From my own experience I'd say that there is never a time in the first five years of a child's life when you can say you have cracked it, feeding wise I mean. Why? As you will find in all other aspects of your child's development they are usually at least one step ahead of you or two behind.

For example, your child may have happily eaten banana, with great gusto in fact, from the age of four months, pureed, chopped, in yoghurts, just great chunks. Then one lunchtime as you happily pass them their favourite fruit you will find it hurled back at you or mashed into the highchair. There will be no warning that this is coming and it will unnerve you! Banana may stay out of favour for 5 minutes, hours, days, months or years, who's to say. You can keep trying to reintroduce it and you might catch them unawares!

You may think this all sounds rather like guerrilla warfare but believe me this is how it feels sometimes and trying to outflank a child of any age is never easy.

My child is a great 'flinger'. She shows when she is full or fed up with the food offering by flinging either the plate or handfuls of food. There is no way to predict when this is likely to happen, so be on your guard.

Eating out - this is a nice idea and can work well, it can also be a nightmare! My own 'mixed' experience allows me to make the following observations:

• NEVER go to a restaurant that has a wine menu…this is a good rule of thumb for identifying restaurants that won't want to see your baby/toddler hurling food, yelling or hiding under other peoples tables.
  
  
• ALWAYS go to noisy establishments so that your child will be drowned out by other peoples' children, plate smashing! karaoke machines! etc.
  
  
• NEVER go out for something to eat if your child is ready for a sleep. Have the sleep then go out - trust me its worth it.
  
  
• ALWAYS check out the establishment has a high chair (for under 2's) before ordering food. Preferably check it out before you go there for a meal.
  
  
• NEVER set out when your child is already really hungry. Either give them a snack before you go or take snacks to give them for when you immediately arrive, before the food is served…and always take more snacks than you think you will need just in case the food is slow to arrive.
  
  
• ALWAYS take food prepared for a baby/toddler if you are unsure that the restaurant has meals suitable for this age of child.
  
  
• ALWAYS check the nappy before you go out…restaurants are notoriously bad at providing baby changing facilities.

Finally, GOOD LUCK!

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