Back to night bottles (sigh !)

[Mum to cool dude]

My DS has decided that he would no longer have proper meals at home, although he eats meat and veggies in nursery. All he wants at home is yoghurt, jam sandwiches and cheese and crackers, with the odd tidbit of finger food. When he sees the dish and the spoon being presented, he immediately raises his hand up and looks away, without even tasting the food. He now usually has two slices of bread on the go around 5.30 and a little bit of finger food at 6.30, the time of his evening meal

This has now been going on for a week. I try to take it calmly but we had two nights now of him waking up at 2-3 am for a night bottle. I am gutted, as it took me several months to get rid of the night bottles. I am sure it's hunger, he's been quite good at resettling himself without a bottle for awhile now

The only thing I can think of is that he had been practising feeding himself with a spoon lately. At nursery, he does it himself with a bit of help but it seems that he doesn't even want to try at home.

I am feeling quite disappointed about this. Any idea would be welcome. TIA

[Poppy & Lily]

Hi sophie,

i'm not sure how old you LO is but i remember my dd went through the same thing at about 15mths old she basically lived on breadsticks and cheese for nearly 2 weeks and eventually she grew out of it.  It's sounds to me like you ds is just becoming independant and wanting to show you....frustrating i know but it really is just a phase he is going through and hopefully soon he will be back to his old self! i found that by trying to force my DD to eat better it just made her worse so i went with the flow and she soon got bored.  I would just keep offering him snacks and tit bits throughout the day if he won't eat a proper dinner and  just keep trying hopefully if he is eating enough in the day it will cut out the nightfeeds.  Have you tried giving him a beaker of milk and say a snack shortly before he goes to bed this could also do the trick.

Like i said hopefully the phase will pass....our LO's certainly like to test us

Hopefully you might get a few more responses as well!

HTH 

[ethansmum]

The snack before bed is something that I've done as well. Whenever Ethan went through a growth spurt but wouldn't eat more, or simply if he wasn't eating that much during the day I would give some toast or something just before bed. It probably is just a phase, and he's asserting his independence. I know its a pain but you said he eats his meat and veg at nursery so you know that he's getting some good food into him during the day, and the yoghurt and cheese are fine too. Just go with it for a while, keep offering different foods and healthy snacks. I'm sure he'll go back to sleeping through again shortly. And don't worry - there's always another food issue right around the corner - right now all Ethan wants everyday for lunch is a cheese and pickle sandwich. I might just scream if I see another one