[Stormster]

I tend to believe that since E can eat by himself, he will eat what's in front of him until he's not hungry anymore. DH often helps him eat and E will keep eating if he's spoon fed. Does this mean I should be continuing to help him eat? He has slimmed down a bit but I feel like he was being stuffed like turkey before!

I'm not a believer in finishing everything on your plate just because it is there. I kind of feel like that's what we are doing when he's acting all done and then we start feeding him the rest. I want to respect his appetite "thermostat" kwim? Or is he too young to be completely in charge of his own feeding?

Thoughts?

[tweetybirdus]

Hmmm, Sabrina is pretty much in charge of her own appetite. If I try feeding her and she's all done, she'll start spitting it out and/or playing with it. I don't believe in the clear your plate thing either, but I do want her to eat some of each item and enough to fill her up.

[aclee]

I don't know, and was asking myself this yesterday. Granted Ty is younger than E, but I never know if he's not eating cause he doesn't like it (or thinks he doesn't) he teeth are hurting, or he's full.

Yesterday at lunch we put a LOT LOT LOT of food in front of him and he was scarfing it down. I was watching but not really paying attention. He's usually a mess so when the area is empty, it doesn't always mean he ate it all. So after refilling his "area" about 5 times with a bunch of food, I asked DH if there was a bunch of food on the floor on his side cause there was only 1 kernel of corn and one tiny peice of diced tomato on my side. He said there were 2 peices of hamburger on his side. WHOA. We checked the chair and there wasn't much of anything there either. So we kept feeding him. he kept eating and eating and eating. When we were done (after he polished off part of both our desserts) DH was packing him up and pulled him out of his high chair and there was a good sized chunk of hamburg in it, and DH pulls it out and puts it on the table, just cleaning up the chair. Tyler sees it, lunges for it, and shoves it in his mouth like we had never fed him.

Then their are time when getting 2 tablespoons worth of anything into him is like trying to get a dog to chew gum.

So I have no idea, but I would love to know at what age they can monitor their own intake...

[OakShannon]

Originally Posted by aclee

I don't know, and was asking myself this yesterday. Granted Ty is younger than E, but I never know if he's not eating cause he doesn't like it (or thinks he doesn't) he teeth are hurting, or he's full.

Yesterday at lunch we put a LOT LOT LOT of food in front of him and he was scarfing it down. I was watching but not really paying attention. He's usually a mess so when the area is empty, it doesn't always mean he ate it all. So after refilling his "area" about 5 times with a bunch of food, I asked DH if there was a bunch of food on the floor on his side cause there was only 1 kernel of corn and one tiny peice of diced tomato on my side. He said there were 2 peices of hamburger on his side. WHOA. We checked the chair and there wasn't much of anything there either. So we kept feeding him. he kept eating and eating and eating. When we were done (after he polished off part of both our desserts) DH was packing him up and pulled him out of his high chair and there was a good sized chunk of hamburg in it, and DH pulls it out and puts it on the table, just cleaning up the chair. Tyler sees it, lunges for it, and shoves it in his mouth like we had never fed him.

Then their are time when getting 2 tablespoons worth of anything into him is like trying to get a dog to chew gum.

So I have no idea, but I would love to know at what age they can monitor their own intake...

D has meals - and even whole days - when I have no idea where he's putting all the food he's eating! One recent meal he ate a whole sweet potato, a good portion of brown rice, tofu, steamed carrots and broccoli, some blueberries and melon and finished the whole thing off with a container of yogurt and wheat germ. I was impressed!

But other days he eats less. I figure that this is part of the way he regulates his food intake. Storm, if E is self feeding and stops, I probably wouldn't try to spoon feed it to him. I would just figure he was full. But that's just me. I agree with you that it's important not to get hung up on cleaning your plate.

When I spoon feed, I stop as soon as he starts to turn away or take the food back out of his mouth. That's usually his signal that he's done. If he keeps asking for more, then I'll keep feeding or refilling his tray until he loses interest. His weight has always stayed steady in the 55th-60th percentile so he must know what he's doing!

[CaddoRose]

I know with my own, I let them feed themselves. With kids that are healthy and have an appetite, they are able to regulate how much food they need. I only feed them if it's soup or something they can't pick up my hand. They will tend to eat more if I am sitting there feeding them.

[Stormster]

Originally Posted by CaddoRose

I know with my own, I let them feed themselves. With kids that are healthy and have an appetite, they are able to regulate how much food they need. I only feed them if it's soup or something they can't pick up my hand. They will tend to eat more if I am sitting there feeding them.

I agree. He will eat more when we feed him either to please DH or maybe just because it's fun.