On the rare occasion when I am feeding her alone, mealtime is great. Maddux calmly waits for each bite and I'm able to feed her at a normal, un-frazzled pace. But during the week when I'm feeding 10+ meals to two kids at once, hectic doesn't even begin to describe it. So my parenting 'guru' suggests we do what we're doing (telling her no, not feeding her when she screams), in addition to pushing her back from the table when she does that as a bit of a time out. This is what I'll be trying starting tonight. My anticipation is bleeding from the ears for all family members. Any other tried and true tricks for ten-month olds?
Monday, April 28, 2008
Suggestions Please!
Do I get a muzzle? Do I ignore her? Do I invest in ear plugs? All of the above? Maddux's volume is out of control!! Mealtimes are the worst because she uses her voice to (attempt to) get food. I do not feed (pun intended) into this at all in the house. I look at her and firmly say 'no', and then wait for her to stop yelling before I give her more food. Unfortunately this is not working well. 
On the rare occasion when I am feeding her alone, mealtime is great. Maddux calmly waits for each bite and I'm able to feed her at a normal, un-frazzled pace. But during the week when I'm feeding 10+ meals to two kids at once, hectic doesn't even begin to describe it. So my parenting 'guru' suggests we do what we're doing (telling her no, not feeding her when she screams), in addition to pushing her back from the table when she does that as a bit of a time out. This is what I'll be trying starting tonight. My anticipation is bleeding from the ears for all family members. Any other tried and true tricks for ten-month olds?
On the rare occasion when I am feeding her alone, mealtime is great. Maddux calmly waits for each bite and I'm able to feed her at a normal, un-frazzled pace. But during the week when I'm feeding 10+ meals to two kids at once, hectic doesn't even begin to describe it. So my parenting 'guru' suggests we do what we're doing (telling her no, not feeding her when she screams), in addition to pushing her back from the table when she does that as a bit of a time out. This is what I'll be trying starting tonight. My anticipation is bleeding from the ears for all family members. Any other tried and true tricks for ten-month olds?
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6 comments:
do you MAKE her sign more please or at least a combo of that before giving her anything. Like you know with Eli it will take A LOT of repetition but she will get it. Not sure what the "guru" said about isolation to her crib until she gets calm and self-control (I dont remember how old Noah was when we did that but after a couple of times he caught on). But I tried not to give him anything w/o him signing even if I was the one putting his hands in the sign
Talk to Michele - I know Grace is just as sweet as Maddux but loud at mealtimes too!
Just keep it up. I have found that it takes around 100 times of repeating something before it finally sinks into their little heads. It seems like an exaggeration but I'm sure you can attest that that's a pretty accurate number, too. I remember Maya grunting and screaming at the table and me telling her no and waiting for her to calm down or use her signs. Just be consistent and pretty soon you and Lehr will be saying to each other, "Remember when she used to scream all the time?" Hopefully that will be soon :)
We would not only push them back but turn them around so they were not looking at the table. I agree with Danielle ... It seems like it takes a lot of times repeating ourselves to get it through to them until their lightbulb goes off. I would also not (gasp) feed them if they continued to scream. One missed meal I figured would not hurt them and pretty soon (since they both LOVE food) they would quit screaming/grunting and start signing. Keep up the great work!
I don't really have any "magical" suggestions...I've been through it and am starting it again! Just stick to your guns - whatever method you choose. I think consistency really is key with kiddos.
My 10 month old gets her feelings hurt so easily...when we tell her anything in a stern voice, it's the end of her little world! Quite different from my son's tenacious attitude!
I wish I had some advice. Peyton my 5 mo old is so loud at meal times. He is the opposite though he hates to eat and I think he gets loud because he doesn't want the food. So when he starts acting up he is done. I would agree that consistancy is key and whatever way you want to do it just stick to it. I wish you luck and if it works let me know. Mealtimes are always the most stressful for me too.
We're going through the exact same thing... my 9 1/2 month old will clench his fist and grunt/scream until I feed him more. We started teaching him to sign "more" but he wasn't getting it. What he does get is clapping. So we tell him... as he claps twice... more please. One clap for more and one clap for please. It's working out very well. We don't make him clap for every bite but we make him clap when he has screamed/grunted to communicate that his food isn't coming fast enough or that he wants more. He isn't as frustrated either because he knows what that means now and I'm not as frustrated because he's not yelling at me! Hope it gets better. I think this is a hard stage. My first time going through it but discipline seems hard at this stage for some reason.
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