********help! pleeeeeeeeeeease!!**************

[fransmom]

my two year old dd has stopped eating her tea. she will eat her breakfast of two weetabix and a mouthful of milk and have a sandwich at lunch but is very reluctant to eat at tea and will only eat a yoghurt if we let her have one. i made a good tea for her tonight and all she would touch was the gravy.

i don't know what else to do to get her to eat. i don't make a fuss but i have started, tonight, letting her know that there is nothing else to eat if she doesn't at least try some of her dinner. is she eating too late? or just not hungry?

she was ill just over a month ago and last time she was ill, it took her ages to get her appetite back properly. she likes fruit and she would live on breakfast, bananas, toast and jam sandwiches if we let her but obv we can't.

wtf do we do now?

Hi chick. Have you tried switching tea time to lunch time? It might be that she's too tired to eat.

hi mo. it could be, i have noticed that her tea time is getting later. do you mean having cooked meal in day and sandwich later? i work most of week, mon-thurs 9-4 and the cm won't cook adn jsut does sarnies

Bloody childminders! Could she maybe try it just for a week, to see if it makes any difference? I do it for my mums sometimes. I'll make you life easier when you come in from work too. Lets face it, sometimes we're too tired to be bothered with dinner in the evening, so why should children be any different?

Try either

One Weetabix at B/F so might be hungry later
Weetabix at teatime? - If she eats that - she doesn't like what sjhe's being offered
Try feeding her earlier (reheat yesterdays if you haven't got time to cook tonites)

mo!!! well, she has said that she would reheat stuff if i cooked it the nite before.
km i'm not sure that ic ould do that to her. breakfast isd the most important meaal of thas day and i can't shortchange her on that one

Well what about the other 2 options?

For a long time my boys (good eaters) would not eat very much at all after 5 pm, even if they'd had a really busy day and just sandwiches for lunch.

We just made sure they had a substantial breakfast and a good meal at lunchtime.

Could you send some food for the c/m to microwave at lunchtimes? Or at least do main meals at lunchtime for the 3 days you're not at work.

am on hols next week so will have more time to concentrate on it. wil try getting her tea on time. ie half 4 til 5

You need to find out why she isn't eating

If she eats weetabix - then you know she just doesn't fancy a meal - & bringing it forward might help

If she doesn't eat weetabix - it's just that she isn't hungry then - it might still be wrotth trying earlier

good idea roisin.

it's just a bit disheartening when you try and cook good meals for them and it gets wasted. that's why i try not arguing over it cos i want meals to be enjoyable and sociable for her so she enjoys her food later on in life (well, that's the theory anyway!)

good idea km. sorry, i didn't read your earlier post properly!

S'OK

Night

Btw a balanced diet doesn't have to include a hot meal every day. As long as she is having some protein in an earlier meal, a tea of fresh fruit salad, banana, and toast is great.

i think i put too much pressure on myself sometimes

Why don't you batch cook a load of spag bol and shepherd pie etc, then you can just sling it in her bag, on cm days.

Sorry, crossed posts.

I get frustrated too when I cook and they don't eat - and this happened to me in the past. Then I realised that they just wouldn't eat in the evenings. We switched to having dinner at lunchtimes and it worked really well for us.

would hjave to be more organised but yes i could do that mo

I think you are too. Its not like she not eating anything and what she is eating is good stuff. Its not a lost cause. Since you're off next week, you can chill out a bit and get it sorted.

a good day today. she had her breakfast, dp did her omelette and beans (lovely combo?) and she wanted a ham sandwich for tea (she ahd a slice of bread), a scone, a yoghurt, some water and a bagel!