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Toddlers: 24 Months+
jshf
member
Letting LO go hungry
jshf
member
When did you start letting LO go hungry if they refuse a meal? DS is pretty picky and so I have been offering him an alternative to our family meal. DH thinks that we need to eventually just let him go hungry so he will learn and eat what is given to him. But I am thinking that being picky is a normal part of toddler development and that when he is a little older, he will be less picky. Any thoughts on this?
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Re: Letting LO go hungry
DS just started getting picky a few months ago. If he suddenly refuses something that he`s eaten and enjoyed several times before, then he just doesn`t get dinner that night. If he`s not eating something new that might be too spicy or something then I`ll cut him some slack and make him something else.
He went through a stage a few months ago where he`d refuse to eat. We`d just let him go hungry and the phase passed.
I am very leary of catering to picky-ness. My mom did this for my brother b/c he refused to eat anything and now he is 34 and my mom STILL makes special meals for him at family get togethers! It's ridiculous and I refuse to ever do that! LOL
Even with foods she loves, some days she eats a lot and others she hardly eats. On days she eats a ton I like to joke she must be growing that day. But I asked the pedi and she said it is completely normal for them to eat a lot and alternate with hardly eating at this age. (I had asked at the 2 yr old appt bc I felt like she ate more and consistently more when she was only 1-1.5 yrs old). So you really shouldn't feel bad if some meals he doesn't eat much.
We only make 1 meal, but there is always at least 1 thing she likes to eat that is offered. Tonight was chicken sour cream casserole with rice and peas. She basically only ate the rice and peas, which I expected. She will normally eat chicken, but not when it has the sauce all over it.
We try to do this too. DS is very picky and it was tough for me to let him go hungry, but really, he was picky no matter what I offered, so I figure he can be picky within the meal I make, kwim? So I'll make a meal with a few different foods/options,including something he's more likely to like, and then let him pick and choose what of those options he wants on his plate. And if that's not good enough then he doesnt eat.
Around 1yr-1yr4m I stopped getting some fresh fruit for DD if I didn't think she'd eaten much but that's all I ever did. If she doesn't eat dinner, which she often just picks at it, then I figure she'll eat more at breakfast. She eats a hearty breakfast and has great snacks and usually lunch during the day. I don't worry about it. Pedi said a healthy child won't starve themselves and DD is not a petite little thing. She's over 97th% in height and 60-75th% in weight.
I should add that DD has been on table food since 6 months. We never did spoon feeding. If she picked it up and put it in her mouth she ate and if she didn't she didn't (she was breastfed still). At first she got her own options that were big and appropriate and what not but that didn't last more than a couple months then she was getting what I made for dinner for DH and I and that was that aside from the fresh fruit.
DH & I eat dinner after DS goes to bed, so we are preparing a meal for him anyway. DS is very picky. He pretty much only eats carbs. It was a big concern for us. We tried the "this is your one meal... if you are hungry, you will eat it" thing but didn't have success with it unless it was the weekend and there was more time for his hunger to take over. During the week, we only have an hour & a half with DS before bedtime so it wasn't enough time for him to realize he was hungry.
We talked to our pediatrician about it and he said that doing the one meal offering thing is fine, but that we didn't have to feel bad about giving DS what he wants to eat (usually chicken or mac & cheese for dinner) since he will very likely grow out of his pickiness. He said that in 25 years, he has only had one kid reach adulthood still eating the same 3 food items.
As soon as we started giving my daughter table food, we went by the policy - we offer healthy choices, she chooses what and how much to eat. Usually there is at least one thing we know she'll eat. There has been probably 10 or so nights total that she literally eats nothing, but she'll still drink milk. It's never affected her sleep or mood, so clearly she's really not THAT hungry.
Weekends she eats much more because we don't really give her snacks. She has a HUGE snack at daycare around 3:15 so lots of times she's really just not that hungry for dinner lately.
I cannot bring myself to let my child go hungry, I just can't do it. We have been a little more strict about not making several separate meals, but I almost always make one thing that I know Tegan will eat. I also give her yogurt, applesauce, etc. if I feel like she didn't eat much of her meal. I also give her a sippy of milk or even Pediasure if I feel like she really hasn't eaten enough. However, I have a small child, who's had trouble gaining weight since the very beginning. She doesn't eat much to begin with, so I really try to make sure that she, at least, eats something every day.
this is how it is for us too.
dh was concerned that M hasn't been eating much (If anything) at dinner the past couple weeks...but then he asked dcp how they ate there and she told him they eat breakfast/lunch like its their last meal and have seconds and thirds of everything...so clearly missing a dinner here or there isn't going to effect them all that much...
Like pp's said we offer at least 1 thing we know she likes. Our pedi told us that as long as she is eating at least 1 good meal a day and drinking her milk not to worry, toddlers will only eat when hungry.
Not to be gross but if DD hasn't pooped all day--she won't eat a lot until she goes. It is as though there just isn't any room for her to eat and after she goes she will eat her entire next meal.