Alex does this thing while feeding himself.
If I tear something up for him? He must have all of it. At once.
I tore up some string cheese into 8 pieces for him. I turned and made a comment to David. I turned back. My little boy had six pieces of string cheese in one hand, two in the other. He was alternating which piece he took a bite from so that he could still hold on to all of them without any getting too little.
Smart kid.
When I put down some Cheerios for him to snack on? He grabs a handful. I've watched. He grabs and re-grabs in order to get the maximum amount in his little paw. I've watched him.
Like this:
Flex. Scoooop. Clench. Measure.
Deem handful too small as part of his skin is left without food touching it.
Repeat: Flex. Scooooop. Clench. Measure.
Apparently he is so hungry that he must eat now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now.
He does this over and over until his pudgy little hand is so full that Cheerios drop out of his hand on the way to his mouth. Which is when I intervene.
I can't have food on the carpet.
So, I'm working on this with him. He needs to learn moderation and blah blah blah. We're working on it. You can bet after I stopped laughing, I pried 7 of those 8 piece of string cheese out of his hand. At which point he seemed less enthused about the whole eating process.
I've been worried about this. Will he be doomed to a life of obesity? Am I fostering bad manners?
So I'm working on it. "One at a time," I coo to my little eating machine. It makes me feel good about myself.
Until a day at work last week. It was 3 o'clock and I was very hungry. I shook some dry Cheerios on to a napkin.
I had to eat now now now now now.
I ate one Cheerio. Then another. Oh, I was so hungry.
Then I looked down at my hand in horror. It was moving almost of it's own accord.
It went: scoooooop. My hand was full of Cheerios that it wanted to shove into my mouth.
Turns out, I am a bad example. And a little piggy.
Also turns out, I'm not all that ashamed.
They were Cheerios, people.
Although, I'd like to clarify. The piggy the title refers to is ME.
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36 comments:
When you let them feed themselves (breastfeeding is indluded in this) they stop when they are full. This teaches them to listen to their body's cues. When you force food into a child and make them eat until the bottle or plat is empty, they learn to ignore their body's cues. They learn to overeat.
I think you are safe. As long as he doesn't spend too much time at the cheez whiz bar.
Don't worry about it. Oliver was the fattest baby you ever saw - his rolls had rolls. But now you can count his ribs and his shoulder blades look like wings.
I find the Cheerios rule works well with M&M's too. ;)
Ha! I tried the moderation thing yesterday, too. "I'm not giving you more until you are done with what you have. Open your mouth and show me. Ahhhhhhh." To which he opens his mouth, laughs and half a slobbery, masticated string cheese falls to the ground.
And he picks it right up off the toy store floor and eats it again.
I think I'll let him continue stuffing his mouth - its got to be healthier than floor food!!
LOL, Hayden does the same thing! It's like he thinks it's going to disappear so he needs to grab it all at once.
I agree with Kristen, when forced to clear the plate, the body cues are overridden. I think you're okay, especially when they are young. As long as the food is healthy and not all junk food.
Swap mini chocolate chip cookies for cheerios and it could be me too.
Oink.
Maybe if you two quit stealing food from your child he wouldn't feel the need to hold on to it at all times.
Noelle used to shove all the food in her cheeks like a chipmunk. I thought she was going to choke or something.
Don't worry about how much he eats now. My pedi has assured me eating habits are not really formed until about age 2.
And you are not a pig! Just time conscious. It is much faster to eat cheerios by the handful than one by one.
I also discovered recently that I provided an example that I wasn't too happy with. I overhead my 5-year-old daughter tell her 3-year-old sister, "Get into to bed. No playing. No touching each other. No smiling. No happiness. Just sleep. NOW." She sounded so mean! Is that what I sound like? Yikes!
I can relate to this one! "One at a time!" and "Chew, chew, chew" are commonly heard phrases around here. It's amazing what they can fit in their little mouths.
We are dealing with the same thing... Lucas has to have a mouth full and one in each hand of whatever it is he happens to be eating at the moment. I am forever saying, "chew, chew, chew" and "one at a time". Thank goodness we haven't had any major choking incidents.
X won't even eat it if you cut it in pieces. He wants the WHOLE cheese stick. Little pieces are for sissies!
That's what he says, anyways. He has no manners.
Lol, monkeyman does that too. Being a chunky momma I always fear him getting overweight...hope he doesnt get that from me.
And yes, to all of the above, John does the same thing with everything, his big hands work better than a digger and faster too! lol! I'm always thinking he's going to choke and images of my trying to get this clump of food out of his mouth goes through my head! UGH!
Mealtime can take FOREVER when they are feeding themselves, can't it??!
kids will eat til their full. i'm learning that w/ my daughter. sometimes i think she is going to starve. so i try to force it on her... but if she's not hungry, she's not hungry.
i hope my kids don't pick up my eating habits... or they'll be nibbling M&M's 5 minutes before dinner is on the table!!
that's okay. if you're a piggy, I'm a hippo, a hungry hungry hippo. nomnomnom.
I had to laugh because I'm so there with you. You'd think the second coming was minutes away, followed by 7 years of famine and they'd only have what they can stuff in their mouths this instant to last that entire time. Is it my OCD inherited to be hording? Only time will tell...
My son has been shoving as many grain puffs into his fist as possible and eating them one at a time like an assembly line. I was worried about possible hoarding tendencies. :)
Ha! There are so many occasions on which I watch my daughter do something, her mannerisms, the words she uses and wonder where did that come from, only to realize the oh so obvious answer - me!!! Great post.
I love it when we realize the old do as I say not as I do routine. Like "no you can't have a cookie that grandma sent home with you before dinner" and then they catch me with one in my mouth. Bad mom, very bad!
My kids went through this stage and then when they were old enough to walk around with the food the dogs would try to snatch it.
So they started shoving it in their faces and double fisting again. LOL
it could be worse, he could be hoarding them all away in his chipmunk cheek. My kid used to do that and 45 minutes later, he'd open up his mouth and two giant handfuls of whatever decent stuff he HAD been eating was now a gross, half-masticated mess.
And he's really thin now. So no worries!
My oldest ate as long as there was food. It was pityful, he always looked starved. Now, he's a skinny eleven year old. Nothing to worry about, keep shoveling it in, it is Cheerios after all!
I am SUCH a little piggy too. The image of his pudgy little hands is too cute.
No, you're not fostering bad habits. A love of food is AWESOME! My son has no time for it. It makes this little piggy's heart break.
Lol, I'm imagining this and it is hilarious! Avery also tries to grab handfuls of food but I usually cut her off and try to do the whole one by one thing. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't :-).
my son's a total fatkid too. he'll eat a whole pancake in two minutes--if that. sooo like his mama.
I eat like that all the time - I see nothing wrong with it. And Cheerios? Gross. That's why they invented Cookie Crisp.
you know, if you fed him more than once a day, he wouldn't have to do this... (I kid! I kid!--I'm sure you feed him at least twice in a 24 hr period...)
Haha, that is too funny :-)
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I have to stop myself from eating so much fast food because I'm afraid it's all my kids will know how to eat! I loved the image of your little guy with all that string cheese.
Exactly how do you plan to get through the toddler years without food on the carpet?
I think you need to by Wild Thing his own dust buster.
Sounds just like Ms. M...that kid eats just like Alex!
I think you would be disgusted if you saw my family eat. We are all piggies. And you should see our floor too.... Yikes!
I eat just like that too...is it wrong? Am I doomed to a life of obesity?
Laughing!
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