Will he starve?

blushingbride_08

I gave my LO dinner last night and he refused to eat. He knows that I usually cave in and give him what he really likes to eat which is not as nutritious. Plus he he underweight. well i did end up caving in since I didn't want him to go to bed hungry. Do you think toddlers will really starve themselves? 

caseycritchley

He will get hungry and when he is hungry enough he will eat. Dont worry. I give in if lo.has had a long day out due to me or if he is sick or teething but 99 of the time ge eats whats for.dinner or he doesn't which doesn't happen he nay not eat it right tthen but 20 or so minutes latter he eats it.

ktpaladino

You're overthinking this. One night of not eating is not going to starve your child. Even if it becomes a habit, you are not going to let your child starve. Stop having junk in the house to give him. If you eat healthy,  just give him what you're having and the problem is solved. If there aren't things that are "less nutritious" around in the first place, he eats the good stuff and there's no issue. Some other things to try are moving his snack/lunch earlier to make sure he's really hungry by dinner time. And don't let him fill up on lots of liquids in his sippy before dinner either.

TiffanyBerry

No, they will not. Neither will an adult, barring additional medical issues.

What you are doing is teaching him that he can have whatever he wants to have if he is just more stubborn than you are. 

thechickencoop

Stop giving in!!!!  That is one thing I put my foot down on in our house.  DH was raised like that (his mom doesn't cook much and they lived with his grandmother who would fix him whatever he wanted, usually hot dogs or mac & cheese).  So NOW, he is the pickiest eater and it drives me crazy.  I vowed to not let this happen to DS.  You just have to make sure that whatever you're fixing can be baby friendly (ie, take some out for LO if you're making something really spicy, etc), and is healthy (at least somewhat).  Someone posted this one time and it's perfect:  It's up to us, as parents, to choose what we offer LO, that it's well balanced, etc, and it's up to LO to choose to eat or not.  DS will not starve if he missed a meal or too.

Aurora_Borealis

No, toddlers will not starve themselves.

DD gets 3 meals a day, plus 2 healthy snacks. Unless she is sick, I don't negotiate regarding food. She gets what is on offer otherwise she would eat nothing but crackers all day long.

Jess8589

Oh heavens no! Most toddlers go through a phase when they don't eat a lot. There have been a few occasions where C won't eat dinner and wants to play instead. So I let him play and he never complains that he is hungry. Other times he will eat everything but the dog. I'm not worried. And I sure as heck don't make multiple things or give him crap to eat to make up for it. He'll be fine. Just wait until he's 16 and his grocery bill alone will be 200.

Dustilou

I have worried about this too, but no the will not starve. I started breaking up our DS (who is the smaller of our twins, and is usually underweight too.) meals. We have mini pancakes or scrambled eggs in the morning, but then I give him a fruit (blackberries are his favorite food) and he only gets that after he eats his main offering. Then we usually have a mid-morning snack (cheese or crackers ie:graham sticks or goldfish (whole wheat), then after nap lunch I have been giving them grilled chicken bites and fresh snap peas..(yes they like to open them and eat the peas) but the its a half banana or apples for mid-afternoon snack. But dinner they have the same thing we will. Just a smaller portion. I found the more interactive they are the better they eat. If I show them a choice they will pick and actually eat. I hope this helps, but just have options and I know it's hard not to cave in, but stay strong.