How long are meals in your house?

libbyann

Will is a s-l-o-w eater. Always has been...for instance right now, he's been eating for 1 hr and 15 mins. He talks, takes a bite, talks, sings, takes a bite, etc. We encourage him to eat more quickly, but he really has no interest in it...and if you try to take his food away after 30 minutes, he flips. It's definitely the worst at breakfast, but he's slow at lunch/dinner too...

Do I just need to roll with it, or is there something I can do to help him speed up his eating? I really need to get to the gym and the grocery store this morning, so we can get home and clean up/do laundry...but by the time he gets done eating it's going to be noon! 

mlf625

Uh, 10 minutes?  My kids aren't interested in dragging out the eating time.  If we sit down for a family dinner, we can stretch it out to about 20 minutes, but that's the max.

I'm not sure how you'd handle that.  If you were talking 30 minutes or so, I'd say leave him alone.  But 1 hour 15 minutes is a reallllly long time.  Maybe you could set a timer for, say, 30 minutes and tell him when that goes off, breakfast time is over?  I have no idea, really. 

mlf625

ps: cuuuuuuute siggy pic!  LOVE!

libbyann

mlf625:

Uh, 10 minutes?  My kids aren't interested in dragging out the eating time.  If we sit down for a family dinner, we can stretch it out to about 20 minutes, but that's the max.

I'm not sure how you'd handle that.  If you were talking 30 minutes or so, I'd say leave him alone.  But 1 hour 15 minutes is a reallllly long time.  Maybe you could set a timer for, say, 30 minutes and tell him when that goes off, breakfast time is over?  I have no idea, really. 

I'm so jealous, lol! I may try the timer thing...I'm not sure how he'd react when I actually took his food away. And because we have trouble getting him to gain weight, I am not strict at all when it comes to him eating - he can eat pretty much whenever/whatever he wants, within reason.

august8080

That IS a really long time. DS usually eats in 15 minutes or less, I'd say.

We use this clock in therapy a lot to help kids stay on task, get a sense of time, know when an activity will be complete, etc. It's great for kids who can't tell time because you just watch the red get smaller til it's all gone. https://www.timetimer.com/

Maybe you could get that and set it for 30 minutes to start. Create the structure beforehand--talk about how it's his eating clock, and when all the red goes bye-bye then Will is done eating, etc, etc. 

rssnlvr

If you have somewhere you need to go, would he be amenable to you transferring his food to a baggie or snack cup and taking it with you?

To answer the question, we can usually only hope to contain DD happily at meal time for about 20ish minutes tops. Then she's totally over it. 

A&Jmom

Abby has ALWAYS been a super slow eater!  She was the hour long breakfast eater at that age too and still would if I gave her the time.  At that age I pretty much just dealt with it.  If I needed to be somewhere I would let her finish in the car - if it was portable. So, I guess my answer is I just dealt with it and never did anything to get her to speed up.  The only time it was really an issue was at MDO she would come home everyday hungry because she did not eat all of her lunch.  I was worried she would do the same in Kinder- and that is a much longer day- but she has been fine.  She is quicker in the mornings now on school days- I make her stand and eat in the kitchen. She still takes forever at dinner though.

libbyann

mlf - thanks!! When it comes to picture-taking, his attention span lasts about 2 minutes, haha!

august - I like that timer - we might try that! 

rssn - yes, sometimes we can transfer it, but like this morning, he had pancakes with a little bit of syrup on them and I wasn't thrilled with the idea of syrup in the car

bluestreet

Both my 8-year-old and my 4-year-old are the same way. Super slow eaters. For dinner, I'm happy to let them take their time since we're not going anywhere and it's the one part of the day we don't seem to be in a rush.

I'm a stickler for table manners, but otherwise dinner is a very casual affair, and usually only the girls and DH are sitting at the table. My nephew and I tend to eat on the couch in the adjoining living area, where I'm usually simultaneously nursing baby and eating (is that gross?). 

We've gone through periods where everyone sits at the table, and we will again, but I've decided not to stress about it right now. It's one less thing to wrestle.

In the mornings, the girls usually start at the table and if they haven't finished by the time we need to leave, we take the rest in baggies.