To lose my will to live watching my baby eat

[Goldfishshoals]

My delightful 8 month old loves eating food. Slowly. Oh, so slowly.

Can I spoonfeed in a few peas? No. Every pea must be picked up, inspected, dropped three times, chased around the tray and then put in the mouth. For two or three minutes of chewing. Then the next pea...

I love that the baby will eat anything, and really seems to enjoy it, but three times a day I have to sit through s-l-o-w eating torture.

I don't want to cut her short if shes still hungry, or make dinner times seem stressful, but I feel like I'm losing the plot.

I'm not sure how spooning food into a baby's mouth teaches them to use cutlery.

I did BLW and my kids have perfect table manners, no fussiness, perfectly polite.

I agree that BLW babies turn into perfectly civilised eaters. If DGD is hungry food disappears fast and unless she is in a ridiculous mood is a pretty tidy eater. Over the weekend she managed her dinner in a cafe, sat at the table, no bib without any mess to the environment. It was a defining moment after years of the aftermath of each meal resembling some experimental art installation.

My 8 year old is barely any faster. My heart sinks if she announces that she wants more breakfast if it's any less than 45 mins before we have to leave for school. She's so PONDEROUS. DD2 is a bit better.

Watching a toddler eat is sheer agony, though.

I have the opposite problem, my 12 month old can't get it down fast enough. If she's feeding herself, she stuffs it in so fast and drinks a whole cup of water. If I'm feeding her, she moans if I'm not quick enough with the spoon. She doesn't bloody chew anything though!

My 7 month old shout for more food while he has food in his mouth

All the angst over BLW vs traditional weaning makes me laugh. Once they get to 6 1/2 months, which is barely after you've started weaning, they want to start self feeding anyway.

When I had to watch a friends baby squish up cooked breakfast with runny egg in front of me it made me want to throw up. I have a very high gag reflex. Just can't bear to watch children squash food in front of me