13yr old son with no appetite / interest in food

DKLS

The eating disorder charity Beat have some great materials for parents to learn how to communicate effectively with their children over food.

Mojisola

pingufan wrote: »

He checked him all over thoroughly, asked him many questions, weighed him (he's 6st) and declared him apparently all fit and well. Yes, he's thin he agreed but he has a good covering of muscle and he's started puberty etc so he feels that hormonally everything ok.

What did the GP say about your son's tooth problems?

paulineb_2

Six stones is still a very light weight, you said earlier he has the waist size of a 9 year old, Im surprised that the GP wasnt too concerned about the issues you raised.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

paulineb wrote: »

Six stones is still a very light weight, you said earlier he has the waist size of a 9 year old, Im surprised that the GP wasnt too concerned about the issues you raised.

DD2's Doctors were equally uninterested with her - until her periods started, then stopped for over six months, then came back lasting over a fortnight, then stopped again for four months, etc...

A new one ordered blood tests and it was finally decided to start her on the Pill at 14 to keep her hormones level.

She's now just broken the eight stone mark at 14 1/2 and 5'7". Having stayed at about 6-7 stone previously.

She's always been far more interested in everything else but food - suggesting she eat was often met with a strop, even when she was little.

Thing is, she was never a fussy eater, there's not many things she disliked - she just didn't often want to stop and eat (even if it stopping sitting down doing nothing :cool:).

So she got mostly bitza meals (bitza this and bitza that - cheese, toms, salad, grapes, a bit of potato & mayo, smoked Damon, cream cheese, crackers, that kind of thing) and sandwiches (99 times out of 100, ham, cucumber and mayo/no butter) because she could pick at them, stick them back in the fridge and then return later. When there was a more substantial meal, like fish or chicken, rice, etc, I'd use little bowls and plates bought from the Oriental supermarket, and she seemed to have more interest if it looked small and pretty, and a few things looking like they were prepared with care, rather than dumped on a big dinner plate. The fact that they were just dumped in 2-3 little bowls or on little plates eludes her . She also has hyper mobile joints and scoliosis, so using a knife and fork whilst sitting straight at a table has always been uncomfortable and difficult for her. But she can use chopsticks well when she isn't using the less painful option of her fingers or pasta/stew with just a spoon.

So whilst there wasn't anything resembling an ED, all these things combine to make eating a time consuming and often tiresome interruption in her day.

I don't think she'll ever be overweight - normal weight would be an achievement - but a few changes that were less work than they sound kept her going until there was something the GP could see wasn't desirable. Had I not done those, perhaps she would have become unwell.



Although I would point out to the OP that a pizza is basically bread, tomato and cheese, which covers carbs, protein, fat, fruit/veg and calcium - so it's not as bad as she might think - and small homemade ones can be frozen and reheated/eaten cold if he likes them like that.

Emmylou_2

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

*snip*

She also has hyper mobile joints and scoliosis, so using a knife and fork whilst sitting straight at a table has always been uncomfortable and difficult for her. But she can use chopsticks well when she isn't using the less painful option of her fingers or pasta/stew with just a spoon.

*snip*

There's lots of us out there who have gut/bowel problems with hypermobility - the collagen that's borked in our joints is also borked in other bits of our bodies (meaning we have strange teeth that rot easily too). Sometimes the stomach doesn't empty very quickly meaning that eating little and often is best (at other times it empties *too* quickly meaning that little is absorbed, nutritionally).

This website has a really good article on it.