Force 4 Year Old to Eat?

I make my son try it, I never make him finish a full portion. I always serve something that I know he'll eat - that is healthy. He gets a small portion of known food and half a bite of new food. When his plate is empty, he may have more of the food of his choice, or he may have a snack at least an hour later. If it is not empty, the only snack available until his plate is empty is what is on his plate (again - we wait an hour between meal and snack). Please note that I only put about 1/3 of what I think he will eat on that plate - I never force my kids to eat - my parents gave me a gorgeous weight problem with the clean your plate club.

S.

I agree with you, not your husband. Children will eat what they need. Their little bodies will get what they need. All you can do is offer a wellbalanced meal 3 times a day and they will take what they need. I do agree that you should have her atleast taste one bite of everything before she decides not to eat it though. However, don't force her. Just ask her to and make her some kind of deal/reward. If she atleast tries everything on the plate she can have a skittle after dinner. If she eats what you think is a reasonable amount to consist of a meal, reward her with a good snack/dessert, nothing unhealthy though perhaps a real fruit/no sugar added popsicle or a piece of sugar free gum. Don't force her to eat it all though. You will cause her to have weight and dietary problems for life. She knows if she is hungry or not, let her be the judge of how much she eats and what she eats. Just offer healthy foods consistently.

Meal time should be pleasant, and I don't think forcing is goingto help. Save the food, and if she gets hungry later, have her eat what was at the meal, and not snacks. At this age there are a lot of foods they don't like, but instead of a big helping give her just one bite and urge her to just taste it, she may like it. There is a new cook book out there for children that don't eat well, and a couple of examples is you stteam, & then puree carrots and cauliflower, and mix them in with cooked mac and cheese, you can't really taste them (i've tried it) and it gets two veggies in them. Another is mashed or pured beats in chocolate cake, and it makes the cake moist, and you can't taste the beats.

no, don't force her to eat. she'll eat when she's hungry.

NEVER force her to eat, you will ALWAYS lose. My daughter is 10 and my boys are 3 and I have never made them eat. If they don't like what's available, then they wait until the next meal. Simple as that....they are all three in healthy weight ranges and doing fine. Just don't be a softie and fix her a bowl of cereal before bed or give desserts - she'll really have your number then! :-)

My daughter is 4 and there are days that I wonder how she even survives on what she has eaten. Then, there are days I can't get enough food in her.

I NEVER force my child to eat. I NEVER require that she clean her plate to get a snack or dessert, regardless of how much food was on the plate. Clean plate syndrome is horrible for weight issues, and the syndrome occurs regardless of how full the plate was to begin with.

As for trying new things, offer new foods repeatedly. If she doesn't try it the first 10 times, maybe she will the 11th time. Don't give snacks too close to dinner time and offer no snack or dessert until she has eaten an acceptable amount for dinner.

We always allow for a dessert after a well eaten dinner. If my kids eat an acceptable amount they can have dessert of their choice. Sometimes they get a cookie, fruit, sugar-free gum, small piece of candy. But even knowing they can have dessert doesn't encourage them to eat everyday. If they are hungry, they will eat and they will be more likely to try new things.

Good luck!

No...never. It'll only cause more problems. Kids won't ever let themselves starve. She'll eat when she's ready. Just don't fill her up with junk in order to fill her up. She'll get used to you plying her with junk food, and she'll test her will against you with the healthy food.

It's hard for us moms to watch our kids not eat, but her body won't let her. :)

Don't force her to eat. Make sure she is taking a vitamin daily and then just let her determine when she's hungry. I do ask that my daughter try one bite of each thing before she gets down. That way she can see if she actually does like something new, but she doesn't have to eat it (she spits things out she doesn't like). The more you push, the more she will fight you... Believe me, she won't starve.

GL!

No PLEASE do not force your child to eat. Try a reward system when she does try 1 bit of something new!

Good luck to you

Eliyah

Forcing a child to eat is like trying to force one to go to sleep, they may sit at the table or lay in the bed, but you can't force the action. My daughter will be 6 in June. She has been a pretty selective eater and would not eat a lot of fruits and vegetables after she quit eating baby food. When she was 4, we would have her try a food, but would give her the option of spitting it out if she did not like it (at home - kind of gross in a restaurant). There are a lot of foods that I don't like, so I don't see the point in forcing her to eat something she doesn't like. She loves a lot of things that I don't like - sour cream, oysters and various other seafood, etc. She will now eat beans, okra, carrots, salad and other veggies. To supplement her vitamins while she is eating a limited number of items, give her fortified fruit and vegetable drinks, try letting her dip stuff in applesauce and give her a multivitamin. She will get better as she gets older. (probably! :) )

Don't force her to eat. Have her try everything on her plate a bite at least. If she doesn't want to eat let her get down but don't feed/give her any snacks or sweets in the place of the meal. Make sure she takes a vitamin and drinks water and real juice (freshly squeezed) with no extra sugars. Do save the plate of food for another round should she get hungry.

Children will not starve themselves. We parents feel we are failing if the child does not eat food put in front of them. Tell your hubby that she will be fine and she will eat and grow. He may regret it later if she does develop a hearty appetite and want to eat him out of house and home.

If you force a child to eat when they are not ready you will cause many other diet problems in the future that could cost her her life. Practice patience and all will work out. The other S.

Reinforce...but NEVER force.

NO! I do not believe in force feeding. Would you like to be force fed? Children are people too-- that is how I always like to think about it.

Make a list of what your child does like, and take it to a nutritionist-- this is what we did for our 2 picky kids. They will tell you what to do based on that. Cereal, PBJ, Chicken nuggets, yogurt, fruit, etc. are all kid friendly foods that have nutritional value.

I wouldn't want dinner time to be a battle every evening. I am more than happy to keep the foods around that they like. Hubby and I pick up food almost every night from various places and are able to split an entree and just feed the kids from home... works well for us.