Quick Dinner question.

I'm just wondering when you introduced "supper" to your dd / ds ? I seem to be seeing it alot like in recipe books etc for toddlers. And quite frankly I am sick of being told that I'm doing something wrong because Ava-Jayde isn't sleeping right through yet. So I'm trying anything atm. She only wakes once around 10.30 and sometimes we'll give her a bottle other times she can be put back to sleep without. And then there are the odd occasion where she doesn't wake up during the night. So I've put her bed time a bit later (she was going down between 5.30 and 6.00pm) to around 6.30 - 7pm. And she has dinner around 5.30pm. So I'm just wondering, after dinner we usually give her her bottle and then she goes to bed. If we introduce supper, how do we do it? Say give her her dinner at 5.30 and then like what 6 or 6.15 give her some fruit or something? And then 6.30 give her her bottle? I don't know just sounds like a lot of food. But now she's a toddler it's getting more and more confusing as to whether i'm giving her too much or not enough kwim? I know when she's full she just won't eat anymore, but that could also just be her being difficult lol. So any ideas would be great girls .THanks

how old is she?

i give a snack to my dd after dinner but thats often because she will have dinner around 6pm, and then often doesn't go to bed until 8-8.30pm, so thats a good two plus hours, she she'll usually get cheese and bickies, sultanas, a cookie, an apple or sometimes if i'm feeling generous a teeny tiny ice cream cone...

you could try offering her something and see if she is interested, but i just wanted to say, i sort of wish i had of introduced 'no food after dinner' type of rule, because sometimes i wonder if my 2 year old doesn't eat ALLLLL of her tea, knowing she can have a snack later - just wanted to raise that before you start offering!!

if i didn't give her snacks after tea, i could be saying at dinner time 'better eat up all your dinner or you'll be hungry later' or something to that effect.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm its so hard knowing what to do isn't it!!!!

We've never done supper. I honestly think its not necessary. And don't listen to anyone about sleeping through, food doesn't make kids sleep through its just something they adjust to. Sometimes people should keep their comments to themselves :rolleyes:

She's 12 months Emma.

Yeah Cai, I know exactly what you mean about people's comments. It's really bloody frustrating when they go "ohh she's not sleeping through yet?" and then you see their face like hrmmmm. But what more can I do? I'm trying my best but they just make me feel like crap. Before Ava I didnt' care what people thought. But now I'm a mum anything people say about her or me with her I get really upset about .. Dam this mother thing is hard lol

mmmm I've never done supper. Only if they aren't eating much dinner and its right before bed & DD1 says "I'm hungry" than I give her 1 weetbix in milk.

Take those supper recipes and use them for morning tea.

BTW: neither of my girls slept through the night last night, or the night before. It wasn't due to hunger, it was due to not sleeping through. I agree with Cai, people should keep their comments to themselves.

just wanted to say we don't do a supper but if sd asks for food he can have it (but only if he ate all his tea)

my ds is over 2 and wakes every night at about 12.30am to fill his sippy cup with milk. some people say its bad but who cares what others think. and this is why my ds will stay in a cot for as long as i can otherwise he would be up all night.

hi there,
at 1 year of age, my dd was eating dinner with us and eating what we were eating...
mind you she has never been to bed early. At that age she was in bed around 8.
Dinner was around 6.30 - 7. Before going to bed she could have milk if she asked for it.
She used to wake up during the night, but I guess it was a stage... nothing to do with food.
Don't worry about comments... people are full of them... sharing experiences is another issue, but nobody can tell you what to do... you are the mother, you know your baby, not them!
lots of love

We give Mackenzie dinner at 5.30 (give or take) - she's 19 months old. She then has bath and jamas. While reading a book or after she has a cup of milk so no supper. Occasionally if we are eating tea when she's up she might have a nibble but I agree that if you start offering snacks a fter dinner then it's just anothe rmeal and they may not eat all their dinner. Mackenzie gets offered 2-3 things for dinner: meal, yoghurt and fruit. If she doesn't want them I figure she's not hungry!

Hey darl, haven't BTDT, but it seems to me like offering supper would be an awful lot of food. What you are doing sounds pretty much right.

I'm sorry for you guys that Ava-Jayde isn't sleeping through, but for my own sake I'm glad to hear it. Peter is still up once a night for a bottle- bad nights even two times. I get some funny looks at mothers group too and I HATE it. I've been feeling like a bit of a failure as well. Sucks how we feel judged by others opinions, doesn't it?

I think books from the UK and UK webistes refer to dinner as supper from what I can ascertain. I would just make sure she has enough at dinner to keep her going. Although a pain, it is not unusual at all that she isn't sleeping through. I got those comments too but they were ignored like many other comments that went in the not useful/annoying basket.

We tend to eat dinner lateish - around 7pm so often I will give DD a snack at about 5.30/6ish to tide her over. Tonight, for instance, she had celery sticks with dip as a snack.

After dinner she has a big bottle of milk and goes to bed between 7.30 - 8.30pm.

But I tend to break 'the rules' a fair bit. For instance, she'll quite regularly have a really late nap and wake up at 6pm which you would think would make it harder to get her to bed at night but actually doesn't.

I think serving a late supper sounds like a lot of faff but maybe you could delay dinner for a bit and give her a late afternoon snack instead.

But really, don't stress about the sleeping through thing. If it doesn't worry you and it's only other people's comments that are bothering you then ... just lie LOL!