3Yo Behavior

My daughter is a picky eater too. I do cater to her. Last night we had Pork chops, corn on the cob, and greenbeans. Normally she likes all of these thats why I fixed it. She decided she didn't want it and just ate the corn. Later she was hungry and I fixed her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I think she will grow out of it. I do not like forcing children to eat something they don't want.

As for bed time my daughter still pulls those tricks. Its not every night but every now and then. Just be firm and let her know that when its bed time everyone has to be in their own bed. She will be ok soon. Good luck!!-

I am not sure if it is necessarily catering to them by letting them have what they like for dinner. Some kids just have really strong likes and dislikes. My thoughts were always, why shouldn't they be allowed to like what they like and not have to eat what they don't like. By the way this was an argument with my husband in the beginning as well because he had to eat everything on his plate every night. One night he forced my son to eat a burger (he hated burgers) about half way into it he vomited the entire thing up and needless to say he backed off after that lol!! My kids are grown now and maybe I was wrong but they went through phases where they wanted to eat the same thing everyday so I gave it to them. Back when I had spoken to the doctor about it his response was as long as they are eating let them have it. My though was I didn't want them to go to bed hungry. So if they wanted mac and cheese, grilled cheese, hot dogs, chicken nuggets I let them have it. Maybe I was wrong, but they are 26 and 22 and are not the least bit fussy now. Ask your doctor about it, and get his or her input. I really didn't sweat that type of stuff. Just a thought but maybe that is why she is having a restless nights sleep because she is hungry. Bedtime was not an option for me though I stood tough on that. Mainly because I was a stay at home mom and I would have jumped out the window if I didn't get my much needed space at night lol!! So I didn't cave on the nighttime routine. That I do not regret. Sometimes I let my kids have a small bowl of cheerios with a sliced banana before bed if they didn't have a good dinner. Sorry, maybe I was a bad mamma lol!! I didn't want my kids to go to bed hungry. Good luck!!

Sounds like she is trying to gain some independence to me. I think everyone should have at least one item they like on the dinner table including children. I do not believe in forcing kids to eat or sending them to bed hungry. I think that sets kids up for probelms with food in the future. At least put out a platter of fruit with dinner so she can choose that if she doesn't like the rest of the dinner. Fruit is so healthy and if that's all she ate 6 night a week for a while, that would be great. She won't be like this forever. Just be patient. As for the getting up at night. We all go through it. Tell her she may get up once if she must and no more. Then take her straight back to bed if she does without a word. If this doesn't work, try using a sticker chart. If she stays in bed or gets up only once, she gets to put a sticker on her chart the next morning. When she earns say 4 stickers, she get a treat, maybe gets to eat what she want for dinner!!! Good luck!

My dd will be 4 on Thursday. All I can say is this too shall pass. Some days she will eat anything and everything, so days she does not like anything...even if it was her favorite the week before. Your dd is fine, she will not allow herself to starve. As far as sleep goes, my dd has never been an excellent sleeper, but in January she took a horrible turn. She would get in and out of the bed, wake up several times a night asking us to 'check on her when she is relaxing'. We tried everything you can imagine from discipline to bribery. Up until 2 nights ago she had slept 2 nights w/o waking since January. The past two nights she did not get out of the bed and she slept all night. Not a thing changed...but she is up to 4 of 5 Princess wands...so will get a new fish hopefully this weekend! It'll pass...it always does, but it is just a pita until it does!

My 3 year old DD is the same way, I actually just posted about her last night. She eats pretty well throughout the day, tending to "graze" during the morning and usually a peanut butter sandwich for lunch, and I suspect by the time dinnertime rolls around, she's not that hungry. Sometimes she'll do a pretty good job on dinner (especially if there's a promise of dessert) and other times she barely takes 2 bites and she's done. I let her eat what she is going to eat, without fixing anything different. Sometimes she's better about eating things if she can dip it in something, like ranch dressing or BBQ sauce. Sometimes all she has is a piece of bread with butter on it, or she picks the carrots out of the beef stew. If she starts whining that she wants something else, I say sorry, that's what is for dinner tonight. However, I don't make her eat anything that I know she really doesn't like, especially if it is spicy (chili, chicken curry, etc.). If she still doesn't do an acceptable job on dinner, no dessert. Sometimes dinner is just me telling her she needs to take 3 bites of everything in order to get dessert - maybe you could fix her favorite dinner twice a week, and then institute the "3 bite rule" with everything else. I don't advocate "forcing" them to eat anything, but I think 1 bite per year of age is reasonable, and maybe by the 20th time she'll decide that whatever it is really isn't so bad (sometimes it's a texture issue too). "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld does have recipes in it for chicken nuggets and mac and cheese that do include hidden mashed-up veggies in them. Since your DD is developing normally (as is mine), I wouldn't worry about it too much otherwise.

As for stalling at bedtime and getting out of bed, maybe you could give her a "pass" on one thing, and then that's it. Let her know she can come get you once for whatever reason, and then after that she needs to stay in bed and you won't respond to her requests - if she gets out of bed after that, march her straight back to bed, with a firm, "No, it's time to stay in bed.". And if she does it anymore after that, lead her back to bed without saying anything. Eventually she should realize that getting out of bed doesn't pay off in any way. My DD won't get out of bed, but she'll stay in there and call me in for one thing after another (a drink of water, a hug and kiss) - I'll allow it once or twice, but then I'll tell her, "Okay, this is the last time, I am not coming in again for anything else."

Hope this helps, good luck! :)

totally normal. i think you are doing right by not catering to her eating demands. don't make an issue out of it, don't cater to her, don't beg or plead with her to eat. either she eats, or she doesn't. it's her choice. and she can deal with the consequences, of being hungry, not getting dessert, etc. as far as bed, tell her to go back to bed. mean it. don't put a gate up, don't lock her in. these things take the responsibility off you and off of her. nothing positive should come from her getting up after she has been put to bed. don't be nice to her, don't cater to her "needing to tell you something" or "needing a hug". nope back to bed. period. if she persists, then she gets a time out (a real one, no communication, no tv, no interaction at all) then back to bed again. no being nice. she will learn. good luck! this is totally normal!

My son's picky too, and I just let him know he has to eat a handful (his size hand) of food or he won't get his snacks at night -- but I always make sure he will like at least one thing on his plate to "count" for his portion. I have also told him no drinks at the table -- he loves that milk!:) And I give him vitamins each day for supplement.

For evening, yes please! don't lock her in -- you never know when an emergency would happen!:( Do you have any "just her/lap" time between dinner and bed? For my family, when I get home, I give 10-15 minutes lap time immediately, and then again before bed another 10-15 minutes, not reading or anything just cuddling -- this doesn't stop the middle-of-the-night visits every other night, but it does curb the up-and-down.

Hope these help!:)

Oh yes, my daughter ate everything till she hit about 2.5. Then she started to get fussy. She just turned three, and now she only wants to eat, get this, purple food!

She gets what we get, and if she doesn't want to eat it, oh well. I do always make sure there is something at the table she likes (even if it's only bread). I also have a 15 month old, so I frequently give the kids fruit after dinner.

She too likes to keep asking for water, or telling me secrets, etc. I just simple tell her, "we aren't going to play this game. I understand you don't feel like sleeping right now, but it is bedtime. If you want to talk to someone, talk to your friends (i.e. stuffed animals)." She was also waking around 2 yelling for me, I told her that it wasn't fair to mommy to wake her up, that she has to stay in bed and roll over. It seems to be working.