Doesn't want to eat when it's time but hungry 10min later?

CD+AL

DS has been in this phase lately where he'll say he isn't hungry when it's lunch/snack time and refuses to eat.  10min after the food is gone and cleaned up, he is of course hungry.  I've been refusing to get him something else to eat and making him wait until the next meal/snack time to give him something else even if I have to fudge the time for the meal/snack w/o him knowing to make it a little earlier if he really is getting super starving.

I thought it would be better by now if I just stuck to my guns, and I suppose it is better.  But it's still a continual problem.  What am I missing here?  I warn him when he refuses to eat that he's not getting anything else until meal/snack time, and yet it continues to happen. 

Today it's particularly bad b/c he doesn't want anything but Easter candy, so he's throwing his demands for more candy into the mix and trying to hold out to see if I'll give in and give him more candy, which I have not done.  He does typically get to choose between a couple of options that I give him, so it's not like it's an issue of not having any say in what he eats.  However, this is not a restaurant, and I don't want him grazing all day.

BTIP10

Sounds like he is just testing you. It's tough- I was in the same boat not too long ago/just getting out of that boat. HA. Seriously, stick to your guns and don't give in. He'll hopefully give in soon! GL!

brightning

My DD has definitely been doing the same thing as you. And I'm also doing the same thing - saying the kitchen is closed until the next snack (which I might make a little earlier). I try not to make the snacks too filling, though, because I want her to eat at meal times. And also like you, I thought it would pass faster than it has!

So I guess what I'm saying is that I really don't have an answer! But it sounds like you're doing good things and hopefully he'll get the message sooner rather than later!

franciscaz

Food is a real control issue for Harmon so I can sympathize (it has been so bad that at one point he refused to eat all but fresh fruit and 3 other items).  We have some hard rules though and that has kept us sane that we learned in his feeding therapy.  We have set meal times and when he doesn't want to eat he still has to sit at the table with one toy.  In the morning and at lunch if he doesn't eat he goes hungry.  Also around age 3 we cut out most snacks (if he does have a snack it is a handful of grapes) in our home which has made a huge difference for attentive meal time.  

At dinner if won't eat but he is hungry later he still is only offered what he was offered.  That meal we won't let him skip or he won't sleep. We also give him a choice in his food between two options during breakfast and lunch.  Finally we love desert and so if he wants desert at dinner he has to eat his meal right than b/c there are no second chances for desert.  That is when for example we would give him a couple of his Easter candies.  It is the only time of the day he gets sweets.

 Hope some of these ideas help.  GL! 

lmdbww

I feel like DD has been playing this game since we started solids, it's so bad and it makes me so stressed out. lol  I am really trying to stick with it but it's so hard!

ArcticFox

I try to stick to just meals and A snack in between, but if she claims she is hungry, she can always have a fruit or veggie.  For me, fruit or veggie trumps other foods or eating times.  She can also have a squeezable fruit or like a fruit smoothie (like a little bit of an Odwalla type drink). 

April37

DD does this all the time.  I save her plate and if she tells me she's hungry, she gets offered her plate again.  If she doesn't finish the food on her plate, she has to wait until the next snack/meal time. 

jlw2505

Sounds to me like you are doing everything that I would do.  Don't give in - snack/meal time is at a set time period.  If he choses not to eat then, he has to wait until the next time.  Can you get him more involved in the prep and decision making.  We have started making grocery shopping a family trip which I admit - is not always easy with a 3 and almost 5 year old - but it gets the girls more involved in the food that is coming into our house.  We ask their opinon on what they want to eat that week when we are making the menu and shopping list.  I always keep foods that they can eat at levels in the pantry or fridge that they can get.  When its time to eat, they will sometimes just go pick one of those items.  They both take a before breakfast snack to school/daycare since they get there about an hour before breakfast is served and I do the same thing - I have yogurt, Nutra Grain Bars, cheese sticks and fruit where they can go and pick what they want for that day.  I mix the snacks things up a bit when they seem to be getting bored with the same old options.