To let toddler skip dinner?

[QueenNefertitty]

The usual dilemma- lovely day out with 18mo DS. Long lunch, and run around a (drizzly) local attraction.

He's eaten fairly well today- ok breakfast, sizable morning snack, picked at lunch (ate half my dessert!) and bit of afternoon snack, good breastfeed when we got home and then....

He fell asleep while I was cooking his dinner

At 5.30

I've never ever worked out the best thing to do in this situation (which happens fairy regularly after busy days since he started walking/running properly a few months back)

He's currently snoring on the sofa next to me. Usually in this situation, I'd let him sleep then take him up to bed when he wakes late evening - but starting to wonder if the poor mite will be starved?

He does breastfeed on and off through the night, so unlikely to actually perish

Aibu to not give him dinner if he doesnt wake up soon?

It won't do him any harm but probably not a great habit to get into.
Does he not have a nap? My 18mo absolutely needs 2hrs + from 12-2ish everyday or he'd be exhausted (appreciate all children are different though).

YANBU. He will hardly starve by missing dinner once, you are overthinking this! If he wakes up hungry then just give him a snack or breastfeed.

@kaytee

Yes - usually about 12.30/1-2/2.30 - but we were out today so he had about half an hour in the buggy.

He's at nursery 4 days a week, so to be honest, routine at home is slightly fucked, because try as I might, I can't "schedule" in the way they do.

Definitely get hung up on this stuff- have terrible mum guilt complex!

4 year old DD fell asleep before tea so we just left her. She woke up around 10:30 and said she was hungry, so we microwaved some pasta that we saved from our tea.

Let him sleep and be prepared for a snack or boob later! I wouldn't worry too much at that age.

Id put to bed at that age. Unlikely to starve if bf anyway.

I'm a bit anal about ds nap time 99% of the time I make sure he has it in his cot at home or I know the evening goes to bits. The downside of this means he doesn't nap well elsewhere but it suits my current lifestyle anyway, we usually just go out somewhere early in the morning then maybe out again in the afternoon.

I’d personally wake them up or you might be in for a very early wake up or night wakings

@kaytee
Horses for courses isn't it- I couldn't live with such a definite need to be chained to the house at a certain time - but understand it works for some people.

@shouldnot

We're experiencing some ... sleep issues...just at the mo. So getting both early mornings and night wakings anyway

I wonder if the milk cycle is making it worse? We found with ours they used to wake for milk in the night so I’d give them milk and then they’d eat very little in the day. I realised they were having a pint and half of milk a night, no wonder they weren’t very hungry! We gradually swapped it for juice water and they did start to eat better.
Just a thought!

Id be more worried as to why he is still breastfeeding several times at night like a 4 month old baby.

I agree that he probably isnt hungry with all that extra milk.

You breast fed him as soon as he got home.....why?

Today drink a glass of milk before your meal and see how much then you want to eat your meal.

Won’t hurt at all. Surely it’s only an hour/1.5 hours before actual bedtime so maybe he’s just tired and needs sleep. Especially following a BF, it probably filled him up. Maybe wait to offer milk until after dinner in the future?

In that sotuation, we call this the second nap, and start being noisy around him when dinner is ready.