Toddler won’t sit and eat
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Anonymous
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Hello all,
FTM here. My toddler refuses to sit longer than 3 mins to eat her dinner. She screams and wants out of her high chair and then explores all over. We are constantly walking behind her giving her spoons full of food. Is there anything we’re doing wrong or is there a way to get her to sit longer? We do wait to feed her when we know she’s hungry |
Anonymous
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A lot of toddlers start to hate their high chair. Get a booster seat that has a seatbelt so she cannot get out and straps to the chair for safety.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ingenuity-SmartClean-Toddler-Booster-Peacock-Blue/459913645 Don't let her walk around with food. Don't chase her. Tell her if she is hungry she sits at the table like a big girl. Or, put the food away for later. |
Anonymous
| Get a child's size table and let her stand here or sit there and eat. This will let her feel like she's in control instead of needing to be strapped into a highchair. Also at three she should be feeding herself, even if it's with her hands, not being spoon fed |
Anonymous
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You follow her with a spoon? And you don't see a problem with this?
Oh my, you're making si many mistakes |
Anonymous
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How old is she? She is ready to sit and eat or not eat. But little enough she can gave a toy with her. 5--10 min is ok for an under 2. But you need to be strict and no food/snacks outside of dinner table. Shell get it.
Catching the time when shes hungry but not too hungry is key. We used the stokke chairs so that kids could always be right at the table with us instead of separated in a high chair. Maybr that would help. |
Anonymous
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Stop following with her spoon full of food.
First, is she hungry at dinner time? Your expectations how much food is served and at what time might need to be adjusted. What's her meal schedule in the afternoon? Are you leading by example? Sitting with her? Eating food alongside of her? Or are you standing around in the kitchen to clean or unloading dishwasher, for example, and not establishing the good habit of sitting and eating. Have you tried introducing something new and interesting? Can you give her a challenging food (but not too challenging she gets frustrated) so she can start using a fork (always fun)? |
Anonymous
| I second the booster at the table, rather than a high chair. Try to eat while she's eating and eat similar (or the same) food. Chicken for you and nuggets for her. Fish for you and fish sticks for her. |
Anonymous
| Cut out snacks between meals. |
Anonymous
| Why are you following her around with food? |
Anonymous
| Toddlers need snacks. It really doesn't matter when children are eating as long as they are eating nutritiously. Maybe she fills up at lunch not breakfast. I wouldn't follow with spoons, that's crazy. |
Anonymous
+1 although structured snacks, sitting down to eat, not just eating whenever and wherever. At that age my DS rarely ate more than a bite or two at dinner. It's fine. Dinner's over, you can eat something at breakfast. |
Anonymous
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She screams so you let her out of the high chair? No.
Tomorrow before breakfast you calmly tell her that food is ONLY available during meals in her high chair. You tell her she can choose to eat or not eat, but breakfast is a minimum of 15 minutes and she must say in her high chair during this time. Set a timer for 15 minutes, and if she chooses to scream the whole time, that’s life. She may choose to get down when the timer beeps and not a minute before. If she doesn’t eat a bite, she’ll be nice and hungry for morning snack two hours later. Rinse and repeat. You’re letting a three year old run your household. |
Anonymous
This is a tough approach, but…yeah. Since you’ve gotten in the habit of allowing her down and following her with food, I wouldn’t start with such a long time. Maybe 7-8 minutes. No food if she isn’t sitting at the table. Also, one of the best pieces I got from a friend at that age is that toddlers aren’t hungry at dinner after breakfast, lunch, and snacks. |
Anonymous
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Expect her to eat one good meal a day at this age. Serve B/L/D plus morning and afternoon snack, but it’s normal if she houses one and picks at the others. (Just make sure snacks are real food and not puffs or pouches, or she’ll continually bypass the regular options to get to the junk food.)
DO NOT indulge this nonsense of letting her wander around being literally spoon fed. Serve food, sit and chat while she eats, then clear it the moment she signs/says “all done.” This is the time to start treating her like a person, not a baby. Let her sit in a booster, and serve her whatever you’re eating. (Person who says chicken for you and nuggets for her — WTF?!?). If you need to deconstruct something or portion out a bowl before adding the sriracha to the rest, that’s fine. But a family meal should be a family meal. |
Anonymous
OP if it makes you feel better my toddler is exactly the same. We gave up and let him "free range." For a while I was doing the spoon follow thing but most of the time I'm too lazy, I sit in one spot and let him come to ME. It takes longer but he's happy, not screaming, and eats a ton this way. He's only one and I'm hoping he will eventually grow out of it. How old is your daughter? I care more about him eating well than good "table manners" at this stage. Coincidentally there's less mess this way. Picking my battles.
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