depends on the tenacity of the child! It might only take 2 days - or as soon as they realise you are serious.
It's hard to know if to give something else...cos it's sort of like giving in again but haaard to do. I gave mine a piece of buttered bread (i'm not sure how to make gruel ) but nothing else.
One thing that is BRILLO (imo) is that she will eat everything otherwise.
Another good tip - Nelle gives her boys dinner at lunch time so she knows they have had a good hearty meal at least once a day.
I had this issue tonight with dd1.... although we had the screaming, the grabbing the food in her hands and squeezing it... so we sent her to her room and she continued to scream.
I kept her food in the fridge until she was hungry again and heated it up. She ate it finally.
Thats the first time I have done this... usually I give it to the dog and she will get a banana or custard later on. I am over cooking for nothing, so now this is how it will be. I hope it works!
Yeah, filling her up earlier in the day when she's more amenable might be a good idea. What time do you have dinner? Maybe she's too tired to eat properly? My DS is younger, but we find we have to feed him early or he just can't eat.
We do offer him a supper plate before bed to fill the gaps. It's hard to find that balance between getting them to eat properly and getting them fed so they'll (hopefully) sleep.
We don't give him anything else. Perhaps a cup of milk but that's it. Dinner goes in the fridge and he is hungry I can reheat it for him. Sometimes he goes to bed without eating but sometimes I just don't feel like dinner either. I also second filling them up with good stuff during the day so you don't have to stress if they don't have a great tea.
We normally have dinner round 5ish, 5:30 at the latest, bedtime is 7pm... We have dinner then casue Miss H is ready for bed by 6 and its easier to feed both at the same time.
Usually we do have our big meal at lunchtime too, as DH goes to work after lunch and he uses lunch as his main meal too.
buttered bread sounds good, I reckon gruel might be too labour intensive for a second option
Im going to stick to my guns and get her eating dinner, actually all I really want at this point is for her to actually try dinner before she makes up her mind as to what its like! I wouldnt mind giving her something else, or having her skip dinner if she just tried what I was giving her just once.
I think she must be hungry, given the chance she will eat 3 whole mandarins by herself instead of dinner, But we might shake things up a bit tomorrow and she how she goes I think. Anything can be better than tonight. After not eating her dinner for over an hour and it going all over the kitchen, she ate 2 bananas!
Worst thing is that I know she loves the food Im giving her, she always has!
DS does this sometimes, and if I spoon feed him he'll eat it all - have you tried this? Else I just put him to bed without tea.
There's a mum I know with 3 kids, and she makes 4 different meals each night - you really don't want to be in that boat!!!
It sounds so much like my first DS and I know how hard it can be We definitely had to stop offering an alternative and it was amazing how quickly he learnt to eat the first thing offered. However, as the others have said, he has never, even at 5 now, been as big an eater at dinner as at lunch and breakfast. I am not sure it's because he's tired, or just that he uses more energy during the day so fuels up earlier to meet that need. But whatever it is, dinner is and always has been his smallest meal of the day, or close to it. For quite a while we'd do the dinner for lunch thing. It's not so easy now he's at school but he eats enough at dinner now that I know he's getting a good variety and quantity of meat, veg etc. I am sure that not offering her an alternative will help you, but don't worry too much if a big dinner is still not really her thing just yet.
With DD we had to stop all snacks after 330pm (to eat dinner at 530-6). We give her what we are having if she doesnt eat it then she gets nothing else except for her dinner, if she still refuses to eat then she gets nothing else until breakfast. The only exception is when we have new foods or a food she hasnt previously liked before and as long as she tries it Im happy for her to have a sandwich, fruit or yoghurt. We very rarely have any issues with eating anymore
) but nothing else.
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We definitely had to stop offering an alternative and it was amazing how quickly he learnt to eat the first thing offered. However, as the others have said, he has never, even at 5 now, been as big an eater at dinner as at lunch and breakfast. I am not sure it's because he's tired, or just that he uses more energy during the day so fuels up earlier to meet that need. But whatever it is, dinner is and always has been his smallest meal of the day, or close to it. For quite a while we'd do the dinner for lunch thing. It's not so easy now he's at school but he eats enough at dinner now that I know he's getting a good variety and quantity of meat, veg etc. I am sure that not offering her an alternative will help you, but don't worry too much if a big dinner is still not really her thing just yet.
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