if a child eats dinner, says they're full, then complains of hunger 10 mins later

[moopdaloop]

can you say tough nothing till breakfast now

does your ktichen ever close?

dd does this. think it is her way of delaying going to bed. i give her a banana to fill her up just in case. and it stops the whingeing

yes I'd say "well you've just had supper so nothing more till breakfast time" unless there was a reason they could possibly still genuinely be hungry.

mine do that. They eat their tea leave the table then 5 seconds later say..."can I have an apple/banana/bag of cheddars/chocolate milkshake?"

ahhhhhhhh

I ususally give in if its fruit

i offer banana or toast and butter

depends on the age.. my ds is 5 and used to do this a lot, so I got tough!

I went for the approach of what was presented on the plate was lunch/dinner he ate what he wanted, still got a pudding, (so not using the pudding as a reward for eating more of a main course) then when he complained of hunger or asked for x,y,z I said no because he should have eaten more of what he left.. it took about a week and then he started to eat MUCH better, to the point he eats basically everything he is given these days, and does get an extra snack if he then asks because he must be hungry! He knows how it works and since then life at the table has improved. We really hit some low times with his fussiness at one point.

depends on the age and the kind of day they have had.
DD (5) does this occasionally on Thurs after PE at school and then swimming after. If I think sheis truly hungry she can get fruit or plain toast.

DS1 does this every day . He is 14 . I just step back from the fridge and watch - keeping hands and feet away from his mouth. Sometimes he doesn't really stop until he actually falls asleep.
Then he wakes up starving.

Another vote for kitchens closed, help yourself to fruit.

I give them toast.

Yes, my kitchen closes if DD1 refuses to eat her dinner. If she eats well at dinner she can have anything she likes after it until bed at 7pm. She has had this rule from approx 18mths and usually she never leaves much at meals.k
We have the nothing until breakfast chat as well,

Are they leaving their plate with food on it? If so, save it and they can have that, or serve up leftovers. We save everything - plates for the rest of the evening, and food in serving dishes for a couple of days.

I couldn't bear to think of a child going to bed hungry, so our solution to post-supper hunger is toast or plain cereal (ie Rice Krispies or Corn Flakes - not chocolate stuff). It's only something that happens once in a blue moon for us though.

If they ate all their dinner, then they can have a reasonable amount of pudding and then it's fruit or cereal.

If they don't finish dinner, I leave it on the table until they go the bed (usually only and our or so) then the answer to I'm hungry is well your dinner's on the table. If they ask really nicely, I might heat it up for then Mostly though they know better than to ask if they didn't finish dinner, so only leave the table if they genuinely are full.

My ds (6yrs) usually has a small bowl of plain cereal before bed e.g. special k, weetabix with no sugar.

He didn't tonight because he didn't eat all his veg as he said he felt sick so he 'couldn't possibly have cereal if he felt sick'!

ScienceTeacher and whatdayisit, I'm going to play Devil's advocate a bit here.
My father has the most dreadful eating habits that would put most toddlers to shame. He refuses to eat anything green, most things that are strongly flavoured, or anything new.
He was brought up by a very strict nanny/foster mother (it's complicated) who had very rigid rules about eating and used to make him eat the remains of his cold, unwanted dinners. Although he still talks of this woman with great affection, it is obvious that his negative associations with food are partly down to her behaviour. To be fair to her, she hated waste as she had lived through two wars and had rationing for most of her life.

My kitchen closes after tea, but Tiny Clanger is free to eat fruit from the fruit bowl whenever she fancies it. At the moment, she is going through a very hungry phase as I think her pre-puberty growth spurt is kicking in, so leaving dinner never seems to happen.

dd1 (8.5), eating like a horse atm, eats a bowl of cereal before bed

I often do toast and cocoa tbh

If they've eaten all their dinner

And I can tell it's genuine hunger (which I can)

Then I'll give a cracker and cheese or something

I have to say I do something very similar to Martha200 and OvermyDeadBody. I don't force down cold food... so I hope I'm not setting up bad food habits for later. But if they haven't eaten tea and later complain of being hungry, I just ask them 'Do you think you would still be hungry if you had eaten all your tea?' I think it's getting through to them.

If they have already eaten all their tea and they are still hungry before bed I'm happy for them to eat fruit/cereal/bread and butter. After all, dp and I would do the same if we were hungry. I just get annoyed with the 'not hungry for tea but hungry for cake' behaviour.

When my DC's say they are finished I always ask if they are sure, and remind them there will not be anything else.
Then if they do the 'I'm hungry' thing, it's tough.

Also as Martha says, pudding isn't used as a reward, my two eldest have cookies and milk about half hour before bed as their pudding, whether they finish their dinner or not.

If they have eaten all their dinner then I would give something plain like toast but if they didn't eat the dinner I would say it was their own fault-they won't starve before breakfast.

I would like to point out that I do not advocate serving up leftovers cold. I only do it if it is an appropriate type of food for reheating, and then we would actually reheat it.

I do not see leftovers as a punishment. When I was a SAHM I thrived on leftovers as they meant that I didn't have to make a lot of effort for lunch. Much of my cooking has leftovers in mind - eg, when I roast chicken, I always do two: one for the meal in question, and one for a meal the next day (usually chicken pie). My children, consequently, don't see leftovers as second-best.

I loathe food waste, and will generally keep food on the go as long as it is safe to do so. If someone wants a quick snack, it's usually easier to reheat a leftover.

agree banana

I understood what you meant scienceteacher. DS sometimes has small portions of main course, dessert and then says he's still hungry. If he really is hungry and I say there's some rice left, he will eat it. Sometimes he is just hoping I'll produce a cake out of thin air and on those times he'll say, no I'm not really that hungry, I'm only hungry for cake!

I agree with bigcar - if dinner all gone (and pudding)then fruitbowl then bath regardless of dramatic fainting gasping etc

My kids normally finish all their dinner then complain they are hungry. They get Yoghurt and apple and milk and cookies before bed. I wouldnt get away with putting them to bed with nothing. But they do clear their plates. If they dont then they get one cookie and a drink of juice before bed.