Help with Getting My Son to Eat His Dinner

Amen to your DR! I agree completely. Three things you cannot force a child to do, eat, potty train and sleep.
HOWEVER, you can set them up for taking responsibility for eating. Do not give snacks within two hours of dinner, then he will be at the table hungry. Offer what the family is eating, period. Sit down as a family and eat. If he doesn't want to eat, that is fine. Let him get down. Put the unfinished dinner in the fridge. If he comes back hungry offer it back to him. Otherwise do not worry. They instinctively will not starve, they won't.
If he is filling up with milk, snacks during the day he won't have much appetite at dinner. Just don't play the game, he can eat or not. No biggie. It will and has become a power struggle, the less you worry about it he will get it, he has a choice. He will make it through without food if he wants to. Do not play into his fits, if he pitches a fit, get him down and say "okay, if you are hungry your meal is here".. and be done. When you take the power struggle out of it, he realizes he has control over being hungry or not, it will fall into place. Kids at this age vary with appetites, with teething and growth spurts too.

Reheat exactely what you gave him that he refused.
All kids have things they don't like, that is fine. Both of my kids have a list of like six things they just have tried and don't like. I allow that. Those things should be on a short list and don't serve them to him, however if he is being picky for no reason or just playing a game, don't buy into it.

Both of my kids grew up with this theory, some nights even my four year old just says "I don't want to finish I am done and I know nothing else before bed" and that is it. They know the rules, they are clear and I don't cave, THEY WILL NOT STARVE.
At breakfast and lunch, give him healthy choices to make up for not eating the night before, but set his snacks, meals on a schedule. Grazing during the day will start picky eating habits and throw his appetite off.
Wake up, eat breakfast, mid morning snack, lunch, mid afternoon snack and dinner. Serve milk during the meal and do not let him guzzle it down before he has eaten at least half. That is all he should need.
Good luck, don't cave and just serve what you serve and sit and eat with him.

What are some things that he likes to eat? I am not a short order cook either but I do keep in mind what my kids love. I always have choices of a protein (any meat) , vegetable, fruit, and a carbohydrate (rice, bread, or noodles). So, for example, we would have sphagetti with tomato sauce, meatballs, mix veggies, and pears. They usually try everything. Sometimes my oldest would eat 2 or 3 out of the 4 choices and I think that is great. We have rice and beef vegetables, some kind of fruit always my kids love all the time). It is all about choices. My kids love ketchup and yogurt a lot. They love jello and it's sugar free. So they would dip anything in either of those too. What about chicken nuggets? Sometimes kids don't eat veggies because it's too hard. So you can buy the frozen ones and use that instead so they can eat it better.

The other day I got a melon baller and it makes circle shapes out of fruit. So, I made cantaloupe into circles and my kids love it. So make it fun and always offer variety.

Also, the other thing I do is my kids may not always want waffles in the morning but they like them for lunch.

I also make sticky rice which they can eat with their hands. Plus, they like to eat chicken, pork or meat with that because they also get to be independent. Then I would boil some veggies. I like barely cooked veggies, but since we have toddlers we have adjusted getting used to frozen veggies for our kids. My husband wasn't into veggies a lot either until I gave the variety of choices and I think now he is also coming around.

They also like chicken soup with noodles that I make fresh and I would throw rice in that. If I can cut up veggies to throw in the soup, they would eat it. You can also get the canned Swanson soup and add meat, cooked rice and veggies to that.

My kids are not picky eaters because of this. They will try anything. We went out to a retirement party and my kids ate fried squid and liked it. Everyone was amazed. Good luck to you and I know that it is frustrating. Make it fun for him and you and he will be better in no time.

J., it's a battle of the wills. I have a 23 month old (plus two olders). My toddler is pulling the same stuff. Right or wrong, I'm kind of saving some of the stuff that's salvageable from his lunch and esp. when dinner's running late, I let him eat off of that. I don't usually let him have any milk, just water, until we actually have our dinner. He must sit with us while we eat. He doesn't have to eat any of it. When dinner's over, all the food is over and done with. He doesn't get more snacks or milk. There have been a couple of nights where he just didn't get any dinner and went to bed hungry. It's hit and miss with getting him to eat dinner, but I can totally see the battle of the wills being set up. Don't get into it. "Here's your dinner- take it or leave it." (Make sure there's something there that they can get by with, of course.) "If you don't eat, you will be hungry." They CAN learn, even at this tender age.

For him a 'proper dinner' may be a helping of air with a slice of nothing. Seriously.

Let him be. He knows when he's hungry and when he's not. And he's telling you Mommy, no more food!!!! Cry, cry, cry. No More food!! So, listen to him.

Both my kids eat a wonderful breakfast, great lunch and just about nothing for dinner. Frankly, its the healthiest way to eat anyway so I let it go. There are so many other things to argue.

I agree with your doctor. I have 4 children, 3 of which have gone through this already, and the only way to get past it is to give the child what everyone else is having. If he eats, he eats, but if he doesn't he won't starve! Do not give in and give your child what he wants as that just shows him that he can continue to get what he wants if he holds out long enough.

It's a battle of wills right now and you have to be the stronger person!

HTH & have a GREAT day!

S.

My son goes through the same pattern, and he is 2 1/2. he will eat little to no dinner some nights, and other nights he will eat more than my 10 year old!!! I don't push him to eat. It's just not worth the trouble and frustration for both of us. I will offer a little later, and sometimes he eats, sometimes he doesn't. Your son won't starve, so don't worry. He will eat when he's hungry.

Your son won't starve. I would just make sure that the snack foods he is eating are healthy choices. My son is 2 1/2 and I sneak carrots and spinach into a lot of my meals (meatloaf, speg, pizza, etc.). My son loves french fries, but I dont' buy them. I use carrots or sweet potatoes and slice to make them look like fries and bake them. Somtimes instead of just hamburgers for supper I make meatballs. I make them small so he doesn't have to worry about cutting them up too much. I also add cinnamon to my applesauce. I don't make "special" meals for him. He eats what we do, I just try to see things through his eyes and make it fun for him. Also, I would suggest offering small portions. Sometimes, largers portions can be overwhelming for a little guy. Hope this helps. Good Luck!