How can i get my 4yr old to eat quicker?

[scross]

My 4 yr old can take up to 1 hour to eat his main meal which can be very frustrating. Pudding is normally eaten in minutes! Any suggestions as to how i can encourage quicker stress free eating!

We have a dinner-time dawdler too, but never up to an hour!

He just likes to talk and talk and delay putting the next mouthful in, and after every mouthful he says 'Have I eaten enough for a treat yet'

No solution I'm afraid, I just console myself with the fact that at least he is eating. Just very slowly.

I's say best leave it, as yes, at least he is eating (and enjoying?) it. He will probably speed up when he's bigger. LOL re the pud, though!

set the egg timer and when it rings that's it

I have the same problem with DD1 (3.5 yrs) and she can easily take over an hour to eat her breakfast (yuk, soggy cereal) or 2 hours to eat her dinner. I've been advised by health visitor and nursery to just leave her to it as trying to speed things up can lead to disaster. Pudding is gone is 5 secs flat and after every tiny morsel on her fork we 'get can I have my pudding now?'. Going out for a meal is a nightmare. At least we are not alone in our suffering eh? . Sometimes it drives me so mad I have to leave the room for a few mins just to regain composure . One thing I do when I have had enough is give her a 2 minute warning then take away what she has left (on the rare occassions she gets it back after much protest she's still a slowcoach, so I don't do returns now)

Incidently DD2 eats so quickly she frequently makes herself sick - is there no middle ground with children???

I used the minute minder on the cooker and set it for 30mins.

I started doing this because dd1 3.6yrs took an hour to eat half a slice of bread and a small piece of ham. I got so fed that meal times were taken hours to eat.

I set the timer and once it goes off anything left on her plate is taken to the kitchen. I only did for about 2 weeks, although she got the idea within a couple of days.

Now if she slips back into doing the realy slow eating i just say 'do you want me to do the timer' and she start eating properly.

ds is painfully slow sometimes....

but it is sort of good to take your time with food so i let him and clear up and do kitchen stuff..

if not an option then time limit and cut quantity he has to eat drastically

you dont always feel like eating all your plate though i do encourage and he is normally good and if they have had something

...dont really want food an issue so just ask if he's done really...

Thank-you for all your comments i was thinking of setting the timer so i think i shall give that a go.