I have 2 boys aged 4 1/2 & 2 1/2.

My 4yr old has always been a picky eater and it's getting worse as he gets older! I was tortured at meal times as a child so of course I have indulged him and now it's getting ridiculous. It's a battle every night and no matter what I make it's the same thing. What was his favourite last night he now hates!

My 2 yr old is a dream eater or at least he was until he started listening to his older brother carrying on at meal times and now he's starting to get fussy too. I don't want him to stop eating because his brother does.

I would love any and all advice from other Mums who have been in this situation. It's got to the point where I've had to take a stand & make him sit at the table no matter how long it takes for him to eat.

laugh

My 4 yr old is EXACTLY the same!!! sad

I have tried,

Making him sit there for however long it takes to eat
(usually a good couple of hours)
Rewarding him after every bite he has,
(a drink he likes, or even sometimes a teaspoon of chocolate custard etc)
Putting him straight to bed hungry,
Putting him straight to bed hungry and then making him eat it for breakfast,
Giving him nothing to eat from 2pm onwards

and so on and so on lol

All of these things worked, but only for a short period of time...
Hopefully tho, maybe one or some will work for you. smile

Good luck! grin

My 6yo ds has always been fussy. He does eat but it's very bland, plain things. So if the other 2 boys are having bolognaise, ds#1 will just have the plain pasta, no sauce. If I've made something rice based like fried rice or chow mein then ds#1 will just have plain boiled white rice. He will eat carrot, brocoli, capsicum and snow peas, just have to put them on the side, he hates things mixed together.
My main thing is that if I've prepared something I know he doesn't like then I've only got myself to blame if he doesn't eat it, but if I've made him something that he likes, but he doesn't want it on that particular night then he chooses to be hungry, or he's simply just not hungry iykwim. A couple of times each week I'll put a small bite sized piece of something new (usually a vegie) on his plate and he is usually willing to try it. He knows that he doesn't have to finish all of it if he doesn't like it thats okay, all I want of him is to try new things.

I have 2 boys aged 4 1/2 & 2 1/2.

My 4yr old has always been a picky eater and it's getting worse as he gets older! I was tortured at meal times as a child so of course I have indulged him and now it's getting ridiculous. It's a battle every night and no matter what I make it's the same thing. What was his favourite last night he now hates!

My 2 yr old is a dream eater or at least he was until he started listening to his older brother carrying on at meal times and now he's starting to get fussy too. I don't want him to stop eating because his brother does.

I would love any and all advice from other Mums who have been in this situation. It's got to the point where I've had to take a stand & make him sit at the table no matter how long it takes for him to eat.

laugh

I have two boys as well one nearly 3 and another 16mths, and am having the exact same problem, my 3 year old won't eat anything i make him except his selected few favourites, which does not include any fruit or vegetables and he won't drink milk. Now my 16mth old who would sit and eat his and then demand his brothers meal aswell is begining not to eat because his brother is not and would rather sit and the table and scream. I am at my wits end and don't know what to do.

It is nice though to know that it is not only my children who won't eat.

Hope things get better.

My DD is nearly 3 and went through a bit of a fussy eating stage (still does some nights lol). Some things I have found that helps is to not give any attention (good or bad) while we are eating, I put the food in front of her and then we talk about the day, daddy's day etc. When we have finished I either don't say anything (if she hasn't eaten) or "you did really well eating your dinner tonight" (if she ate it). I think sometimes getting upset or angry just makes it worse.

If she doesn't eat she goes without until breakfast, I don't give in if she asks for anything else either. We have dessert on a Saturday night and she has sat there before while DH, DS and I have dessert when she hasn't because she didn't eat dinner. Guess who eats all her dinner on Saturday night now lol.


I always give her one thing I know she will eat. Plain pasta, rice, pappadums ect. I also give her vegetables I know she will eat with a few I know she usually won't eat, just because she doesn't like them doesn't mean I shouldn't offer them to her.

I have also found that you need to make it a bit more appealing sometimes. DD will eat chicken on a skewer or in home made nuggets but not just diced on her plate or if it is in a sauce. She will eat home made fish fingers but not plain fish etc...

You just need to find what works for your child and relax so you can both enjoy dinner together.

Another thing to try is making pizza together. I use lebanese bread with sauce base. DD helps put the topping and cheese on and will always eat it lol. The kids actually had pizza for dinner tonight, ham, corn, mushrooms and pineapple on BBQ sauce lol.

I'm with PP's my kids have had dinner for breakfast, brekky for lunch etc, also. As astaaria says pay no heed to them, I also cut out ALL snacks until they ate their meals, from morning tea, arvo tea, general grazing etc until they have eaten them (this worked best mostly if you can handle the nagging in between meal times) and also I try to feed them a little earlier (if possible - if I make them wait till a 'normal tea time' they are usually getting more tired and then the fussiness kicks in etc).
I also do the interestingly different dinners, homemade nuggets/fish fingers although this takes more thought and effort AND I don't like having to do that INSTEAD of - I prefer to do it in bulk then feed them their dinner earlier and we have something else yummy or that I wouldn't let them have...
hope this makes some sense!
Don't stress - making them go without definitely WON'T starve them, when they are hungry enough they will eat what you want them to so be VERY STUBBORN and you will win!