Our baby gets so excited over solids

We gave the boys sweet potato the last couple of nights. Jude was getting so excited and trying to eat so fast that he started crying loudly while we were feeding him. It seemed to be because he wanted to be fed faster. He did this while eating cereal today too. He doesn't even swallow all the food. He cries for more before he's even finished the bite in his mouth. What should we do? Try to feed him faster? Let him cry? Stop the feeding?

 

Hmmmm...don't you love it when babies throw curveballs? LOL! Is he crying because he wants more, or is he crying for some other reason? If it's because he is not being fed enough...could you feed them one at a time? Or you and dh feed them at the same time? Or....you could start to teach him to be patient...I know..good luck with a five month old! LOL! But it doesn't hurt either. Maybe while you are feeding his twin, you tell him he's going to get the next bite, or ask if he wants more, or do the sign for more, etc. Maybe just reassure him that he's going to have another bite. It's ______ turn, and when he's done, it will be your turn! Or you could try singing a song to him while feeding his brother. Basically-pull out all the stops! LOL! Good luck! It could also be a short phase once he gets used to it! :hug:

 

We had the same problem with both of them! I had to speed feed them and I would explain in between bites "Austin's turn, Miles' turn.. " We just had to put up with a lot of crying at first, but it wasn't long before we tried them on finger foods and then they could feed themselves in between bites. It's a good problem to have! Kids who want to eat are much easier to satisfy than kids who don't want to eat

 

Michael was like that before he could feed himself. I would always try to wait until he swallowed to give him more unless he was totally frantic.

 

I wouldn't feed him faster if he hasn't swallowed (most of) what was in his mouth. I would worry about him gagging, especially as he's crying at the same time, or getting gas from gobbling so fast. You could try giving him a spoon to hold, that might keep him distracted enough to stop the crying.

I think it will get better as he gets older/more used to the routine. I can remember feeding Naomi and Luke and they were like little birds, as soon as they had swallowed a spoonful they had their mouth open for the next one. Seeing as swallowing a mouthful took them about as long as it took me to get the food on the spoon and feed it to their twin I was basically non-stop a spoon for one then for the other. Like pp said him being really interested in food is not a bad problem to have!

 

When he was doing this DH was feeding one baby and I was feeding the other, so he wasn't waiting for more than a couple of seconds between bites. The first time we just tried to feed him faster. The second time (during cereal), we stopped the feeding because he was getting so upset and nothing was calming him down. It was strange because usually he didn't have much of a response to cereal. He seems to like cereal and usually finishes his serving (a couple of tablespoons) but doesn't go crazy like he did yesterday. Last night we finished the sweet potato while he cried, but then when it was gone we quickly cleaned him up and took him out of the high chair and relocated him to distract him. I know he would have eaten more, but we didn't want to encourage more crying, just wanted to calm him down.

It seems like he just wants to eat really fast, like with a bottle, and doesn't quite understand that he can't. He's been eating cereal for over a month, but sweet potato is new. I'm glad he loves it but not sure how to teach him to calm down. I think we'll try some of the distraction techniques like talking to him, explaining to him that there's another bite, giving him a spoon. Hopefully he gets the hang of it and calms down a little. I have no problem giving him another serving too if he wants it, but right now he cries for more before finishing the bites in his mouth!

 

Jude did really good tonight with his feeding. He was calm and ate only one serving. My husband was working on showing him the sign for "more" between bites. Hopefully he's learning some patience.

 

That's weird. We haven't had this problem.but I agree with twin_nannya. Shouldn't feed him faster.give hime some toys (music or light toy) to distract him a bit. Is he hungry at solid feeding? Would you fill him up a bit with bottle before solid? I guess he is just a bit confused and excited. Give him a month, he will know better and be calm down.I would bring it up at next doc visit.if it lasts for long time, your pedi might send him to speech therapist to watch him eat.but I bet he will be over it in couple weeks.

I wouldn't fast feed him. If he cries, play some toys in front of him, sing a song, make funny noise, so he would stop crying.you don't want to give him fast eating habit though.fast eating habit leads to over weight. Good luck!

 

Yay for your little one for showing some patience the other day!

I just wanted to add that mine do that too when they are really hungry. Singing a song or distracting them with a toy sometimes helps (or having them nurse in advance, what I used to do a lot to prevent meltdowns with the solids). Try to stay calm: he'll have to learn to have patience somehow. I always half-jokingly say that "patience" is created after 35 weeks of pregnancy and mine never got to that point...

 

Glad to hear it went better last time. Hopefully he will just continue to improve. It sounds like a great opportunity to teach him the "more" sign!