Please recommend your advice - food and eating 15 month stage

My son will be 15 months in a couple of weeks. I am now experiencing his need for independence he wants to feed himself. I have tried to let him use his utensils, however the food mostly ends up all over the place except his mouth,which I I'm aware that this is supposed to happen in order for them to learn.

He is recently getting over mild bronchilitis and an upper respiratory infection, as most children are sick it seems these days, so he is not eating as much as he used to anyway at this point.

I have also been trying to make more home-cooked meals for him to be able to pick up with his hands and eat but I am finding it to be difficult, as I do work part time and when I am home with him he requires my attention all time,even when I place him in his pack and play or his highchair, just for a few minutes to cook or vacuum, He will scream and cry, which I know was normal but it makes me very anxious to hear him scream. i feel like I cannot do everything that I need to do like cook and make the meals that I would like to for him and I.

On another post that I creates, some of you were nice enough to post recipes of your homemade meals that you make for your children. I thank you for that.

Can you recommend your splash mats or any other devices that help you and your child while they are experiencing feeding themselves so that the food doesn't get entirely all over the place?

Please recommend your advice - food and eating 15 month stage

I just bought this today - used it during dinner - so far, so good. DD still used her hands to eat, but she made less of a mess because of the rim. The suction doesnt work too well, but I still think it works better than a regular plate:



http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12710569&prodFindSrc=search



ETA:

My DD refuses to wear a bib! She rips them it immediately, drives me nuts cause the food ends up all over her clothes.

Message edited 1/10/2013 10:07:04 PM.

Re: Please recommend your advice - food and eating 15 month stage

We do not give the girls plates yet. I know they would become projectiles.. lol. I just experimented with giving them their own fork. It worked great. I keep the food with me, put the food on the fork, and then hand the fork to them. For items like peas or pasta, I just put a few pieces on their tray at a time.
I understand not having any time!! I wish I could cook like I did pre-kids. My partner works nights and I work days, so we are always on our own with the twins.
I make a few huge meals at a time. On wednesday I grilled a LOT of chicken (with one of my girls on my back in the ergo) and cut a huge salad for myself to eat for a few days. We will eat the chicken for a few days and I will freeze the rest so I have it on hand.

One of my girls will keep a velcro bib on, the other just rips them off. We only use over the head bibs for her.
As for clean up.... I love my dogs!

Message edited 1/11/2013 9:31:24 AM.

Re: Please recommend your advice - food and eating 15 month stage

Super Nanny had said that sometimes it might help if you just let them just hold a fork/spoon and you continue to feed them with a different fork/spoon.

Please recommend your advice - food and eating 15 month stage

My DS is 12 months and I feed him whatever we eat. Just cut up smaller pieces.

I do not give him a plate yet cause he jsut throws it. I just spoon food right onto the try and let him make a mess. He has a fork and spoon (all plastic versions) and most times he just plays with them but he does try to use them.

I work FT and do nto have time to make him special food so he is doign pretty good with what we eat.

Please recommend your advice - food and eating 15 month stage

DD is 18 months and is starting to get the hang of utensils. Sometimes she just holds the fork or spoon in one hand and uses her other hand to pick up food. Sometimes she wants me to put the food on for her and then she'll bring it to her mouth. I let her direct.

She hasn't worn a bib for months. I only worry if she's wearing a fancy dress. Otherwise it's just clothes and they come clean in the wash. But she's not too messy to begin with.

She tends to throw her plate, bowl, cup, food...whatever is within reach, when she gets annoyed or doesn't want anymore. One of us will sit with her while she eats and are literally on top of her so if she tries to throw we can try to catch it. Doesn't always work. Just last night I was on all fours picking up cheerios and eggs from all over my diningroom. It is what it is. They outgrow the stage.

