Would you send a 22 month old to bed without dinner?

[tinypop4]

More of a question than an aibu but...
Ds 22 months is refusing dinner. He always does this and I always sit it out and pretend I don't care and usuallly he eats some of it in the end.
Tonight we are having rice and meatballs. He had had it before and liked it. He won't eat it and we started over half an hour ago. I'm not holding him at the table btw when dd finished I let him down.
Would you
A) leave the food out and if he is hungry he will eat it. If he doesn't eat it put him to bed without dinner (he's eaten well rest if the day)
B) give him something you know he will eat at about 6.30.
If he was older I'd do A without hesitation but I'm faltering at his age.

I'd never send any aged chid to bed without tea.

I like lots of foods but sometimes don't fancy eating them. I allow my children the same luxury.

my oldest is 10 lost and her eating like this was just a phase from 5 on she was usually fine, I know younger is also in a phase so I dont mind making what she likes if she refuses something. Its a phase it will pass. agree they may not always be in the mood for something and they are stuck and trapped with us deciding what they should eat.

You'll need to work out whether you've got one who'll be up in the night hungry if you do this, or one who won't. Only way is trial and error I'm afraid! If the latter, no problem at all. If the former, for self-preservation sake I'd give him something. Not toast if that's likely to act as an incentive though.

Agree no toast. I'd offer some fruit. I don't think serving it at future meals is helpful. I do think mealtimes shouldn't turn in to a game or a battle though. If they don't want dinner fine but they don't get a dinner later or a different dinner. Being a bit hungry won't harm them they can eat a big breakfast.

Being hungry during the night at nearly 2 is not a reason for a midnight snack. Under 1s are different and need more frequent small meals.

I did it once when DD was 2.5 years old. Never had to do it again as have not needed to since! DD had eaten well all day, I knew she wouldn't starve.

If it's something they've never had before, they are allowed not to like it, and I'll do toast. If it's something they usually eat fine, then no messing around basically. Fruit is always available on demand here as well.

I'd probably offer something like milk, toast, crackers and cheese/plain yoghurt and fruit before bed at that age. I'd make sure it wasn't a favourite food. If it became a habit I'd start doing tea later.

Being hungry during the night at nearly 2 is not a reason for a midnight snack. Under 1s are different and need more frequent small meals.

Mmm, when I tried saying that to my DD who did this, she found it surprisingly unpersuasive. Sadly. Luckily she would have milk rather than food in this scenario.

I would stay chirpy and happy. Don't get distressed over it, keep firm and say something positive like
" I'll leave it there for you but you must try to eat it before the cute little miceys (or daddy or somebody else!) get it because they will just love it! Let mummy know if you want some help to eat it when you're ready, ok sweetie!?
Avoiding any sort of confrontation and acting normally will avoid any bad habit forming at mealtimes. This is just my personal view! :0)

The only Issue I have with this is that you refer to your 1 and a bit year old as a '22 month' baby. YAWN

Yawn yourself, dullface,thats a perfectly normal way to refer to a baby. And its not one and a bit, is it, its almost 2. Perhaps you don't like it as you can't count the months properly?

B. Without question.

B. Food is the one battle you simply cannot win. Even if you appear to "win" by somehow forcing what they don't want down them, it backfires spectacularly later on. An as PP have said, just because you like something doesn't always mean you fancy having it for dinner. We all have moments when we just don't want something we've eaten a dozen times before, but as the grown up you get to choose, whereas baby doesn't have any say in the matter. Also, and much more pragmatically, do you really want to try to reason with him at 2:30am when his grumbly tummy wakes him up?? God no. Just feed feed feed.

I'm with notso. Dinner, pudding (which can be yogurt or fruit) and later milk. They can take or leave what they want of it, but don't get to play you.

Dd is 3 1/2 and I did option A once because I got fed up a with her asking for snacks just as she got into bed when she'd eaten a mouse portion at dinner. She woke me up at 2am because she was hungry. Haven't done that since. I let her have something but it's only ever a banana or digestives with milk, both of which are filling and she'll eat if she's hungry but they're not favorites. Tonight she had some of the plain pasta she didn't eat at dinner. Does my head in though, especially if we have to brush teeth again!

A (ish). I wouldn't leave the meal out indefinitely, I'd clear away after half an hour or so.

B teaches them if they can hold out, they'll be offered an alternative.

A 2 year old isn't going to expire from missing one single meal.

If they are actively hungry, and ask for food, I would offer carrot sticks/cucumber sticks, perhaps bread and butter at a push. I wouldn't actively offer them something though, unless they genuinely complained of hunger. In general, kids eat if hungry. If they don't eat, they're not hungry, and can happily skip a meal. Offering a known "liked" food as a reward for not eating dinner is a slippery slope, though.