Refusing dinner, what to do?

[Suea76]

Hi All,
My LB is a really good eater in general but has started to be fussy at dinner time 5ish. If he refuses his tea I have given him ceral which he will alway eat.
My question is am I creating bad habits? I don't want him to get used to getting what he wants if he doesn't eat, but you can't send a baby to bed hungry. He does still have milk at night about 5 oz after his bath.
Any advice greatly received, many thanks in advance x

How old is your baby suea?

It depends On his age. But I found five was too late fory children when they were tiny and four worked better. By five they were too tired.

He's 13 months. His dinner is anywhere 430 - 5. This is the time the childminder feeds him, so I try to stick with that. She doesn't feed earlier due to school runs etc x

So could you give us a rough outline of what he eats in a day? It could just be that he's not that hungry. Also, does he ever refuse dinner at the CM? What sort of foods does he have there?

Thanks for the reply.
He has cereal,toast or eggs for breakfast with some fruit. Lunch is normally a sandwich and yoghurt.
Dinner some days he will devour the lot pasta stew curry noodles meat and veg. Almost anything in the past.
Childminder gives him pretty much the same as we do. She does say dinner is getting to be an issue the last few weeks. Not everyday but more often than not. He seems hungry and if ceral is offered she devours it. Just weetabix, plain cheerios or shredded wheat. So not the sweet sugary stuff. I just want to promote good eating habits, so I don't know what to do when he refuses. X

Gosh I would not sweat it at -3 months

Just do what suits you/him

Fond memories of toddler eating only cereal for tea until he was about 3! He is now a big 12 yr old who eats whatever we eat, so it'snot as if a child is doomed fir life if he eats what suits him whdn he is a baby or toddler.

It's good to relax about food a bit IMO

Maybe give him some veg with his lunch?

Small kids are often just tired by tea time

Thanks probably just stressing over nothing. X

Agree, they are often shattered by this time. Notice you didn't mention milk. How much is he getting a day roughly?

He only has 1 bottle of milk before bed, about 6 oz but he doesn't always finish it. He ate all his tea tonight though first time in about 10 days x