22 month old terrifies me when she eats

Charlene - posted on 12/16/2012

I have began allowing her to feed herself more often. She is doing much better with this and it is absolutely making her eat slower because she still hasn't perfected using her utensils so it takes longer to pick the food up, meanwhile she is chewing what she managed to get into her mouth. She still stuffs large amounts into her mouth with finger foods but I supervise and discourage this habit. Slowly, things are getting better. I am so proud of her though. She is doing so much better and actually chews when I say "chew" and slows down when I tell her to.

Sarah - posted on 12/07/2012

Both my kids did/do the same thing. I just let them go at it, with my supervision of course. My daughter, who will be one January 1st, knows when she has stuffed her mouth too full. She will pull some of it back out. Sort of disgusting, but it works. As for the using utensils. They have to learn that. It is a fine motor skill doubled with hand eye coordination. My 2 year old almost always uses utensils now, but when he is trying to scrape the last few bites, he actually uses his hand to place the food on the fork or spoon. It is all something that has to be learned, not stuffing their mouth, chewing and using utensils. Good luck.

Lilla - posted on 11/06/2012

I had the exact same problem with my daughter. Luckily she is a lot better now (she'll be 2 next week). I still don't give her apple as it is, as she only likes it with cinnamon, so I either grate it or cook it as a fruit soup with peaches or plum, cinnamon and cloves. I still cut most of her food up and she self feeds with spoon (messy lol).

Sarah - posted on 11/05/2012

In regards to using utensils... I would try helping her learn how to use the utensils by standing behind her, cup her hand over the utensil with your hand and physically show her how to guide it from the plate to her mouth.



I have to agree with Julie, it might take you handing over one bite at a time or you could just tell her if you keep eating bites that are too big, your meal is finished. If she is a good eater like you say she is, maybe it will only take you taking her plate from her once to learn to take smaller bites. Love and logic is a really great book that I turn to... That's what the book would suggest. I do this because my daughter is a slow eater and messes around... I tell her if her dinner plate is getting picked up at 6:00pm whether you are finished or not. It actually works! She missed out on 3 slices of orange one time... and she always eats.

Charlene - posted on 11/02/2012

Julie I don't know if I can feed her anymore during the day. She eats breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, snack, dinner. Because there are so many hours between her lunch& snack, I always give her a snack before dinner. Her snacks are things like applesauce, banana, fruit cups, bread with cheese slice. She is a really good eater. I can try putting one bit at a time in front of her.

Julie - posted on 11/02/2012

Try feeding her more often and place one bit at a time in front of her...

Charlene - posted on 11/02/2012

I have tried the utensils even buying the tiny "toddler" spoon & fork set. She is so extremely awkward with them. Most times, she doesn't even scoop up any food at all so I really only give her the utensils when she is eating scoopable foods like mashed potato or easy to pick up foods like string beans etc. or on the weekend when we aren't on a schedule to get to bed early. But that doesn't stop her from shoving food back to back. She cries & no longer wants to eat if I try to get her to slow down.

Sarah - posted on 11/02/2012

Have you tried only allowing her to eat with a spoon or fork? You said her eye-hand coordination wasn't quite there... but if she "practices" using her utensils, maybe it would slow her down a bit instead of shoveling food in like so many kids do. I understand you would have to be there right next to her, encouraging her to use them and making sure she is doing ok... but from the sounds of it, you already have to.



My daughter is the SLOWEST eater known to man. When she was her age, she would literally eat one pea at a time... it would drive me nuts. But she was a slow eater partly because she insisted on using her utensils.

Kristin - posted on 11/01/2012

If things don't get better with her eating and chewing maybe consult a doctor. I was very paranoid with all three of my kids and my youngest did choke when she was a year old thank god I had taken CPR course as for apples and such I give my kids fruit cups and drain the juice. They taste pretty much the same and won't present such an eating hazard. Now my youngest who is 18 months now eats much slower but I'm still cautious lol

Charlene - posted on 11/01/2012

Yes Kristen. I feed her most of the time myself because she has not yet figured out the scoop food/guide food into mouth thing quite yet. It's only when I try to give her that freedom to do it herself but with my supervision...like when we go to restaurants or during her after school snack. I don't give her apple slices because I'm afraid. And she loves apples! I will resort to chopping things into much smaller pieces.

Kristin - posted on 11/01/2012

My little girl who is 18 months had an issue with shoving as much food in her mouth as possible so i made extra sure i cut everything into very little pieces and only give her a little at a time. She is slowly getting better with tasking her time eating but she doenst like to chew her food either, so thats why she gets little pieces so she cant choke. If all else fails just spoon feed her yourself little quantities of food until she learns to chew and swallow and not rush eating.