Frustrated with feeding time

Honestly, I just assumed they all did that. H certainly did, but I didn't make too big a deal out of it and he just outgrew it. I never really thought he was being defiant, just that he was exploring texture (and perhaps trying to determine whether or not the laws of physics applied to him.) When he started dropping the food or playing w/ it, I try one or two " We put food in our mouth" or "Food is for eating, not dropping" . If he was still fooling around w/ it, I figured he was finished eating, cleaned it up and got him out of his chair. He doesn't really do it anymore. I could be wrong, but I think the key is the parental reaction (I had to edit this---I meant "your" in the universal, "all mommies" sense, didn't mean to criticize your particular reaction!) I've noticed he eats much better if I sit w/ him and talk to him the whole time. If I'm distracted or trying to do something else while he's eating, he's worse about feeding things to the dogs or dropping stuff on purpose. *Book recommendation that might help her get the idea: How Does a Dinosaur Eat His Food?

Hi, Yes, it might be the idependence thing, and looking for a "reaction", I know our DD finds it most amusing when I react, grrrr (Must be some toddler-sport to get the folks to react to the Defiant Look! lol. ) Sometimes I just want her to "get it', I don't like cleaning up messes, but at this stage (your DD's stage) it largely is about them. When DD starts playing with her food she will usually say "yes" when I ask if she's done. If she says "no" I remind her to eat it or let me take it, her choice. sometimes she just really doesn't eat that much, much less overall than she used to. I try not to let her know she's irritating me, seems to lose interest. Something that has helped me with all kinds of stuff like mealtimes etc, is that it seems DD is on a constant quest for knowledge, always always! I try to see it through her eyes: what is she learning from this? textures, how to throw/aim, gravity, how it feels to smush cheesy hot dogs in her hands, what does it feel like to wear my juice, how can I cover the entire tray etc. No matter what the situation is for us, if we can keep her mind engaged in a preferable type of learning we're all happier. hope that makes sense... Or, lastly, she's tired, and I'm only frustrating myself to consider trying to reason with her hope maybe that helps a little, Max

I do try to be patient with her and try not to make a big deal out of it. At first I thought it was that we were not sitting down with her all of the time when she was eating (ex. I would be in the kitchen emptying dishwasher, etc, but not sitting down). Now I sit with her and I think it is worse. I should have mentioned earlier that this is VERY out of character for her. She is usually very good about everything although she is definitely wanting to be independent. Yeah, she has her usual tantrums about other things, but eating has never been an issue. I would think that this could mean that she is done eating, but sometimes it occurs at the beginning of eating and not just after she has been in the high chair for awhile. Oh, well, I guess we will just have to ride this one out:grr:

First, I have to laugh at the title. Using the term 'feeding time' is a great explaination of the situation.With the exception of his 1st birthday cake, our oldest never had issues with being messy at meal time. Boy did that set us up.Our second did great and from the time we started solids at about 6 months until he hit 2. Then it was like he was making up lost time. We had to outright stop giving him some foods. For example, applesauce. He would 'body paint' with it. While he has settled down some, he cannot be trusted with some things without constant supervision. Just Sunday he had to play squeeze the spagetti through the fingers.When we go out to eat, we make sure to order him things that will be food rather than art supplied. I have had to leave some large tips to offset his messes. We are really hoping that the switch will be tripped again when he turns 3 in about a month.