Grazing! What the heck!

Ok I knew a new issue would arise as soon as I conquered the food throwing and here it is! One of my daughters has started into grazing mode and I'm
sure the other is not far behind. Basically she will sit for a meal, eat maybe 5 bites if I'm lucky, then demand to be let out of the chair otherwise the
food will start flying. She will completely refuse anything else. My philosophy is this: let her go, and let her learn that no food will be available until the next designated snack/meal time. Of course my paranoid mother and MIL think otherwise and if they are here chase her around with food constantly.
Tonight she ate THREE bited of potato, then ran to her Dad who was sitting outside and sat in his lap and ate his dinner. I think this is totally unacceptable. I prepare three healthy meals every day so that they get a good variety of nutritious foods and I find this new habit detrimental. Plus I am very uncomfortable with them running around in opposite directions eating food, it's just asking for a major choking episode.
What the heck!!! What do I do? I'm thinking I am going to totally disallow this eating for two minutes and then running around expecting people to throw food at them.
Sigh...always something...

 

I feel you on this one. My girls have been doing something similar to this. They'll eat a few bites, demand to get down and then sit on whoever's lap and eat. Last week I had enough and I told everyone that this was unacceptable. I feel like everyone has to be on the same page because they don't realize how hard it makes my day when they're not around. Put your foot down, mama! You are the parent! If they don't eat what's in front of them then they don't eat until the next meal. I think you're doing the right thing!

 

Thank you orangeyaglad. Exactly the support I needed. These are my first babies and I am now learning that my gut instinct about what is good or bad for them is always right. Everything we do or don't do now has impact on future habits and behaviours. Thanks! The new rules start tomorrow!!!

 

Glad I could help! ))))

 

we moved our girls to a toddler size table & chairs where they eat all of their meals & snacks now. i usually just leave their plates from breakfast out until lunch, their plates from lunch out until dinner, etc. that way they can get up & down if they want, but i'm not making 500 meals every day. it works well for us here.

but i 110% agree to trust your own instincts! they will never steer you wrong. :good:

 

One of the things that I found to help with this was to move their booster seats to the big table with us at meal times. It seemed to eliminate their desire to sit on someone else's lap and eat their dinner. I also, if they did not finish their meal, left out the uneaten food for them to finish on their booster seat trays when they are done eating, so if they want a snack or happen to be hungry 30 minutes later, they can grab that food.
I also agree, always go with your instincts.

 

I think you're right to stick to your guns! I'm a big stickler for sitting down to eat for meals/snacks. I don't like the mess of food all over the house, and I totally agree about the choking hazard. When we're home we do family meals (every breakfast and dinner, lunches on weekends), and I will sit down with them while they eat snacks. At meals, if they say "all done", I tell them they have to sit nicely until we're all done, and if they throw food it gets taken away. It sounds like you offer plenty of opportunities to eat, so your LOs never have to wait long for the next chance for food. :good:

We had to be pretty strict on the "eating on the lap" thing as well. That's a habit I really didn't want to get into because then *I* can't eat!

BTW, my MIL is the same way with food and it drives me NUTS!!! :gah: You're the parent, so you are the one who makes the rules. My MIL is hardly ever around so I mostly let it slide, but if your mother and MIL are there a lot, you may have to get them on board.

 

Yes I notice that even if the MIL chases my dd with food for ONE, count it, ONE MEAL then my dd thinks this is the new greatest thing and wants to do it all the time. I feel like I am always correcting MILs behaviours, oh well add this to the list!
Ironically, this morning I had a little talk with dd before breakfast and told her we wouldn't be allowing running around with food/escaping from booster
anymore otherwise no food would be available. Well she sat through her breakfast nicely with me, and then through lunch too and pigged out on chicken soup!
Hope it's not a fluke.

 

I do agree with you to a certain extent, but I also know that kids are notorious grazers. It's pretty typical because they are so busy they don't want to sit for a full meal. I've been lucky I have very good eaters, but ocassionally the twins have an "off" day and won't eat their meal, then they snack all afternoon. If they start tossing (or in our case, squishing) their meal, i take their plates away. But they aren't allowed down until nearly everyone is finished eating. We do sometimes give them a bite of our food but it's not a regular occurence. And they are in booster seats, that really did help because they like to be at the table with us.

I hope they continue to eat better for you!! You never know what the little stinkers will understand, so maybe they did understand your talk this morning! :good: