18 Mo Old Son Not Interested in Eating Dinner.

We were able to baby-step into dinner foods with scrambled eggs and cut-up veggies. You could also try taking a crescent roll and layering some deli meats/cheeses and then slicing like a pinwheel. My son loves this and it's like a little stromboli! I wouldn't worry too much about this. Meats can be difficult to chew and as long as he's taking a vitamin and getting plenty of nutritious foods during the day he should be fine.

Hi There,
My 20 month old is a great breakfast eater and eats a good lunch... some dinners he does great, others, he doesn't eat much. Toddlers generally eat better at some meals than others... my son eats most of his food early in the day, my niece who is the same age eats barely a few cheerios for breakfast, and more at her other meals. We try to eat dinner as a family and I generally make one meal for everyone (with a few exceptions), I serve a little of everything, and he eats what he eats... sometimes he will eat just one part of the meal, but usually finds something he likes. My son still isn't much of a veggie eater, but will still eat baby food veggies, so on most nights I give him that as well, just to assure he is getting some veggies. Also, sometimes kids won't touch things you think they will like (mine won't eat chicken nuggets) and love things you don't expect (he loves refried beans on tortilla's like a little taco with a little taco meat). So, just offer him a variety of what you are eating and don't make him the same old things he likes... you are not a short order cook, and kids will not starve themselves... if he is hungry he will find something from the dinner plate that he likes.

My twenty-six month year old daughter has never been a big dinner eater. She is in the 90th percentile for weight so I certainly don't worry about it. She didn't eat meat until recently. Now she eats a variety of meat products which blows my mind because it happened out of nowhere! She always ate cheese, eggs (usually with cheese in a tortilla--breakfast burritos), peanut butter, some beans, and soy chicken nuggets. She's always been good about fruits and veggies but I do still give her "applesauce" sometimes(fruit and vegetable baby food combinations from Earth's Best) to make sure she gets her vitamins as well as a daily multiple. Keep offering and your child may surprise you!

Right at this age I put my foot down and served only what we had for dinner. She ate it or didn't. It is hard to remember how long it took but she now samples everything on her plate (at every meal). Dinner does result in dessert. Jello, Popsicle, ice cream. I started working on her staying at the table for the whole meal at this point as well. Hope that helps.

A.,

It really is normal for children to eat better at some meals and not so good at others. My kids were so so dinner eaters, however like your son they loved breakfast. I would feel terrible sending them to bed hungry so I would allow them to have a waffle, french toast, etc for dinner. However, I did put a tiny bit of something from dinner on their plate and tell them they had to try it and they also had to stay at the table during dinner. I did not want my children running around the kitchen at dinner time. Eventually they became better eaters, and yes at times I did feel like a short order cook but as I said I couldn't see them go to bed hungry. I am sure giving in is not the right thing to do. My husband and I would battle this out sometimes because he felt they should eat what was served. I know he was right but my mommy mode would kick in and I would give in. My husband insisted at dinner one time that my son eat his hamburger and after two bites he vomited the entire thing up at the table. He never made me force them to eat what they wanted again LOL!!!! My kids are 24 and 20 and they eat everything you put in front of them so this will pass. There were times when they would eat one thing for two weeks straight for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. As long as they are growing and healthy its fine.