Food battles with 18 month old

[Ole]

I am having a lot of trouble feeding my son. He is refusing all the lovingly cooked meals I make for him. All he is interested is in snacking on the go, but will only eat raisins, cheese, bananas, bread and butter and yoghurt. I have tried not making an issue of it and simply taking the plate of food away when he starts playing with it, but after weeks of this he seems totally unconcerned by this. I have also tried sitting him in a proper chair 'like a big boy' and not insisting that he wars a bib (which he has learnt how to unfasten. How long can I expect this to last?? Are there any tried-and-tested meals that will tempt him into eating at the table again?

[MGolden]

OK it's been a while since I had little ones (mine are 9 and 12) but here goes. Is he growing? Is he developing mentally and socially? Is he sleeping? Does he go to the toilet OK? If the answers to all of those questions is 'yes' then you're probably giving him a balanced diet.

My elder son went for nearly 18 months without knowingly eating any fruit or veg - I could smuggle pureed veg into spag bol but fruit was out of the question. Now he would eat a greengrocer out of business given half a chance.

You say he likes snacking - does he ever feel hungry? Do you eat all your meals at a table? do you always use cutlery? We would often eat a 'picnic' on a rug on the floor of the living room in winter - all the 'snacking' foods but at a meal time and as a family. Eating is a social activity as much as anything else so you're absolutely right - don't make a fuss about it but at the risk of sounding like an absolute harridan don't offer tempting alternatives. If my children absolutely refused to eat what was offered they were given weetabix and milk as a filler, not as a punishment but becasue I'd already cooked (or defrosted) once.

I don't know about tried and tested meals becase I don't know what foods you eat but if he is growing etc then you're probably doing OK nutritionally and the only person stressed by this is you. Relax, he's 18 months old, he can tell you're stressed. This time will pass.