Meal times

[PeachBaby]

How much time do you allow for your toddler's sit-down-at-the-table mealtimes before ending it? How many mealtimes in a day do you have?

[momshelper]

I restrict meal times to an hour but provide small nutritious snacks in between. Say lunch is 12-1 then snack would be around 3-3.30pm with nothing until then other than a drink but not milk. I find this encourages the idea of "proper" meal times but still considers "grazers".

[crunchy_mommy]

Wow an hour? I think our mealtimes last 15 minutes tops. Breakfast & lunch are short, and end when the food is gone or is getting thrown on the floor. Unfortunately sometimes *I* eat half the food on him because I'm always starving and he only seems marginally interested... Dinner will take 15-30 minutes because DH is home, and ends when DS asks to get out of his chair. Snack time is anytime, and often involves walking around the house with food (not ideal IMO but works for him).

[caenach]

As much time as she wants, usually, I guess. Even if she's done eating, she'll usually prefer to hang out at the table with DH and I until we're done. If she finishes before us and wants to get down, she gets down.

We have 3 "mealtimes" during the day, usually, during which DD is offered food at the same time that DH and I have food. She usually doesn't eat much at breakfast (a little toast or some fruit). She's free to graze/ask for food anytime during the rest of the day. Usually she doesn't ask, but I try to offer snacks/veggies/fruits once between breakfast and lunch and twice during the afternoon. We often eat dinner a bit late and usually go to bed soon after that, so a post-dinner snack is not common.