not eating at tea time

[Crispy Chick]

My LO has been a fairly good eater until recently.  He is 2 weeks off 12 months and is now starting to refuse his tea at 5pm.  He eats well at breakfast time and lunch is always gobbled up but now teatimes have become a battleground.  No matter what he is offered he squirms and screams and does not want to eat - until his fruit arrives - he always wants to eat that.

So i am wondering if i have got him into a bad habit as perhaps he now realises that he always gets fruit as a second course and would just rather have that??  However, i do the same thing at lunchtime and he seems happy to eat everything then.

any ideas?  i am struggling to get him to eat any savoury and find myself just offering the fruit which he gobbles up and cries for more.....

[Evgenia]

hi,
my dd is almost 14 months and so far she went through stages of refusing breakfast, or lunch or dinner or the lot
Ur lo is more than happy to eat fruit and its great! There are so many different fruits and they r naturally rich in so many vitamins! If he is taking veg and other stuff through out the day I would not worry too much, as long as he gets a decent sized portion of fruit for his tea. Does he eat raw fruits or pures? Raw fruits r better than cooked as they have the highest consistency of vitamins, if its pure u can mix it in with veg.
I personally would keep offering him other foods, but if he refuses I would respect his wishes and offer fruit instead.
Hope this helps


 

[Crispy Chick]

Hi

Thanks for the reply.  he eats mainly raw fruits as i don't puree much for him anymore.  Yes i guess you are right, as long as he is getting something.  I guess the difficulty i have is i chose tea time as the main meal e.g. when he gets his meat or fish and veg etc.  lunch tends to be sandwiches or pasta so he is not necessarily getting everything he needs by avoiding tea.

Good to hear it is probably just a phase - we will plod on trying.

[Mashi]

I've also read that 85% of a toddler's nutrition is in the first half of the day - so dinner isn't as important for them as breakfast and lunch. 

At snack times can you offer some of the things he is lacking through the day?  I give DS his vegetables at his afternoon snack time and he is more willing to eat them then, and it means that there is no struggle at tea time when he only wants to eat limited items from his meal...I know he's already eaten cooked carrots and peas so I could care less if he doesn't eat his brocolli, iykwim. 

Another thought - is it possible he is thirsty? I know that my DS will only touch fruit if he is thirsty because nothing else really quenches thirst like fruit. I give him a drink of water and he's magically willing to eat his meat and potatoes! Not saying that is the only answer, but it was just a thought that stuck me!

[A pair of Charlies]

Just a wild out-there thought based on age... may be that towards the end of the day, gums might be starting to hurt a little and fruit is massively easier to eat (usually) that savoury. My DS did this (and still does) off and oon, except that this main-stay is anything bready.

When is lunch and supper? Are there any milk feeds inbetween? Sometimes the early afternoon snack or milk can give them enough to go longer in the afternoon. With my DS, I found that dropping his mid afternoon milk transformed his willingness to eat supper. He refused almost everything for a while. I do fear I'm starving him but he now dives into his supper with gusto eating it all up, then fruit (usually a whole banana) and then a yoghurt and still signs for more after that!! Before, he wouldn't really eat much at supper at all.

HTH

Charlotte

[Crispy Chick]

Thanks guys for your great responses.  We are off to attempt tea tonight - beef with carrots, peas and potatoes - so i shall see how it goes.

I do offer him water with his meal, so i am pretty sure it is not thirst, but i'll offer it first tonight.  Also i do give him a large afternoon snack as he gets really upset just before tea time, so i hab been assuming it was hunger - perhaps not!  tomorrow i may have to avoid large snack....

A pair of charlies - lunch is at 12.30 ish and tea is at 5pm, snack is usually around 3ish and today consisted of a whole bananna - perhaps it is too much - but then why the tears late afternoon - hmmmm

[A pair of Charlies]

Just to add... the advice on looking at snacks / milk feeds in the early afternoon (and perhaps dropping them) was based on the wise advice of the BW Sage Stacy. As she advised me just that when I hit problems, and lo and behold she was right (despite my reservations and reluctance, I have to admit).

  (And nods in Stacy's direction and shuffles feet around a little)