I have seen some babies being fed opening their mouths eagerly, wanting to be fed as fast as the parent can shovel the food in. Our children are not like that.
For example, about 3 days ago I started feeding Luke green peas (mashed up, of course =). He will eat for about 10 minutes, needing lots of breaks to look around and spit out the peas I put in his mouth. About half of the time when I put the spoon up to his mouth he will keep his mouth closed or put something else in it. I have had some small success with giving him the loaded spoon and having him put it in his own mouth, but then he ends up gagging half the time. After a few minutes (probably less than 10) he is struggling to get off my lap, wanting to walk and crawl and do anything other than eating.
This behavior does not end with infancy. Amanda (who has her own issues with food) usually eats about 3 bites of dinner before wanting to get down and play, and she has no trouble with not coming back to eat. Eleanor will sit at the table for 45 minutes while eating half a piece of toast.
I'm not sure where they get all their energy (one friend says "air and sunshine," the old joke says "from their parents,") but they seem to have plenty. And if this keeps up, I definitely won't have to worry about the obesity epidemic, although I recently read that if your friends are overweight you have a greater chance of being overweight yourself. Perhaps I should take them to visit some of their heavier firends to see if peer pressure actually works.
For example, about 3 days ago I started feeding Luke green peas (mashed up, of course =). He will eat for about 10 minutes, needing lots of breaks to look around and spit out the peas I put in his mouth. About half of the time when I put the spoon up to his mouth he will keep his mouth closed or put something else in it. I have had some small success with giving him the loaded spoon and having him put it in his own mouth, but then he ends up gagging half the time. After a few minutes (probably less than 10) he is struggling to get off my lap, wanting to walk and crawl and do anything other than eating.
This behavior does not end with infancy. Amanda (who has her own issues with food) usually eats about 3 bites of dinner before wanting to get down and play, and she has no trouble with not coming back to eat. Eleanor will sit at the table for 45 minutes while eating half a piece of toast.
I'm not sure where they get all their energy (one friend says "air and sunshine," the old joke says "from their parents,") but they seem to have plenty. And if this keeps up, I definitely won't have to worry about the obesity epidemic, although I recently read that if your friends are overweight you have a greater chance of being overweight yourself. Perhaps I should take them to visit some of their heavier firends to see if peer pressure actually works.
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