s/o - if you don't make separate meals and have a nursing toddler....

[Super~Single~Mama]

So, if you make one meal, and everyone either eats that meal or not, and your toddler is still nursing does whether they eat a full meal affect their sleep at night?

I've tried the, eat what goes on your plate, or not with my DS (16.5mo), and if he doesn't eat he nurses about 5-6times that night. If I feed him something he likes, he nurses 1-2times.

So, I really need him to sleep well, but I also don't want to make 2 meals (I'm a single mom, no financial help from dad to speak of yet, probably not for a LONG time either).

Possible solutions?? I don't want to wean him, we both love nursing and I just think he's too young unless he wants to, but I also don't want to be nursing him all night when he doesn't like what I make.

[Everrgreen]

Yes, my son sleeps better if he has a meal or bedtime snacks. I really don't want to get into the habit of making two meals, but like you, I'm also a single mom, and honestly sometimes it's easier to just find something for him to eat so he'll be less fussy/nurse less through the night. So, I will try and prepare a meal that has at least something in it that he likes, and give him only that at first. But then if he doesn't eat anything/much and is hungry again, I will prepare a plate of snack foods for him (fruit, cheese, crackers). It's an ongoing process right now, so I'm still trying different techniques to meal time to try and find out what works.

[mtbmomma]

I prepare a little bowl of something I know she likes, such as yogurt or fruit, and have it stashed where dd can't see it. Then serve her the same as everyone else, but when she says she's all done, I then offer the extras. Often times she will be happy to eat what we are having if she is eating it off my plate too. Not the best solution, but I really don't worry too much about having a toddler on my lap when it only happens occasionally.

[lifeguard]

I have never found that what I do or do not feed ds affects his sleep. At this point if he has not eaten enough he would not go to sleep for me in the first place & we'd do a bedtime snack.

I have a friend who started a bedtime snack quite young with her children. So regardless of what they had for supper they had a solid snack they liked right before bed.

[alegna]

I had one non-eater who didn't nurse much at night and an eater who does

At that age I always made sure they had one thing they'd eat. And if you weren't nursing, you'd still have a hungry kid in the middle of the night, you'd just have to get up and make a snack for them. MUCH harder than nursing. They're far far too young to understand "eat now so you're not hungry later"

-Angela