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We do something similar. We usually ask that they try a bite and tell them they can spit it out if they dont like it. It at least gets them to start the idea of new foods.

I never read the book but we follow the basic principle. For my 21 month old, I don't really ask her to try anything. Very rarely I'll put a bite on her fork and try to get her to take a bite but it rarely works. My 3 year old often eats nothing for dinner but it's more a control issue than an I don't like that issue. I have had mild success asking her to at least try one bite (she is not even required to swallow it), especially if we're having a side she loves, she eats it all and wants more. When I know she will likely love the main dish as well, I'll ask her to take one bite before she can have more side OR tell her she can eat it while she waits for me to eat what I have before I get up again.

I don't worry about dinner specifically. I look at the entire day, if I feel that they've had a healthy balance all day but not at dinner, it's fine. It's just one meal out of like 6 (if we're including snacks).

I try to get the kids to eat at least one bite of everything, though that can be challenging (DS1 has SPD, DS2 has CP and likely SPD). DS2 is going through the toddler "pickies"...some days he can't get enough of a certain food, other days he won't touch the exact same food. Since I'm gluten free, though, my kids really don't get a lot of bread/pasta and are forced to eat a lot more vegetables and protein (since that's what I serve). I try to let the kids eat what they want of whatever I serve...whether that's 3 bites or platefuls, and on the rare occasions when we have dessert, it's served at the same time as the meal. When dinner is complete, the kitchen is closed until morning.

I want to do this more. I love it.

ETA #thankshellobee

I haven't read the book but I think our approach is fairly similar. I do have trouble though when DD specifically requests something - like last night when her dinner included half a banana and she kept asking for more and more and more, with tears when we initially refused, then relented and got her more banana, until she had eaten 1.5 entire bananas. What do you all do when LOs ask for more of something after they've eaten what you put on their plate? (Like, when there is still plenty of the other foods you gave initially).

I've never heard of this as a method but it is almost exactly what we do. We encourage the kids to eat 1 bite per year of age of the main dish (oldest is 5 now and I think we'll max out at 5) but aren't always super strict about it. We put a few sides on their plate and sometimes they'll surprise us and eat all the veggies, sometimes its just fruit and bread. For me, the biggest challenge is when the dinner is perfectly good and has a variety but my kids request something else healthy (or relatively healthy) - apple, dried mango, pretzels are common requests. I don't want to give in and let them have whatever they ask for but it is simple stuff and if they go to bed hungry we'll all suffer. They are good at trying new things and generally eat a balanced diet overall.

We're pretty similar to what some others have posted. We give small portions of everything we're eating. I make sure he has at least one thing he likes. If he finishes the thing he likes and wants more, he has to at least try one of the other things. He's not a huge dinner eater, so sometimes he'll eat next to nothing. We remind this is all there is and there's no more eating until breakfast.

@HappyBaker: We try something similar. We do ask him to try but if he doesn't want it then I don't push it. And I read same thing about making sure there's one or two things he will eat - usually carb/grain and a veg (fortunately he loves broccoli, cauliflower, peas, edamame, and carrots so if he is eating those I don't worry too much).

One thing I read but I don't remember where - is that dinner is the end of the day so of course for a little human like our LOs it is like hitting a wall - they're tired, less patient and maybe even less hungry than other meals because they've already eaten twice plus snacks. So what I read is to just make sure that proteins and other good veggies and stuff are part of breakfast and lunch and snacks as much as you can. So that if at dinner all they eat is noodles and butter or bread, you don't have to stress because the rest of the day was filled with nutrition. So that's what I try to do (and remind myself).

I am not familiar with that author, but it sounds like we have a similar approach to food. DD is 2.5 and a good eater, but not much of a meat eater. If there is meat on her plate, we do expect her to try it, but one bite is fine. We know she's not a huge meat eater, so we do always have other sources of protein on her plate to fill her up, and that keeps us from stressing about if she's eating enough. I really don't want food to turn into a battle.

@HappyBaker: I don't remember a lot of pressure around eating, but my parents were VERY restrictive on what came into our house. No chips, soda, candy, junk food at all. Sugary cereal was a once-a-year treat on our birthday. At Halloween, we could only keep the number of pieces of our age - so at age 5, we kept 5 pieces of candy and the rest was taken away. They made a big deal of that stuff, and I think it contributed to my going crazy at college and gaining the freshman 15.

My LOs are still young so they're not that aware of "junk food," but I do think we'll have some around the house in the future so it's not such a forbidden fruit. Already we let LO1 keep all his Halloween candy.

My biggest inspiration for following Satter was seeing my SIL and her kids, who are a few years older than mine, constantly nagging/bartering/begging them to eat at every meal. "3 more bites of chicken and then you can have the fries. No treat until you finish half your meal" etc. It seemed exhausting and I knew I didn't want to go down that path. They still do it at ages 6 and 8 and it makes mealtimes so much harder than they have to be.

I'm really trying to be better about this. My issue is that my LO didn't sleep through the night until about a month ago and she's turning two next week She'd wake up to nurse and so I always felt like if I could only get her to eat more at dinner she wouldn't wake up! Now that I finally night weaned her I've realized that what she eats at dinner has no bearing on her STTN and it's letting me relax. We have never made things a huge battle but a lot of cajoling to get her to eat and offering her a lot of different foods. Offering one course at a time because she might eat the pasta if I gave it to her alone but not if I also offered something she likes better.

Anyway, I'm done with that and last night gave her her whole dinner at once, and just let her do her own thing. She had a few bites of a couple things and then said she was done and that was that. She slept through the night just fine.