Kids who gobble their food like insane starving maniacs

Ok, I have a problem. All my kids except Sean gobble up their food as fast as they can. (Sean likes to bite things with his teeth so he always takes a long time to eat so he can bite his food as much as possible.) Eating fast is one thing but they will cram as much food as they can get into their mouths while they do it. Like this morning for example I sliced some bananas for James then turned to slice some bananas for Sean. James picked up 4 slices and shoved all of them in his mouth at one time and tried to get more in but I held his arm and kept him from doing it. Emma will take an entire banana and wedge the whole thing in her mouth as well. Dave - well he's like a pig at the trough. The thing is that none of them choke (for which I'm extremely grateful) but my hair is turning gray very quickly!

Is there something I can do? I've tried letting them only have one bite at a time but they'll put their bite in their mouth then immediately start screaming, then choke on what's in their mouth. This is obviously a problem I've had for years.

Do I need to get more tough with them and enforce the one bite at a time rule, or is it fine since they don't choke, or is there something else I can try?? My family sees no problem with this, they just say "Look at 'em pack it away!" but I hover there just waiting to perform the Heimlich!

 

Well, my Bell does this as well. Cram as much in as possible...try to chew, sometimes has to spit part of it into her hand, continue chewing and shoving the rest back into her mouth.

The only thing I know to do, to make them slow down, is give them 1 peice at a time with time in between peices.

Hopefully someone else will have some great advice for the both of us!

My lily is much more dainty, one bite at a time gal!

 

I don't have any advice - but I just wanted to let you know that the picture I have of mealtime at your house is hilarious! I think it is great that you have such enthusiastic eaters

I have two picky eaters - Mia eats SOOOO SLOOOOW that I wish she would go for it and shovel some food in!

 

Sarah is somewhat like this. (DH and I joke that she has hamster cheeks -- she can make half an avocado disappear in the blink of an eye, to the point that you start wondering whether you've actually given her any yet.) The only thing that slows her down a little is to give her small pieces, and also to separate them before placing them on her tray. It's not quite as frustrating for her as only getting one piece at a time, but because they're sort of spread apart, she has to pick them up one at a time. She can't just scoop them all up and shove them in at once.

ETA: I have no idea how you go about teaching good table manners (as opposed to just preventing choking) with older kids, but maybe Emma is ready for that? You'd have to ask an expert, though!

 

OMG! I am laughing outloud while reading your post....one of my girlies does the same thing. It didn't start until about 2 weeks ago. Not only does she do it while she is eating...but if I even think of food in front of her she screams like crazy, holds her arms in the air and bounces. If i eat my lunch in front of her she will cry like crazy..like she hasn't eaten in a year. She crams so much food in her mouth i worry about the same thing. I can cover her tray in cheerios and they are gone in a flash!!!!!!!! will this continue on forever???
jena

 

Are you sure you are not talking about my Blake too Jenny?!! :laughing:

He does this ALL the time. I literally watched the kid shove a 1/2 turkey sandwich in his mouth just yesterday!

Like some of the pp's he never used to do this and just recently he has started. I have no idea what is up.

But when the food can be cut into pieces I will only give him one at time and I am constantly telling him, "only 1 piece, slow down Blake!"

 

Sofia does this too. I'll tell her she needs to eat all of her chicken(or any food) and next thing I know it's all in her mouth. She then spends like 10 minutes trying to chew and swallow it all. Honestly it grosses me out.

 

QUOTE(Hillybean @ Jul 20 2007, 11:55 AM) [snapback]339145[/snapback]
I don't have any advice - but I just wanted to let you know that the picture I have of mealtime at your house is hilarious! I think it is great that you have such enthusiastic eaters

I have two picky eaters - Mia eats SOOOO SLOOOOW that I wish she would go for it and shovel some food in!

LOL, enthusiastic! Yes, and scary - don't put your hand near their plate or you'll come back with a bloody stump!

So this isn't a unusual thing.... whew! Every time I watch Dave eat I can't help but think that he'll live with me forever. What will happen is he'll meet a nice girl and she'll invite him over to her parents house for dinner... then the carnage will begin! He is getting better though, he uses a fork now to shovel it in instead of both hands. :laughing:

 

Ian does this too - I've learned to only put 2 pieces of whatever in front of him or to feed him off a fork - he enjoys eating off a fork and will chew one piece at a time before he freaks and wants the next one....

 

QUOTE(Her Royal Jennyness @ Jul 20 2007, 10:54 PM) [snapback]339643[/snapback]
Every time I watch Dave eat I can't help but think that he'll live with me forever. What will happen is he'll meet a nice girl and she'll invite him over to her parents house for dinner... then the carnage will begin! He is getting better though, he uses a fork now to shovel it in instead of both hands. :laughing:


:rotflmbo: That's great!

Anyway, no advice here really. Kaitlyn used to do this and wind up spitting some of it back out and saying "too much" and we just kept telling her "one bite at a time" but I'm sure you're already doing this. Hopefully they'll stop shoveling it in before they reach marrying age!

 

my girls do this too.. they act like they haven't eaten in days. Maybe it is just a phase but I too get so scared when they cram a big piece of chicken in their mouths like it wont be there when they get done taking a bite of something else. we are working on the slow little bites and it seems to be going well, there are still times where I feel like I am going to have to stick my finger down her throat to get the food out, but thankfully we haven't.

 

That sounds exactly like Wes! Leah eats a lot slower. Wes often drops more food too because he grabs handfuls at a time. What to do?!?!?!?