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Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
am I creating a REALLY bad habit? from 6-12
DS has no patience for sitting to eat - he will tolerate being in a couple of minutes in the booster chair enough to eat about 1/2 a yogurt in the morning and a couple of bites here and there for lunch and dinner. He throws most of the food and just yells to get out.
Lately, I follow him around the house as he plays and feed him, and he will eat. It takes a really long time though (i.e. 45 minutes for one chicken nugget, or one scrambled egg). Also, it makes it really hard when we go out during his meal times, since he barely eats when we are out and it takes so long to feed him at home. He nurses though and is the same way during the day unless hes tired - nurses for a couple of minutes and off he goes.
Am I creating a bad habit by enabling this type of eating or is it normal at this age since they are so active and curious?? tia
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Re: am I creating a REALLY bad habit? from 6-12
I think you might be creating a bad habit, he needs to learn to sit down.
How do you teach that? I'm not sure but it can't be good to follow him around the house all day trying to feed him.
D was like that at that age. Constantly on the go. It got better once we sat down for lunch & dinner and ate the same foods with him. Now pretty much all his lunch and dinners are at the table and he usually tolerates it pretty well (although he has his days).
Breakfast is still on the go - he's never in his seat for it. But he's also not a huge morning eater, so I kinda take what I can get in the AMs.
DD was a horrible eater at that age. She wasn't interested in solids until she hit 12 months. She got plenty of BM (and bananas, the only thing she would eat). She gradually got better, and the amount of time we spend feeding her has come down alot. It used to take hours to feed her, but she's gotten much better. I say so long as he's still gaining weight, and doesn't seem to be hungry, don't push it, he'll come around soon enough.
I would make him eat in the chair. When he throws food, end the meal. Don't chase him around with food. He'll learn and start to eat in his chair when he realizes there's no option of mommy chasing him with snacks while he plays.
DD used to be a food thrower. I broke her of it by ending the meal when she started flinging food and she doesn't do it any longer.
Yeah, I think this could become a worse problem/habit. Maybe b/c you feed him so much OUTSIDE of meal times, he's not hungry enough to sit still AT mealtimes??
I know when DS was going through a picky/fussy food stage (not sure how old he was) I was totally focused on feeding him snacks throughout the day while he played. But then I figured the problem may become worse if, after all the snacking, he's not hungry for mealtimes, kwim?
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Yeah, it will probably become a bad habit. DS liked to throw his food and spit it out all.the.time. When this would happen several times in one sitting, meal time would be over. He eventually figured out that he was still hungry and if he played around, mom wasn't going to give him food anymore so he hardly ever does it now and sits still.
DD is a poor eater at the dinner table too. If she plays around, she goes to her room until she is ready to sit and behave and eat. They learn, if they are hungry, they better play nice
I am going to go with bad habit in the making. I have friends who do this with their children and it results in food all over their carpet and furniture.
If he won't eat in the chair, he's not hungry enough. Stop the meal and give it another try later.
I don't think it's unusual behavior at all. My son is the exact same way. I would resist the urge to let him "graze" on his meal for an hour while you follow him around.
I am not going to lie to you and tell you that suddenly he will get it and sit and eat. My son still doesn't and 2 out of 3 meals a day are a struggle. We have a lot of fussing and yelling "All Done!" I basically put the food on his tray, encourage him to eat and he has to be in his chair for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, if he's screaming to get up, fine. In addition to his meals, he's allowed two small snacks (one in the morning and one in the afternoon). He doesn't get extra snacks if he didn't eat well at a meal. I used to worry about how much he ate, but my pedi told me I was taking the right approach and he continues to gain weight, so I don't worry about it if he eats almost nothing at one meal.
As far as eating out goes...we gave that up with my son a long time ago. We will occasionally do fast food or counter service, but waiter service is a no go unless it's a place where DH can take him outside to run around while we wait for the food. Some kids are just way too active. Once he is old enough for us to rationalize with him, we will try again.