Am I terrible?

[ladybird11]

Ds (almost 2) has refused to eat his dinner tonight. I haven given him a few warnings that I would take it away (though I doubt he fully understood) what I was even saying.

He didn't get overly upset when I took the plate away, and he's now playing happily with dd.

Tell me he won't starve himself to death overnight , though he will have bottle of milk before he goes to bed.

I feel terrible, but on the other hand he needs to learn I'm not a walk over. Normally dh takes over when I start to discipline the kids, but this week he's at work on arvo shift. I always remind dh not to take over when I start discipling the kids but sometimes he just can't seem to help himself.....

Sorry, rambling now !

[Arimeh]

He won't starve. DD1 usually has no dinner no matter how much we beg her! She's skinny as but not dead

[Aussiegirl777]

Hiya Leesa- I don't think you are terrible at all. You're right though he probably doesn't get the hang of the consequence of his actions but he doesn't seem too upset and he will still get his bottle before bed. He's not going to starve.

[MrsFabuloso]

Nope, he won't starve. I do the same. DS1 is a terrible eater at dinner time. I am always worried about his terrible habbits for dinner. But I have tried everything reasonable and still he will not eat. I can often hear the water sloshing in his tummy. That give me the mummy guilts big time, but I refuse to feed my child biscuits/chips/lollies/whatever junk he comes up with the he wants for dinner. He goes to bed without having eaten since around 3.30pm if he has no dinner (bed time at 7.30pm). Thems the breaks.

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

Oh, you dreadful, terrible mother. How can you starve a child like that? Oh, the guilt-trip train is ready to board and I want you on it, Leesa.

Nah, not really. If he's not hungry then he won't eat - and if he's not hungry then he won't starve will he? I usually put the food in the fridge so if DS changes his mind it's available, but not there for him to see and snack on. Then he doesn't eat and I have tomorrow's lunch made for me!

[~me~]

He definitely won't starve himself overnight

DD who is 18mths has started being a fuss pot, and I have started to do this. I am pretty sure you give them 30min max to finish and if still fussing take it away and wait till morning.
I take it away and she has started with the nooo, so I give her one last try and if still no go, then bin it.
She has yoghurt to finish off and doesn't wake in the night hungry.

It's tough love, they get the picture eventually

[helle]

DD who is 18mths has started being a fuss pot, and I have started to do this. I am pretty sure you give them 30min max to finish and if still fussing take it away and wait till morning.

Soo... we did this with our dog when he was younger. It works XD Good to know I can apply it to child rearing too haha!

[Little Chicken]

DD1 has been doing this for months. Very rarely eats a decent amount at dinner, and at least 3 times a week goes to bed with nothing. We have a rule that if no dinner is eaten then she gets nothing else, doesn't bother her in the slightest. She is a big breakfast eater though but she never wakes hungry in the night.

[~Kim~]

you dag, hope you're feeling better about it.

Dinner is a rare show here too. My two are just too tired.

[ladybird11]

Thanks ladies, it is a massive mummy guilt trip but I'm feeling a bit better about it after reading your replies!!

Choo choo!!!

[feeb]

DS1 is hit and miss if and what he will eat at meal times, DS2 not eaten much but yougurt for about 5 days now everything else goes on floor!!!
We tell both of them to eat or will take it away, even tryed bribbary of eat this and get a treat but very rarely works either, if not hungry wont eat!!

Won't starve so don't stress.

xoxo

[Taurean]

Exactly the same in our house DD definitely isn't withering away! I spoke to our GP several months ago about my concerns with DDs eating habits (which are all over the place!) and she assured me it's perfectly normal behaviour. She gave me a brochure on toddler eating habits and it says it's very important not to make a fuss out of meal times. If they clearly aren't interested, give them a bit of time then take the meal away without any fuss. I have an Annabelle Karmel kids food and recipe book and it says the same thing

HTH!

[Cranky Kitten]

Heheh, if you're terrible I must be the demon-mother incarnate - cause I've been doing it to my DD for the last 9 years. And she still goes through stages of dawdling over dinner and not really eating much. Other days she'll eat me out of house and home being constantly hungry (which usually coincides with another growth spurt and the need to buy her new clothes).

I figure it's not worth fighting over, if she doesn't want to eat she doesn't have to but she's not getting anything else - if she doesn't eat at dinner time it gets put in the fridge until bedtime then either made into a lunch or chucked depending on what it is.

[~Hestia~]

I've done this with Mr Moo a couple of times, felt bad but didn't do him any harm. On a side note, I can't believe they're almost 2

[Sterla]

My DS often will often not eat much for tea - sometimes nothing. Sometimes we'll offer him a piece of fruit if he hasn't had much to eat that afternoon. It's not ideal, but if he's not going to eat we can't force him. The saying I've heard over and over again is "they'll eat when they're hungry".

[BeautifulMadness]

He will be fine....ive sent my boys to bed without dinner and my 2 yr old fully understands no dinner no goodies