Mealtimes for preschool age children

[suiledonne]

I have a 4 year old and a 18 month old.

Neither are interested in food at all and it is starting to get me down, cooking for an uninterested audience.

We get up around 7.30 and they both eat a smallish but ok breakfast.

Midmorning they have a snack - usually fruit or a yoghurt drink or a cracker with nutella and some sliced banana.

Lunch is a light meal and they never eat much. I usually give cheese, yoghurt, fruit, tuna, cold meat and some toast, breadsticks or crackers these days. Was something hot in colder weather like homemade soup or small portion of pasta.

I give them dinner at 5 and lately they are eating very, very little.

I'm getting fed up. They have no enthusiasm for meals. We sit at the table, I usually eat with them and DH has his later.

I've noticed lately though that they (especially the younger one) always ask DH for some of his dinner even though it is usually what they rejected earlier.

If I was to move their dinner to later to eat with DH about 6.45 is this too late?

How would I readjust the daytime meals so they weren't getting hungry at the wrong time?

Any ideas/suggestions or experiences of your own welcome

Thanks

6.45 I would say is too late. My 20 month old is in bed at 7!

Could you try all (you and DCs, DH at weekends) sitting down at lunchtimes and having your main meal then?

When do they go to bed? If not until 8 then 645 would be fine.

If you were doing 645 I would arrange timings like this...

730 - breakfast

9/930 - snack

1230 - lunch

245 - snack

430 - snack

645 - dinner

My ds is the same fwiw but is getting slowly better, you ahve my sympathies!

My DD's will eat anything from my plate in the evening - not because they're hungry then, but because they think what I'm having must be more exciting (and because they're trying to string out bedtime!)

They go to bed these days around 8ish. It was much earlier until recently but I think the bright evenings are keeping them up.

We usually go out in the mornings so it would be a rush to do the main meal in the middle of the day.

The only reason for 6.45 is so I could do one mealtime and at least DH is enthusiastic about eating and it might rub off on them (and me. I have lost interest too and stuggle to think of interesting meals that everyone will eat)

It was much easier in the winter when I was serving up soups/casseroles every day and I had leftovers for lunch the next day.

I would ditch the morning snack or make it something very light such as a satsuma or a few grapes then they'll probably eat a bit more at lunch. If mine eat mid morning they will hardly touch lunch.

We have breakfast at 6.30, lunch at 12, snack at 3pm and tea at 5pm. DS has a morning snack at preschool but rarely if he's at home. Obviously he has something if he asks I just don't routinely offer it.

If lunch is 12.30 and evening meal 6.45 I'd offer a snack at about 3.30/4pm.

I try cutting out snacks and maybe push tea to 5.30. If they eat too late they may not be that hungry for breakfast or they want to snack more in the afternoon. If it's not working then I'd eat all together because if they don't go to bed till later then okay. My 2yr old is in bed by 7 so wouldn't work for us. We have breakfast about 7 (eats well) lunch at 12 then tea at 5 (we eat later). Sometimes she doesn't eat well but I don't offer any substitute and then once she has got down from the table that is it. Does your DH give in when they ask for food from his plate? I'd say no, if they didn't eat when they had the chance then it's tough.

You also need to remember that no child will starve itself.

my 2 and a half year old eats with us at about 6.45ish every day. he also goes to bed at around 8.30. this seems to suit him fine. i have to say in hot weather he eats a lot less. but certainly eating as a family is really nice and i think it helps with table manners etc and provokes lots of nice conversations. he doesn't tend to have snacks in the day but if he asks for something i'll give it but usually he doesn't so maybe cut down on these?

also a good bit of advice i've been given is not to look at what they eat over a day but over a week instead. you can get a much better idea of how balanced a diet they are getting and it sounds like you provide good healthy food for them.

can you get the 4 year old to help you? ds loves to standing on his step stool seeing whats going on and helping to stir stuff etc. he even ate raw mushroom the other night whilst doing this, it seems to make hiim more keen to try stuff. not sure how you'd tackle it with two of them though...

How much milk do they get? My friend's DD eats barely anthing but drinks lots of milk. You could try giving them less milk and that might work.

Also, if they aren't interested in lunch I would only give fruit as the mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks.

6.45 for the evening meal would be too late for my DCs too as they are usually in bed by 7.