How to deal with a sloooooooww eater?

[Daffodilly]

DD is 2.7 and eats sooooo slowly. I have just nearly died of boredom sitting with her to eat her tea! We eat together at breakfast and lunch and that is no better (though slightly less tedious for me as I am eating too).

She chats (non-stop), plays with her food and generally takes her time. I don't expect her to gulp it down silently, but over an hour to eat one course is unacceptable IMO.

She will eat up if I feed her - but I am reluctant to continue this at her age and I will soon start weaning DS and can't be spoon feeding them both! (Can I?)

Any other people successfully overcome this problem?

My dd (2.6) takes forever to eat too. It is a nightmare as I work full time and over 45 mins to eat breakfast is a struggle for time. I have never fed her - did blw - so can't comment on that as a way to solve it. If you really need to shorted meal times, could you just get her down after a certain time? She would get it in the end, I suspect? I have just lived with it, as dd was tiny as a baby and is still small and so I feel it is the best choice. Sorry if no help - but do sympathise!

Thanks for that. I have more patience some days than others.

Sometimes I use it as a chance to do other things - pop in and out of kitchen (she sits in dining room to eat as we only have tiny galley kitchen) preparing other food, washing up, etc. But I feel a bit mean leaving her sat on her own to eat.

Bumping for you. I have seen other slow eaters out, there must be others who can help you!

Fortunately we have a single room as kitchen/ living/ dining room so I can spend the hour baking, washing, doing other chores and chatting to her. I guess that won't work for you. Will you feed your ds at the same time/ in the same place? Will that help her to be a "big girl" a bit more??

i have resorted to a timer

i give 30mins to eat a meal, and at 3 and 6 this is more then enough time - i sit with them

if very slow, i then put the timer on for 10mins (so 40mins in all)

if timer goes off before they have finished, then tea goes in the bin, and nothing else to next meal

sounds harsh but works

nursery/school give 30mins to eat and often dc 6yr will say dinner lady told me to talk less and eat quicker

i reply, then talk less