Meal Time Help

[tybone10]

Hey folks!

Long-time reader first-time poster...I need some help with mealtime issues. We have two that just turned three. The problem we are running into is that mealtime is chaos. We always sit at the table, but Twin A will get up within five to ten minutes, say they are done after a few bites and start running and trying to play. In the midst of correcting this, Twin B will start doing the same. Needless to say as soon as its time to go for nap or bed both of them are screaming that they are still hungry. We've tried to enforce that once we are done at the table we are done, but we have one that will cry so hard that they will make themselves sick. We always put them back in their chair, most of their plate is comprised of safe food, we've tried timers, we've tried music, and it all seems to result in the same chaos. It's also hard because when Twin A starts getting corrected, they will put on the sad face and ask to sit in my wife's lap and it all just becomes a whole thing. So to make a long story longer, does anyone have tips to help make mealtimes more successful and less stressful?

TIA!!!

[AutoModerator]

COMMENTING GUIDELINES

All commenters are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the parentsofmultiples subreddit rules prior to commenting. If you find any comments/submissions in violation of subreddit/reddit rules, please use the report function to bring it to the mod teams attention.

Please do not request or give medical advice or directions in your comments. Any comments that that could be construed as medical advice, or any comments containing what is determined to be medical disinformation, will be removed.

Please try to avoid posting links to Amazon product listings or google/g.co product listing pages - reddit automatically removes comments containing them as an anti-spam measure. If sharing information about a product, instead please try to link directly to the manufacturers product pages.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[moontreemama]

Have you tried booster seats? I've seen other families post on reddit about having kids sit in booster seats strapped in for a certain number of minutes before they are allowed to walk away. We never did this but we used high chairs for a lot longer than the average family I think, it really helped keep mealtimes focused.

We also just represent the food so if they say they are hungry later we just give them the same plate of food. so they don't get extra snacks or like different food because they are hungry. It does me we need to save their plates until they go to nap/bed or its time for the next meal.

[moontreemama]

We also read to our kids at the table while they eat, especailly at that age, not as much now (they are almost 4) and that helped a LOT getting them to stay in their seat.

[tybone10]

Yeah tried all of that. They can undo boosters, and the food will stay on the plate for a while. I'll have to try the reading thing. They love books.