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Thursday, July 10, 2008

Mealtime Fun!

A typical mealtime with Luke is starting to become quite frustrating for me. Can he use a "pincer grasp"? Yes. Can he pick up a piece of fruit or bread and then get it to his mouth? Yes. Can he feed himself a whole cracker? Yes. Could he make mealtime easier on himself & me? Yes. Does he? NO!
What happens? Well, to begin, he gets put in his high chair & gets excited (arms waving, squeal of delight) as his bib is put on him & he sees the food being brought out. I usually try to begin with some fruit (trying to set a healthy example) before giving him any meat/bread/etc. & as I'm cutting up the bananas/grapes/pears/etc. I place them on his tray. He does a wonderful job of picking up a piece & eating-a couple of times-usually until I stop cutting up anymore. Once I stop, he continues picking up the food & begins ever so casually lifting it up, moving his arm over, & dropping the food on the floor. He then completely stops trying to pick anything up by himself & looks at me with that "Well, feed me lady!" look & then proceeds to squeal (high pitched, eardrum shattering squeals) when I don't start feeding him myself. (Wasn't he just doing it for himself-why does he think he needs me to do it all of a sudden?) So trying to be a good mom, I try to encourage him to do it himself again by putting the food in his hand & moving his hand to his mouth where he then eats the food out of his/mine hand. I feel as if this is the wrong move, but I've tried not doing it & he just sits there & doesn't even try to eat anymore. Now I have read that this can be the baby's way of telling you that he is full, but he's usually only had 2-3 half slices of banana/fruit at this point-I can't believe that my 10 month old child is actually full after so little food! Eventually, Mommy gets tired of all of this trauma drama & just gives the kid a cracker because at least he LIKES to feed himself one of those & she can get a much needed REST before the next round of eating begins! Is that so bad? (At least it's a multi-grain cracker, so it's a bit more healthy!)

1 comment:

Jamie said...

What I can't get over is the absolute mess that each meal is. Seriously, Bo needs a bath each time he eats and it drives me crazy!! Any hints for making meals less messy?? :)