Toddler Dinner/Bed Time ?

[curbsideprophet]

What time does your toddler eat dinner? Do you eat as a family? What time does your toddler go to bed?

We are really struggling with this. We are trying to eat dinner with DD at least a few nights a week but it is hard to have dinner ready to go by 6-6:15 every night. We like to start bath/bed time routine between 6:30 and 7. So some nights we end up eating dinner after she goes to bed. I feel like we should be eating together as a family, but not sure how much it worth pushing at this point (DD is almost 14 months old). DH sometimes works from home and can get something started. I pick DD up from daycare we get home around 5:30-5:45 with my current schedule. That does not leave a lot of time before bath/bed.

If you child eats a different meal than you, what are you serving them? Any easy meal ideas (either just for her, or for a family meal)?

Thanks

[Deleted]

We all eat together. I get home early (4:00 - 4:30) and cook. We eat around 6. He baths at 7, bed at 7:30.

The easiest nights are crockpot nights (we had baked potato soup this week, and it was so nice to get home and do 5 min of meal finishing and eat). If you want to sometimes eat later, I'd try to keep leftovers for her. Although because DS is a bit of a non-eater, he often gets a random assortment of things. Edamame, crackers, blueberries, noodles, etc.

[ijack]

We eat together - dinner is between 5:30-6 and bedtime is 7-7:30.

[slug*bug]

We're on roughly the same schedule time-wise: generally eating between 6 and 6:45, bath just before 7, bed between 7ish and 7:30.

We prioritize crock pot recipes for during the week and we'll have leftovers a one or two weeknights when possible b/c they're quick to prepare and cleanup is easy.

I've learned the hard way that there are just some recipes that are weekend-only meals b/c the preparation time is too much.

We had a phase about 2 years ago where DS was going to bed SO early that I started feeding him early: usually leftovers or easy things like scrambled eggs w/veggies, yogurt, etc.

ETA: We eat together most nights. The only exceptions are late meetings for one of us or work travel.

[DarcyLongfellow]

We only occasionally all eat dinner together. DH gets home around 6, and he really has no interest in sitting down immediately to eat. Sometimes I eat with DD, sometimes DH and I eat together after DD is in bed, and sometimes all three of us eat together (usually if DH got home early or if I have dinner ready late).

I'm not too worked up about all of us eating together yet. I'd like for us to, but I'm not going to push it too much until DD is older. Most of the time she won't even eat what I'm making for dinner, so I'm already making a separate meal anyway (PB&J, cheesesticks and fruit, etc.).

This is probably why my child is a picky eater, though :-(

[kittycatlove]

We struggle with this too. We have about the same schedule as you. I dont' get home until 5:30 and to try to have dinner by 6 is near impossible, bath by 6:30 and bedtime at 8. I try to cook the night before (after DS goes to bed) and then have that as his dinner the next night. So right now he's eating some of the same stuff as us, but not at the same meal time. We also have an issue because he is a picky eater.

I just try to make sure on the weekends we all eat as a family. For now this all we can do.

Good Luck.

[8675309]

We don't eat together because DH doesnt get home until 7:00-8:00PM depending on his scheduling. I will say that its seriously non stop for me for 2-3 hours and I really do not enjoy the evenings right now. There are cute moments that I love but its constant...


5PM - Get home from from Sitter (Play with kids in playroom for 20 mins)

5:30-6PM - Dinner time - I grab a lean cuisine or scarf down something small, DS (8mo) gets peas or a puree, DD (2 1/2) gets a number of different stape foods that I know she wont reject: Chicken Fingers, Broccoli, Turkey Dogs, Corn, Cucumber, Tomatoes, Turkey meatballs, Chicken Quesadillas, Spagetti, Grilled Zucchini, Veggie burger patty, Grilled Cheese)

6PM - DS in Bath 1st, followed by bottle, in bed by 7PM (DD is playing independently while this is going on.)

7PM - DD Bath, followed by teddy grahams and milk.

7:30PM - Daddy gets home and takes over with DD. Teeth get brushed at 7:45 and DD is put to bed by 8PM. Story book and several potty breaks later, she's asleep by 8:30pm.

I am exhausted just typing that out.....

[ohgillian]

DS is 2. He eats before DH and I most nights, unless we're having leftovers, in which case I eat at the same time. DH rarely eats then but sometimes sits with us.

DS goes up to bath by 6:30 most nights, and we can't get family dinner done before then. He sits at the table and one of us sits with him, even if we aren't eating. I think we'll get to "family meal time" when he's a bit older and goes to bed later. For now, I don't stress about it. I'd rather he get the sleep he needs so he's not a crazy mess.

[bunch]

We always eat together, sometime between 6-7 (the second h walks in the door). Bedtime is 8.

[Willis Jackson]

6/6:15- DH gets home
6:30- dinner
7- dance party in the kitchen while DH cleans up
7:30- baths
8- bed

DS is 3.5 and DD is 13mo

[mmmomof2]

I think this is why DD1 is a picky eater now. She would go to bed by 7:00, so I would make her dinner around 5:00, eat no later than 5:45, then DH and I would eat together later. Of course her food was tailored to her tastes yada yada.

Now with DD2 we sadly keep her up later and we eat all together. DH doesn't get home until 6:30 and usually that's the earliest I can manage to get dinner ready for everyone.

