Daughter hardly eating

Sorry if this is completely the wrong place to post but after a bit of advice if possible please?

Dd1 will be 10 in a couple of weeks and is hardly eating I'm starting to get worried. She is very skinny you can see her ribs/shoulder bones.

A few times over the last few weeks she has told us she's getting dinner at her aunts (they live behind us) but transpires she's only been having a snack or two, a few chips or the likes, but telling us she has eaten dinner so I haven't made her anything else.

She has school dinners but after a talk with her tonight she told us she will get soup or something similar and only eat a couple of spoonfuls as she is always 'too full'

Same with breakfast, only a few spoons then she's had enough - what can I do to rectify this?

She doesn't eat between meals really, a bit fruit for snack sometimes or dry cereal. I've noticed even if she sometimes has a bag of crisps she doesn't even finish the bag.

Could this be an underlying thing (I'm planning on taking her to the doctors anyway) or an age thing?

Thanks in advance

JJ
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Comments

  • Sharon87
    Sharon87 Posts: 4,011
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    Best thing to do is what you're doing, take her to the doctors.

    It could be the start of an eating disorder or your daughter may be emotional about something, maybe at school or with friends, that makes her lose her appetite.

    Try talking to her see if there's anything wrong and maybe encourage her to eat more, or higher calorie food.
  • meritaten
    meritaten Posts: 24,158 Forumite
    Doctors - if only to rule out any 'physical' maladies - actually, a physical malady would be easier to deal with! I am not going to assume an eating 'disorder' unless an illness is ruled out. So please post back and tell us what the doc said.
  • my3girls
    my3girls Posts: 378 Forumite
    Thank you both very much I will make an appointment at the doctors as soon as I can.

    Think I'm worrying re eating disorder more because she was hiding her food, and she's regularly been measuring & weighing herself at my mums :-( we had a really good talk to her tonight where she spoke about it all.

    She is a very emotional girl but nothing is worrying her at the moment, she's getting on well at school, with friends, dancing, school clubs etc so I don't think anything is actually wrong with her in that respect.

    Thanks for the help, I'll let you know what the doctor says.

    JJ
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  • Fire_Fox
    Fire_Fox Posts: 26,026
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    If she has lost any weight at all please seek medical advice: it could be stress, an eating disorder .... If you know something is not right, then it is not and the earlier the better with almost any diagnosis. Best of luck. :o
    Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️
  • my3girls
    my3girls Posts: 378 Forumite
    Thanks Firefox I think she has lost weight tbh

    She is 4'7" and 4st4lb - does anyone know if this is normal?

    JJ
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  • Spendless
    Spendless Posts: 24,082
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    Has she always ate this way? My daughter is a similar age (9.5) eats in a similar fashion but has always done so. Mine is small for her age 4ft 3, but I have noticed she makes occassional comments about looking fat, so I do think pressure on them from peers or tv/mags can start at this age. There are on-line guides for you to put in your childs weight and height in.
  • Speak to your GP about it.
  • meer53
    meer53 Posts: 10,217
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    My daughter is 12 and weighs 5st, she's about 5' tall. You can't really say whats normal. My daughter has always been skinny, she was only 3 and a half lbs at birth.

    If your daughter has admitted to you that she is weighing herself and hiding food i'd be really worried. I know you are :)

    It's hard to work out what the best thing to do is isn't it ? Going to the doctors may make you feel better, but it might not be the same for your daughter, it could make her worse. Could you go to your GP on your own first, with your daughters weight, height etc ?
  • valk_scot
    valk_scot Posts: 5,290
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    Seeing her ribs and shoulder bones isn't in itself a bad sign. I read an NHS article recently about how you can tell if a child is overweight and they said that you should be able to discern their front ribs but not the back ones. As to shoulderblades my swimmer daughter has shoulders like an eagle with all her swimming and her shoulderblades certainly stick out. She also eats like a horse and she's still skinny, it's because she does a lot of sports and exercise. If your DD is very active it might be the same for her.

    But yes, you should take her to the GP if you have concerns. One thing the doctor will look at will be her growth curve so if you can find her red book from when she was a baby take that in. If she's always had a slight build then there's less to worry about than if she's been a big solid child till just recently.

    The thing that yes, I would worry about is the lying about food, and hiding it. On the other hand this might be because of you pressuring her to eat more than she wants, unfortunately. But I'm absolutely on your side here, don't get me wrong! Any concerns like this should be checked out early rather than just ignored. But as long as what she is eating is nutritious, she's active and keeping to her growth curve then there's probably nothing wrong.
    Val.
  • go_cat
    go_cat Posts: 2,509
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    It could be nothing but you need to get her checked out . When I was that age I didn't eat much, for no reason wasn't particularly hungry, lasted until was about 14. Also had a very fast metabolism so I was incredibly thin and couldn't put weight on.

    The doctors thought I had anorexia, I didn't just didn't have a massive appetite.

    Have you tried to get her to eat a bowl of cereal before bed?

    Get her checked out if only to reassure yourself
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