CM CLUB - Please help?

[LoveMyGirls]

HI, am hoping some of you may be able to point me in the right direction with a 2yr old mindee i have, he chews and spits his food out, either onto plate or on the floor, it's not the mess i mind it's the fact he's chewing it and spitting it out which means hes not eating it and its disgusting and i do not want my dd2 copying him, i have taken to sitting them facing oposite directions as she is younger than him and copies (she has such beautiful table manners which i have worked hard on) I've tried ignoring, telling off, not giving pudding nothing is working and he's just laughing at me which is annoying me most. I have spoken to his mum and she says he does it at home with certain foods and she doesnt do anything about it just clears it up.

He has days when he is such an angel then others where this habit along with everything else he's done that day is a bit annoying.

What can i do to discourage this behaviour? Bearing in mind he is a fussy eater and i do want him to eat so just taking his plate away and him going without is not an option - btw this is what i would do with my own children if they did it.

LMG does he do this with all food?

I would take the food away from my own children if they did it. I'm not too sure what I would do with a Mindee though. Is he just 2 or nearer 3? I am just wondering what his level of understanding is.

I must admit the only real cure I would have would be to remove the plate each time it happened explain why. Get the child to agree he wuldn't do it again, give the plate back -and then something like 3 strikes and the meal has ended. But that would be for my children. I haven't had the issue with a mindee.
I must say I got shot down in flames not too long ago when asking what was reasonable to expect from a 5 year old re manners so I might not be the best person to advise

My son did this for ages, but I used to make him go to the bin to spit it out, I dont know if thats better or not but I never used to make a fuss just tell him to go the the bin and then return to the table. He did it if he put too much food in or if he didnt like something, I dont think this really helps you but he did grow out of it eventually, and if his mum isnt bothered by it then its hard for him to get with another set of rules at your house, this is one of things that bugs me about CMing!!!!Good luck with it.

He's just 2 but he knows what he is doing is wrong, he seems to be doing it on purpose. I wish i had mum's backing to be honest but she doesn't think it's a bad thing (well not bad enough for her to tell him not to do it)

He does it mainly with bread which he does like and will eat, he doesn't do it when at toddlers if he has a biscut or toast, only when he's sat having lunch (i dont have him for dinner)

Maybe just give it to him a bit at a time I know its painful and time consuming but if it stops him it will be worth it for your dc s sake and you

Do you think he isn't hungry after eatting at toddlers groups so is playing with the food? Is it possible to eat later and see if that helps?

Can't eat later as his mum has just said he can have his day time sleep back (which is great as that wasn't really helping) Will have to make sure he doesn't eat later than 10.30am and limit the amount he does eat when we are out.

My son used to this all the time. He would chew it and then spit it out. If you told him not to spit it out he would kep it in his mouth and be sick everywhere...it was not usually with foods he didn't like...it could happen with anything.

To start with I was mortified and used to make a fuss and get cross...but I realised my reaction was making it worse. So in the end I used to give him napkins and if he felt he had to spit something out he had to spit it in the tissue. I also changed our rules from eating all your food to just eating what you want..BUT if you don't eat the vegetables and a reasonable amount of everything else then you don't get pudding.

With a combination of rule changes and him getting older it isn't a problem now.He is 6 now and only does it probably once a month... He still gags very easily on foods and is sick when eating very ocassionally.

Hope you manage to deal with it
Jenna

My ds2 (age 4.7) does this, he has ocd & sensory issues associated with possible autism, but I just have to be very firm & consistent.
If he spits back his chewed food I just remove that item from his plate, with a clear NO spitting X eat nicely, if he does it a second time I remove the plate.
There are some foods that he does it regularly with, bread & banana are favourites, so I avoid giving him these foods & generally find a break from the foods he enjoys spitting helps break the habit, if only temporarily.
Good luck

YAY SUCCESS! Mindee managed not to make a mess! At all! I gave him less food, gave him half an apple about 10.30am and then praised and rewarded him for not making a mess, he even ate his yogurt and bana after without making a mess and i praised him loads for that too!

Congrats