Any tips on how to make sure your baby eats their entire meal?

Question

My baby loves to throw food on the floor or feed our dogs 🤦🏻‍♀️
There's always more than enough food but I feel like she eventually gets bored and wants out of the high chair.  She eats some but how do I know if it's enough😭

Answer

Majority of nutrition at this age is still coming from formula or breast milk. Eating is super exploratory at this age. Throwing food, squeezing it, playing with it is all very normal and healthy at this age. I highly suggest following solid starts for all your baby/toddler/child eating questions it’s an invaluable resource. If your baby has a time where they seem to have not eaten much and are fussy then you can offer an extra bottle or breast to make up for it. Good luck!

Answer

The throwing of food is very normal- they’re exploring cause and effect. I leave it on the floor for a bit so I’m not immediately turning it into a fun game of them dropping and me picking up but then I do pick it up and put it on her tray a couple of times. If she’s continuing to throw it multiple times though, I sign and say “all done”.
My daughter can be quite inconsistent with how much she eats each meal. Today for breakfast and lunch she ate hardly anything. For breakfast she ate maybe one bite of porridge and a tiny slice of nectarine. For lunch she ate a very small piece of avocado and a couple of kidney beans. Whereas at dinner she ate a small piece of fish, some carrot, a small piece of broccoli, a small piece of sweet potato and about 5 strawberries. It’s more about what they eat across a week. Plus they are still having breastmilk or formula so their meals should start to pick up more once you drop more milk feeds.
If you’re worried about a medical issue or something else like sensory issues then you could talk to your doctor but in general it is very normal for them not to be eating huge meals and doing a lot of exploration (throwing/playing) still.

Answer

Trust that she knows how much food she wants/needs at the time!

Answer

Baby will eat if they're hungry. You can't force feed them. Maybe offer solids before milk.

Answer

My babybis the same. If she was hu gry she would eat it. I wouldnt worry. Plus should still be giving milk as that's priority x

Any tips on how to make sure your baby eats their entire meal?

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