Question
HI there,
I have a 12 month old who is fussy at mealtimes. We mash and puree food for him and feed it to him. He won't eat most things without a distraction in front of him - i.e. a toy or something. It is getting increasingly difficult to distract him and get him to eat. I find myself starting to look for more and more interesting toys to keep him eating. The reason we have done this is that he has had problems with weight gain due to heart problems. The other reason we have done this is, he will be more likely to wake for a feed if he has not had enough calories. What do you suggest for a baby this age? Do we muddle through until he is 18 months and old enough for some sort of discipline? I can't think of what to do except let him get hungry (when he rejects the food altogether) and then feed him more milk before naps/bed.
The other issue is, he is getting increasingly mobile and I'm finding it harder and harder to get certain chores done e.g. vaccuming and cooking, bathe his sister. I do put him in the playpen so I can do some chores, the problem is, he cries and screams his head off the entire duration I am vaccuming (20 minutes or so). Yes I do reassure and it doesn't help. What do I do? I'm not sure I can let a baby scream and cry but I've been doing that, and he sometimes vomits from being so upset. I have pretty bad back and wrist pain from carrying him and the last thing I want to do is to carry him around while I do my chores. He is squirmy and getting very heavy at 12 months old. Any suggestions?
