Do you eat dinner the same time as your LO?

[erikab922]

Does anyone manage to eat dinner the same time at their LO? She needs to eat around 5.45-6pm-ish if we want her to get to bed on time. I don't even finish with work until around 5.30pm and even though I work from home there's not a chance in hades of making dinner in time for all of us to eat that early. We make everything from scratch every day (very very small freezer) and when it's warmer weather we don't always want to have everything out of a slow cooker. I would love to be able to eat dinner with LO but it only ever seems to happen on Sundays!

Also, while I have your attention What do you do when LO won't eat what you've prepared? Do you keep giving him/her food until you find something they like? The whole 'if they are hungry they will eat it' thing is balls - we made a super yummy dinner tonight which she wouldn't touch with a bargepole and I don't have it in me to be all 'like it or lump it'. So she had Shreddies for dinner

 

[DCS]

My lo is asleep around 5.30 most night. If he is offered dinner any later that 3.30 he will not touch it. But we all eat together. If oh is at work i eat with lo. If me and oh didnt eat with lo we probably wouldntbeatbat all. And dinner is the only meal i really eat.

With not eating i give jom a while leave his food out and if he still isnt interested i offer him fruit or toast or hummus and breadsticks. The other night he didnt have any dinner but asked for cheerios so i lwt him have them. I figured better he ate something than nothing. Im not going to cook a whole other meal though.

 

[MrsT&Ben]

At the weekends we try and eat together but during the week it just doesn't happen. We don't get home until gone 6 most nights and I like lo to be in bed by 7.30 at the very latest.
As for eating I do the like it or lump it thing. I know he will eat most food that is put in front of him but 99% of the time he tells me he doesn't like it. If he really won't eat it then I offer something else like fruit or toast. I would never cook something else.

 

[Siuan]

We do all eat together every night, but then our situation allows for it. My OH works and gets home 5:20pm or so. We then cook and eat around 6ish. F goes to bed around 7:30 so that works out well for us.

As for the like it or lump thing - I will practice that when she's older and can understand what's going on. For now, we rarely have a problem with F refusing food but if she did, I'd offer something else. When she is older (not sure when that'll be, but will be guided by her) then I will do like or lump it. But not yet.

 

[louandivy]

We all eat together As a family about 3-4 times a week which works out well I often make meals that ivy would just hate (spicy/gluten free/vegan/health crap ) so on those nights I sit with her while she eats then have a later dinner with OH.

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Yes I always do, I don't want to cook 2 dinners. If they don't want what I've cooked they just get the fruit or yoghurt they always get after anyway. If ruby is hungry at bedtime she gets a bowl of cereal (not sweet cereal).

 

[louandivy]

And also ivy is a great eater but when she refuses a meal that I know she would normally eat then I just tell her to deal with it but when I make a new dish I tend to cook a few sweet potatoes or have some pitta bread or something just in case because I think it's not really her fault if she really doesn't like it! I never get stressed at her when she won't eat though and she can always have dessert as dessert in our house is always fruit and/or plain yoghurt. Dinner is a very relaxing time whether she feels like eating or not which seems to work as she is really great at sitting and eating with us now.

 

[re10]

I eat with dd but I don't work during the day so it's a lot easier for me. I usually eat with her around 5 and dh has his later. She's been refusing proper meals recently from teething but I always leave it on her tray with nothing else for a few minutes then give her some sweetcorn or something which she'll usually eat and gives me a chance to finish my dinner! Then I give her a bowl of cereal too wich she always devours so she must be hungry! I wouldn't be comfortable sending her to bed without anything.

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Yes I do that too, I always do some sweet potato wedges or roasted squash if it's a new meal (if i put a starchy carb on the side there would be no incentive for ruby to try the new food, she'd happily just eat plain carbs) I totally understand that they won't like everything.

 

[KayBea]

im on my own with LO & i dont work full time, so its easier for me to cook & eat with LO, i love our dinner times as we sit at the table & she tells me all about her day - even though i was there with her

but in your situation i guess it is hard to eat with LO, do you still sit at the table with her while she eats?


as for the not liking meals im a like it or lump it mum im affraid, if she doesnt eat it she gets offered an apple/banana/ orange & thats it until breakfast. xx

 

[little_cookie]

Nope I eat separately as i'm a picky eater and will only eat certain foods while I want LO to have a healthy, balanced and varied diet. If he doesn't like what I give him then I go with something simple like a yogurt and fruit and toast. But it rarely happens because he is a greedy pig

 

[MumToEva]

Eva goes to bed between 6 and 6.30. I'm off on maternity leave now, but when I was working I was home shortly after 5. What I found worked best for us was to prepare the dinner the night before, after she went to bed, so that it was quickly and handy - like making a pot of stew that would just need heated up, or chopping all the meat and veg for a stir fry and leaving them in the fridge so that it was just a case of throwing it together. When I tried making the dinner from scratch each night she was just too tired to eat by the time it was ready, but that way she was getting homemade, nutritious food, just handier!

