18 month old is very hyper, rarely sits down but sleeps very well at night.
It's a nightmare to get him to eat properly. If i try letting him feed him self he will throw everything on the floor. If i spoon feed him he will have a few spoons and that's it. He can chew well and there's nothing really he hasn't tried. I've always made my own food for him and we live in a country that doesn't have pre made baby food - now he mostly gets what the rest of the family is eating apart from porridge in the morning.

I just don't know what to do with him, if he hasn't eaten well i know he can have a bottle of milk and not be starving but that's just a vicious cycle because it fills him up and then he won't eat again later.

My mom said he will eat when he's hungry but i've left him before and he didn't eat all day. I'm not comfortable with that at all.

He isn't underweight, he's average height but quite heavy on the 92nd centile. Although he doesn't look it- he's very solid.

How can i get him to feed himself? i see toddlers on tiktok gobbling down fry ups and all sorts. My child would just lash it all on floor

anyone?

To be honest step away from tiktok and your worries will be solved. He's doing well, by the sounds of it

If his weight is on the 92nd centile (and assuming his height is around there or less) then he's definitely getting what he needs. Follow his lead, I agree that babies do eat when they're hungry. My DS is 20 months and starting to get fussier now which is a normal developmental stage. He's still a much better eater than my 5 yo who was always a bad rater. Both my kids have mostly self-fed though, they preferred that and it was easier for us as we could eat at the same time. It is messy, and DD wasn't much of a purposeful food thrower, DS is, and has started tantrumming when I take the food out of reach when he's finished eating and is just throwing. But he will learn and we just clean up the mess after.