He wont eat!!!

[ezmay]

Does anyone have any ideas i can pinch to get DS to eat?
He wont eat anything lately and normally i wouldnt mind as i figure he will eat when he is hungry but he dosent seem to be hungry at all. I give him a variety of meals for brekkie lunch and dinner so i cant be a sudden dislike for a particular food. Its not just vegies he wont eat so its not a typical 3 1/2 year old vegie strike.

Im at a loss and meals (esp. dinners) are becoming a real stresful event.x(
PLEASE HELP:argh:

[miss kiki]

i took these pills when i lost weight to help me get hungry..so maybe see his doctor and ask him/her if there is any medication for your son to take to get him hungry..i was smoking so much that i never had an appetite and that's the reason i lost tons of weight..now i can't gain, lol. or try making it fun for him-there must be some types of foods that is his favorite, so maybe make those..even if it is junk food like mcdonald's and you get a toy..hope i helped somewhat..good luck!

[Naomi]

My 3 yr old hasn't eaten much since he was 18 months old ... not just veges (but those too) but anything. He is s-l-o-w-l-y getting better but still has days when he won't eat more than a handful of crackers.

Things I have tried include:
letting him help with the cooking,
'hiding' veges in other things (like muffins, pikelets)
making the food into fun shapes
making sure he stops snacking at least two hours before his main meal
giving him a finger-food plate of a lot of different things so he can pick and choose
giving him his main meal at lunch time and then just a sandwich or fruit and yogurt or cereal for dinner
making sure I had a lot of healthy snacks on hand because some days he would get more nutrition from snacks than meals
eating together (husband works late so often we eat later so Hugo eats earlier, on his own)

If he refuses his meal (and this still happens regularly) now that he is older and understands he knows there is no other option. He is allowed to have fruit but nothing else.

I also give him a multivitamin every day.

If it's a sudden thing, might it be related to something else? A few times earlier this year Hugo relapsed to eating nothing at all and those times he had tonsilitis.

Good luck - it's so hard not to get stressed about it. I hope it's a just phase and he is through it soon.

[Naomi]

Oh and with dinner time becoming stressful - as hard as it is, try not to react! It does not help at all (believe me, I have been there SO many times.) I also fell into the trap of making him several different meals, so if he didn't eat fish and veges, I'd make scrambled eggs and then cook pasta - DON'T DO THIS! It is not sustainable and throwing three untouched meals in the bin is 3 times harder than throwing one. The most i do now if he doesn't eat it is to offer him fruit and yogurt.

[Supa]

my son did the same from about 18months to about 4-5 he lived on not much, but he didnt starve. i did as Naomi is doing, main meal at lunchtime, healthy snacks ONLY. Also look at what he is drinking is it lots of milk?? If it is you may want to cut it back as it fills them up & they wont eat. Giving water to drink & then milk after a meal is better

[kezabelle]

I think all kids do it - and there are plenty of theories about how it is a left over from the cave man days and surbival :) If he's not eating at all, I'd see a doctor - maybe there's something going on internally that needs fixing. But if it's just that he's fussy and will only eat certain foods at certain times, I'd try a few of Naomi's suggestions (and anyone else :)) and see how it goes. Don't give in and give him junk food though or he'll know you'll eventually give it to him if he just waits long enough. I think the main thing though is not to stress - he really will eat if he's hungry (assuming it's not medical).

[miss kiki]

i just realized that i was the same way growing up-i never wanted to eat. i used to put my cut up meat underneath my plate, so when my mom was about to wash the dishes, she'd see a ring of meat! :hehe: i slowly got out of that phase i think when i was in middle school-5 to 8 grades-and started gaining weight and wasn't so skinny like i was as a child. now i'm back to being skinny and hopefully will gain weight soon..my parents made me sit at the table and finish everything..i sometimes fell asleep at the table with food in my mouth. YUCK! i just didn't have the desire and even though they rebelled against me, i still didn't eat. didn't help though seeing my siblings play and i was stuck at the dinner table!

[mummyof3babes]

Ezmay, my girls often get fussy too, Jalise won't touch onions or peas which is a pain because when I do cook I love to put onion in everything. I'll cut and paste what I just put in Kikis thread learning how to cook.
I set the table this way most nights and I find that the girls do eat more when they have a choice, that's also easy to assemble and then put back into the fridge!:D (When they're not making a wrap, they're usually making 'plate faces', after creating it they eat it. My only rule is, "you have to eat what you put on your plate".)
:yes:As Di said, check out the cookbook section and in particular Mandas posts, she makes simple but yummy meals.

