- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Parenting
WWPD?
DD1 has grown to be an increasingly picky eater. Tonight, she took things to the next level for her. When she saw what was for dinner she shoved it into the sink and crumbled her bun on the floor. We told her she could not have dessert and she refused to eat her dinner the rest of the night. Do I send her to bed with nothing or at least try to give her a granola bar and milk?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: WWPD?
If this becomes an ongoing thing, you might want to pick an alternative option that you're comfortable with.
On nights when dessert is offered, he has to try at least 1 bite of everything on his plate, (and then finish his apple if he chooses it) in order to earn the treat.
DS is usually a pretty good eater, but he has gone through a couple picky phases. I feel like I am up against a wall a bit because he has always been so little, and I don't want to risk him losing any weight
I make sure I offer at least one thing per mealthat the kid likes. You have my sorries. My DD was a horrible eater . She got better sound age four.
See? I think so too. I feel it is something he was raised with whereas my parents allowed us an alternative.
Also, I love not having to battle at meal time. It cuts his whining off at the knees if I say that's ok, you can have an apple. Sometimes I think he just likes to fight me about food.
Married DH 7/30/11
CSC arrived 5/7/12
CHC arrived 6/2/14
At what point do you offer the alternative? After offering the meal again later if she still rejects it?
If it was a regular thing it'd be different, but in this case he wouldn't be starving. He'd be fine.
I've never had him fight about taking those bites. Usually he seems to be relieved he doesn't have to finish it all.
I'd say 90% of the time he eats most of his plate after an initial protest.
If he says he doesn't like something that he has before I'll usually say "that's funny, you liked it before." Sometimes he's messing with me and sometimes I'll habe changed something in the prep and he's noticed. Because I don't tell him he does like it, we don't argue about if he likes it or not. He knows he needs to eat a bit (I don't serve his hated potatoes or lentils) and that it is not polite to complain about food to someone else, like if we are at a dinner party.
Recently he's started eating new things (he snacked on raw carrots tonight! Yay!) he loves 'baby trees' and pretends he's a dinosaur to eat them. Mostly his issue is with meat, which I get. I've gathered lots of good ideas here and I hope I can fix it.
Usually though, when he won't eat supper he gets an alternate meal -- fruit, yogurt, peanut butter sandwich, cheese stick.
What do you do when you offer the food the first time and they refuse it? There's a little break between offering t to them a second time -- are they able to be excused from The table or do they have to wait?
Now if he has a hissy fit, he must go to his room and have a tantrum in there. Once he comes out he must apologize for the poor behavior and he can then either sit with us and eat or go play quietly in his room.
DS is a very picky eater, and is known to skip meals . I do give heavy caloric preferred meals in the mornings and afternoons (Pediasure, PBJs, Chicken Nuggets, etc.).
She just doesn't have the love for food that I have!
We do sit down dinners every night so its a routine for them from the beginning. Even the baby is in her bouncy seat at the table with us. I also have to limit their after school snacks bc we tend to eat pretty early. They get 1 small snack when we get home, around 3:30, dinner is usually about 5-5:30, & then they can have a snack/dessert after baths (what kind of snack/dessert depenends on how well they ate their dinner). Consistency works best.
I subscribed to the notion when it comes to food that the parent decides what and when and the child decides how much.
For breakfast, lunch and snacks our expectations were usually the same but dinner was hit or miss. I tried to have 2 dinners a week that were kid friendly and also have at least one thing on the plate that was a known winner. I tried not to worry about how much they ate at dinner knowing that they had generally eaten well throughout the day. Blatent misbehaviour at the table however was never tolerated.
If a kid of mine refused most of or all of their dinner, that was ok but if they came looking for food later on, I would direct them to their plate of uneaten food.
Now that they are a bit older (nearly 6 and 7) we insist they try everything and remind them that dinner is not just for eating but for enjoying each other's company. Dinner is typically without any drama now, I think staying the course was a good choice and has worked out for us as they eat or try a variety of foods and we can spend that much needed time sitting together as a family without distractions.
Age 3 is tough though, I remember have some success with my kids serving them on smaller plates. Sometimes I think facing a big plate of an unknown or unwanted food was too daunting. Making the plate smaller seemed more manageable for them. Sometimes.