As for cooking, I usually cook dinner for DH and I after DD goes to bed. Or I start while he plays with her and then he'll finish while I put her to bed. She gets the leftovers the next night for dinner (she is always hungry as soon as we walk in from work and doesn't want to wait for me to cook, so this works for us). Or if there are no leftovers I will make something quick for her like eggs, chicken nuggets and veggies, mac n' cheese, etc. Long gone are the days of extravagant meals. And the crock pot is your best friend.

Please recommend your advice - food and eating 15 month stage

LOL I agree with PP, my dogs are the best cleaner-uppers ever :O)

I feed them right on the tray. They never use bibs, The rip them right off. Plates and bowls just get flipped and dumped. I know exactly how you feel. I don't cook as many meals as I would like. I have one independent toddler and one very clingy toddler so I know what you mean. I get really anxious when they cry too. I really don't do much more than hang out with them and pick up their toys 1000 times a day in whatever room we are in. If I need to clean something I wait for nap times or snack times. I put their snacks in those cups with the split lid and that buys me some time to do something. I usually fill it up with gerber puffies because I feel like they are the safest snack if Im not paying attention. Can you give him a handful of cheerios (or something else) and drag his highchair wherever you need to be?

I only cook when DH gets home and then I try to cook a bunch of things at the same time so I can reheat it for lunches the next day. At least once a week I make meatballs or meatloaf and I always make enough for 2 or more meals. My girls love both, especially meatloaf (which I make with either beef or turkey with veggies inside -corn, carrots, string beans, peas). Then I would give them some of that for lunch the next day etc. While I am making that I boil an extra pound of ditalini pasta for the fridge. They love "nu-nu's" and I put whatever on them. A little spaghetti sauce, or just butter, a dash of ketchup, and parmesan cheese.

I feel less guilty if I give them fresh fruits and frozen veggies daily (like corn, carrots, peas, green beans, broccoli) My girls love berries and bananas. I also try to make them smoothies a lot... They are good with straws so I usually just put it in a glass that I hold and let them drink it with a straw. I usually do raspberries or black berries, a banana, vanilla or whatever flavor organic greek yogurt, milk or water to thin it out) so they get all those antioxidants :o). Then I don't feel quite so bad if I give them packaged foods. One of my girls is not a great eater but she goes crazy for mac n cheese so I am always making M and C to keep some weight on her. I feel guilty for doing that, so I feel like the fruits and veggies help balance it out :O)

I also still buy the organic baby foods in the pouches and I use those for snacks and supplementing when we are out. I feel better giving them that then junk/snack foods. Besides those have fruits and veggies that I don't normally offer them so I don't feel bad giving them those, plus they can suck them right out of the pouch usually without making a mess.

Re: Please recommend your advice - food and eating 15 month stage

Please recommend your advice - food and eating 15 month stage

toddlers want to be just like us, independent.
i would put some sort of plastic sheet under the highchair. ive been meaning to do this b.c ds is a mess and used to throw a few things overboard when he would eat but never got around to buying one. he is 18 months and ive always encouraged self feeding and independence from an early age. at first, i would just put food directly on the tray and let him pick. eventually, i would give him a toddler spoon or fork. he would put the food on the spoon with his hands and then feed himself. eventually, he just got good at shoveling food onto his untensil. for the past few months ive been putting food in one of those section plate- it looks like a plate made for a tv dinner- it has a large section with 3 smaller sections in various sizes. i try to make sure to put a few different things in each section. he love the variety. he has gotten much better about eating neater. the mess just comes with the territory.

Re: Please recommend your advice - food and eating 15 month stage

I "co-feed" it's my made up name for letting her have a spoon or fork that she holds while I feed her and she uses her free hand. Very silly to see but keeps her happy and me semi-sane. The bibs are hit or miss, depends on the day and how hungry she is. I can not tolerate the throwing the food on the floor bit, so I taught DD to hand what she doesn't want to the person feeding her. I say we have about a 90% success rate with that. Accidental drops aside, of course. Oh the joys of feeding a young toddler.

Re: Please recommend your advice - food and eating 15 month stage

bibs that snap on were a LIFESAVER!!!click

Message edited 1/11/2013 5:37:07 PM.