my child roams while eating

You really need to have your child sit while eating. She may be too young to understand it, but try to explain to her that she may choke on her food and there may not be anyone around to see it happen. That is a great concern for anyone, and it should be one for you as well.

Certainly "INSIST" is wrong. YES it is pretty common, as the childs attention span is often very short. The SITTING is a discipline, socially accepted, most often adult driven, and it has reasons. The larger, more important issue is having the child EAT...PERIOD. By the way, whether they roam or are roped down to a high chair, which at 18 months they probably should still be in anyway,,, ENJOY isn't something a child considers. They KNOW what they like, and reject what they don't. Take a breath, stop stressing, keep HER from stressing, but monitor, not only what and how much she eats, but where she takes the food. The fact that her mind is MUNCHING as well as her mouth is not at all critical. Steven Wolf

my daughter is eight months old and she sits at a place whne she is really hungry and as soon as her stomach fills up a little she will start roaming around. This thing my son also did so What I used to do is while feeding them , I never moved from my place after them. I used to call them to me and they return and she also does when I call, her hopefully like it happened with my son she also will learn to com,e to food instead of food running after her,lol. You also do the same thing stop going over to her with food and keep sitting at one place , eventually she will come to you, may be you will have to feed her inthree shifts instead of one but keep doing that and in a week she will get the message that mom is going to keep me hungary if I don't go to her. Try feeding her when she is really hungry instead of fix time that also will encouraghe her to concerntrate on food and you will see slowly that only will match with your time schedule too.I hope it helps.

I would nip it in the bud NOW! If she wails to get out of her high chair, let her out but don't give her anything to eat. If you stand your ground she will soon learn. Right now she is learning that she is the boss because you are giving in to her. If you let her do this, you will have kids like mine. They leave wrappers, bowls and cups all over the house. Granola bar wrappers, cheese string wrappers, popsicle wrappers, popsicle sticks. The other day I went into my daughter's room and found 3 separate cups, all with juice still in them. Also, when milk is spilled on carpet it must be washed well because it will smell. Gross! My kids take their bowls of cereal around the house, put it down, then do a cartwheel or something and knock the darn bowl over. We have tried to insist they eat at the kitchen table but at 10 and 13, we are not there supervising their every move. I suggest you stop it now before it gets as bad as it has in my house. And like I said before, she is manipulating you. You have to let her know who is boss.

my daughter used to do this too. she has a hard time sitting still for anything and would refuse to sit at the table to eat. so i put her food on her little table and let her walk around and come back for bites. at first i did find that this helped her eat more. but after a while she got too busy playing and would forget to come and eat. so at age 3 i said enogh of that cause she wasn't eating anymore. i put her at the table and she sat there the entire meal and never asked to get down. we eat at the table every meal now. so i just think wait a few months, then try putting her at the table again to see if she'll stay. if she's eating i don't see why you can't let her walk around.

hmm its hard to say what to really do.my son was like that for many years and it can be very frustrating.turns out he has add tho. do you still have her highchair? maybe if you put her in it and watch her reaction.if she dislikes it tell her she can sit on a big girl chair if she stays in it-if not she has to go back in the highchair.

When the food is to be taken in you should sit at a place and your mind,body and intellect should submerge in silence so that whatever you eat would be digested and the food intake would suppliment the growth of the body,mind and intellect in a healthy way. This applies to all living beings, including the baby.

First off hun..you have to remember you are the parent.and u cant give in to things or she will always have u wraped around her pinky and know it lol..Its only common to arents that allow this..if u dont have a problem with it.go ahead..If u want her to sit in her chair and eat..make her sit there.,.and if she asks for food while walking..explain she cant that she has to sit..and when shes really hungry and learns your the boss about it..she will sit..i have been there,..and many many messes on the carpet and i wished that i enever let him in the first place..but i learned from my mistakes..but hun..its up to you..if u dont mind..thats your child and house and no one elses! but if u dont..ya best start now..lots of luck!

here in the USA we all roam around eating. its our way of life now i suppose. we are all running around trying to make a living, and there is no sit down meals with your family anymore-maybe once a month if that. Its what you call roaming and to us its normal everyday way of eating!

YEah You shouldnt let them walk and eat, Mine too were like that initially, but now I put on a Nursery Rhymes or let them watch a cartoon Movie. All they require is a diversion from looking at the food. Try it. It worked wonders for me.

