I've been struggling back and forth with this for a while. When I grew up my parents didn't make me eat everything on my plate, but they did make me try everything, even things I knew I hated like cole slaw 🤢 or chicken salad. I still to this day don't like those things, but also I remember that rule from when I was 8 or 9. My little girl is 14 months. Before she turned 1 she was like a garbage disposal. She would eat literally anything and eat all of it. There were a few things she didn't like, but not many. It seems like when she turned 1 it was like flipping a switch. Foods she used to love and beg for me, she hates them. Won't even try them anymore. She used to love the Gerber pick ups spinach and cheese ravioli. It was disgusting in my opinion, but she couldn't get enough of it. Now she hates it. Which is fine. I thought maybe feeding her some good actual spinach ravioli would be nice. I bought the Rana Spinach and Ricotta and let me tell you, it's AMAZING. Anyway, she won't even lick it. Nothing. Not touching it. Even with alfredo sauce and cheese on top, not having it. She's just picking the cheese off of it and that's it. I'm obviously not going to force feed her, but what do you do when your child refuses dinner?

No judgement here from me and hopefully not others. Do you fix them something else? Have something on standby? Just let them go hungry? I feel like letting her go hungry is mean, but at the same time, I don't want to be a short order cook and also I don't want her turning everything down for ever in hopes of getting cheese and crackers or a veggie pouch for dinner.

So what do you do?