Roll up, roll up, it's the Throwing Uneaten Food In The Bin Club, all welcome!

[oliveoil]

Grrrrrrr.

Day 1:
Breakfast: Weetabix, toast, glass of milk
Dinner: Homemade bolog, banana, apple
Tea: Homemade chick nuggets and chips, orange, raisons

Day 2:
Breakfast: NOTHING! DON'T WANT NOTHING ARRRGHGGHH
Dinner: Banana DON'T WANT ANYTHING NOT NEVER (plate thrown on floor)
Tea: Picks cheese off sandwich and glares ominiously.

Is there anything more frustrating than feeding your child?

Yesterday I threw homemade tuna ball things and pasta in the bin, yet last week they were proclaimed "delicious" .

Now I just hand the plate over and run away.

Anyone else silently screaming at kitchen walls?

Make me feel better please, or she will be on Birds Eye and McDonalds soon, feel like I am wasting my f'ing time.

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Just stop cooking for yourself, and when she says "don't want it" say "oh good, all the more for Mummy then" and "I hope you're not going to eat that, because I want it" and then sit there and eat it in front of her. She'll scream with indignation.

Don't feel bad. Do it.

if DD doesn't eat what's offered, she doesn't eat at all. that's how it is in our house. we have a very limited budget. food is a precious commodity, not to be wasted. if she comes back later and says 'eat! eat!' (she's not quite 2) she is offered what she did not eat at her meal. if she does not want that, she gets nothing.

throwing food is punishable by time out for 1 minute.

I don't need to go on a diet, I am 9 stone 7. AND I am 5' 9".

ARHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH i feel better knowing that i am not the oly one, my dd is going on and off food like anything at the mo, and what is worse she gets fed junk at school as a snack so wantsit at home and as a rule we only have it at the weekend.

I have started to get my dd to help in the kitchen.... not going to well have to say

another thing, DD 'helps' prepare her own food. she pours in the ingredients and carries her own plate to the table.

get her to help you prepare it.

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Calig & Expat - I do all the things that are recommended, like ignoring her (which is why I hide in the kitchen and scream!) but it is so frustrating.

How long are they like this? Forever?

She helps in the kitchen as well. Sorry, I feel like I am batting all your suggestions back at you, don't mean to .

Dh is a good cook and every night she sits on the top and 'helps' make dinner. She recognises all the herbs and even knows tamarind paste. BUT SHE WON'E EAT MY FOOD!

Well she does sometimes, but mainly picks.

We're in the same situation! Ds will think something is wonderful once and the very next time it's offered he acts as if it is poison!

Have you tried eating her food?

I started saying "Mmm, this looks delicious, I don't think I want you to have it, I want to eat it myself".

It really did work - she was absolutely outraged that I should take her food, and was really anxious and protective about it.

And when she'd eaten it all up, I'd say, "oh, Mummy didn't have any of your lunch at all, I'm so disappointed, maybe at dinner you won't be such a good girl and eat it all, and I'll be able to have some of your dinner?" and she'd say "no Mummy, I'm going to eat it all and there won't be any left for you". It was about a week and then she went on to another fad. Currently, she wants cheese with absolutely every meal. Ho hum.

....and then I've got dd2 coming up on the inside, at the mo eating everything (9 months) but I just know what will happen soon and then I will have 2 fussy ones to deal with .

Oliveoil,

you have cheered me up. WHY oh WHY do the little s*ds change their minds about something they wolfed down the previous day????

We tried a "build your own snack" yesterday. I chopped up all sorts of bits of veggies, spread crackers with cream cheese. Ds tried one piece of black olive, spit it out and refused to have anything to do with the whole tray.

OO - don't assume your DD will influence the younger one. My DS (6) is really fussy, and DD (3) eats everything.

The younger one will only pick up on the older one's fussiness if they sense your anxiety about it.

AND (I am on a roll know, sorry) I even make little patterns up, brocolli eyes, carrot suns etc....and she gives me a look as if to say "you need a hobby mother.

Jabber - like I said, there is NOTHING more frustrating.

Run away run away

I was so frustrated last night. I tried the, "Well, if you don't want it fine, but that's what's for dinner". It took about 15 minutes before dh was getting out an alternative food. Grrr, totally undermining, but then when ds eats it all up (second choice) dh looks at me like, "So, you were going to let him go hungry?"
sigh, what to do, what to do...

oliveoil..`..don't pander with the faces and whathaveyou. Despite being a smug foodie,my dd is going through a weird phase. I follow Caligula's advice. Anyexcess is hoovered up by sumoesque younger brother or the squirrels and birds that frequent our yard (and on occasion,the sheep and cows behind us)

No waste at all so I can continue feeling smug.

jabberwocky...very naughty of your dh.

oo

I am fast approaching sainthood in my quest to feed my children nutritious, homemade food. But sometimes dd1 is a nightmare and won't eat anything. It is usually a phase and I have finally learned to ignore it - well, I am strict about not offering puddings.

so my only advice is to grit teeth and get through it - and FWIW, dd2 is now 2.5 and eats anything and everything.

Thank you moondog He did have me wondering if I really was being a terrific meanie for a bit.

meant to say that she sometimes eats really well like your dd did yesterday.

How long do you all give them for meals? Sometimes she eats at the main dining table but sometimes at her mini table watching tv but neither seems to make her eat any quicker.

Do you have a time limit or should I leave her to graze?

Last week her tea was put out at 5.15pm and she picked some brocolli up at 7pm, stone cold on the way up to bed. WTF?

Seriously jabberwocky,it is so subversive,not just on the food issue but on the idea of the two of you being in charge.