I have kept my family on a meal schedule for years. For the past 2 weeks, my 22 month old son has developed a habit of refusing to eat his dinner and he is throwing a temper tantrum at the dinner table every night. Dinnertime at our house is 5:30 p.m. My son usually eats lunch anywhere between 11:30 a.m. and 12 p.m. then goes down for a nap which he sleeps anywhere from 2-3 hours, breakfast is 9 am. After his nap, I feed him a little snack or a drink, not to spoil his dinner. Now he throws these tantrums and wants to eat at 8:00 p.m. and by that time, he is starving. 8:00 p.m. is bathtime and quiet time. How do I change this behavior and make dinnertime enjoyable again?
At 22 months they are still "grazers" and not able to eat large dinners and be done for the night. He should still sit at the table with you, let him color or something if he doesn't want to eat, but if you research 2 year olds and eating habits you are going to find they are all day eaters.
Good luck,
C.
In parenting classes they taught us to not reinforce the negative behavior. Anotherwords, as tough on your nerves as it will be, ignore the negative behavior. Put his food in fron of him and if he doesnt eat it, then he doesn't and maybe right before bed when hes not expecting it, give him a night time snack, but he needs to learn that you make the rules and not him and that you will not give in because of his tantrums. Try in=gnoring the tantrums alltogether and go on eith your dinner as if he isnt throwing a fit and see if that helps.
Hi MC,
It may sound mean but if he doesn't eat his dinner at dinnertime let him go to bed hungry. He won't starve and he'll learn to eat when everyone else does. I would make him sit at the table while the rest of the family eats. That way if he knows he has to sit there anyway he may eat. I have done this with both of my boys and they both know to eat. Kids learn quickly. Good luck.
Chris
Is he in a high chair? If he is, maybe change his seating to a booster. That can change it up more and make it more exciting for him. Or, if you are not ready for a booster, just make him sit there, and ignore him while you all eat. At that age, they are just testing you. He chose dinner to do the trick. I would also not give him the snack. It may not be a dinner spoiler, but it pacifies him enough to not want to eat.
