Hi ladies,
i have a question regarding my 3 year old girl... she refuses to eat dinner! It is so frustrating. All through the day she will snack on fruit, crackers, sandwiches ect but dinner time is a constant fight. She refuses to eat anything with vegetables (ive tried getting her to prepare food with me and that just makes it worse because she knows they are there) wont even touch mac and cheese (not a regular dinner in the house but ive tried making it to just get her to eat something) all she will eat is chicken nuggets and chips And that is not going to happen on a regular basis. Ive tried every punnishment/ reward system i can think of and im just at a loss. Any advice???
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3 Replies
My son was the same at that age.
I cut all snacks after 3 until he ate dinner. First night he went to bed still hungry but got up hour later and ate dinner. Next night he happily ate dinner cause he knew there was no ice cream after if he didn't. Not normally a dessert household but worked as a bribe until he started eating properly. Now I still don't let him snack after 5 and yeah he whinges he's hungry sometimes before dinner but at least he now eats it. Good luck
I'd also only put a tiny amount on her plate so it looks achievable for her. You can increase the amount later :)
If she is eating fine during the day don't stress! She is probably simply full because of all the snacking she has done during the day. I have a three year old daughter who is very similar. I just make sure we have plenty of healthy snacks for her and if she would prefer to have them for dinner then that is fine. Some of the foods she loves are cucumbers, carrots, avocados, nuts, and pretty much any fruit. If your daughter will refuse to snack on vegetables at all you could try making her a smoothie with a handful of spinach (you can't taste it at all) or add in some avocado which just makes it creamy. Or make up some vegetable muffins. Best of luck and try not to stress too much :)