Where do you draw the line re child eating habits?

[ItsABeautifulDay25]

Just struggling to be consistent with DS7 as I can’t decide where my boundaries are and/or what to do for the best?!

We’re in that period where food that was previously eaten with no fuss e.g. bananas, now has him crying at breakfast because I chopped half up to go in his cereal!

Decent home cooked meals are left half-eaten because he’s full, only for him to declare at bedtime he’s still hungry.

I don’t want to create any food anxiety by ‘forcing’ him to eat stuff he doesn’t like, but also I don’t have time (and I’m not going to) create different meals for everybody.

It’s not every meal, but he rarely clears his plate, so I question my portion judgement… until he declares he’s hungry again 🤦‍♀️

How do I deal with this? What are my rules or boundaries?? Thanks

Get him involved in food preparation.

Just plan a bedtime snack every night e.g. banana or slice of toast and glass of milk right before teeth and move the screen time to after school rather than after dinner.

Tablet for 30 mins before dinner and no more after. Hunger at bedtime sound like a delay tactic, start offering supper before he goes to bed.

5pm - 6.30pm is quite a wide range/variation in time for tea to be ready. And given that wanting to play on the tablet can be an issue, Is it possible to reduce that to aiming for tea to be ready between Eg 6pm - 6.30 with the tablet time ending at 6pm, then there's no incentive for him to rush tea, plus eating later might mean he's less hungry at actual bedtime.

So potentially a gap of 2+ hours from dinner to bed? That’s quite a long time and seems perfectly logical he might be full up when he finishes dinner but hungry again at bedtime. If he eats half of it that suggests he isn’t being fussy about the meals themselves. If you can I’d make dinner consistently a bit later so more like 6/6.30 than 5ish. If that isn’t possible some nights because of clubs or something then offer some toast or a banana before bed to pre empt him saying he’s hungry once in bed. I’d play with your tablet rules and set an overall limit for the evenings e.g. 30 minutes (or whatever you deem appropriate) rather than the 6.30 cut off because that’s just incentivising him to rush off from dinner. At 7 he should also be able to handle waiting at the table until everyone has finished so I’d be implementing that as a rule. So nothing to be gained by rushing off. But no talk of clearing plates, stopping when full is what you’re aiming for!

Oh and not wanting banana on his cereal is totally fair enough. Even if he liked it yesterday he may not fancy it today- that’s totally normal for adults and kids alike. Easily avoided by asking him what he wants or letting him sort his own breakfast.

Higher at bedtime I sless abiut being hungry and kore about not wanting to go to bed.

Give him a drink and tell him it is bedtime.

Decent home cooked meals are left half-eaten because he’s full, only for him to declare at bedtime he’s still hungry.

There's nothing wrong with this.

If he goes to bed at 7.30pm, offer him some toast at 7pm.

If he refuses it, make it clear that once he's brushed his teeth and you've read his bedtime story, it's lights out regardless.

Sounds more like a delay tactic, if it's when he's getting into bed. Ds will try that sometimes, I offer a glass of milk or some fruit. If he turns those down he's not really hungry.

Ds is 7 also, and he has been quite a fussy eater at times. I've found the phrase 'you don't have to eat it all, but there won't be anything else' works reasonably well. I never expect clear plates, i dont always clear mine if DH has been very enthusiastic with the portion sizes.

Along with that we ensure that there is always something on his plate he has previously liked. Eg he hates fish, so when we eat fish, he gets chicken, or sausages, but all the same accompanying veg etc as we have. But we still offer him a bite of fish and give him loads of praise if he tries it. He seems to be broadening his food likes again now, so it feels like this approach is working.

Why not give something like hummous or peanut butter or chopped up egg or a tiny cup of thick soup as the after school snack

Then when he says he is hungry at bedtime after the story, offer a small cup of horlicks or hot chocolate as a milky snack

If my DD had cake at 3:45 she wouldn't be interested in a proper meal until 6pm.

Re the tablet I'd send it away to 'be fixed' for a couple of months. Break the habit and start again

So I’d offer a super before bed up to you what is is but I offer -banana, apple, cheese and crackers or bread. Then when he says he’s hungry at bed you can comfortably say no you had supper

Haven’t RTFT. Can he help come up with meal ideas or cook?

Cooking with your assistance of course!