My daughter wont eat her dinner

[mummybear1997]

I have a daughter who is 4 this month and i am really struggling with dinner time the only dinners she will eat is fish fingers chicken nuggets and hot dogs or pizza. She does eat some home made meals like mince and potatoes or steak pie, sometimes she refuses to eat it and says she doesn't like it when i know she does. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get her eating better at dinner time. I am really struggling ive tried the giving it back to her when she says she is hungry later on but she still wont eat it. My health visitor sent the nursery nurse out and she hasn't been much help if i am honest i dont know what to do. Can anyone give me some ideas?

Have you tried getting her to help you cook?
Something that worked really well for a friend was buying a food magazine and reading it/flicking through with her son and they chose a few recipes they wanted to try, he helped write a shopping list, do the shopping and then they cooked it together and he was in charge of serving it up
You could start with familiar things - eg DIY pizzas, make your breaded chicken/fish goujons and go from there...

Also, do you know what else she's eating during the day? E.g. is she having a good lunch? Is she having a big snack when she gets home from school? If yes then maybe come dinner time she finds it quite easy to reject things she doesn't really fancy

What other things have you tried? Do you eat any meals with her?

It may just be her age and a phase in which case you just need to be creative and keep working at it.
If it goes on and on and her repertoire really is limited, you might need to think about whether she has sensory/anxiety issues. My DD is 13 and has a very limited diet. To her, trying a cherry tomato would be like trying an eyeball. It’s that scary for her.

agree with diy pizza.
and also little bowls of different things on the table, accompanying a jacket potato for example.

does she eat a picnic?

DD7 does this all the time. I get her involved with planning the dinners and we all try to eat the same thing. If she doesn’t want what’s cooked for dinner she can only eat fruit instead. We also try to get her to try something new on every occasion.

“Feasts” work well where she has lots of little things to eat e.g. slice ham, slice chicken, chunk cheese, grapes, cherry toms, cucumber, crackers.

Do you serve her? It can be helpful to allow her to self serve. I know it can be tricky and messy with little ones but it can be helpful in handing back control. You can still require her to have a little bit of everything but she chooses the amount.
Also, when you can make meal times an occasion. Whether that’s eating in the garden, a carpet picnic, let her pick the music, or getting out the candles and posh napkins!

Ill give all off your suggestions a try and see if any work she has a good lunch with things she wants like cheese strings, strawberries, grapes, banana, dairyle dunkers, ham that sort of thing her favourite meal defiantly is lunch, she gets a snack at nursery and i usually give her a little something when she gets home at half 3 to do her till dinners ready.

You have mentioned six meals that she eats, that's not bad. Put them on rotation for now. I would up the veg on the side. What does she like? Broccoli, peas, carrots etc always make servings of these and I put wholemeal bread and butter on the table too.

A nutritionist told me to start with what they will eat and try to introduce something similar or adapted a bit e.g, if she likes cottage pie, would she eat moussaka or cottage pie with more veg in or some lentils added in and say later a sweet potato topping? She eats pizza what about quesidillas, or tomato and cheese based pasta and sauce?

It's probably a phase. I had a couple of fussy eaters they grew out of it, late on.

If you are worried about calories, then list what she eats for a few days and work out the calorie count for her age it will probably reassure you. If it's nutrition give her a multivit everyday and up the veg, fruit etc.

do you all eat together as a family? I'm guessing not from the list of things she will eat? If she sees everyone else eating the food would that help?

A normal stage IME; try not to make fuss or esp. don't give it back to her would you like it?

The doing cooking idea is great, I used to get my own dcs and mindees doing cooking from younger than 4 they love it! Also having bowls and letting her help herself to what she likes, She is allowed to have likes and dislikes Yes?

If she is having lunch, snack at nursery, and then a snack at home maybe she is just not hungry by dinner time.

My DD who has no afternoon snacks eats a much larger lunch than dinner.