22 month old so fussy at tea time

[Rogben13]

My 22 month old will not eat anything at tea time (unless it’s crappy freezer stuff and slathered in mayo)
We’ve tried the Joe Wicks bodycoach method of not offering any snacks and try offering the meal an hour or two later. He just refuses it. I hate sending to him to bed on an empty stomach so I end up making him a slice of toast before bed.
He eats really well at breakfast (I assume because he’s starving) and lunch is usually a hit too 90% of the time. He eats a banana and apple every day (he won’t eat any other fruit) and I try give him cut up veggies with his lunch or will hide the ones he’s not overly keen on in a sauce. I’m worried he’s not getting enough nutrients. He’s been like this for a couple of months now.
Any tips? Thanks.

Could you give him his main meal at lunchtime when he's more likely to eat it? Or give a really good breakfast? I think sometimes they are just too tired by teatime especially if they have dropped naps. If they've had their main meal at lunchtime then you can get away with just a sandwich for dinner that they might actually eat.

When my son decided that he didn't want to eat much I would sometimes put little picky bits in small ramekins and make a floor picnic for him. He'd often eat a lot more then.

My son is 4 and has recently become very picky though so I'm having to think creatively too!

Do you think teatime may be too late? Until she was 3, my DD couldn't eat much after 4pm. So we'd do a hot lunch, a 4pm snack of something filling, and porridge or toast at "teatime"

As PPs said, just give him more at lunch and make teatime a "supper" of toast/crumpets/porridge/cheese and crackers etc

Is Joe Wicks, the body coach an expert in toddlers nutrition?

If you are that worried I would ask your go for a referral to a dietitian, but tbh his diet and habits sound pretty normal. Most 22 month olds are pretty fussy. What helped us was writing a diary of what he had eaten every day rather than focus on what he hadn't, and we realised actually he wasn't doing too badly overall. Make breakfast and lunch the main focus meals

Thanks for your replies. I did think about swapping his meals around a bit....I work 3 days a week. 2 of those days he’s at his Nannas house and she always gives him a full chicken dinner at lunch time and then something like an egg/beans on toast or a sandwich for tea. They do the same at nursery too (he’s there one day a week) and I think he’s more hit and miss there but they also tend to give the bigger meal fro lunch.
I also have a 5 year old so I obviously cook a full meal for him at night so I guess it would be a case of trying to save some portions for lunch for the days he’s at home.

Tea can be as early as 4pm or as late as 6.30 (by the time I’ve re offered it) and doesn’t matter what time, he just won’t eat it.

For breakfast he’ll have cereal and toast with a piece of fruit or one of those fruit pot things. He usually asks for more. Lunch would usually be cheese/tuna sandwiches with cucumber and tomatoes, those veggie crisps...and a yogurt and apple for pudding.

The only thing I’m worried about is...I don’t want him to get used to the meals being swapped around, I’d love us to all eat the same thing at the same time eventually 😂

Thanks everyone

I've got a similar age DS and he's the same - as are all his little pals. I think it's this age tbh! I try to leave two hours before dinner so that he might be hungry by the time it's 5pm and I always include something I know he likes, even if he doesn't like other bits of the dinner. I also find ignoring him while he's eating works well - I generally get on with making our dinner or cleaning the kitchen and he normally has a try of his meal then - obviously not a technique recommended by any parenting books but seems to work!

I have doubts that Joe Wick's kid eats those meals. I reckon she's smashing the pom bears any chance she gets

I wouldn't get too hung up on eating the same thing at the same time yet. That works better once they are at school (or at least nursery). Up until about 4 (or even 5 really) you have to be ruled by their energy levels because trying to do anything with a knackered toddler is just an exercise in extreme patience testing. You can always save a portion of your own tea to give her the next day.

I would always do an earlyish tea and try to have it at a consistent time. I think this is the most helpful thing. Then experiment with format - DS2 at the moment likes feeding himself, but only with a spoon or fork, which means he either needs fairly liquid foods which are sticky, like porridge, or baby food jars () or some kind of thick sauce mixed with rice or cut-up spaghetti, or he needs things which are the right combination of soft enough to spear with a plastic fork and firm enough not to fall apart when on the fork. Frankly I do not have the energy every night to assist him with the forking so sticky usually wins out. But at other times, a picky format he can self finger feed, or something I can spoon feed him have been winners. Because they go through phases of this and can change at any time it's quite useful to have a back up option or part of the meal - something like breadsticks for self feeding, baked beans for self spoon feeding or yoghurt for you feeding.

If an early tea leaves her hungry before bed you can always do a "supper" of things like porridge or picky foods or whatever she likes to see her through the night.

Also I would check she is not in pain with molars coming through, some calpol half an hour before dinner might help.

Joe Wicks has no qualifications in child development or psychology, so I wouldn't worry about anything he has to say on the matter.