Hi,
Been a while since I posted for help, but have a question for you all.....
I know many children are fussy eaters, slow eaters, reluctant eaters....we have the opposite. Our son wolfs down food at breakneck speed, often not chewing it more than once. His forkfuls are often too big and very occasionally, he makes himself retch or cough from over filling his mouth. On the positive side, he eats very well, has a varied diet and really enjoys his food. He is good at self regulating and knows when he has had enough. He's still very small for his age and suspect (hope) he is having a growth spurt, so is often hungry!
He has been with us for nearly 10 months, is 5.5 and was with birth family for most of his early years. We know, from things he has said to foster carers, that meal times were anxiety prone for him. Putting 2 and 2 together (as we do so much of the time, trying to piece together what his early years were like), we suspect his table manners were enforced through fear and physical threats or worse.
So it makes sense he might want to eat fast? It's also possible food was scarce and meal times were unpredictable so he has learned to eat fast or go hungry. But what I am hoping you might be able to help with, is to suggest how we respond. I find it hard to ignore. I worry he will choke, but I know we probably need to just relax and ignore it. We praise him when he eats at a more sensible pace etc.
Any tips, insights or shared experiences welcome, feel free to PM me if you would prefer. feeling a bit wobbly tonight.
TIA
x