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3yo evening meal struggles

30 replies

omama · 28/08/2013 23:30

I realise there is a thread running on similar lines at mo but DS is a year older & I am beginning to worry this will never end....

DS loves his breakfast (usually cereal), fruit, & generally eats ok at lunch (typically cheese/jam sandwich, crackers, beans/spaghetti on toast) but has never been a great eater at tea time. This issue, however, only seems to occur at home. Hmm

At nursery (1 day/week) he eats pretty well - chilli & rice, shepherds, pasta bake, curry, pie etc , and also eats his veggies, no quibbles. I put this down to peer pressure Wink

At MIL's (1 day/week) he is offered things they know he will like eg sausages/nuggets/chicken pie & gets rewarded with sweets if he eats his mashed potato with hidden cauli (which indeed he does every week without fail) Angry

At home however, we offer him his plate of tea, & pretty much every day, he looks at it, & either says he doesn't want it or has one bite & says he is finished. 5 days out of 7 he eats nothing for his tea & goes to bed on an empty tummy.

He of course likes all the crappy foods you don't want your children to eat (chips/nuggets etc), aside from that at the moment the only 2 meals he will actually eat are sausages or quiche. And even then he only eats that item & leaves the rest. He doesn't really like sauces, & refuses to eat rice, pasta, potatoes and vegetables. (He hasn't really eaten any of these foods at home since he was about 13 months old, though he eats them elsewhere & even told me he likes them).

We limit snacks to one in the morning & nothing in the afternoon, & are also careful about how much liquid he drinks, offering nothing within an hour of teatime. For the last year we've followed all the suggestions for faddy eaters (after seeing HV) i.e. offer new foods alongside something familiar, serve tiny portions, don't comment on what he is eating, if he refuses take it away without question & wait until the next mealtime.

However, he's recently started trying to negotiate with us at the table, saying 'can I have something else instead of this?'. We usually say 'if you are hungry then there is your dinner' & try to leave it at that, then he starts asking for fruit. Its so hard not to get drawn into negotiations when he asks repeatedly - if we say 'eat your dinner & then you can have some fruit' he has one bite & asks again, & then we are getting sucked in.

HV advised we should offer fruit regardless of whether DS ate his meal or not, since it is healthy & we don't want to be offering food as reward, however I struggle with this as DS isn't stupid - if he says no to his meal then he still gets his fruit, what incentive has he got to eat the meal?

I'm just really struggling with it all at the moment. He's not gaining weight (been same weight for the last year 29lb - 25th centile) & is now much smaller than a lot of his peers, even the girls. He is constantly hounding me all day long for food - this drives me nuts, and I spend all day saying 'when its snacktime/lunchtime/teatime'. He he must surely be hungry, but yet he still doesn't eat his tea? Confused. I'm starting to wonder if I should actually just give him food whenever he asks i.e. feed on demand? Is that what other people do?

I can only guess this whole thing is a control thing, since he will eat the foods elsewhere - but seriously, when is it gonna end?! Its frustrating the hell out of me!

I also feel like we're stuck in a rut with the same old meals week in week out. There's no wonder DS is refusing his meals, he's probably bored stiff of them - I know I am. Trouble is, DH is also a bit of a faddy eater, so in trying to cater to both of their tastes, there are lots of meals we never cook because there'd only be me who eats them. There are also lots of foods that DS only ever sees me eat, never DH. He's not really questioned it yet, but its only a matter of time before he starts noticing & says 'well Daddy's not eating that so I'm not going to either'. I feel like we are really limiting DS's exposure to new foods - & if he doesn't see them, how can he try them? Is there any wonder he is becoming so picky? What can I do?

Oh god, sorry this is so long I got a bit carried away with my rant. If you've made it this far & have any pearls of wisdom/tips you can share, or even if its just to tell me it will (or won't Hmm get better) it'd be very much appreciated.

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omama · 03/09/2013 07:07

mantana - agree about the psychology degree!

gold - no worries on the rant, I need some sense shaking into me! I appreciate its going to take longer than a day/week.

We dont ever initiate a discussion about what he can have after the main meal as we learned a long time ago that was a bad idea. It is only ever discussed if it is brought up by him ie he asks if he can have fruit instead & then I really don't know how to 'not discuss it'. Do we just completely ignore?

jilted - he eats chilli & rice at nursery - does that count as knowing he likes it? At home he eats neither. He eats so few foods i don't really have anything to serve with it except bread, sausage or quiche & if i serve those he will not eat the other foods full stop!

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JiltedJohnsJulie · 03/09/2013 07:20

That is an extremely tricky one. Could you put a very, very small piece of bread on his plate? I know that if he has this, he won't eat the other food, but it seems like he's not eating it anyway.

We have a it stays on your plate rule. So if the DC complain about an offending item we tell them that they don't have to eat it, but its staying where it is. Sometimes they do surprise you and eventually just eat it.

Goldmandra · 03/09/2013 09:36

he asks if he can have fruit instead & then I really don't know how to 'not discuss it'.

I would set the table with empty plates and put the food in serving dishes in the middle so that everyone can serve themselves, choosing their own portion sizes. If he needs help to serve himself that's fine but allow him to be in control.

Make it food he does eat at nursery so you know it will be palatable to him if he tries it. If he chooses to take nothing that's fine. Don't offer it again. Just leave him with an empty plate and get on with your meal.

You then sit and enjoy your meal without referring to what he is eating at all. Don't encourage, don't praise. Just don't take any notice at all. Talk about everyone's day and ask him questions unrelated to food.

If he asks for fruit just say"It's not time for fruit yet because we're eating our main course." Repeat as often as necessary. If he doesn't let it go tell him he'll have to get down from the table if he carries on. Follow through with this if he continues. You want him to see sitting at the table as something he wants.

When you've finished eating your main course, ask him if he's finished and clear his plate away. Then move onto fruit. Allow him to have some then if he would like some.

So getting fruit isn't conditional on eating any main course but he has to sit nicely and wait while you eat yours no matter how boring it is.

He eats good meals the rest of the time so, if he eats just fruit in the evenings for a while, it won't do him any harm. You can limit his fruit intake to prevent him eating too much and getting tummy ache if necessary. Don't offer anything else, including the main course he's just refused. When he's had enough fruit he gets down and nothing is available until the next morning.

If you take the focus off the food and make sitting at the table a pleasant time for chatting about other things, he should eventually relax, realise there are no battles to engage in, that it's boring sitting looking at an empty plate and feel inclined to start taking food and trying it.

It will be incredibly hard to completely ignore the food issue and not mention it at all (your DH will have to take the same approach) but just remember that, every time you do it, you're setting the process back a step.

If he asks for food before the meal time, again, just tell him how long he has to wait until the next meal time and don't engage with any negotiations.

Does sound like it makes sense for your family?

omama · 03/09/2013 22:07

jilted - we have that rule too. Its not got us anywhere yet but I live in hope! Wink thanks

Goldmandra - thanks very much - thats really clear & makes a lot of sense & is definitely workable, moreso than switching mealtimes around. We've a new challenge now as ds has left nursery so his only exposure to food will now come from us, which means we need to get our new approach nailed fast or he'll be eating zero veggies & zero meals. I'm off to show this to dh now Smile

Thanks again everyone.x

OP posts:
Bambi27 · 03/09/2013 22:34

Oh savvymoo I like the sound of tiny tastes! My dd is a nightmare eater! Think I shall make myself a sticker chart and get going!! Grin Thanks!

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