23 months hungry/grumpy prior to mealtime

[MGardner]

My son wakes up happy, is happy while getting dressed, we get downstairs for breakfast and he completely turns and has a fit. Won't sit for breakfast. After a lot of convincing (turning on tv, holding him, babying him) he will finally eat and is in a good mood again. But this wastes about 30 minutes we don't have in the morning. Same thing at night. We pick him up from school at 5p and bring him home for dinner immediately. He has a snack at school at 3:00. He is crying crying crying every night from 5-5:30. The only way to soothe him is to give him a snack of his choice and he will eat that while I hold him/baby him. Then he will sit down and eat dinner. I really feel he is so hungry but doesn't recognize it as that and turns grumpy. How else should I be dealing with this? My husband doesn't like that I baby him but if I just leave him to cry he will never settle to eat. He is a light eater and a skinny boy, I hate to see him miss meals.

[oilerbaby]

Not sure why he might be doing this but I would tend to agree with your husband for the sole reason that the behaviour will not get any better that way.  I wouldn't worry about him not eating because when he gets hungry enough he will eat.  Other thought I had - maybe he doesn't like the highchair anymore (if he's still in it) and you might try a booster seat on a chair at the "big" table.  You could also give him a choice and offer him two different foods and let him pick which one he wants to eat.  I know how busy mornings can be and there's no way I could ever find 30 minutes to waste so I would definiteyl try to break the holding/babying thing cause I can't see that getting any better for you.  Hope things start to get better for you!

[EmMUK74]

sounds like insatiable hunger to me, something that can be awful to try to deal with for him.  if he is missing his hunger signals then he might go very quickly to starving and with all the dizziness and things that go with it (I get this).  some tips that work for me and might work for him:

- give him a drink so he can fill his tummy a bit
- give him a piece of cheese or fruit or veg or something as a sort of starter to the meal but won't take his appetite away
- don't let him go more than 90mins without eating something even if it's a small snack

I know what you mean about babying, I do this and know I shouldn't, but if Rachel gets herself into a right royal state then nothing else calms her down and we can end up with a hurreondous period of tantrums and things if she's hungry but has to wait till her next snack.

know this probably doesn't help, but you're not alone