How to deal with children's eating habits

Not a few parents experience confusion about their children's eating habits eating food for hours without swallowing it. Children can eat food for a long time. This condition can certainly test a parent's patience, even though parents' anger can cause trauma for the child. In addition, too often hoarding food in the mouth can increase the risk of choking and can affect the dental health of children. For that you need to find ways to overcome these bad habits.

Tips for overcoming children's eating habits

Clinical psychologist Rachael Tan, said the most important thing you need to do first to overcome this problem is to identify why children prefer to eat their food rather than swallow it. The best way to find the answer is to observe what happens before, during and after eating.

Here are some things you need to do to deal with children who have a habit of eating food without swallowing it:

1. Pay attention to the child's eating habits

If a few hours before eating the child eats snacks, maybe the cause of the child eating his food is because he feels too full to swallow food again when the big eating activity begins. Try to limit your child's snack intake before a big meal and see the difference.

Then, pay attention to the child's eating habits. Try to realize, do you often talk to him when he is eating? If so, maybe this is one reason the child continues to eat his food because he feels unfocused on his eating activities. Not all children can do two things at once.

For example, when your child is watching TV and you talk to them, they may be more interested in the TV than listening to you talk. Even though your child may stare at you, it doesn't mean that he or she is listening to what you are talking about. Likewise when you invite him to talk while eating.

To test this conjecture, try to talk to him only when the child has swallowed the food. Don't forget to give praise when the child succeeds in swallowing his food. If your child is motivated by the attention and praise you give, he will learn that by swallowing food he will get more praise than keeping it in his mouth for long. The child also learns not to speak when the mouth is full of food.

Finally, try to remember, is there anything that you usually order after eating that your child doesn't like? For example, taking a shower or cleaning the used food itself. If so, maybe this is the reason your child is extending his mealtime by eating food, namely to avoid the task.

Try to design activities that he doesn't like and really likes after eating. See the difference once you put these two things into practice. You can use an activity he likes over time to encourage your child to comply with other tasks he doesn't want to do, including eating. Talk slowly to the child and provide positive reinforcement so that the child is motivated and follows your instructions.

2. Invite the children to shop for the food they want to eat

Ask the children to accompany you shopping for groceries. Let the child choose new foods that they might like, even though the child may be attracted only by their color and shape. Getting him to participate in choosing the food he will eat may be a great way to reduce his habit of eating food without swallowing it.

3. Determine the duration of the meal

You can discuss with the child slowly to determine the duration of the meal. Install it timer or alarm and tell the child when the alarm goes off indicating that the meal is over. This does not mean to rush him, it helps teach the child that there is a limit to how long he has to sit to finish his meal.

4. Lure children to swallow their food by eating together

Another way to stimulate children to swallow food and avoid eating food is to eat together. Encourage the child to eat with you and try to show that you enjoy the food by biting, chewing, and swallowing it to encourage the child to do the same.

If none of the above work, maybe it's time you consult a child psychologist to help you solve this problem.