childs eating habit driving me nuts !!

[cinnamondanish]

Need some help on this one.
The little boy I look after is just over 2. When he was younger he ate well (as they all do)and I made him lots of home cooked food that he wolfed down. Now he is older his eating habits are changing (as they do) but he has one habit that is driving me nuts. When I serve him certain foods he keeps the food wadded up in the side of his mouth and won't swallow properly. He sits there like a cow chewing the cud and each mouthful goes on for ages. Tonight we sat at dinner for 45 mins and he had only eaten three mouthfuls. I've started serving him the same food as his older brother as he tells me he's a big boy and so things like fish pie have been swapped for fish fingers and bolognaise is served on top of pasta instead of being mixed through. When he starts being fussy and won't eat what I put infront of him I do the old trick of putting his pudding on the table and saying he can have it after he's eaten, which works, but I'm at a loss as to how to get him to chew and swallow his food instead of wadding it up in his mouth. He has juice with his meal and washes the food around in his mouth then swallows the juice and keeps the food in his cheek.
It's driving me nuts !!! Advice please.
Thanks

Cant help, but if you ever get a answer let me know!

Over 30 years of Childcare, I always seem to have one going through this stage.

(they do grow out of it, and I find the more you make of it the more they do it !)

I would try(and I know that I have no reason to beleive that I would be right as two out of three of mine are very fussy)completely ignoring him at mealtimes

I dont mean ignoring him really but never mentioning the food, just serve it and then chat

its very hard, very hard

I know I should do it but haven;t it

I always seem to have at least one going through what I call the hamster phase. Not much help from me apart from ignore it and leave plenty of time to eat. It can be really frustrating though.

One of their parents got so frustrated at home that they put their pudding and a timer on the table and if the alarm went off before they finished eating, then their pudding went off the table too.

HSMM.....that's exactly what I did in one of my last employments (with the parents permission of course!!)

E (male) was about 2 and a half, maybe a little older, when he started doing this - it went on for MONTHS. His mum suggested the timer. We went out and got one that he could set himself. It was put in front of him (set for 30 mins) at the same time as his meal and he was told that if his food wasn't eaten by the time the ringer went off, his main meal AND dessert would be removed.

He soon cottoned on and was eating his main meal AND dessert within the 30 mins in just under 2 weeks!

They are fast little learners

Very annoying I agree.

Perhaps try cutting his food up into small chunks before serving it (same for the brother only larger chunks to avoid competition!)
Then he will have less to chew.

I wouldn't make an issue of it and maybe if you have time read a story at dinner time to them to take his mind off whatever he is doing but keep reminding him to eat his dinner.

I also find the whole post box thing works. Can you post a parcel to 'brother' ask the brother what he wants...'oooh a football' and get the little one to post the parcel of food into his mouth then choose another parcel. 'quickly, eat that one because 'Joe'wants his parcel...what do you want Joe?'.

Good luck if it's not one stage its another!!!
I have 10 around the table at my house!

Thanks for advice.
I do ignore him when he's making a fuss, read a book at the table or write the diary, so there is no eye contact and when his brother finishes I tell him he can go and watch tv and this usually spurs on the little one to get a move on. I have been through it before with other children but like most of you haven't found a sure fire way to solve the problenm. Will persist and grit my teeth. Thank God that this is only a little thing to irritate, my nanny friends have it much worse than me with their charges, and mine are very sweet and well behaved.

The dreaded hamster phase!!

We tend to ignore it with gentle encouragement while the other children are still eating and then when all other children have finished set the timer for 20 minutes. If food isn't all gone after 20 minutes (sand timer so can see the time left/gone). The food goes in the bin and no pudding, "because they're obviously not hungry enough. Oh well never mind, maybe at dinner/breakfast their energy meter will need filling up". No fuss, no row, and nothing till snack time which will always be a "boring" snack.

We all have energy meters on our tummies that only I can see and you need energy from food to keep the meter high to run, jump etc.

have also done the 30mins, with easy to read analog clock.

when hand gets to top (30mins after starting) and my watch goes beep, thats it. nothing else til next meal.

works within a couple of weeks

its just a phase that quite a few children go through

i have a little hamster :)

45mins the other day to finish last mouthful

doesnt happen at every meal, just every now and again, and eventually she will swallow it, but gawd so tedious

i dont give juice at meals times, but have water and once finished meal if they want they can have a glass of weak juice

i have done the timer for older two, but with babs 2.5, she would happily spit out mouthful, and not have pudding/nothing till next meal, so making her sit and finish last moutful works better

funny thing is, is that she will happily eat rest of meal, but something about last mouthful - i dont mind some being left on plate but she needs to finish what is in her mouth iyswim before getting dwon

DS (nearly 4) is doing this at the moment, although not as drawn out as some of your LO's here (45 mins??!!) He'll slowly stuff and stuff and stuff into one of his cheeks until he gags and finally swallows or spits it all out! Some nights he'll only have 3 or 4 forkfuls at dinner in this manner.

One of my mindees went through this too periodically - it used to take well over an hour to eat a tiny bowl of cereal in the mornings (luckily I wasn't doing any school runs then). One morning she kept the final mouthful tucked into her cheek for two and a half hours until snack time when she spat the gloopy mess out to accept a biscuit....!

yep 45mins and she sat there and finally swallowed

doesnt matter what it is, has been pasta/carrots/sandwich

also op does mb/db feed him after you have gone, so he knows if he doesnt eat they will feed him

i would stop juice and only give water till earnt juice iyswim