regular meal times or not ?

[Mum to cool dude]

I used to be in favour of having a daily routine but I'm currently wondering about the benefits of having DS (18 1/2 months) only eating when he's hungry rather than at set times. He's never been a hungry boy and is not too bothered about eating. Mind you, I'm not too in favour of grazing throughout the day but DS is currently going through a phase of poor eating. Recently, I've tried to accept that he wants little at meal times and offer heathy snacks in between, but it still doesn't seem to add up to enough calories at the end of the day for him not to want a night bottle

Should I wait until he's hungry ? TIA

[*Nicola*]

Hiya Sophie

It must be difficult deciding what to do for the best; not getting too stressed about a situation but also trying to teach your ds about structure/meal times etc.

Personally, I'd be in favour of either routine whichever sits best with you and your family.  Would it be possible to continue offering meals at regular times so that ds learns about meal times and eating as a family etc, but along with that offer food during the day if this is what he is comfortable with it? As he is eating healthy snacks and isn't a great eater then maybe this is a suitable compromise.

You say he wants a night bottle - is this during the night or before bed?  If it's before bed would he accept cereal instead at suppertime?

HTH

[Mum to cool dude]

Thanks Nicola ! Cereal before bed makes sense but he doesn't like it in the evening, unfortunately. He has a full bottle of milk before bedtime but now wakes up in the middle of the night to have another half bottle (I don't let him have more than that and he seems happy with that amount). That did not use to happen when he was eating better at dinnertime

Having said that, today we sort of had a breakthrough. I was eating my dinner with him and put my plate on his tray and he started to pick at my food with his fingers and a plastic fork - it's such a relief  . I hope that this can be the way forward in the next couple of days, fingers crossed !

[*Nicola*]

Hope so too. Will keep my fingers crossed for you.

The other thing that came to mind was how he eats - does he use his own fork/spoon/fingers or do you feed him?  If he's still being fed now might be a good time to try and get him interested in doing so himself.

Also, if he hasn't always had a bottle during the night it may be that he is just waking from habit now.  Perhaps slowly reducing (or stopping) the bottle in the night may have the knockon effect of him eating more during the day?  Of course, it might just cause you more stress!

Good luck, and keep us posted