[pookel]

My nearly-17mo shared some of our dinner at 6 p.m. tonight, then I went back to work. (I work nights; we are all on a late schedule.) When I left, I reminded my husband specifically to try to feed him some real food during the evening, because last night he was cranky and only settled down after eating some cheese (instead of just snack crackers).

I got home at 12:30 a.m. and they had just made a pizza. Corbin sat down with me and *wolfed* it down. I mean he ate like two adult-sized pieces. I asked my husband what he'd eaten, and he said, "I gave him a bottle at 9 ..." That was it. He didn't offer him any food at all for six and a half hours, just a bottle. He said, "he didn't seem hungry." ("Did you offer him any food?" ... "Well, no ...")

Am I out of line for thinking this is awful, and under no circumstances should you let a toddler go that long without offering him food?

 

[BookGoddess]

That does seem like a long time to go without food but then again I don't know how many ounces he got in the bottle. Perhaps all that milk plus the cheese you gave him earlier was enough?

Like you I probably would have offered him something to see if he was interested. There are times DD is so busy moving about and playing that she doesn't make a fuss about being hungry until I offer her something to eat. But husbands don't think like we do. Mine sounds exactly like yours. In fact, I've had the same food conversation with DH not that long ago.

 

[Mama2Bug]

Six hours seems like an awfully long time to me. My DD is 21 months old and eats 3 "real" meals a day (meaning sit-down, veggies, protein, carbs, beverage). We leave healthy snacks out all day long- like fruit, cheese, crackers or rice cakes and sippies of water- for her to eat and drink at her leisure. She also still nurses on demand.

When she was 17 months, I'd say she ate more like 2 meals a day, but the rest was the same. If I gave her nothing but a small snack (equal to an 8 oz bottle, I guess) for six hours, she would be very, very cranky.

Would it help to leave something specific out for your dh to feed your son while you are gone? Maybe say something like "Honey, I left a plate of food in the fridge for DS. He'll need to eat it at around 6." or "DS will be hungry around 6. Try feeding him some of that stir-fry in the fridge."

You could also just leave a tray of healthy munchies out where your DS can find it.

 

[moms3kids]

that does seem like a long time to me too... my dd eats about every 4 hours durring the day and is finally sleeping all night with out nursing and she'll be 2 in a few weeks...

 

[Jaydens_mom]

your dh seems to be under the assumption that your ds will notify him when he is hungry.... which generally at 17 mos isn't going to happen all the time.

I would speak to him calmly about it, telling him that he has to "Offer" the food, or your ds will forget its there and not eat.
6 hours is a long time... to not offer food, but if he does offer and your ds refuses, well then he's just not hungry.

 

[octobermom]

We have the three meals a day thing breakfast ussually around 7 lunch around 11am and dinner around 5ish and I do make a snack when she wakes up from her nap ussually about 3pm. I keep a bowl of fresh fruit on our dining table free for the taking and ussually have another with some sort of baked good free for nibblers as well. I stock the bottom side shelf in he fridge with a few water and milk cups she can have. Shes not big on eating between meals though ussually but its not denyed.

 

[mommamin]

DD still nurses, and she is constantly offered food as she grazes throughout the day.

I would say 6 hrs is a little long. i know that I have to remind DH to bring food if they go out to offer food to her.

 

[lnitti]

does seem to be a long stretch, but the bottle may have filled him up too.

a 17 month old should be able to tell you when he's hungry, but he should have at least been asked if we was hungry, or do you want to eat X, Y or Z?