18 month old not eating dinner???

Ludo

About 3 weeks ago one of our 18 month olds started refusing dinner and freaking out about what we were giving him. He would eat a fine breakfast and lunch with the odd small snack in between without any trouble but dinner was a no no. We tried him with a potato waffle and fish fingers one night and he devoured it however so he was obviously hungry alright (wouldnt touch the veg though).

Every night now we have to prepare two dinners which is getting very annoying and wasteful. One for his twin brother (with enough for 2) and one for himself. The main dinner is given to both of them but he will refuse it completely and we eventually will have to produce the waffle and fish finger we have in reserve for him which he will devour. We don't do this all the time though...some nights we leave him with nothing but this cant go on long term as he is hungry.

We have tried stuffing waffles with veg but he spots it and avoids those bits or spits them out if they get into his mouth.
Tried food that looks VERY like waffle, but he knows and avoids it at all costs.

Last night I fooled him into taking a mouthful of paella which the rest of us were enjoying and he freaked out completely spraying it all over the place and bollicking me out of it for the next 5 minutes for fooling him.

We are kind of assuming that this is just a phase he is going through (asserting his independence or something) but I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to handle this situation or should we just ride it out and hope it ends soon?

Thanks.

mumof2maybe3

A child will not starve itself unless there is a very good reason. I think because he knows there is a "back up" dinner he will hold out for that. Try for 2 weeks to have no back up dinner and he will soon get the message. I know it will be hard for you thinking he is hungry but stand firm or you are letting yourself in for a life of making seperate dinners and a kid that will be able to control you with his food. Good Luck!!!!! I really feel for you.

Davidth88

he is being cute .. he knows if he refuses he will get the dinner he wants .


You have to play hard ball I am afraid , if he is truly hungry he will eat.

I know it's difficult , indeed I dispair when my daughter sometimes goes for 1-2 days without eating dinner then suddenly she decides this isn't fun any more and devours everything you put in front of her.

beth-lou

I agree with the others.

Just let him go hungry. The other thing I would advise though, would be to move his dinner time to the luch slot and let him have a light tea in the late afternoon / dinner time. He is probably not that hungry after breakfast and lunch and is well able to hold out for the waffles. Seriously, he has copped on now how to get what he wants and is playing you like a fiddle. Let him go hungry or scream or whatever. He will eat when he is hungry. If he ate them before, it's just that now he's discovered something he likes better than veg and is holdingout for it. I know it sounds harsh, but you'll be doing him a favour in the long run if you knock this habit as soon as you can. Kids do go through fits and stars of eating and not eating and trying to use food to see if they can get their own way. You just have to gently teach them that they can't.

Best of luck. I know it's tough, but it can be sorted.

January

If he's still eating a breakfast and a lunch then he won't starve. Don't give him a back up dinner. When he's hungry he'll eat the only option left which is the veg, once he knows there is no fish fingers and waffles. I know it breaks your heart... it would break mine too, but sometimes you have to be the bad guy... he'll scream but eventually he'll give in.

Also, praise your other baby for eating his veg, saying what a big boy he is and how big he's going to grow. He might start to copy for praise too!

Ludo

Thanks everyone...pretty much as I expected. He went hungry tonight..have tried that before but never for two days in a row. There will be no dinner again tomorrow unless he eats what he is given. His brother ended up eating both helpings of shepards pie and some of ours also.

beth-lou wrote: »

The other thing I would advise though, would be to move his dinner time to the luch slot and let him have a light tea in the late afternoon / dinner time.

I had suggested this to my wife already but she didn't want to do it unless she REALLY has to as she likes to get them out of the house in the morning and stuff so wouldn't have as much time if she had to cook their dinner then also.
Can't say I blame her really as the mornings are the best time to be out and about with them before they need to nap.

adrieanne__x wrote: »

Also, praise your other baby for eating his veg, saying what a big boy he is and how big he's going to grow. He might start to copy for praise too!

LOL..will try this but will feel so silly saying it as the guy who eats all round him now is much smaller than the one who refuses dinner

MILF

Gawd, I thought I was the only one!! My 18 month old little fella has become SO bad at eating that I'm starting to get worried. He wont eat anything that I try give him on the fork or spoon. I tried giving him his own fork/spoon to hold while I'm feeding him and got away with it for a while til he copped it! He WILL NOT eat anything that's good for him like veg etc even though he can pick that up. He doesn't like the feel of chicken in his mouth and I'm running out of ideas for dinner. I tried yday to give him what we were all eating and he screamed and threw it away. He covers his face with his arms and refuses point blank to eat anything!! I'm getting slightly fed up with this now!

Ludo

We have made some progress on this. It appears to be an independence issue. he will eat now when he puts the food on the fork himself. Unfortunately he is not quite able to do it yet so I have to help guide the fork. He gets some in but then gets very frustrated about it all and sends all the food flying. Nearly took his brothers eye out tonight also when the fork went flying also
Still not eating much dinner but at least some improvement. hopefully as he gets better with the fork and figures out how to hold the food steady with the spoon or knife to get it on the fork he will start eating properly again. We keep trying to get him to watch how his brother does it as he is expert at it now.