Dinnertime help

Ok similar thread to Kanda's, but I am in need of help..

DD1 will eat, has no problem with breakfast, no problem with lunch either. Dinnertime is a complete waste of time and energy. She doesn't eat anything I cook for her, even if she has asked for it! :rolleyes:
Im so tired, of cooking and handing the dog her dinner, of her not sleeping cause she has an empty tummy. If I ask her to eat something on her plate and she fusses enough she will throw it up immediately after trying it. :rolleyes:
Tonight she said the food we cook for her makes her tummy sad. She says that every night. Maybe I am a bad cook, oh I don't know.
I've tried the well then you wait until breakfast thing, and shes fine with it.
Im over trying to make things she will eat, I want to eat so many other things that I love but she wont even contemplate, so I havent bothered cooking them in a long time.
It seems to be a texture thing, a colour thing, a temperature thing, and an overall look thing.... Either way Im stuffed.
So heres the questions,
what are your failsafe meal options to get your kids to eat healthy dinners?
What are your tricks to get them to eat?
What would you do if you were me?
What would you/have you changed to make dinnertime a success?

Im asking you wonderful people for advice, Im at my wits end, in tears every night over this. I hate dinnertime right now and I need to change that.
Please BBers I am in need of some serious help/advice/encouragement....
Please?

Hugs hun meals times and toddlers suck!!!

Have you tryed a main meal at lunch and then just a sandwich or something at dinner??

DS1 loves Spag bol, chicken curry, pies, beef stroganoff etc (all can have vegies grated and hidden in them easily)
If he has not eaten much in day I will try and convince him to have so many spoon fulls and then he can have a yougurt or fruit puree, doesn't always work but does sometimes.

DS2 sometimes eats a truckload other times chucks it on floor or pushes spoon out of my hand
Good luck

Thanks feeb!

Yup tried the switcher-roo between dinner and lunch, some days it worked and others just not worth it. Rewards, threats, dessert, treats nothing works normally... Its so frutstrating, I even have started asking ehr what she wanted for dinner, and after he asking all day for it, she won't eat it at dinnertime.

DD2 is normally a great eater, and DD1 was a great eater at DD2's age too. Things changed and now I need to get them back on track. I so dearly want to eat the things I love again.

If I ask DS1 what he wants I get "pies (party), toast, cheese, yougurt"

lol, normally she asks for pizza pies, which are like pizza rounders. Or noodles, which isnt 2min noodles, but chow mein noodles or similar... Sometimes she eats what she is given but normally she just doesnt.

gah, I hear ya girlfriend!

After having a dream dinner eater in DD, DS is just a nightmare, and frustratingly, he's the one influencing DD, not the other way around.

A few things that have worked for us (though with the disclaimer of not always, often random success)

- They have to eat at the table, but I'm not particularly fussy about the description of the table. I have eaten dinner at the kids table, the coffee table, outside...you get the idea.
- I try and get them to eat early - yes that means sometimes I'm eating really early, but they can't manage boo when they're tired and then generally bedtime turns to poo too.
- Horrifyingly (not really but some would be :o) sometimes I give them a snack (a little one) an hour before dinner if they're particularly ratty. That helps tide them over and they aren't so starving that they're cranky and uppity at dinner time and unwilling to try anything.
- offer a smaller/larger different plate. DD refused for ages to eat her dinner. Turned out she wanted a plate like mine instead of a babies plate...whatdayaknow - she was happy to eat again. DS on the other hand needs a smaller plate or otherwise he's overwhelmed and won't eat boo.
- offer less food than you think they can eat. They can always have more and the small triumph for them of finishing a plate of food and your approval is often the boost they need. My MIL used to berate me for the tiny amount of food I'd give DD - but she'd eat it and ask for more :dunno: She's happy and I'm happy - portion size is individual when your tummy is only as big as your fist.
- a 'picnic plate' as DD calls it. A little bit of everything we're eating and some other bits and pieces) in a segmented plate.

HTH some

Thanks Kim! Will definately give that a try, somethings got to give, and Im willing to try everything and anything to get her to eat!!


:) thankyou

DD is doing the exact same thing at the moment.

The segmented plate platter is a good one. Savoury platter with fruit.

Watermelon. Bloody Watermelon. Only dinner she'd eat for 3 days in a row.

Getting her into the kitchen with a stool she can stand on the reach the bench so she can help prepare her own food helps a lot too. Sometimes she gets to choose what colour bowl, plate and cutlery she wants and helps us chop her own fruit with a toddler knife.

If the tantrums start (which sometimes they do)...put the food on the table and get on with dinner. If she's hungry, she'll eat it. Took 10 minutes last night of crying and screaming and blubbering - for no actual reason we could see (I was genuinely confused at why she was crying) and then she just stopped dead, and totally calmly picked up the food and ate the whole lot.

But then sometimes - when it's a stupid thing like the wrong colour spoon - and the whinging gets to me in the evening when I am tired, I give in and give her every bloody spoon. LOL.

I can completely understand your frustration!!!

Perhaps a sandwich? Even if it's just jam, or vegemite or cheese.

What about a little snack tray of sultanas, cheese & crackers? I know it's not the healthiest, but it's something.

IMO, I think you just need to get her to start eating ANYTHING at dinnertime, once you have it established that she will actually eat at dinnertime, then I would start getting strict on what it is she consumes (vegies, meat, etc...). I think the trick first is to get her body used to eating at dinner time & then start introducing a 'suitable' dinner. KWIM?

Good luck!

lol hang in there beansbeans, Angela's post made me remember something. When DS was about your DD's age, he refused to eat anything but frozen peas for a full fortnight....you just have to take a deep breath and know that this too shall pass.

As I have watched my sister create the fussiest eaters on the planet my best advice would be to not let her see how frustrated you are and never let it become a battle.

Thanks ladies!

When I was pregnant with DD2, DD1 would only eat grapes or mandarins for dinner. It lasted for months and months. After DD2 was born, it conitnued. It actually got to the point I would make dinner, serve everybody and then stash by back up food for her somewhere nearby. Actually some nights, I was already peeling the mandarin before she asked for it! LOL
One night I just told, nope that dinner and if you dont like it, then dont eat. (I really was worried I was creating a fussy eater by doing it) It lasted for a while.

After reading all your lovely posts and suggestions, I gave up. Every night I serve dinner, every night it is something that I enjoy too (I given up on trying to please them always). Each night we sit down. We eat together. We talk (and laugh at DD2 and her attempts to feed herself. ) WE dont talk about food, unless they ask a question. I dont praise her, I dont bribe her. If she says she wants to go and play then thats fine. She now knows that if she doesnt eat dinner than she has to wait til breakfast.
Slowly, each night I have noticed that she is eating a little of her dinner. I dont acknowledge it at all though. And the less attention I seem to give to her and her eating the more she eats.
Its actually weird. I thought kids thrive on praise and all that positive stuff, but when it comes to DD1, the less the better.
Last night she didnt like the sound of homemade chicken schnitzel, so instead I made chicken nuggets. Seriously, she ate all of hers and asked for more!! Tonight we hadgourmet sausage sandwiches (roll, salad, sauce, the whole bit). She picked out what she didnt like, but then ate the rest.
She is seriously a strange child.