I would agree that she needs to learn to eat at the table. It also is a good idea, because a child who eats walking around, will get to the point, that they will just eat at any time, which in turn could cause them to become obese. By having her sit at the table, then she will assoicate eating only when you are at a table. If she doesn't want to eat at the table, then let her wonder around but not with the food. She will come back. She may come back and forth, but eventually she will know that the only way she can eat is when she is at the table. Good luck. It ain't going to be easy however, you decide to handle it.

I've found that my son has to keep his hands busy, even if it's meal time. So I give him plastic spoons, plates, random things to handle while I feed him. Sometimes he wants to stand and play with the buckles on his chair, so I let him stand and feed him while he does this. I'm lucky if I can get food into him, he's also the same age, so this is what I have to do. I don't let him run around because it's a choking hazard and I hate crumbs being everywhere. What he really loves is if I give him a plastic glass of water and a spoon, he can play with that during the whole meal sometimes! This works great at restaraunts.

I have a 15 month old son and he does the same thing- if I out him in his highcahir he'll only eat a couple bites and then decide he wants out and he will whine until he gets out. He likes to roam around while eating too and while it annoys me, I also don't know what to do so I just let him do it because I want him to eat.

Have you ever heard of the book Raising Your Spirited Child by Kurcinka? In she talks about raising children that some may consider "defient" or "bad" but really are just extreme in one way or another. The reason I mention this book is because I am eading it for my older son, and the author mentions that her husband and son is the same way. Always needing to be moving around, cannot stay still even for meals. And really, an 18 month old just cannot be still long. They're not trying to be bad, it is just against her basic nature. And trying to force her to sit still for meal time at this young age will just cause resentment and anger. An 18 month old is not able to understand why she needs to sit still. What the author of the book said she did was to buy a chair on wheels for her husband to sit in at the table. He rolls around and squirms all he needs to while still staying at the table. But for such a young child, I would probably just suggest get used to graising for a while longer. By 2 or 3 most children are able to sit down for set meals and stay seated until done.

try to feed your baby while you are talking to him, get his attention like you are playing with him, you should think of any bright idea to make him sit and eat. and you should discipline her by saying sitdown, or eat together in one table and do not let her walk while eating.. i hope it helps

Is there a reason why you can't let her eat and walk around? Maybe you could let her know she can only do it in a specific areas so it's not too messy. As long as she's eating!

You need to put your foot down now. At this moment she's already getting in her head that she has you wrapped around her finger. Put her tiny butt back in that high chair and explain to the best you can that you can't run around the house like a monkey with food in your hand. You can keep doing this if you like to pick up cups, bowls, spoons forks, and trash all over the house. Just remember you are the boss, the quicker she learns this. The easier your house will run.

It is better if she learns how to sit down and eat in one place, because she is old enough to start forming habits. that can take a long time to break. You need to be somewhat strict with her on the subjects that she needs to learn and follow. I realize that it might not be a big problem, however, it is better that it does not grow into more reckless behavior. Try to slowly start enforcing that she sits and eats in one place. For example, get her a very nice place mat, from the store, and put it in her eating space. Also get her some child's plates and utensils, so that she can act like an adult. And, she can also eat with all of you, and see the correct way to eat. It is best to get her to stop the roaming, or it might persist, into something bigger. Good luck.

Hmmm, I never had this problem with mine. My problem was that they just wouldn't eat! Maybe you could have a look for one of those seats that fastens onto the edge of the table. I don't know how to describe them. They're a seat that you can fasten to the edge of the table and then take off when dinner or whatever is finished. They have straps to prevent kids falling out of them, and the kids can enjoy eating meals at the "big table" with Mom and Dad. if all else fails, try to keep all doors closed and maybe if possible put locks on them so you can at least try and limit the roaming to just one or two rooms where you can keep an eye on her. I hope you get this sorted soon.

I agree with many of the people who have replied; it's dangerous if your daughter continues to jump around and move while eating, considering the fact that she's only 18 months. I'm not a mother, but from what I learned from mine, you shouldn't give in. You have the authority, she's the one who has to follow the rules. Perhaps you should leave her in the chair -- let her continue screaming until she gets tired, then she will know that you are serious and she might even get used to the high chair.