If she doesn't eat what's prepared, I give her yogurt and fruit, but not a separate dinner as I want her to learn that there is only one dinner and refusing it doesn't get you the food you like instead - she would eat baked beans every night if I let her!

 

[Pink Flowers]

we will eat together every day but the days OH is working day shifts, normally 2 days out of the week.

 

[Itsychik]

We eat together almost every day.

We aim to have dinner between 6:00 - 6:30pm (as close to 6:00 as possible) but I usually get home from work/picking up LO between 5:30 - 6:00 and DH gets home around 5:45 - 6:00 which often makes 6:00 a little difficult.

As others have said, on our busiest nights I either get up early and prepare something in the morning and stick it in the fridge until the evening, or I made a double batch (will do so tonight, as Tuesday's are our latest/busiest days) and then re-heat the next day. Or we plan quick/easy dinners, like pasta/sauce (I chop all veggies the day before so I can just throw them in the pan and everything is done in 15 minutes), soups/stews, casseroles, meatloaf, etc...

My LO goes to bed between 7:30 - 8:00 so this time frame works for us

But if there are nights when DH and I want to eat something really unhealthy, we'll often sit down together at 6:00 and give DS something first, and we'll either have a VERY small amount of whatever he's having or we just sit and talk.

If DS doesn't eat what we have, as others have said, we generally just give him yogurt (he usually gets that as 'dessert' anyway) and some fruit. We used to make something new for him (until he was around 18 months old) but now sometimes he'll refuse to eat something that we KNOW he likes, so we just tell him he doesn't get anything else (and usually he'll fuss/complain until DH and I are almost done and then he'll suddenly want it afterall). But last night he only ate a small amount because he refused to eat the rest. So far he's never woken up at night or refused to go to bed because he was hungry though, so it works for now!

 

[beanzz]

We have done since he was 6 months old but now that OH works late I cook LO's dinner at usual time and wait for OH to get back so we can eat together. LO seems to be funny with food atm and I'm worried its cos I'm not eating with him. Usually I'll pretend I'm eating it too and he'll keep switching between offering me some food and putting some in his own mouth.

 

[RachA]

We generally do all eat together. Dinner time for us us around 6.30pm. The only times we don't eat together are times when we choose to have our dinner once they are in bed because we want a romantic dinner on our own.


Iro of offering food and them not eating it. My two ate given the same meal as us-if they don't eat it they don't get offered anything else. I also don't then give them anything later on in the evening as that they defeats the object IMO.

 

[Natsku]

Depends. If OH is around then I like us all to eat together, otherwise it depends on what she's eating as sometimes I cook a different meal for myself.

If she doesn't eat whats on offer then I usually give her some bread or something and then offer the meal again at supper time. She's in such a carby phase at the moment, she just wants to eat potatoes or rice so she eats that first and then asks for mine and I tell her she can some of mine if she eats at least half of her meat/veg - that usually does the trick!

 

[erikab922]

Thanks everyone, this is all really interesting to me as I have no one else to compare to. Funny how so many LOs really like the starches!

 

[Noelle610]

I know we should, but it just doesn't work for us. DH picks Charlotte up from daycare around 5pm and feeds her. I get home around 6pm most days and do her bedtime routine and she's down at 7pm. We usually eat together afterward. Quite honestly, I like the time with my husband. Charlie and I do eat breakfast together.

I'm never sure what to do when she won't eat. My pediatrician said not to continue giving multiple options, simply because it's overwhelming and ... "they will eat when they're hungry" He recommended just stopping mealtime so it's not a battle and trying again 30 minutes to an hour later. I usually do offer something else if she won't eat. Usually an old standby like peanut butter on wheat bread.

 

[LKAK]

My evenings are crazy but it works for us...

My husband works most evenings so me and my daughter eat together. I work full time, so I finish work at 5pm, run to nursery, home by around 5.30 and either prepare a quick dinner or usually just heat up what I've prepared the night before. We eat around 6pm, then it's bath and bed! She definitely eats better when we eat together!!

If she doesn't eat what I've made for her I will still give the usual fruit, yoghurt or whatever after dinner and then once she's bathed I offer a slice of toast.