Anonymous User
4 days ago
Food after dinner
What are your policies for dealing with after dinner food requests? I have noticed that my three year-old will say he’s full after eating very little dinner. 20 minutes later he’s asking for a snack like a pouch or yogurt and after that, he wants something else. he’s basically creating a second dinner by cobbling together anal things he likes. I’m worried that he’s figured out how to get out of a meal that he doesn’t like. Which is fine because he doesn’t need to eat everything but I’ve been very accommodating. And it feels like now he just doesn’t even want to eat his dinner. Because he knows he’ll get what he wants after dinner. Am I doing this wrong? Mealtime is getting more and more stressful.
Anonymous
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4 days ago
I’ve definitely fallen into this trap. My 3.5 year old at 630 is like, “maybe I want cereal.” I’m not sure I know what the right way is to handle it. But sometimes I’ll give him what he wants and other times I’ll say no.
Anonymous
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3 days ago
First things first, YOUR NOT DOING ANYTHING WRONG! We are all trying our best here, and what may work for one may not work for another. These toddlers are the best negotiators. My daughter will be like I want a banana or I want some chippies. Depending on how she ate and what she ate during the day I may or may not give in. Sometimes I offer her water, and that is enough or I divert her attention and be like, mommies going to have an orange would you like a piece and she may take a bite and be done with it, and then it’s time for bed. My husband is a softie, that girls got him wrapped around her finger already and she knows how to get what she wants from him. I’ll be nursing our other daughter and come out and she’s chomping on something and he’ll be like she said she was hungry and wanted some crackers. 🙄🤡🤦♀️She’s a good bamboozler. She also asks to delay bedtime too.
Anonymous
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3 days ago
My own kid’s only 2.5 so we’re probably in for it even more later but yeah, it’s tough, and it sounds like we’re all trying to figure it out. We offer water when it’s a bedtime delaying thing, too. If she’s really not into dinner we at least have fruit around that’s usually a hit, and we all eat it together and then that’s it. We’ve also tried to establish that some kinds of snacks are only out-of-the-house snacks or babysitter snacks, like bars and pouches (mainly because that ish is expensive at the rate my kid eats!), and sometime just straight up say we don’t have it (occasionally our strong willed child will scoot her toddler tower to the cabinet to prove me wrong though, lol). I am probably the ahole and am just like, “Whatever, if she drank some milk and took a couple bites, she’ll wake up if she’s actually hungry.” Because fullness is so weird and inconsistent for toddlers day to day. But yeah, my and my spouse’s ability to be swayed is definitely as variable as everyone else said. 🤷🏻♀️