Quote From: kt101369My three year old son will eat almost anything, but he takes HOURS to eat a meal. I've had to sit with him through the meals, because I found that if I left the table to do other things, he bores himself and starts fidgeting, fiddling, etc and/or gets down from the table. I have no TV on, no toys, etc., but he still gets distracted. He takes close to FIVE minutes for EACH bite before he swallows to take a new one.
I'm a single mom, and I can't stay up all night (nor can he) to get him to eat. I've tried everything that I've heard from, don't worry, he'll eat when he's hungry (that appears to be finally at 3 am, literally), to have the tv to capture his attention while he eats (nope, just more distraction apparently).
I feel like it's an odd disorder as the chewing is almost obsessive, and is what takes him so long to eat. I thought maybe it was just the meat he was chewing like that, but nope, it's pasta, rice, vegetables, anything that' s the slightest bit solid. He eats yogurt quickly, but that's not enough to satisy him anymore, as he was waking up in the middle of the night for more food.
HELP...does anyone have ANY suggestions????
Kim
Just give him a time limit, something like 30 min to finish his meal, If he can't finish it with in 30 min just wrap it up put in fridge and when he gets hungry thats what he gets!
Even if it's breakfast, just heat it up! The same thing all day long, until he gets to eating faster.
Beleive me, after a while he'll get sick and tired of eating that way and speed up!
I run a day care and I have a child who eats very slowly, so when it's time for snack time, she gets the meal that she didn't eat! I think I had to do it for 1 week and wow she eat faster now!
Just don't give up!
P.S. If he wakes up at night don't give him food, put him back to bed!
