Watching toddler eat

[lauren3110]

My DD (2 years old) doesn't want anyone to watch her eat. If we look at her while she is eating she will stare down at her plate with her head down and say "no mommy/daddy watch". This has been going on for a few months. I don't want her to start with eating issues at 2 years old! Why is she doing this?

[LMPC]

Unless she is verbalizing other issues regarding eating, I might chalk this one up to toddler quirkiness. My hesitation would be to make a big deal out of it or draw attention to it and thereby reinforce something that may or may not be there. If this was my DD, I might just say "okay" when she told me not to look at her...see if it goes away by kind of ignoring it.

But I know what you mean about not wanting to start of food hang ups early. DD eats a lot (and she's this little bitty thing) and she eats a lot of food you would think little kids wouldn't eat (hello, olives stuffed with garlic). So the other day, my friend says to her..."Wow, you sure do eat a lot!" WTF?! Luckily DD paid no attention and I asked DBF not to say anything like that again...she apologized, but really?! Who says that to a little kid?!

[♥ms.pacman♥]

Unless she is verbalizing other issues regarding eating, I might chalk this one up to toddler quirkiness. My hesitation would be to make a big deal out of it or draw attention to it and thereby reinforce something that may or may not be there. If this was my DD, I might just say "okay" when she told me not to look at her...see if it goes away by kind of ignoring it.

But I know what you mean about not wanting to start of food hang ups early. DD eats a lot (and she's this little bitty thing) and she eats a lot of food you would think little kids wouldn't eat (hello, olives stuffed with garlic). So the other day, my friend says to her..."Wow, you sure do eat a lot!" WTF?! Luckily DD paid no attention and I asked DBF not to say anything like that again...she apologized, but really?! Who says that to a little kid?!

i totally agree with trying not to make a big deal out of it, as this could totally be one of those random toddler quirks that make no sense, that will hopefully pass soon. sometimes my son is afraid of or has a strong aversion to random things that we can't make sense out of, and then in a few weeks it's completely gone. for a few days last month he screamed his head off in terror as we were going to give him his bath ( i had never heard him cry so hard over something)...we couldn't figure out why..and then a few days later, magically he was back to his happy self enjoying the bath and splashing around as usual and begging to stay in for longer.

About the friend comment tho, i wouldn't blame the friend too much... Friends say things like that all the time to my son (who is also a skinny little thing but can eat a ton, and eats things like olives, fish, green beans etc). I never thought to read anything negative about those comments at all, in fact i believe they mean it as a compliment in some sense.. i know my nephews when they were my sons age, they barely ate and it was a huge struggle for SIL and BIL to get them to eat anything besides chicken nuggets and chocolate milk..so when they see a toddler actually eating foods their kids wouldn't dream of touching, they feel compelled to say something.

[pepa]

My 11 month old eats better when I am not looking at her, I think she kinds of feels the pressure of eating when Iam beside her encouraging eating, so I just place the food in her tray and I eat mine or do something else beside her, I try always to talk or sing to her so she doesnt really feel left alone, and think that being in the high chair its fun, (I hope):cheerleader1: but at the same time I let her be so she doesnt feel pressure to eat eat eat

[wellyes]

Mine went through that phase, just roll with it.