LOs wanting to get down from table after 3 mins (20 months)

Wantastickybaby

Help! Our girls have always been picky/light eaters.  Now they insist on getting "Down!" after about three minutes at the table - for every meal.  We try to get them to stay at the table, but they get more and more upset and won't eat anyway.  Any advice?  I'm worried enough about how little they usually eat - now they're eating even less  

I would love to think that this is just a phase, but it's been going on for almost a month...

Thanks! 

IAM4UK

At that age, we let my daughter be a grazer. We all started at the kitchen table. When she wanted down, we let her and moved the food for her at the coffee table and let her "graze" throughout the hour we left it there. She ate food and was happy.

Now that she is 3, she is back at the table and knows she can't be excused unless she eats at least half of her plate and asks to be excused.

It wasn't worth the fight for me at 20 months to keep her at the table. By starting at the table, it gradually got to be longer increments the older she got. You are able to reason with her and explain things in ways she understands.

Wantastickybaby

We've been trying the grazing approach for a little while.  A friend of mine thought that letting them graze might not give them any motivation to stay at the table.  

It's not worth the fight for us, either.  I just wanted to make sure we weren't missing something  

sunnybrook.

Oy...you just gave me a glimpse of our near future. DD2 wants to get down after about 10 minutes at dinner time. I can see this escalating very soon. Not sure how I'm going to handle it. It's always something!