Messing at mealtimes

[Livvismum]

Hi all

I hope you can help. Livvi is 16 months and is driving bonkers at mealtimes. She can be very fussy and as she has a dairy allergy mealtimes are already a challenge. However to exagerate matters she insists on messing with her food, ie squishing it in her hands, rubbing it all over the table and more often than not, throwing either the food or the food and plate/bowl on the floor.

I have no idea how to address this as "mummy doesn't like that" or "please don't do that" seem to fall on deaf ears which simply leaves the only other option of taking it all away. A part of me suspects that she may be getting too much milk but she is only having up to 1 pint (never more) and as she is so tiny (just about 20lbs) then I worry about reducing her milk.

Anyone got any ideas on how I can reduce the messing around and increase the eating!!?

Thanks
Sara

[Chantel03]

My ds is about the same age, and does the same thing.  I found the more I put on his tray the more he messes with it.  So I only put a few small bites on the tray at a time.  When he eats them I put some more down.  If he throws it I tell him no, but I don't think he get's it.  I also found that he messes with it more when he isnt that hungry.  So no snacks right before meals, and if he just wont eat I take it away.  And try again later.

My doc said it is a phase that babies go through.  But I still think it's a big pain in the you know what.

[Livvismum]

Thanks so muh for your reply. I thought it was just us. Kind of secure in the knowledge now that it's just abother one of those baby moments that will just pass!

Cheers again for the tips

Sara

[tylersmommy]

Is she eating while this is going on, or just playing? At that age, Tyler had a tendency to start messing around when he really wasn't hungry anymore. That was my cue to end mealtime, even if he hadn't really eaten very much. While I think that some goofing around during meals is okay, since toddlers are still learning so much, there's a line between experimenting (squishing, seeing how gravity works) and boredom. Where you draw the line is up to you.

Also, something else that made a big difference was keeping an eye on when Tyler drank milk. He drinks as much as your DD (and would drink more if we let him), but we have to be careful not to offer him milk too close to mealtime or else he'd fill up on that and not be hungry. HTH!

[Livvismum]

Hi Melissa

your right about that line, with Liv it's VERY fine and what starts as squishing decends to plate throwing, fork stabbing and tantrums (eeeeks this sounds bad) within miiseconds. if I ever doubted whether she was textbook or spirited I certainly know now!!

Will update you in a few weeks

Sara

PS why do they say the terrible two's - is it so much more worse than the terrible 16months'!!

[jubee]

Hi
Ds is 15 months!  Good question, what are we in for by the time they are 2 :?:  :shock:   Haha :!:

[Aiden and Marlo's Mama]

My ds still does this - and he's 3.     I let it slide at that age, because he would end up getting SOME food in his mouth - plus in his hair and all over the table and floor - and we have a sweet dog who eagerly anticipated Aiden's mealtime, in fact, some of Aiden's first words were "Cali - CLEAN UP!"  :lol:  BUT I just wanted to add that I do regret being so lax in the "he's experimenting and having fun, let him get messy and be a kid" because I'm paying for it now as he's still doing it.  So there's a bit of Tracy's advice kicking me in the butt -  "start as you mean to go on"  :oops: