meltdown at meal times...advice please!

[waytoomuchchocolate]

bit long sorry, but if anyone has any thoughts/similar experience would be v grateful as am starting to dread meal times a bit.

my ds is now 8.5 months and been eating 3 meals a day and enjoying it all for last 6-8 weeks or so, but has recently started to have a major meltdown at meal times.

sometimes it's part way through eating, sometimes as soon as he goes into highchair - have tried to rule out being too tired, not being too starving etc etc but i can't see any obvious reasons for it. and the strange thing is, once he's calmed down, he'll often eat it sitting on my lap (but if i start with him on my lap we might have the same problem iyswim). it's almost as if he has to have a big paddy about it, and then he'll decide to eat

he's a big chubby baby so i'm not worried about him not eating every now and then, but the meltdown is spectacular which upsets me and it's getting me down partly because he goes to a childminder 3 days a week now that i'm back at work and he never does it there...which i'm guessing is because he;s so distracted by everything else going on?

i guess i'm hoping it's just a phase? although it has been going on for a few weeks and is getting worse i think....

thanks so much for any advice

Can you try handing him a spoon or a rice cake to distract him as you put him in his chair?

My DD gets fussy about half way through the meal, batting my hand away and turning her head. If I put some food on the tray or give a spoon to help feed herself it distracts her enough that she usually finishes. I think she just wants to be more involved.

thanks fizzpops

i usually do the rice cake thing at the start but hadn't thought about it during as well. just tried grated cheese on the tray for tea and this worked well as he fed himself a ton of cheese as well as eating off the spoon....so thanks!

seems like all my friends have babies who sit there and open their mouths for the spoon without need of any kind of distraction so i have been feeling a bit rubbish for having to 'cheat' and distract him all the time

but hey, i guess if it works right?!

thanks again.