Is your 4/5yr old a delay fish too???

[MomofIndigo]

My little girl is a delay fish when it comes to eating. Eating is a battle every night. Lots of bribing or if we are in a hurry, I feel I have to feed her. She takes sooooo long and while I do not want to rush her, things still have to get done at night. (homework, bath, practice reading, etc..)

Am I alone?

Which is making DH and I nervous about our upcoming trip. We are doing TS dining plan and after reading some Trip Reports there are several ppl that their child doesnt eat either.

Should we plan for 90 min to 2hrs each TS reservation? Is that not enough time?

Help?

 

[Lisa71]

Our dd is a slow eater..very slow..let her be slow. I would allow her to eat what she wants and offer to help of she wants. We do not do a "clean your plate or no dessert" type house. Not a fan of that as I would never get dessert and be 300lbs. We do a eat some of the protein items, two bites of xx and then we wait..if the kids have room they can have dessert. Our son eats quick and our daughter has always enjoyed a slow every bite. We budget our time around it and try not to rush her. She is thin and fit and eats just fine.

 

[rainboots]

My oldest is the Poky Little Puppy of eaters. But she loves to 'savor' food (her term & explanation).

 

[rainboots]

New phone. Hit send too early.
She is usually done at a restaurant when we are ready to go, because we are busy chatting and not rushing out, typically.

Can you ask the server to bring the children's food with the appetizer? I do that on occasion & it works out well.

 

[Schmeck]

Kids won't starve if they don't eat more than a few bites of their meal once in a while. If the concern is wasted food, ask your daughter (or track) when she feels hungry and schedule your biggest meals around those times. If she is pokey at every meal, she may just have a small appetite and not need to eat more than a few bites. You can also cut out some snacking in between if she is not hungry at meal time.

Generally, being a slow eater is better than being a fast eater. Fast eaters tend to over-eat while slow eater tend to get the full signal at a more reasonable time.

 

[MSSANDRA]

I think it depends on why it takes her soooo long. Does she really just enjoy eating slow and talking and ends up eating most of her meal, or is she just not wanting to eat and dragging it on and on as you beg her to eat? If she enjoys time at the table and eats slow but well, I would just relax and enjoy your meals at WDW. Buffets are great as you can get food as soon as you arrive and pace her though as you eat. At other places, an appetizer or as someone suggested, asking for her food to be brought out ASAP works well. When you guys are ready for dessert, I'd let her decide if she has had enough of her dinner and wants dessert or not. We don't make dessert a forbidden fruit around here. If she is just being slow in a power struggle, I would, at home, continue to serve meals at the pace the rest of the family eats, including dessert and when everyone else is done...she is too. If she is hungry, she will eat and if not...she should not eat anymore anyway. Kids need a lot less food than we often think they need. At WDW I would do whatever bending of the rules that need to be bent to make the trip magical. While I would never do this at home, at WDW if you don't eat enough dinner that means that there is more room for a mickey bar later!!!

 

[pheonixheart]

My ds6 is the same way. He is the baby of 5 and the only one who putters around when it comes to eating dinner! However after 3 trips to WDW with him it's an entirely different animal when it comes to eating. We also include more buffet/family style dinners so that he's more involved with picking out what he will eat. He is very much a meat eater and loves certain veggies. But dislikes any kind of potato (yes he doesn't care for French fries) for CS we always get something we can travel with so if we finish before him we take it with and he will snack as he goes. We also have ts places like teppan edo so he has something to keep his attention and entertain him a bit. He's a talker so as long as I remind him to eat as he goes on about whatever has his attention he does ok. .

 

[MomofIndigo]

My ds6 is the same way. He is the baby of 5 and the only one who putters around when it comes to eating dinner! However after 3 trips to WDW with him it's an entirely different animal when it comes to eating. We also include more buffet/family style dinners so that he's more involved with picking out what he will eat. He is very much a meat eater and loves certain veggies. But dislikes any kind of potato (yes he doesn't care for French fries) for CS we always get something we can travel with so if we finish before him we take it with and he will snack as he goes. We also have ts places like teppan edo so he has something to keep his attention and entertain him a bit. He's a talker so as long as I remind him to eat as he goes on about whatever has his attention he does ok. .

Thank you for that. She is our one and only and since children do not come with a handbook I feel like we are constantly in a dark tunnel trying to figure it out.

This will be our first buffet trip so I hope it goes well and that by her picking what she wants, she actually eats it. I guess we will just take some ziplocks to take bread w/ us in case she doesnt finish and gets hungry ...oh 30 min later LOL

 

[pheonixheart]

Thank you for that. She is our one and only and since children do not come with a handbook I feel like we are constantly in a dark tunnel trying to figure it out. This will be our first buffet trip so I hope it goes well and that by her picking what she wants, she actually eats it. I guess we will just take some ziplocks to take bread w/ us in case she doesnt finish and gets hungry ...oh 30 min later LOL

Very Welcome. . I have 5 and every one of them makes me scratch my head. When they're babies it's much easier (don't be scared) lol it's very much trial and error with kids and certainly what works for one may not for another. Snacks may be the way to go with her or she may find something she absolutely loves. Oh your post made me smile. We carried crackers everywhere when ds6 was younger. Lol. Good luck! You may find she does better bc there will be kids everywhere and she will see them eating?