dinner help

ucgrad

So, daycare unintentionally made me feel inadequate the other day. Apparently Sophia eats almost soley finger foods there. They asked me if she only eats finger foods at home and I chuckled and said no. I do alright on the weekends when I have more time but dinner during the week is tough. She gets home around 5:30 and needs to eat. Recently she has been falling asleep around 6:30. There isn't enough time for me to make dinner before she needs to eat and she is asleep by the time DH and I eat. So, my dinner plan for her so far has been, one jar of puree and nutrigrain bar, puffs, yogurt melts, or cherrios. How do I make time for her to have a "real" dinner? For tonight, I have some leftover spaghetti that she can eat. I'd like to stay away from a ton of pre-packaged food. Maybe this isn't possible. I just need help, I'm starting to stress over it.

idonthavethis

Sophia isn't even one yet so I honestly wouldn't worry about it. Dinner is the meal Ava eats the least and I think most kids are the same way (I think).

For dinners, Ava will eat pasta (spaghetti, ravioli, mac and cheese), she loves meatloaf/hamburgers, and most vegetables. If we make quesadillas with veggies, we'll just make her a cheese one and give her the veggies as a side. Oh and she loves pizza--I make the homemade on the grill, it's delicious, and will eat chicken too. Some nights she wants no parts of dinner and is happy to eat a banana and some puffs/Cheerios, etc and a string cheese. We don't give her packaged meals either and it's honestly not that hard to stay away them.

Please don't let them stress you out over this. At her age, she doesn't need to eat a complete "meal" like we would. At this point, just start introducing different foods to her and you will get to see what she likes. It will get easier!

jcsntms06

DCP makes me feel bad when I send Annabelle to daycare w/applesauce, puffs and oatmeal. Okay I have a box of oatmeal that I'm trying to use up, along with all of the purees too. I know DD loves to eat finger foods, but I'm not wasting the food, you know.

As for dinner, I usually feed DD at 5:00 p.m. yes, super early, she usually eats whatever we are having. Shredded chicken, cheese cubes, pasta, steamed veggies, bread. I know it's hard, but can you make any food on the weekend and just freeze it, so it's easy to heat up for her?

ucgrad

jcsntms06:

DCP makes me feel bad when I send Annabelle to daycare w/applesauce, puffs and oatmeal. Okay I have a box of oatmeal that I'm trying to use up, along with all of the purees too. I know DD loves to eat finger foods, but I'm not wasting the food, you know.

As for dinner, I usually feed DD at 5:00 p.m. yes, super early, she usually eats whatever we are having. Shredded chicken, cheese cubes, pasta, steamed veggies, bread. I know it's hard, but can you make any food on the weekend and just freeze it, so it's easy to heat up for her?

I actually hadn't thought of this, but it seems to be what a lot of people are doing. Maybe this is my key...

KatrinaDarius

Totally make the food ahead of time, or even save some from your dinner the night before.  I am going through the same thing...not enough time in the day to come home and make a full nutritious dinner before it's time for the DS to eat at 6:30!  I also keep vegi burgers and all natural chix nuggets on hand in the freezer, just incase I run out of dinner ideas, or we are having something that DS can't, or won't eat.  That way he gets his protien too! Plus, it is not the end of the world if your LO has dinner of cereal, yogurt and bananas once in awhile, especially if they are teething!!! LOL! (my current situation)

jnealet

First of all, don't let daycare make you feel bad!

Emily is a bit more of a night owl, so she doesn't go to bed right when we get home but we gave her fruit, steamed veggies, cheese, meatballs, pasta, eggs for dinner.  She ate pretty much what we had for dinner.

And if it was just me and her or just DH and her, then she ate whatever we could pull out of the fridge and put directly onto her tray. This still happens sometimes - the other night she had sour cream and plums for dinner.  Oh, and the past two days for breakfast she's had cream cheese - that's it, chunks of cream cheese. 

As long as they are eating something that is good for them, don't worry about it too much.

daisyterp

If it makes you feel any better- the mom of the 2 boys I watch used to send the oldest here w/ a can of vegetables for lunch, after he outgrew purees.  Yup, a can of veggies and not much else and he would eat an entire can of either beets (ick and OMG the mess!!!!) green beans, etc.  It was odd.  He also got a lot of leftover lunches- whatever they had for dinner the night before he would get for lunch. 

DD is 2.5 and there are still days when she eats almost nothing but cheerios and yogurt. 

If DH & I eat late, DD often ends up getting a single serving thing of Trader Joe's mac'n'cheese w/ apple sauce, etc. 

Also jcsntms06- your DCP might be making you "feel bad" about what you send because since it's not finger foods they then have to actually feed Annabelle and not just feed herself.

KathrynMD

Ella normally needs to eat by 7 (and we sometimes don't get home until 6:30 - so I don't have much time either).  I try to give her leftovers from our dinner the night before, but if we didn't cook or there aren't leftover, I just give her whatever I have on hand - cut up roasted turkey, some plain noodles.  I've never really mastered the whole "cook on weekends" thing, but I do try to steam a head of cauliflower or brocolli and then just dole for lunches and dinner over a few days, I also make beef or turkey meatballs, and keep frozen cheese ravioli and chicken nuggets on hand.  These can all be on the table in less than 5 minutes.  You can also do stuff like grilled cheese, scambled eggs, etc.  I wouldn't worry too much about giving her a "proper" dinner every night - Ella has pretzel rods and string cheese for dinner some nights - she doesn't care.  You can also ask your daycare to give Sophia a late snack - like a 1/2 hour before you pick her up - it may help hold her over.

jcsntms06

ucgrad:

jcsntms06:

DCP makes me feel bad when I send Annabelle to daycare w/applesauce, puffs and oatmeal. Okay I have a box of oatmeal that I'm trying to use up, along with all of the purees too. I know DD loves to eat finger foods, but I'm not wasting the food, you know.

As for dinner, I usually feed DD at 5:00 p.m. yes, super early, she usually eats whatever we are having. Shredded chicken, cheese cubes, pasta, steamed veggies, bread. I know it's hard, but can you make any food on the weekend and just freeze it, so it's easy to heat up for her?

I actually hadn't thought of this, but it seems to be what a lot of people are doing. Maybe this is my key...

I really need to take my own advice and do this. LOL!