4 year old wont eat his dinner

[ukgirl23]

Im at the end of my rope! My son is almost five years old and neber wants to eat his dinner. His excuse is always that hes not hungry! Its driving me insane I put so much effort in to making him food I think he will like but he never does. Please help. Any advice os welcome xx

 

[Geecko]

My 3½ y/o is the same.
Would eat all day, everything, anything, but when it's diner at night, it's super rare he'll stay and eat.
I don't know why, but I've stopped fighting with him about it.
I know he likes what I do, and I'm sure he's a little bit hungry, but I don't know.. it's like he doesn't feel like eating when it's time..

You don't wanna eat? Then don't, there's nothing else and if it's an evening when we watch a movie with chips, you won't get any.

I'm about to at least oblige him to sit at the table with us during diner (maybe he'll take a bite or two?)...

 

[evewidow]

i have had this phase with my kids , what we did was just put the food down and made him sit at the table , when we had all finished we had a desert of ice cream or something he would like , it was explained to him no dinner no pudding . just be persistant , dont make a big deal of it just tell him that there is nothing else if that doesnt get eaten and dont give in . We had to persist for a few days but now he is quite good , we have the occasionally im not eating that i dont like it dinner issue , and the same is said , if it doesnt get eaten there is no afters.

 

[RachA]

My two have both been like this. It's so disheartening when you have spent time making food. We have always said that they don't have to eat it but they have to sit at the table with us and they don't get anything else until the next meal.
Just today my eldest sat down and said he didn't want anything. I dished up a suitable amount of meat, veg and potatoes and gave it to him. He decided part way through that he would eat it and he ate it all and even had a load more!

 

[ukgirl23]

Thank you I will try making him sit there with us when we eat, the other day we gave him spagetti and he gave us the I dont like it speech then he tried it and ate it all up lol I think he needs to learn to try new things more x

 

[hypnorm]

We just get them to sit there, if its not eaten they down get anything else. Hubby has given them it for their breakfast before when they have been rude, and they certainly eat their meals now lol

 

[Lucasmum]

If there is one thing I have learnt from having a now 6 year old that barley eats a thing, is to not to worry or stress about it any more, Lucas barley eats a thing, he is under weght and falls short on the height chart thing as well, he probably eats one full meal every 3 weeks or so, the rest we are lucky to get half into him, most of the times its 3 mouthfulls at the most, I have tried being calm, taking away treats, shouting, screaming, crying, bribes and anything else you can think of, I have decided I cant be bothered to stress and worry any more, in every other sense he is healthy, he has seen numerous health visitors and nutrisionists and there is nothing apart from being skinny wrong with him or to worry about.

Not any help to you hun, but just wanted you to know your not alone

 

[ukgirl23]

Thank you lucasmum.. my little boy is called lucas too.. maybe thats what it is lol.. boys are so fussy!!

 

[Lucasmum]

A boy and name thing

Not worrying and stressing is easier said than done I know, I remember people telling not to worry and I thought they were crazy and that my little dude was going to waste awat, but he didnt obviuosly and he is full of energy, to full at times

 

[Tanikit]

My 5 year old has been doing this but more for breakfast and lunch and if she doesn't eat then her sugar levels go low 2 hours after she has eaten and she is impossible to handle then. (I think its called reactive hypoglycaemia) So I have done a few things: 1. If she goes low I sit her in a quiet spot and force her to drink a fruit juice - she may not leave the spot til the juice is finished and then she must eat some starch.
2. At meal times she must eat her food - again she sits there til its done and I provide starch every meal time. This took a LOT of fighting (sometimes it would take more than a hour to get her to eat) to get right and a lot of persistence, but she does now know. She does not always have to finish the food but she does have to eat what is a reasonable amount.
3. I stopped all milk drinks before meals as well as other juice - she can drink water the last hour or two before meals and snacks needed to be 2 hours before meals. She was eating a lot of chocolate that her father keeps giving her (sigh) and I have had to speak to him to stop that.
Since doing this things are much much better.