Bored at mealtimes!!!

[bobsi]

My 16mo dd eats pretty well but gets very bored at mealtimes. I always give her finger food and try to spoon feed her something at the same time. The trouble is she woolfs down the finger food and then I have a battle on to spoon in the casserole/pasta sauce/stew etc... She knows how to use a spoon and will spoon herself about 2 or 3 tiny mouthfuls but then gets bored and the spoon ends up on the floor along with everything else she trys to get her hands on ie plate, small toy, wipes etc.... then she whinges through the rest of the meal. We get there in the end but I feel exhausted at the end of every meal :-)
I'm not too concerned as she's showing signs of using a spoon and we get to the end of each meal having eaten pretty well - I'm a first time Mum and just want to know if this all sounds normal to all you pro's.

I eat my meals so quickly that I would always beat ds, but I would be tempted to just let her play with the casserole until you had finished and then bath her whilst you dh/p cleans up!

She sounds absolutely fine. Whatever you do, don't make meals a battle ground.

A little older - but it may work - we introduced the rule 'no getting up from the table 'til everyone is finished. We tried to eat quick, then make a bigshow out of 'mummys finished, daddys finishes, Dd finished (eating that is - not cleared the plate) - noe lets go and play'.

It helped me relax, that she knew she couldn't get down. I never made an issue of what she ate - if she likes finger food, give her more finger food. Make your stews/pasta etc a bit drier and chunkier, and perhaps she'd maange to eat the with her fingers.

i think eating with fingers shows greater sensory appreciaztion of foor than spoon eating - she's enjoying the feel of the food.

Sounds very normal. At that age I'd let dds away and play once they got fidgety. They ate so quickly (like most small kids) that I'd've got indigestion trying to keep up with them.

my DD2 is 16months and sounds the same
she can manage a spoon, but prefers to eat fish fingers, bits of chicken, carrot sticks etc. all with her fingers. quite often she will only eat one item from a meal (very annoying!) but overall in the day she eats well so i don't worry. (DD1 was a pain to feed, so she is great in comparison)

i often end up reading her a book at her little table to keep her there and get some more food into her.

i think she's too young to understand "wait until we're all finished" etc. i am trying that with DD1 who is nearly 3 with varying success.

sounds normal - their stomachs are only the size of their clenched fist so she is eating well.

They eat fast - you get used to it!