Yelling at mealtimes - is this normal? how should we respond?
So DS really loves food and does well with pretty much anything we give him - all kinds of fish, meat, veggies, etc. Lately he's been getting really feisty while eating though, and pretty much yells unless he has food in his mouth. We thought it was that he wanted more, so we'd put more on the tray, but even still he often yells until it is in his mouth, and then again as he's finishing it up. We've tried putting multiple pieces on the tray at once, but he tends to just try and put them all in his mouth at the same time, so we stopped that.
I'm a little worried that us respoding to the yelling is just reinforcing it and making it worse. At the same time, I'm not sure how else to handle the situation - we try to say "no yelling, say, more please" and make the sign for more as we give him more, but I think he's too young to get that.
Is this a normal thing (the yelling/grunting) and what can I do to make mealtimes happier for all of us?
Re: Yelling at mealtimes - is this normal? how should we respond?
DS started that around the same age, he would scream "dai dai dai" (give give give in Russian) in this horribly squeaky-close-your-ears voice that really grates on you; he still does it. Sometimes I know what he wants, sometimes I don't. Lately, it's whatever DD has.
As for grunting, I asked the pedi about this at his 18-mo appt and she said it's the testosterone! We had a good laugh about it but she said the stereotypes are often true - girls talk, while boys grunt and yell.
omg, this made me spit hot cider! hysterical!!!
so that's where it begins...sigh.