A is 14 months old and is in a "refusing to eat certain things", phase. She will refuse things she once loved, which I know is normal, but getting her to eat dinner seems like a battle lately. There are a few things she will almost never deny, but I she can't eat the same few things everyday....right? I usually feed her what we eat for dinner, so she sees we are eating the same thing, but it still doesn't matter, she refuses and will throw a tantrum if she doesn't want it. Again, I know this is common for toddlers but is there anything I can do? When she refuses a meal do I just get her down from her chair and that's that? Do I make her something else? I feel like making her something else just gives her "her way", but I don't want her to be hungry either. She does eat 2-3 snacks a day, maybe that's part of the issue? She has a morning snack, afternoon snack and then sometimes a snack before bed.
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here's what I do: the thing my LO always eats is cheese. so if he's refusing to eat something I'll try for example grating a little cheese over top of his food. sometimes that tricks him into trying the dinner and realising he likes it. sometimes he's a total smart ass and picks all the cheese bits out and still leaves everything else!!
if the cheese trick doesn't work, I might give him half a slice of toast or something, but I don't make him a whole new meal. if he still won't eat, I just take him out of the high chair, but leave some chunks of dinner accessible to him if he wants to run around and eat.
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I never made DS something just for him. I saw my mom do that for my younger brother for years and it took him until high school to start eating normal food.
I just have an assortment of stuff for dinner, and give DS a plate with a bit of everything on it. Now he's old enough to understand, but I've always made sure he tried a bite of everything. If he eats poorly, he doesn't get any treats later, and if he eats well, he'll get a snack later on before bed (sweet or whatever...usually it's yogurt, but tonight it was ice cream).
At 14 months I wouldn't stress it too much. She'll eat when she's hungry.
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i haven't had experience in toddler tantrums, but when R refuses to eat, i don't offer anymore. my friend's ped told her to keep offering (her son would only eat fruit and no proteins) and that he would eat when he was hungry enough. i'm sure that's easier said that done, but i'm going to really try not to be a short order cook.
good luck!
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My LO is also 14 months . . .tonight, she would only eat chicken and yogurt melts. And a wee bit of banana. That's it. And yanno, I do what I can to make sure she gets balanced nutrition, but I don't stress the day-to-day. I have noticed she sort of goes in mini waves . . . a few days mostly carbs, a few days mostly fruits veggies, and, like the past couple of days, mostly protein. I think the overall is more important than the every day.
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Oh, and the tantrums about everything are fun, aren't they?!
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I think it is definitely normal. And, I would just give her the same thing every night if she's eating, lol - this too shall pass!
That said, O eats breakfast when she wakes up (she will nurse around 5:30-6, go back in her crib til 7. then breakfast).
She has her morning nap, then after she wakes lunch is around 12. Sometimes she'll have a small snack before her nap depending on how long since breakfast, sometimes her snack is after lunch before her second nap. (following? i feel like I'm talking in circles).
Then, dinner at 5. So she has 3 meals and usually one snack. Unless I'm desperate and she has a small snack while I cook!
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We're in a picky phase. I give her things I know she will eat for breakfast and lunch, cut down on snacks, and she gets whatever we are having for dinner. If she doesn't eat dinner she'll eat a great breakfast the next morning :). I'm not going to be a short order cook for my kids.
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Thanks everyone, it's good to know I'm not the only one with a picky kiddo...it just gets frustrating!
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@Weagle: We take the same approach.
As long as he's eaten (most of) breakfast and lunch and has had a snack at some point then I'm confident that he's not starving. If he's hungry enough he'll eat it. If he chooses to throw his dinner on the floor instead in if eating it (or just doesn't eat it), then I give him a bottle of milk and go about out night routine as normal (he gets a cup of milk after dinner whether he's eaten or not).
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LO is going through this too--it looks like a lot of us are! He thinks it's more hilarious to throw his food on the ground or pretend to eat it and then throw it on the floor than to actually eat it. At this point, I'll just take what I can get.
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If she hasn't eaten much all day I'll pull out toast, yogurt or a banana because I know she'll eat it. If she's just tantruming (tonight) I'll just take her out and she usually wants to go to bed soon after. It is an extreme battle over here. She refuses everything!
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Yup we have this too...I will try to offer one thing that I know he will eat, like cheese or avocado. If he doesn't really eat much dinner, then I will give him fruit after, and I know e will always eat that!
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Same as @Weagle. But there are some things he just won't eat, like chicken (go figure) so if we are having chicken for dinner I'll give him a different meat but the same everything else. If he refuses, he can have milk, but that's it. But I really wasn't strict about this until recently (18 months).
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We are going through the same thing. At dinner tonight dd waved her hands in the air, did a half-cry, and said NANA NANA NANA!!!! (Banana.)
At this age I'm just giving her what she'll eat. Luckily she usually wants what we have, but since we tend to eat spicier foods she usually gets something separate.
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We're going through the same thing here. Usually we have something for him ready for dinner, his favorites instead of a family meal. When he throws it down, we take it away, then back when it's over. I leave the food out longer once he's out of high chair to graze if he hasn't had much. Sometimes, he'll get a banana if he's really not eating well. We've managed to curb the goldfish snack after dinner to a Friday night and a bit on the weekend. He likes some of my cooking, but not all of it. Those dinners are hard on me because I don't want him to be like my nephews and their bad eating habits at 6 years old.
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LO is 16 months and has been in a horribly picky phase for about 3 months now. Dinner is the worst as she's tired by then, so I've taken to introducing new foods at lunchtime....still with only about a 5% success rate though.
There are a few (ie about three meals) she will always eat - pasta, pizza, and butter chicken. We make those in bulk and load them out with veggies, protein, and dairy, and that is her dinner every night. We also put some of whatever we're having on her plate but it usually ends up on the floor. I worry that we're creating bad habits but I think she's too young to let her go hungry.
She does eat a good breakfast and has a grilled cheese or pb&j for lunch, along with loads of fruit, but that's about it. She won't drink milk or eat any dairy other than what's in the aforementioned meals, so because I am so worried about her calcium intake, I'd rather feed her the same things that I know she'll eat and worry about food diversity later.
Sigh, picky eaters are so tough!
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How I hate LO for not eating... like tonight!
Something went wrong with the way I made a pasta dish (one of his favorites) and it went too sour. He basically barely ate anything tonight. So as usual, I pulled out a cup of yogurt and attempted to mix some of his meal in it (pasta, veggies, meat, what not). It usually does the trick to make him eat a bit more but tonight it didn't end very well. I offered him apples (also a favorite normally) and didn't work. At least he drank up 4+ oz of milk. Then I gave him a banana, which he only took 2 bites and left it on the table (he would have eaten the whole thing if he was very hungry). There I figured he is probably not hungry tonight.
Like you, there are a few things that he won't turn down, so unfortunately I found myself pretty stuck with those few things... but he eats them.
I don't usually prep alternatives (carb and meat) if he didn't eat his meals... I dont' want to start giving him cheerios and he'll think if I don't eat my meal I'll get to eat cheerios. I just figure he'll be hungry tomorrow and eat more. If he doesn't, then maybe he really was fine. I can only worry about so many things, and it is not like I can force him to eat.
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Lose it!
For real, I spend time and energy trying to prepare a meal and then she doesnt eat it. ARGH. I usually save it and when she shows signs of being hungry I offer it again. I try not to replace meals with snacks but sometimes you have to do it.
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We do family dinner- he gets a little bit of everything and eats what he wants. If he doesn't, I don't worry about it. That said, we had to cut way back on snacks, and now he generally eats at meal times.
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