We've had an ok couple of days, no proper meltdowns and no asking for 'sauce'

She did ask for 'ideem' yesterday after her dinner but we didnt have any, we told her it was all gone so she asked for a pear instead! and tonight she just asked for a pear straightaway after her dinner so really chuffed.

Although because she had her dinner fairly early today I asked her at about 6 if she wanted something to eat and she said 'yeah, darties (smarties)' so we gave her about 5 because she's done so well. xx

There little monkeys arnt they, they know what buttons to press for sure. Yeah we eat together at the table, he crys like he's scared of the booster so i mite try a fun activity at the table in it like finger painting, get him to like the booster that way, ive tried ignoring him but he gets so hysterical in there

Yay - go Libby

Maxi, thats a good idea..good luck, let us know how you get on. x

Well we've had a good day today - quite surprised really. He's back in his booster now and he's eaten all his b/fast + 1/2 banana, lunch - 1/2 current t/cake with cheese, slice of malt loaf, couple of bites of banana and a fruit pot so he got to share a packet of crisps with me lol. At tea I vowed I wouldn't let it get to me (as he'd eaten quite well all day) so I was all relaxed and calm, again he was in his booster and managed to scran a yorkie pud, half a slice of turkey, some carrots and suede and tried a bit of cabbage too (dip,dip,dipped in gravy lol) Then managed to polish off some of mummy's home made choc cake So he got loads of praise of us all and he had no melt downs at the table either He did however do the tapping our plates again with his cutlery - but we just remained calm and suggested he play tunes on his own plate - he soon stopped

Well a mixed few days. We have made a real effort to make meal times lots of fun lately. She watches us cook and we give her some small say in dinner eg spaghetti or beans, was very surprised the other day when she chose mashed potato over chips at the soft play in bristol.

We also sit with her regardless of if we are eating or not and she sits at the big table in her booster without a highchair tray so she is right between us. Fluids are down to about 12-15oz a da from 20+ too and we have put hot meals to lunch with snacky dinners. And we have discovered she way prefers a fork to a spoon and loves counting so we count food onto the fork eg 1,2,3 bits of pasta. And she loves pasta or cous cs or rice and 'one pot' style meals so we have started doing veggie pasta or meals that are all in one.

So in last week we have had a few mealtime blips - yesterday she refused anything but shreddies and milk for lunch but have managed to get her to try bulgar wheat and spinach pilaf, pasta in roasted vegetable sauce, pasta with finely chopped mushrooms and parmesan. She also loves 'continental' dinners with us if she has had a hot lunch and likes sitting eating cheese, bread, salami, ham etc with her hands so if she has had a day of eating well and had plenty of fruit and veg (for her) we do a buffet dinner for us all with the above.

Last night she had mashed potato with burger pieces (lovely burger actually, slow grilled quarterpounder so nice and tender) and wholewheat spongebob spaghetti and left hardly any of it. She loved the spongebob and its one of her 5 a day according to tin so a useful backup. We even tried her with a pear for pudding but she didnt want it though once daddy started eating it she did lick it and smile at the taste of the juice so its a small step im hoping, in the end her dad finished the pear and she had fruit flakes.

We are having homemade sausage rolls with veg mixed in the sausage meat (ninja veg yay) and chunky vegetable soup together for lunch today (she likes hsaring my pot of soup with me) and then sausages, chippies and beans for dinner tonight. Neil and i are both having eggs with ours so since shes developed a thing for dip dip lately gonna see if she wants to try dipping in our egg with her chips and try to get her back to eating some egg as she used to love it ut now wnt try it

Im sure got a lot of rubbish days ahead still as somehow idoubt shes suddenly going to turn back into a gastronomic wonder but its been a really positive week and shes been sleeping a bit better too and waking up less tired cos she is eating better.

So from this week all i can say thats worked fo me is:

-Giving an element of choice to make them feel independent even if its a tiny choice eg sausage/burger, beans/sketty, mash/chips
-Making mealtimes fun and social eg counting games, naming colours of food
-Making food fun eg funny looking spaghetti ready bought or some of those recipes that make food look like faces etc
-Trying different cutlery
-Watch the fluid intake
-Ninja veg!!!
-Dips

This week going to get her helping prepare her food maybe make herself a pizza and try some of the funny face recipes from the magazines and work on fruit some more. Am also going to make some things like home made burger and sausages/meatballs so can put some veg in them so its food she likes but with something extra added from mummy. Good luck to all mummies on this thread for this week coming