Would u give pud if main course not eaten?

[Birdly]

DS, who is nearly 2, has a small appetite and loses interest in meals very quickly. He often asks for a yoghurt afterwards, and I'm not sure whether to give him one or not when he's barely touched his main course. I'm not particularly strict (ie "no main course no pud!"), but he's a very early riser (5am) and I worry that if he's not full at teatime he'll continue to wake up early forever! Any ideas?

If plate is cleaned then my 2are allowed pudding. If not and they are hungry later it is a piece of fruit.

He's still very young, so I would try him with the yoghurt and see if he sleeps longer.

At this stage I found that little and often was the best way. I would mentally plan on 6 small meals/snacks per day and work within that. So imo find for yogurt to be one of them but would also have snacks of breadsticks, cheese, ham sandwiches, fruit, carrot sticks etc. "Pud" doesn't mean anything at this stage. He's still young and you'll find that there is plenty of time to get him into a 3 meals per day routine if that is what you want.

If they have had a good attempt at eating their meal then I give my sons dessert.How about some cereal before bed?

Yes, in the circumstances you describe.
If you start a 'no yogurt until you've eaten that', you are entering into a battle, and setting pudding up as a sort of holy grail, and all the more desirable for it, and to be 'won' after the 'ordeal' of eating savoury food.

Sorry im a meanie mummy, clean plate then pud (even if it is a yoghurt) especially since he asks for it. There would be mutiny in my house (and im seriously out numbered) if one got pudding having not eaten their dinner. There age ranges from 23 mths , 4, 6 and twins 8. No exceptions allowed, see told you i was mean... They eat if their hungry even if it takes a few days to cotton on to the rules.

Yes. At that age (and beyond) I'd see foodstuffs as a general variety of food and not make such a distinction between "main course", "pudding" etc. Yogurt is hardly an all-sugar-and-fat pudding.

im afraid im a meany as well, not with youngest as he doesnt eat puddings but eldest not allowed pudding unless dinner eaten

agree with Blu

pudding is a yoghurt or fruit so it's not like I'm filling them full of biscuits

I would - food is food, and I don't want to set pudding up as something more desirable than the main course. Particularly if he has a small appetite - at lease he would be eating something.

We don't have pudding (inc yogurt) as a routine, either, so DS isn't thinking 'when do I get the sweet stuff?' throughout his meal.
Heaven knows, I got it all wrong when he was tiny (I WAS that Mum following him round with a spoon trying to make him eat), but I have never particularly made an issue of restricting sweets...and there has been a big jar of lollies (left over from a community event) in our front room for over a week, and DS has completely ignored them!

I quite often give DS a 'starter' - he loves the idea of that - a few breadsticks and hoummous, or a few chunks of avocado or a bit of ham or satsuma, and then his tea. He eats more that way, and it suits his small appetite / grazing tendencies.

Nope! Finish your dinner or nothing else (unless he has made a good attempt at finishing)! Both mine are early risers (5am too!) and I used to worry that if he didn't eat he'd get up earlier. I think some kids are early risers and some aren't and no matter how differently you do things if it's in them to rise early, they will.

I think Im with wigwam on this. I like cooking desirable puds, so Id give the pud as a one off, but probably wouldnt cook one again for a bit.

From experience would avoid the pud altogether. Ds gradually stopped eating the main course so he could have lots of room for pudding and that fussiness is proving very difficult to stamp out. Once we realised what was going on we started saying no pudding until you've eaten a mouthful of your main (by then he'd gone ultra fussy and wouldn't eat anything you or I would consider healthy), but the damage was done. Now he gets yoghurt, the occasional cake, biscuits etc as snacks 1.5-2 hours after a meal so that he is learning that he'll go hungry if he doesn't touch his lunch/tea. Recently (touchwood that it lasts) he's started getting better at eating, but I wish I'd never gone down the whole pudding route in the first place.

No i wouldnt.... if my 14 month old does not eat (or have a good attempt at) his main meal then nothing else at all is offered until the next meal...

he has the same rules as 3 year old!

Here, pudding is fruit and (plain) yogurt. Very rarely it might be fruit pie/crumble and (plain) yogurt. DS adores fruit but because he gets it for snacks as well as pud, it doesn't interfere with his main meal. There's no rules about how much he has to eat - I was always made clear my plate pre-pudding, and I am now permanently overweight & unable to leave so much as a mouthful on my plate. I do not want DS to be the same!

Message withdrawn

Every now and then we have an issue with Ds1 where he takes one look at his dinner and turns his nose up. That was when the rule was introduced, no dinner no pud. Incidently, pud for him his always a yoghurt. I am a mean mummy, strictly no chocloate (unfortunately Nana can't comprehend that!).

Many of the kids yogs are full of sugar. Fish is as good a source of calcium as dairy products. If a child doesn't want to clear his or her plate then their meal is over in my view, whether you call any subsequent course pudding or something else. However, if you want to encourage a child to eat something, far better to make the portion as tiny as possible and then reward with a non-food item eg sticker. I found that mine toddlers used to get too tired to eat sometimes and just needed encouragement with the first mouthful, then they'd have enough energy to have a go at the rest. Tiny portions. If they are still hungry, then another tiny portion. IMHO.

Not read thread as I am in a rush and shouldnt be here!!
In my view pudding shouldnt be treated as a treat iyswim!! So as long as they have done their best then a pud is ok. Plus its usually something like fruit or yodhurt anyway!
Well sometimes its choc sponge. But if its not seen as something special they wont skip meals for it!

But surely the point is that it's not about "doing their best" for a "prize" - either they are hungry or they are not. If they do not complete the first course (preferably miniscule in the case of tiny or also fussy eaters)then why on earth try and put something else in as though it might be mroe tempting to the palate? Someone said earlier that they treat meals as separate occasions i.e. if you need to get something else in later then do so, but do not connect it with the earlier meal. Sorry if I sound grumpy but I am fed up with accommodating ridiculous culinary fads of visiting older children who should have realtively normal eating habits by now i.e. by 6-8 years old. These things start VERY young, we start expectations when we start to wean them.

Having re-read my poorly written submission and to clarify my grumpy opinion I agree about treating meals as separate occasions.