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Dd2 is now 3yrs 6 months old. She eats well during the day but when it comes to dinner I'm really struggling with her.
She makes herself literally sick at the dinner table nearly every night. As soon as food touches her tongue she starts gagging and if you tell her to swallow it she vomits.
She will eat hot takeaway chips no problems and if we have salad she will eat cucumber, so I don't think it's a texture issue.
Any tips and tricks muchly appreciated
Could she be eating too much during the day? What if she helps to cook/prepare dinner?
No we don't let her eat after 230, we have tea 6-630.
I've tried getting her to help but it hasn't made a difference
Often children are most hungry between 3-4.30 if she has a window of opportunity for hunger between those hours I would feed her dinner then, and then supper at the dinner table with the family so she has the social aspect of sitting and eating together. My children still come home from school and have something dinner like instead of afternoon tea and then dinner again at 5.30-6pm. Our health practitioner told us that the best time for children to absorb nutrients is between 3.30 and 4.30 and since that time I have noticed the window of opportunity for hunger matches what she said. Some children when they miss the window they will not eat well afterwards.
I also feed my children early, between 4:30 and 5 most days.
My kids love cooking and cooking shows and that has a positive impact on their eating.
If its a power thing though it might be a while before she lets go of her issues (you could be describing my younger sister who ONLY ate Vegemite sandwiches and lamb chops through childhood)
What if you just stopped doing anything? Really take the pressure off? I always try to remember it is my job to provide healthy food, it is their job to eat it. If they don't, that's fine, they can decide when they're hungry. My two are the same, they eat heaps in the morning and less as the day progresses. I figure that's just how they are. When I try and force it and we get into meal time battles it's just so stressful for everyone and doesn't make a difference anyway. I make breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner. If they're not hungry that's ok but then they wait until the next meal time because I'm not preparing food all day at different times either.
Yeah, I would try an earlier dinner and/or just not worrying about it. If she eats well during the day, you could also just make lunch your main meal and then it won't matter much if she doesn't want dinner. I've always found with mine that pushing things just makes it worse as it becomes a power play.
Most nights I just let her get down from the table and go off and play as I want to e joy my tea without a poo fight to try and get her to eat. She knows if she doesn't eat tea she gets nothing else afterwards and she never asks for anything. It's more things I know she has eaten happily in the past that she turns her nose up as soon as its put on the table.
Will try giving her tea earlier
Yeah, it's annoying and I hate the food waste :(
Miss E is like that and yep it does my head in :wall:
As pp have mentioned maybe try an earlier dinner time. I've learnt with E that she prefers to eat earlier and more during the day, so I always ensure she has a decent breakfast and an average lunch so that when it is dinnertime rolls around I know that if she carries on or it's heading to poo fight status I can let it go knowing that she has been 'fuelled' through the day.
We have had similar issues with all of mine at some point with dinner. At the moment Joel won't eat dinner most nights. I know he gets plenty during the day and is well nourished, so I don't fight it. The others have always come good and just started eating again in their own time.
:hug: it is so frustrating. I don't have any tips really but just wanted to say that I understand, I do not look forward to dinner. Moo is also 3.5 and he very rarely eats dinner. He doesn't go as far as vomiting but he won't even taste the food, or will take the tiniest bite and spit it out which I really dislike! I feel like I have tried pretty much everything (getting him involved in the prep etc) but he still won't eat. Even more frustrating when it's something I know he loves like pasta, the waste drives me batty! I serve it up and make it a complete non issue now. The only thing I do is get him to stay at the table with the rest of us until we're all finished. Some nights are bigger struggles than others in that regard.
Hope you find a solution :hug: