Worried about 9 year old exercising and not eating enough!!

divadee

Jay-Jay wrote:

A
Children go through stages of having no appetite. I was dragged to the docs at 11 for not eating. It wasn't a conscious thing, I just wasn't hungry .

mr divadee said that. he also said that as she has just had a growth spurt and shop up a bit, then maybe her body doesnt need much at the moment as its done its growing for a while????

i just worry as she had such a healthy appetite before.

frivolous_fay

I've always got stitches if I exercise or run within a few hours of eating... in fact even water will do it. Is she trying to avoid getting stitches?

(Maybe too simple an idea, but still)

julbags

When I increase my exercise amounts (especially running) I find my appetite tails off for a while and I end up eating because I know have to. It does sort itself out and if I don't eat enough then I can't sustain training volume. I've done lots of reading around the sports nutrition subject and know this can happen and also that I need to eat (took me a few years to implement it though). If she can do all her activites well then she may actually be eating enough if she starts to struggle then she needs to eat more.

I don't have kids of my own so have no idea if 29Kg is a healthy weight or not for a 9 year old. Speaking to her running coach is a good idea as I'd be very suprised if her coach had told her to restrict food intake as the link between good nutrition and good performance is so strong. The coach may be able to explain it to her if they have lots of experience in training youngsters.

I think at 9 years old it might be a bit much to expect her to really grasp the ins and outs of "nutrition" as such.

conradmum

divadee wrote:

she does get tummy ache with stress, i know that one well!!!! if she has a big big worry she gets herself in such a state she can even get the squits!!!

but we have had various talks over the past couple of weeks and nothing out of the ordinary is going on. I have even asked her friend quietly if everything is ok and she swears it is!! and her friend would tell me the truth i know her so well!!

I had this problem as a teenager and, although it was related to stress, I had no idea at the time and thought everything was fine.
Did you take her to the GP in the end?
As another poster said, it can go round in circles, with worrying about getting a tummy ache causing a tummy ache.
I wouldn't go on about her not eating enough - this could lead to eating disorders. Hope you get it sorted.