[h]

More often than not we eat as a family. Whoever picks up the kids gets home with them about 6. The other parent is usually home by 6:30. We eat dinner between 6:30 and 7. We all play and goof off until 8, then do baths and reading. Lights out at 9 (though that doesn't mean they actually fall asleep then). If one parent has to work late, we sometimes just feed the kids and then we eat later. Our kids are 5 and 2.5. My kids don't get up super early (around 7:30) and can't seem to fall asleep before 9/9:30 at the earliest regardless of when we start the bedtime routine.

[niki]

We eat together about 75-80% of the time.
5:20- Home
6-6:45-Dinner (anytime in that period)
7:30-bath, if needed
7:45-Start bedtime procedures (potty, diaper, stories)
8:30 or 45-Adults rule the house again!

On nights we want something like Jimmy Johns (which my toddler won't eat), he will get leftovers, or brinner (scrambled eggs, frozen veg, fruit), or I will cook up some pasta (whole wheat, frozen veg, fruit) for him.

[satama]

Oct 26, 2012 15:33:53 GMT -5 ijack said:

We eat together - dinner is between 5:30-6 and bedtime is 7-7:30.

Same here. I am a SAHM, but DH is home by 4. Sometimes he goes to the gym for an hour, but we are still eating by 6.

[anaps28]

H doesn't get in till between 7-8 so I never wait for him.
On days I pick up LO were home by 6 I make him dinner then we do bath and bedtime asleep by 7:30.
Friday- Sunday night we do eat dinner together.

[6fsn]

We eat dinner together every night. It is easy because I stay home, but I do try to tailor meals to the schedule. If it's a busy day and DH will be late it's a crockpot dinner. If it's preschool I'll do something more time consuming I can prep while DS is gone and DD is napping.

We usually eat between 6 or 630. Jammies by 730 then books and bed. We don't do bathes every night though.

[matildasun]

We eat together. My husband comes home sometime between 6:15 and 7:15. We eat as soon as he gets here and then we start bedtime. We try to have her in bed and asleep by 8:30. She sleeps until 7:30 or 8 though.

[curbsideprophet]

Thanks everyone. At this point we really do no want to push her bedtime any later, so I guess we will just have to try and eat together when we can. I may be able to switch my schedule a bit in January, which would get me home a little earlier, so that might make things easier as well.

[Shreddingbetty]

We eat together most nights. We usually eat around 6-630 and then up to bed around 715-730. There is a reason I don't do night time baths....I would not be able to get dinner on the table for the rest of the family and bedtime would take 2 hours since she loves her baths.

[SusanBAnthony]

We eat at about the same time every night, and most nights DH is home by then. Occasionally we eat before he gets home.

We start bedtime by 7 at the latest, and keeping them up later is just not an option. We can't shift their whole schedule bc DS has to get on the school bus at 7:45 am so they HAVE to be in bed by 7:30.

[Deleted]

I almost always eat with dd around 6. H is either home around 5, or not until 9. It depends on if he has networking events. If he's home early, then we all eat together.
Dd is in bed around 7. Her bedtime routine takes ten minutes tops, if that.

[dr.girlfriend]

DS has dinner at 6:15-ish. We sit down and eat a vegetable while he's eating his dinner. Then later we make our own dinner after he's in bed (8:00 bedtime). It's kind of good for us because we get a vegetable in, and are less hungry at dinnertime, and good for DS to see us eating vegetables. :-)

Often my parents are on Skype talking to DS while he eats. They like that he is "contained" so they get a good view of him for conversation.

[shell403b]

We eat together, unless H is OOT. I pick Little E up from DC between 4-4:30 (I get to work at 6:30 to make this possible), we play for about an hour, then either I or H starts dinner. We eat at 6. E has his bath after dinner and then it's Wheel of Fortune time and his nightly milk, and then to bed at 7:30. Works pretty well most nights. The only nights where the wheels fall off the bus is when we take E to PT at 5:30; on those occasions, we eat around 7 (we pick up Panera on the way home--E loves their soups) and he has his milk about 8, then directly to bed. He's sometimes a little more grouchy on those nights, but that's b/c he has to wait to eat (we bring a snack, but it's not the same).

[Deleted]

DS eats dinner as soon as we get home, which is usually 6-6:15pm. DH and I rarely get to eat dinner with him since I usually cook after DS goes to bed. Bedtime is usually 7pm. Also, there are many nights where DH gets home after DS is already in bed.

[whitemerlot]

We eat at 6/6:30 and bedtime is 8. Our son is almost 3. I'm a SAHM so theoretically my kids could sleep in. He wakes up just before 6 and takes a 2-3 hour nap. We give baths during the day.

[evynsmama]

3 days a week we don't get home until 5:45 or 6:00 so usually she has her dinner while I am making ours, 1 night a week we have dinner at the IL's so we do all eat dinner together once a week, but usually she is eating before us.

[auberge]

My son is almost three. We all eat dinner together at 6pm and bathtime is 7:45pmish. He is usually asleep by 8:30pm.

[marshmallowhands]

We eat together. It's one of my biggies but we'll see how it goes after baby#2 arrives in April.

I used to love making elaborate made-from-scratch dinners every night but found I was getting so stressed out trying to race from the second we got home until my DD was in bed. So, I've switched to less elaborate meals (baked chicken + veggies), crockpot dinners, or dinners that I can prep &/or assemble the night before.