Question
This is a follow-up to my previous question about my 3.5yo picky eater. It's now been a month and he still refuses to eat a single bite of any food he doesn't like. Most dinners he eats the 1 or 2 bites of food he approves of, then asks to be excused to go play - I make him stay at the table an extra 5-10 minutes, then as long as he's been respectful during dinner, I let him go. Sometimes he asks to go to bed early without even coming to the dinner table, and if I insist that he at least sit with us, he acts in a manner sufficiently obnoxious to get himself excused early. I offer him milk, protein, and fruit for his afternoon snack, and he doesn't like protein so many afternoons all he has is the milk. So I know he's hungry at dinnertime, and the 2 nights we made exceptions to the teaspoons rule (Easter dinner and one other time) he ate a big dinner. In the mornings he is weak and hungry, tantrums easily and wants me to help him get dressed etc. Our rule is they must get themselves dressed before breakfast, and some days he's so slow that he will miss breakfast if I don't help him. I don't want him missing 2 meals in a row so I made another rule that if I have to help him get dressed he loses his favorite big kid toys for the day. He eats a good breakfast when he has time, and he eats a big lunch. So do we just stay the course for dinners, or let it go for now and try again when he gets older? This strategy has worked well for our 6yo, who now eats at least a dozen foods that she wouldn't touch before.
