2.3yo DD has just dropped her nap, but the result is that she's now very tired in the evenings and totally refusing to eat dinner. We've brought it forward to 5pm, but she's dead set against teatime at the moment and gets really stressed. She was a picky eater already and is now turning down pretty much everything, even pasta which was our "thank god at least she eats that" food. She's gone off cooked food generally, just wants sandwiches all the time. Her diet's fine, she eats lots of fruit, a good brekky and a cold lunch. But the evening meal is a wipeout at the mo, which is starting to mean a poor night's sleep, which makes it all worse...
My rational brain says it's all normal for her age - she can't sit still for long, she's learning to exert control, etc etc. But it's getting worse and worse, and I'm worried she'll never be able to eat a proper meal in her life if we cave and just let her survive on sandwiches.
Is this a phase we should ride out without making a fuss, or do we need to have a big push on getting dinner times back on track. And if so, how???
Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.
Behaviour/development
2yo has suddenly dropped all naps and won't eat dinner. Help
tinymeteor · 10/08/2016 21:13
This reply has been deleted
Message withdrawn at poster's request.
My DS is 2 this weekend, if he refuses a meal because of a tantrum/strip I clear it away and he is offered fruit and a yoghurt, and that's final.
She won't starve herself honestly, and if her diet is good, then a cold sarnie instead of tea to fill her up before bed won't hurt or a yoghurt and fruit.
I work I can't be doing with fussing and hassle eat or go without in my house 
I know I'm cruel haha
What is she doing instead of the nap? Would it help to have some quiet / resting time in the middle of the day with books or a bit of tv?
Regarding food I wouldn't give in too much - best just to serve whatever you're making and if they don't eat much of it they'll eat at the next meal. And maybe serve milk with the evening meal to make sure she gets some calories?
To cheer you up, someone posted something funny on Facebook the other day: "when feeding a toddler, I find it best to throw whatever you've cooked straight into the bin and give them a piece of cheese"
Hopefully just a phase and once she starts to cope better with no naps she will eat better in the evening again. When this happened with my daughter I made her main, hot meal of the day at lunchtime then let her have a sandwich/toastie/bowl of soup etc in the evening. We soon switched it back round again 
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.