How do Social Media Inf get their babies to eat and sleep well?

[Tarsaurus]

My 11 month old started weaning well but hates the high chair and screams after 5 minutes to get out, hates anything but berries at the moment. Still loves to chuck food. Won’t try anything unless I show her by eating it first. I still spoon feed her breakfast as she only just likes weetabix.

She wakes up every morning at 4am and won’t get back to sleep until she’s in our bed and to be honest, it’s probably my fault as I’ve picked her up and she’s probably used to it now but I’m just so tired.

Every influencer on TIk Tok and Instagram, especially the recipes related ones, their children seem to sit quietly and eat anything in front of them. They all seem to sleep through the night too?!

Where have I gone wrong?? 😭

They take endless pictures and you never get to see the true reality because they experience exactly the same difficulties as other parents. What you see on any influencer’s account isn’t real life.

Their insta is not real.

There are videos too though?
if I took a video of my child in the high chair, they’d be screaming most of the time!

They edit them thoroughly. They will splice the 'positive' bits together. Honestly none of it is real.

So there are seconds when yours don't scream. Stitch those seconds together

So is everyone’s child like mine then?
because I’m starting to think I’ve done something wrong and I haven’t weaned her properly 🥲

They lie.

You have no idea what they have done to make their children docile either. I'd hazard a guess at some babies are ignored often enough in favour of the camera that they have learned not to fuss.

It is also a self-selecting group of people though. If you have a kid who screams when you put food in front of them you won’t be generating successful content about weaning recipes. So you only see those who eat well.

(incidentally my first DC ate beautifully as a baby and now literally only eats about 3 beige foods so don’t stress it)

Part of it is that social media is a highlight reel, it shows the good but not the bad, but partly it’s just different children behave differently.

My daughter is 18 months old and has always been an amazing eater, took to weaning really well and will sit and eat whatever is put in front of her, we eat all meals together, always have, she just has whatever we have, never prepped specific meals for her she has from day 1 just had the same as me (prepared safely obviously for her age) so I don’t know if it’s her copying what she see’s or if she’s just a kid that would always have took to weaning, but some kids are like that.

She has however never been a good sleeper, so if I was one of the instagram mum’s I’d be lying if I claimed she slept well!

How is she with finger foods when she isn't in the high chair @Tarsaurus ?

Totally normal. I'd recommend following my first meals on insta though. She has lovely easy recipes and is honest about her sleep struggles!

Social media is 95% bullshit and should be treated accordingly. Don’t take any of it seriously.

It’s true the recipe influencers whose kids screamed throughout the vids probably didn’t get many followers did they?

Influencers are just people. You know people’s babies are all different. Some would kill for a kid who sleeps til 4am rather than being up all night. Some like being in the high chair (mine used to as it gave her a good view of what was going on). Some will be wishing their kids ate berries. It’s just a lottery isn’t it. Don’t take some lesson from this that isn’t there, instead try to get out and meet some other real parents of babies so you can all commiserate 😊

@Tarsaurus maybe if you sit your daughter on your lap and let her try what you eat?? Finger foods or little picky bits of food. Would she eat better in a booster seat?? I think the mum's on social media are just showing you the best bits....not the real life situations

They take eighty videos and post the one in which the baby isn’t crying. Remember that Derren Brown show showing DB flipping a coin and getting heads ten times in a row, and then revealing he’d spent nine hours flipping the coin till chance let him get heads ten times in a row? Same thing.

DS is 12.5 months old and spoon fed.

If he does have a bit of toast, banana or breadstick, he might try a tiny bit but then it all gets thrown on the floor. In pieces, usually.

I don’t have time or energy for that (and don’t want to encourage it), and want to make sure he does actually get some food inside him, so we continue with the spoon!

Op it’s just luck. We have one complete food refuser and one who has sat in her high chair and eats full meals since she was weaned. She’s 11m and uses a spoon, takes sips of water etc, it’s like she has been here before. Nothing we have done though! Her 3 year old sister took almost an hour and 283927749 trips to the reflection step to even try her dinner earlier.

She’s fine with finger food but she hates the high chair. She gets frustrated if she misses her mouth or likes to throw it on the floor and watch it. Then gets bored and starts screaming, she will happily let me follow her around the room and put it in her mouth.

My dining table is marble with sharp edges so if she sat on my lap and moved her head forward or banged her head, it would cause damage, hence a booster seat won’t work either.

Ah okay. My eldest ate well so I feel like I’ve done something wrong. We eat together too and I thought her watching her eldest sibling will help but it frustrated her more like she wants what on their plate instead?

Mine used to roar like a lion on a bulldozer in the highchair - until he was eating. I’d just have had to edit carefully, as they all are.

We are living opposite lives, we were hoping DD1 would be enticed by DD2 enjoying her food so much. But alas, she still acts like we are poisoning her unless it’s beans, oats or mac and cheese 🙄 I wouldn’t stress too much though and definitely don’t beat yourself up, is she still having milk?

Social media has SO much to answer for!

I always think it's best to be completely neutral about food. No cajoling or bribing or getting frustrated and definitely no punishing for not eating. Just offer and if they don't eat it no big deal.

Ah no, I was hoping as she gets older she may change…
Yes she still has milk 3 x a day.

I wish that was the case. I just don’t want her to lose weight when she starts nursery in a month…

I remember when my eldest would only eat being held, walked around and with no direct eye contact!!!! After every meal I’d be covered in purée 😂!

trust em and everyone else OP… influencers are not real! Their content is to sell and make money.