What do you do when your toddler doesn't eat dinner?

amother

Indigo

Tue, Sep 03 2019, 8:01 pm

My toddler loves salmon. I make healthy food and eat it together with him. There's only a few foods he keeps refusing (sweet potato) but you're supposed to offer a new food up to like 15 times so I don't pressure. Also look up division of responsibility. Offer healthy options and Put one thing they like on the table. Then it's their responsibility to eat. No force feeding.

amother

Tue, Sep 03 2019, 8:19 pm

amother [ Green ] wrote:

Is it a texture thing or a taste thing? Some kids are sensory to certain foods and textures...might taste it, but then spit it out.

I'm pretty sure it's taste.

chocolatecake

Tue, Sep 03 2019, 8:20 pm

I make one supper. I usually insist they try one thing. Many nights my kids will have two bites of chicken and then once I clear the the fleishig stuff the cereal and milk party begins! My kids are 3 4 and 6

amother

Tue, Sep 03 2019, 8:27 pm

amother [ Indigo ] wrote:

Thanks. I've heard of this before.

How many different options do you think are needed?

And what if my toddler consistently chooses only the fruits and veggies?

Both my kids really like bananas, apples, pears, cucumbers, peppers, chickpeas, and broccoli.

mommy3b2c

Tue, Sep 03 2019, 8:43 pm

My 4 year old eats yogurt/leben or frozen pizza for supper almost every night. Occasionally eggs, peanut butter sandwich, pasta or cereal. I can’t get him to eat anything else.

amother

Powderblue

Tue, Sep 03 2019, 8:45 pm

nchr wrote:

It may be late for this for these kids, but you need to introduce your kid in the future to adult foods from 6+ months. Introduce them a few times and it helps them develop a more mature palate v. kid friendly stuff.

Maybe start now by putting "adult" food on the plate next to some kiddie stuff..

Not true my GC was introduced to adult food early on. Ate EVERYTHING. At age 6 he started getting picky.

amother

Tue, Sep 03 2019, 8:45 pm

mommy3b2c wrote:

My 4 year old eats yogurt/leben or frozen pizza for supper almost every night. Occasionally eggs, peanut butter sandwich, pasta or cereal. I can’t get him to eat anything else.

Those would be my toddler's choices, too. But I want him to learn to eat a variety of foods. I'm a picky enough eater and I try to introduce him to a wider variety than I was introduced to as a child. My DH eats almost everything.

allthingsblue

Tue, Sep 03 2019, 9:03 pm

Op it sounds like they eat a nice variety of fruits veggies and legumes which is great!
I like to make kid friendly food and freeze in small portions so I can defrost as needed. I make chicken burgers, beef burgers, meatballs, homemade chicken nuggets (bite sized breaded cutlets), marinated chicken breasts. I save these dinners for nights when dh and I are eating something they might not like, or if our dinner won't be ready until later but they need to eat before.

If they eat chicken soup or even cholent, you can freeze that too.

amother

Tue, Sep 03 2019, 9:16 pm

bet wrote:

Another thing I got my kid to eat was gefilte fish

I believe both kids like that, too.

amother

Navy

Tue, Sep 03 2019, 9:26 pm

My toddler used to eat EVERYTHING.
Now, he only eats eggs, oatmeal, and pasta. Once in a blue moon, he'll have cheerios and milk.
For snack, he only eats pretzels and veggie straws.
It's sosososo hard! He's not underweight at all, but mealtime is a war.

amother

Tan

Tue, Sep 03 2019, 11:14 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I did give them regular adult food all along. They used to eat it. My younger one still likes most foods (just not salmon), but my older one barely eats anything anymore. He used to love all foods!

He'd be perfectly content eating yogurt, peanut butter sandwiches, and the occasional scrambled eggs or omelet.

Was your older one on antibiotics at all within the past year or so?

amother

Tue, Sep 03 2019, 11:16 pm

amother [ Tan ] wrote:

Were your older one on antibiotics at all within the past year or so?

I think so, but this happened months and months after antibiotics. It was a long time ago.

amother

Tan

Tue, Sep 03 2019, 11:23 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I think so, but this happened months and months after antibiotics. It was a long time ago.

Could still be related. Makes sense if he used to eat well. Anytime you’re on antibiotics your gut bacteria gets wiped out. Then little by little it will start to grow back- but which strains grow back will depend on what it’s being fed. Bad bacteria strains will often start to grow because the good bacteria that had been built up previously now isn’t around to protect anymore. The bad bacteria then craves its own foods that will be beneficial to it, and then picky eating begins.

Mommyg8

Tue, Sep 03 2019, 11:47 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Made salmon and roasted veggies tonight. Both kids wouldn't eat it.

Should I give them something else that they like?

What do you do to prevent this if your toddlers like only junky food?

And at what age do you stop making them second dinners if they don't like the one served?

Didn't read through the whole thread, but one child is already married. Does that answer your question? LOL

More seriously, I always offer a peanut butter sandwich or toast, or rice cakes and peanut butter, as an alternative to supper. I am NOT making two suppers.

And I do try to make suppers that everyone will like, but that's not always possible...

Rappel

Wed, Sep 04 2019, 4:10 am

I don't do a late supper right now, since my children are too tired and fussy by then. Maybe that's what OP's children are going through?

Instead, our major meal is at 3 pm, and we have a snack right before bed. They usually eat much more that way

amother

Wed, Sep 04 2019, 10:15 am

Rappel wrote:

Not possible because I don't get home until 4 and don't have time to make food in advance every day.

amother

Fuchsia

Wed, Sep 04 2019, 10:22 am

If they totally reject dinner, which is rare, I let them pick something from whatever leftovers we have in the fridge from the day or two before.

Or they can eat staple items that require no preparation, like avocado, cheese, extra deli meat that hasn't been designated for lunch.

But we don't prepare separate meals for them. Nor do we let them eat snack foods instead of dinner.