17 month old being denied solid food

No he doesn't go to any groups yet. I fully intended to help her find out about them all, but she doesn't want to have anything to do with me.
The toddler is really sick with a congested chest and the gp and I have suggested for days that they give him a steamy bath. Last night, I finally nagged them into it by preparing the bathroom for them and standing there while they bathed him. He could breathe better and slept better (thank God!) but today they have taken him to the walk in centre and will likely be gone hours. I can only hope that the GP asks them about his diet and gives them some advice that they might actually listen to since I have found a tin of milk powder hidden in their room half gone that they only bought yesterday!!!

Thanks Phoenix, I didn't know that! :D

I think you should talk about with your son, perhaps when she's not around. The little boy getting the right foods is more important than anything else.

The thread was more about sleeping issues Lavazza - a toddler wanting to be breastfed up to five times in the night.

The other thing they will need to check on is her visa status and, as you say they are having marital difficulties already, has she married and had the child in order to get a settlement visa for the UK?

I don't understand why they feel the need to hide the tins of formula. It's not as though it's that bad for him.

Really Monica! Why would that be any of our business?!

I think you should keep badgering her to get him taken to a toddler group. She would find other mums to talk to then.

Sorry to hear that Farmor, I had no idea before they lived in our house just how bad his diet was. It's not because he doesn't like solid food though because he absolutely loves what we've given him so far, but my DIL gets so upset with us!
For example, last night after he had eaten his dinner he asked for a banana and ate the whole thing but she was nearly crying about it. Then my husband caught her making three bottles of formula this morning. He didn't say anything but we are concerned because he's quite slim and also not well. If it carries on I will have a word with the HV at our surgery as they are registered there.

Perhaps you could get them on your side, and show them that you are on there side, by buying the tin of milk and putting it in the kitchen in the open. Just as a starting point.

PS I meant to say, my husband caught her making theree bottles of formula and they took him out without any breakfast...It seems like they don't want him to eat solid food and I just don't understand it.

What did he eat for that dinner?

Gonegirl, I bought them a tin of milk powder (Aptamil 2) for their arrival here, but they went through it way too quickly at 5 full bottles a day :/ I knew he was having it but assumed it was a bottle at bedtime...

(The one where he had the banana after)

M0nica I don't know. I think she thought our family were a lot richer than we are, hence all the demands for us to buy them a house and a car!
She can only stay til June because she's here on a tourist visa, so it all hinges on my son getting a good enough job to support them. If he can't she may not return after her trip back. I just don't know.

What actually are the "white foods"? Ready Brek? That's white. And good for him.

Gonegirl, he ate a chipolata, some baked beans, french fries, green beans and a banana afterwards. It's not that he doesn't have an appetite, it's that she gets upset that he might not want his milk.
When she made the three bottles of formula this morning and took him out without any breakfast, we were concerned and then haven't been in touch since so we assume they are at the walk in centre due to his cough.

Gonegirl, they will not let him have readybrek, cereal or anything "normal" for breakfast. They give him a Chinese custard bun, a glutious white flour thing. For lunch too...they don't like him to have fruit, veg, protien or anything resembling a normal one year old's diet.
But because they don't cook, we always put dinner on a plate for him when we do the evening meal. He always seems hungry, too. But DIL gets upset with us and it's awkward.

Well, so long as he's eating meals like that, why are you worrying? The milk isn't going to hurt him.

You mentioned "white foods" in the other thread?

I agree with you Lavazza, I would be worried if my Dil was denying my Gs solid food at 17months old, especially as you say that your Gs loves the food you give him and even asks for more.
Can you try to get to the bottom of why your Dil doesn't want her child to eat solid food? Does your Ds know?
It's obviously something that is really upsetting her about the child eating solid food, if she is almost crying, watching you feeding him.

^ I have found a tin of milk powder hidden in their room half gone that they only bought yesterday!!!^

What on earth are you doing going into their room?
That is intrusive - and you have obviously been poking around as the tin of milk powder was hidden.

I would be very upset indeed if my MIL - or anyone - had done that.

There seems to be aggressive marketing of baby formula in China www.marketingtochina.com/how-to-promote-your-baby-milk-brand-in-china/
which might explain why your dil thinks she’s doing the right thing. Hopefully living in UK she might gradually realise that toddlers need to eat a more varied diet.
But in my own family case, dil finds giving a bottle the quickest way to sort out cranky children.

Only been here two weeks and you're nagging the life out of them!?!?!? Good grief!

Perhaps the little boy is jetlagged, missing his Chinese family, bewildered by a completely different way of life and the bottles of milk are a comfort to him for the time being.

I would think the Chinese probably have different kinds of first foods for babies than we have here. Maybe the mum doesn't want the child's diet being westernised. Don't they eat fish? And rice?