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Attachment Parenting
Highchair hijinks
I could use some insight from mommas with older ones as it relates to eating.
Screaming in the high chair -- LO is buckled into a highchair next to the table for every meal (three times a day). About half the time, she will only tolerate it for a minute or two, and then starts screaming and writhing to get out. We'd like to reinforce that meal times are for sitting. I only expect 10 minutes so I can wolf down my meal. I don't know if letting her out when she's upset will teach her that screaming = getting down? We require "all done" sign language before we let her out, but she only offers it if we ask for it. Thoughts?
Food fads -- Right now, there are only a handful of foods LO eats with regularity. Scrambled eggs, blueberries, and cheese are guaranteed to go down the gullet, but she pretty much ignores anything else offered to her. I find myself going for these favorite foods three or four times a week just so she'll eat something, but I'm worried about balancing her diet. How did you handle this type of situation?
Thanks for your input!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Highchair hijinks
This is a good link, Ellyn Satter is one of my favorite people to read about feeding advice: https://www.ellynsatter.com/how-to-feed-i-24.html
Don't fret about the food, just offer her a variety of things anyway. She's 11 months? That's still pretty early to be wolfing down everything. My first son would only eat yogurt, fruit and Cheerios until he was closer to 15 months.
As for the screaming, I would just let her down if she's screams right away, but that's just my personal opinion. I figure if they don't want to be in the chair at that point, why bother making them mad.
Do you have her food all ready to go right when she gets in her chair? Maybe have a toy she can play with if she's done eating, or some sort of snacky-type item (Cheerios come to mind) for distraction? My 20-month-old still doesn't consistently tell us he's done (bc he throws his plate and silverware instead, ha ha ha), but go ahead and remind her before she gets out to sign "all done" - she'll get it eventually.
DS2 - Oct 2010 (my VBAC baby!)
My LO gets whatever we're eating, plus I always offer her avocado since I know she likes it and it has a lot of calories. She still only eats a few tbsp of solids a day though. I'm not going to start preparing separate meals, she has to learn to like the things we eat.
As far as the highchair, my LO also does not like it for long. We just let her down and continue our meal. I don't think a 1 year old is capable of patience, they just get more and more upset that you're ignoring their request to get down.
We've decided to continue to feed "on demand" even as our kids get older. I feel like it creates a healthy relationship with food. Food and eating are not obligations they are something we do when our body tells us we're hungry. I don't want my kids finishing their plates because they're supposed to, or continuing to eat because they're bored and I won't let them get down etc.
Therefore, we always keep a snack or two on the counter near my son's stool. He can climb up and snack anytime. I always invite him to the table at mealtimes and offer what we are eating. He comes sometimes, other times he doesn't. However, he knows that at mealtimes I will be eating and am not available to play with him. He's experienced various forms of confinement during meals based on his age etc. He's been in a pack 'n play, gated in the playroom, watching tv or now he just plays independently everywhere. Sometimes he will come to the table when we're almost done eating and ask for some. I make sure to save his plate for a while after the meal as well, in case he gets hungry.
In terms of variety. I always offer a variety but don't require he eats it. I won't cook anything special for him (scrambled eggs for example) but if he's hungry and doesn't want chicken, but asks for cheese I'll get him some cheese because it doesn't require cooking. Toddlers notoriously eat very little and that holds true for my son, but he's growing and healthy so I'm not worried.
I do think family dinners are important but right now my husband's schedule means he isn't home for dinner and isn't awake at breakfast and my son is napping at lunchtime. So there aren't family meals anyway and therefore I'm not interested in enforcing sitting at the table as a family. I figure that when he starts school I'll enforce at least all sitting down together, and I predict that by then he'll want more calories and be a little more adventurous in his eating. I'm not worried about starting that habit now.