3 yr old won't eat on his own

[nursinmamaa]

I have 4 kids, a 16 yr old, a almost 6 year old and a just turned 3 year old along with an 8 month old. Since the littlest one was born I have seen some reverting in the 3 year old. Right now it is driving me nuts. He won't eat. He will tell you he is hungry and then will not eat unless someone feeds him. It is driving me nuts.
I don't always have time to sit down and do this. I am a SAHM and DH works alot so is not there for nearly all of the day. It pretty much is just me and the three young ones all day.
Part of me thinks if I let him go, he will eventually eat, but will he? Would that be mean? He gets alot of attention in reality but this seems to be his strong hold here. How do we get beyond it?
Jill

[Sasharna]

With my 3.5 yo we call this "let's pretend you're a baby." While we're pretending, I indulge him in all the ways he wants. I rock him, feed him, play little piggies, whatever. If I don't want to do it right now, I can say "I don't want to play that game right now. Let's do it later." That way, there's a clear beginning and end to the baby activities and they don't drag on throughout the day.

[Multimomma]

Originally Posted by nursinmamaa

Part of me thinks if I let him go, he will eventually eat, but will he? Would that be mean? He gets alot of attention in reality but this seems to be his strong hold here. How do we get beyond it?
Jill

Honestly, I just walk away with a 'eat when you want, see you later'

Of course, i have eight kids. I just can't do anything else.

[bluets]

my 4 yr old sometimes still reverts into "mama, feed me please". he certainly did this a lot more when he was 3. for my little guy, it was a phase - he still wanted to be a baby (sometimes)...

your situation is totally different than ours, so take whatever might work for you...

during the week, we eat breakfast and dinner together (dh and I both WOH so ds goes to full-time daycare). i know he feeds (fed) himself at daycare, so it is not that he is incapable of doing so. one solution was that we would let him make the attempt until we were pressing our time limit - to get onto the next activity (leaving or after-dinner play) - and then i would feed him. i then transitioned to having him eat as many bites as his age on his own (3 bites for a 3 yr old) and then i'd assist if he needed/wanted help beyond that (the "open the barn door" game).

on mornings/evenings we had time, i'd read a page in a book and then he'd take a bite (as would i) before i turned the page. usually he'd eat more than usual this way.

[RiverTam]

He'll feed himself, if you refuse to do it.

If he refuses, I would leave the food on the table and tell him to eat when he is hungry. He'll go back and eat when he gets hungry enough.

[Ruthla]

Could you get one of the older kids to feed him?

[One_Girl]

Will he try to serve himself if you are sitting with him and talking to him? Is he worried about the mess? Do you have regular mealtimes or are meals just served whenever someone is hungry? I think you should start by having a meal or two each day where you sit and eat with him and he has a chance to see everyone using utensils without worrying about mess (if this isn't something you do already).

My dd gets really clingy and regresses in many little ways when there is to much wishy washy, anything goes time for to many days in a row, she really likes to have set meal times and know pretty much what is going to happen each day. Is it possible that this is a symptom of something like that?

[Evan&Anna's_Mom]

He wants you to actually put the food in his mouth or he wants you to serve it to his plate and then keep him company. For the first, I think I would definitely say "nope, you are too big for that now". If the second, then it seems entirely appropriate. I think meals (or even snacks) eaten in the company of other human beings are much nicer and I try my hardest never to have my kids eat alone.