Your child has one single bite of food and either plays with food for the rest of meal times or trying to leave the table, are you attempting to manually feed?

I would never manually feed them, it’s my job to serve the food, not to make them eat it. But I wouldn’t be letting them just leave the table immediately, if they can’t sit there then they need to be strapped in to a high chair or a booster seat.

Absolutely not! If they don’t want it that’s totally fine, but also they’re not allowed down from the table till we’re all finished (and he knows that because it’s a consistent rule)

Yes, and I do. Not forced but I’ll look for ways to entertain them and get a couple of bites in at least.

@Lisa okay but what if all they had was one blueberry all day? Are we supposed to just trust they’re eating enough? Tried letting my toddler sit on my lap, on a dining table chair and the high chair all of these didn’t work without throwing a fit

@MJ_xo I’ve come to realisation that I do this as well! Either with play time or screen time, my toddler doesn’t eat much and it’s becoming a day to day worry of mine

I don’t force my kid to eat meals I present to them. You don’t want it—don’t eat it. But you will sit until we are all done. I hate when people say kids don’t know how to do this….because they can if you teach them and lead by example. Also, You will not be getting snacks and dessert because if you’re not hungry for dinner you can’t be hungry for dessert…. Or if you’re not hungry for breakfast, fine. Lunch is coming up soon. A lot of parents compensate and give the child crackers and others snacks/treats because they don’t want the child to “starve”. But in my opinion the child will learner a pattern of “if I don’t eat xyz I know my mom will give me (just an example) goldfish and juice because she knows I will always eat that. “ and now it’s learned behavior of “I can eat whatever I want.”. *im not talking about presenting the child with new and unfamiliar foods.

@S. annalese no i completely agree with this way 100%

@MJ_xo yes I do this too if not he won’t eat it as he’s never been a big eater

I attempt, however not successful. Foods that he sometimes loves, he also sometimes seems to hate. I don't take much notice and I always offer a plate with the same food I'm having

In my house we all sit together at meal time and we have no distractions from screens during that time. Meal times are for eating and sharing our thoughts and what's happened during our day. Either you sit and eat or you don't eat. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Your job is to offer the food, their job is to eat what and how much they want of what is offered. Trying to force/manually feed can further create negative connotations with that specific food and with food in general. Always have something on the plate that is a "safe" food that they will definitely eat - regardless of what that is. If I'm offering something my toddler has never had before or that he's not sure on then I'll offer maybe toast or yoghurt along side it. If he doesn't eat any of his dinner then a while later he will be offered it again and if that's still a no go he can have some fruit or cereal so he's not going to bed hungry etc. Toddlers tummies are smaller than you might think so as long as they are eating something try not to worry 😊

It is normal for toddlers to graze. As long as he keeps coming back to it, it's not a problem.

OP, my issue is also with a 2 year old. I will absolutely get some food in you somehow, some way 😂 mine is having the same issue of not wanting to eat, or sitting to eat—so if it wasn’t for what I’m doing, he’d be happily living off just fruits.

@Justina is this for your 9 month old? I wouldn’t stress about them not eating much at this age! It’s really just for practice, and introducing them to different flavors and textures but most of them don’t really eat much at 9 months and would rely mainly on breastmilk and formula anyway until 1. I use to stress a lot with my first babies not eating what I thought they should be during weaning but it’s absolutely normal, so really…don’t stress at this stage. My middle child got all these elaborate meals out of scratch only to semi taste them and play with the rest 😂 my current baby gets some version of what I’m eating, fruits, steamed veggies, purees, etc. if he eats it, great, it not, great too.

@MJ_xo yes it is . It really worries me as I see a lot of children on tik tok eating lots and I’m like dammmn what am I doing wrong . But he drinks his milk well xx

Nope I wouldn't feed them, unless they ask me to, kids are really good at knowing when they full and actually listen to their bodies, My 3yr old often has days where a slice of bread and a yoghurt lasts her all day, and then other days I can't fill her