I'm not the best cook, and tend to slap together easy 'help-yourself' meals. We have alot of salads, steamed vegies (buy an electric steamer, it's fantastic) About 4-5 nights a week I put everything on the table, my salad turner with beetroot, pineapple, peas, corn, mushrooms etc, with green salad, pasta salad, steamed, mashed or roast vegies and different things on different days like chicken, fish or ham mostly, and the girls help themselves, it's easier that way. The steamer is great for vegies, chicken and fish, you pop them in, put the timer on and dinner will cook itself!

oh and I always have plenty of tortilla wraps on the table for those that want wraps instead of a plain meal. We wrap anything and everything! (The other night Kaitlyn put creamed corn in her wrap!:eww:):hehe: Salads, cold/hot meat, even roast vegie salad, whatever you like. It's fun for the kids and healthy.

Too simple!:yes: Top it off with fruit fondue, if you can't be bothered melting the chocolate pour yoghurt over the fruit. (OR Apple Pie and Icecream!! We indulge in once a week):yes:

Edit to add: Also get a salad turner thingie, it's a Lazy Susan (For this Lazy Laura!):hehe: and has compartments on it for the different salad stuff like beetroot, lettuce, tomatoe, cheese, pineapple, corn etc... It makes it easier for everyone at the table to access and after dinner you just have to sit the whole thing in the fridge for the next night. I clean it out and refill every three days in summer, and use it for lunch alot too.

[Patricia]

Ezmay Naomi has offered some great advice there.

My advice is to pick your battles..offer him food that you know will appeal to him and then if he refuses try not to stress (easier said than done I know) but I am yet to meet a child who will NOT eat when they are really hungry.

Good Luck :)

[miss kiki]

once in awhile i'll go all out on breakfast with the kids and we'll have a "feast" even though it's only 3 different things we make. so i let them pick it out themselves and they help me cook it. they love doing that and always they ate everything..

[Manda]

I had the same problem when dylan was about that age, we took him to the Dr and the dr reccomended a product that helped his apetite and also gave him nourishment. I am trying to remember what it was called but my brain is failing me. Maybe you could go to the chemist/Doctors and discuss his lack of eating with them.

I know they sasy a child will not starve themselves but thats no consilation it never makes you feel better!

[miss kiki]

i don't even remember the medication..this is going back 2 years ago maybe? i don't think i even took all of them, so maybe my mom has them at her place still..if you're interested, i'll call her and ask her what they were called. :)

[Rachel]

I like Naomi's advice.. My DD has just started not eating her dinner but scoffing down the fruit if I offer that instead.. so I might try giving her main meal at lunch time.. good idea!

[Patricia]

If you offer a variety of foods from all the food groups and let your child choose what they want/like..I think you will find that your child will never go hungry.

Of course on the other hand there could be an underlying medical cause for their lack of appetite and perhaps a chat to the doctor might help?

Hope you resolve it quickly.....try not to stress as he will pick up on that too :)

[ezmay]

Thanks ladies. I will try some of the ideas to start with but if it dosent get better i will go to the docs. He says he is hungry and wants - say a banana- so i give it to him and he dosent eat it.
I did manage to get him to eat some rice bubbles this morning by making them yellow (food dye) so thats a start at least. He was always a good eater so this is not a childhood issue im used to dealiong with. He was sick last week but looking back the not eating started before he got croup so i dont think thats it.
Tonight is his fave meal of spag bol so fingers crossed.

[mummyof3babes]

Good luck with tonight. Spag bol is a fave for little people hey?:yes:

I remember it was my fave and Kailtyn loves it big time, after having seconds and wanting another plate I have to say 'No, let your tummy settle for a few mins and then see if you're still hungry"!:hehe: She loves the stuff.:yes:

[ezmay]

YAY he ate it!!!!!! and he got ice-cream as a reward for doing so.

[kimba]

Just keep an eye on him.Maybe ask if there is a reason he will not eat-such as tummy aches etc.My daughter had problems and couldn't eat as she was that clogged up and when she did she eventually started throwing it straight back up.We eventually got it sorted out but I now keep an eye on her as I would hate to see her go through it again:)

[miss kiki]

that's a good start! :)

[leelee]

ez hun,i will send emmy to eat at your house coz last night she didnt eat dinner and today she wont eat breaky:hehe:

[dragonfly97]

thats a good start i hope he keeps it up good luck