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Original poster

Ok, so if your child doesn't eat their meal do you...

35 replies

elsmommy · 01/09/2005 13:12

cook them something they will eat or just leave them?

Dd wouldn't eat her cauliflower cheese for lunch so I've made her a sausage sarnie with loads of tomato sauce cos shes hardly eaten today.

OP posts:
QueenOfQuotes · 01/09/2005 13:13

Just leave them!!!

happymerryberries · 01/09/2005 13:13

Leave them, but never give them anything else

happymerryberries · 01/09/2005 13:14

Well not until next meal time.....I don't starve them!

Original poster
elsmommy · 01/09/2005 13:15

I know I've done wrong

Don't usally give in but she also refused breakfast this mornin!!

OP posts:
Nbg · 01/09/2005 13:15

I leave dd.

It can be worrying at times and I always used to offer something else but we've both learnt, if she doesn't eat 1 meal the next meal will go down like a treat.

throckenholt · 01/09/2005 13:17

may be compromise and offer 2 things at a meal - eg cauliflower cheese and fruit. - then no other choices - if she doesn't want either then she waits til next meal.

tarantula · 01/09/2005 13:17

If its something I KNOW that they dont like them Ill make something else too or adapt what Ive made eg I cook pasta for dd to have with cheese sauce rather than cauli . If OTOH they are being fussy buggers on that day and just dont fancy what they have been given they can take a flying leap/starve/eat plain bread but I aint making them another dinner.

BLANKfloozypuddingandpie · 01/09/2005 13:17

I'm glad this has been asked. I'm looking after dp's dd, and made her a chicken sandwich which she didn't like. She ate about 3 bites then threw it away (which p**d me off cos i'm skint). But I have not made a fuss but said she'd be hungry.

Hope this isn't too hard.

Socci · 01/09/2005 13:20

Message withdrawn

QueenOfQuotes · 01/09/2005 13:21

However, if I'm cooking something which I KNOW they don't like (thankfully not much) then I give them an alternative (usually based on the meal I'm cooking).

My mum used to do this for me - particularly when they had steak and kidney (blurghhh) pie.

Kelly1978 · 01/09/2005 13:24

leave it and make no fuss whatsoever. They wil eat ifthey are hungry, and if you don't get excited about it they won't start not eating for attention. Mine won't always polish off their plates, btu they will at least eat some even if they don't like it, as they know nothign else is on offer.
I'm not mean tho, if they don't like somethign i won't serve it up to them again. I recently realised they don't like gravy, but are happily eating roasts without it.

happymerryberries · 01/09/2005 13:26

If I know that there are things that they realy don't like, I tend not to cook them. dd, who eats anything and everything is going through a 'faddy' phase of not wanting to eat things, often as silly as ' I don't like that type of bread'. This I will not mander to, and she has a choice of eat it or go hungry.

I never issist on cleared plates, but there is not pudding (usualy fruit of yoghurt) unless a reasonable about of the main has been eaten

Original poster
elsmommy · 01/09/2005 13:29

Dd usually eats anything with cheese in, but the last couple or days she doesn't seem to have eaten hardly anything.

Might do her something I know she loves for tea just to get something decent inside her!!

OP posts:
Nemo1977 · 01/09/2005 13:31

if ds doesnt eat then I dont offer an alternative. I will still let him have fruit or yoghurt if that was the pudding but only so I know hes had something. Definetly no treats or making a different meal for him though

moondog · 01/09/2005 13:34

If they don't have what is on offer,it's taken away without fuss,but there is nothing else until the next meal. As an example,dd is now moaning that she is hungry (we are two hours ahead of the UK in Turkey).We had lunch in a place with a pool and she was so busy swimming that she hardly touched her food,even though I called her several times.
She has to wait until dinner now (although she can have whatever she likes from the fruitbowl.)

compo · 01/09/2005 13:36

if it's at home and they have refused it I would put it in the fridge and then when they complain of being hungry I would get it out and offer it

Mirage · 01/09/2005 20:42

DD1 gets what she's given.If she doesn't eat it,she can have a piece of fruit,but nothing else until the next meal.If she has point blank refused to touch something that I know she likes,I have put it in the fridge & presented her with it at the next mealtime.

Luckily she is quite a good eater & there isn't much she won't eat.

albosmum · 01/09/2005 20:55

leave them till next meal. In my house i cook one meal and if you don;t eat it someone else will

Thomcat · 01/09/2005 20:57

If she doesn't eat her meal then she gets a chance to change her mind, is offered fruit or a yoghurt and then she leaves the table.

SoupDragon · 01/09/2005 20:59

Warn them that this is all they will be getting unti and leave them. No dessert, no snacks, nothing. If the meal is keepable, I'll leave it so when they're hungry, they can finish it off!

Thomcat · 01/09/2005 21:10

yeah but sometimes it's not them being naughty, they just really can't stomach a whole plate of pasta right now thanks, but yeah some fruit salad would be great. Well that's how I see it anyway, if she doesn't eat her savoury she gets to eat a healthy desert option instead.
If you'd made me cauli cheese for lunch today I wouldn't have fancied it, wouldn't expect an alternative but just couldn't eat that today so I'll have a bit of fruit instead until tea time, perfectly resonable isn't it.

Wallace · 01/09/2005 21:10

Bread...if I'm feeling generous I even butter it

Thomcat · 01/09/2005 21:12

If I gave Lottie dry bread, which I do, she is happy as a sand boy, put butter on, oh my God, I've destroyed a perfectly wonderful bit of bread, how could I!

Wallace · 01/09/2005 21:15

ds eats rather too much bread as he doesn't like potatoes, rice, or noodles. Oh well, at least it's wholemeal. BTW he is SIX - he never used to be this fussy [sigh]

Gobbledigook · 01/09/2005 21:19

I don't offer an alternative ever. They can have fruit but nothing else. They've gone to bed without dinner on a few occasions but not for ages now.

Tonight ds2 ate his potato, most of his fish but wouldn't eat even one spoon of his veg so he was allowed his strawberries but not his mini gingerbread man! Cruel, heartless mummy!