Baby eats too fast!! Any tips?

[sleepylion]

Hey there,

my daughter is 14 months. I stopped feeding her purees months ago as she was ready with her hands. But she never got the knack of chewing before stuffing another load in. Shes always in a kind of panic and a rush, and has her eye on the next mouthfull before she's eaten the first! Sometimes she fills her mouth to to the max, and then realises she can't swallow that much food and spits it all out at once! And most of the time she just seems to swallow the food whole and is onto the next one.
I tried giving her one piece at a time, but she gets angry as she wants full control of the platefull of food herself.

Asides from this she loves food and is a great eater. So I'm lucky. But sometimes I wonder if I should go back to purees to save her digestion!

Does anyone have any useful tips I can use to encourage her to develop a more steady and healthy pace and habit?

Thanks!

Loopy

Don't go back to purees. But do make sure there is nothing she could choke on if she doesn't chew it (like a piece of toast crust)

I think most kids go through this a bit. I give them their own plate and spoon, but only put a bit of their meal on it at a time, if necessary I hide the rest behind something else on the table. It is pretty yucky to watch them spit it all out, but my 3 have all spit it out and then picked it up a bit at a time and eaten it. it is a learning process, and it they learn through trial and error how much their mouth can hold. How many teeth she has might be part of it, a mouthful of good molars is pretty efficient, but it is slower to munch with gums, so she is too impatient. I would say stick with it, give her the food in stages (leave the rest in the kitchen and give her just a small helping in the bowl.

Honestly, having a good eater is such a blessing, don't worry about it being a bit chaotic, she'll get there.

oh thanks so much steppemum great advice. I will hide the food and give in smaller portions as you suggest.

Yes the point about teeth - she has only had 4 front top teeth and 2 on the bottom front for months now! No sign of any others coming through! Wierd - I hope that's normal! But could definately have something to do with it.

I agree with steppemum - my youngest ds is exactly the same and will grab a sandwich and fold it til it's corrugated small enough to be stuffed into his mouth in one go! I've had to resort to giving him less on his plate and adding more once he's eaten the first lot..and also making things a bit smaller in size, like mini sandwiches etc...it's a bit of a pain but he's got into some horrible gagging sessions if I don't do that!