Recently we seem to have entered a phase where mealtimes are a bit of a challenge. Breakfast is ok as long as I rotate the cereral and don't let him get bored of something! He used to love the Bear Alphabites but he had them everyday for a while and in the end he refused point blank to eat breakfast and so I had to switch things up a bit. At the moment we are rotating mini chocolate weetabix and porridge, with the occasional slice of toast. Yoghurts and fruit are a popular choice but he'd eat yoghurts all day long if I let him!
Lunchtimes are a bit hit or miss. He won't really eat sandwiches and prefers to just pick the filling out! He doesn't seem to be a big fan of bread unless it's a french stick and then he'll quite happily sit and eat a few slices. Usually I just do a plate with lots of different things so he can pick - things like little sausages, babybels, cherry tomatoes, breadsticks, houmous. Dairylea dippers are also good if all else fails!
Teatime is the real challenge at the moment. Occasionally he'll demolish everything on his plate but recently he has been taking one or two bites and then saying "finished! pudding!". One night he didn't even take a bite and just said "no, pudding!". It's so frustrating because its usually food I know he likes, and even more frustrating when I've spent ages in the kitchen making a nice family meal for him to just have a couple of bites! We've had to get a bit tough on him because I don't want him thinking that he can just get a nice pudding without eating his main meal properly. (By pudding I mean a yoghurt or fruit) If he doesn't at least try and eat it we've been saying no to pudding which he has not been too impressed about! The other day I made lovely homemade burgers and sweet potato chips - I couldn't wait to munch it but the only thing he ate was the cheese on top of the burger!! We tried bribery, tried being nice, tried getting stern, tried making him laugh, tried "here comes the aeroplane!" but he would not budge. There were tears (that was just me hah!), there was a lot of "I want puddddinggggggg!!" and thumping on his tray but we stood our ground and in the end he ended up on the naughty spot until he calmed down. And he still didn't bloody eat a thing!! Needless to say he was really hungry the next morning and then followed one of those rare days where he ate everything we gave him, even sandwiches!
Anyone else going through the mealtime meltdown phase?!
Both my older boys went through this, I promise it is only a phase!! Both boys went back to theit veraciuos appetite a few weeks after starting. Don't give in to him or he will learn what to do in the future. They have plenty of fat stores to use up, if he doesn't eat at meal times them he stays hungry till next meal time with no snacking in between xxx
ReplyDeletePhew, glad to hear it's a phase! xx
DeleteOh keep going it's tough! I ended up giving in and I have a super fussy 7 year old so hang on tight else you'll be cooking several different meals for the foreseeable future! Have you tried those bento style meals? They look fun I haven't tried this with my four year old yet he is a little different because of his sensory issues but still fussy eaters lol xx
ReplyDeleteOoh yes I've been seeing lots of lovely pics of Bento style meals on instagram and I've just ordered a dinosaur cookie cutter to make some dinosaur shaped sandwiches! xx
DeleteYep we are headed through it. And we stopped the high chair so he takes his plate to the bin the opens the fridge for yogurt.... sigh.
ReplyDeleteoh no thats not good, little monkeys aren't they! x
DeleteThere is nothing more frustrating than when they won't eat. Guess you just have to keep persevering! Amelia goes through fussy periods she will eat one thing then give it to her the next day and it won't be touched. Guess like us they fancy different things on different days! KEEP going I'm sure it will get better. Thanks for linking up #MummyMonday xx
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