My 8 year old won't eat

16011996

Has anyone any advice? My 8 year old is slim, but some of the boys at school have told her she is ugly, and is now eating very little as she says she is fat. have no idea what to do, we have had talked about it, and i've shown her she isn't but, is only eating small amounts and i don't know what to do for the best. any, any, advice gratefully recieved. thanks.

Spikey_2

I have sent you a 'private message'

Spikey

16011996

got it, thanks.

jellyhead

kids can be horrible to each other at times :-(

if she's worried about her appearance then maybe you can show her that by eating more fruit and veg instead of chips and drinking water instead of coke she can have clear skin and shiny hair, etc.

maybe the school can help too, they should learn about healthy eating every year, maybe the teacher could tell her she's not fat, or even get the teacher to talk to the boys who were mean to her.

my 8 year old boy doesn't eat much anyway, he never has. he has a chewy vitamin every day and also has calcium.

Spendless

kids can be awful to each other >:(
Mine are too young for me to have been thru this so unable to offer much advice.
Do you mean you've talked to her or took her to GP or don't you want to go down this route yet?

16011996

where do you get the calcium, are they tablets?

System

My 4 year old wouldnt eat, for reasons different to your child - my son was asthmatic and got no enjoyment out of eating because he could hardly breath let alone taste anything.

I gave him a measure of a good multi vitamin syrup daily. He eats like a horse now mind, and he towers above me - but how i cried over that little lad.

Sarahsaver

I wouldnt give it too much attention, make a fuss of her for other things, like good behaviour or good school work. My daughter is 7 and she is such a fussy eater I am surprised shes growing as well as she is. All boys that age call girls fat because they generally cant think of anything clever to say. Her response should be to ignore them or say simply 'so?' and walk off.
The thing about involving professionals is that you dont want to label her as having a disorder (which im sure she doesnt - she sounds average to me ) which could make it worse.
Do things to increase her confidence like swimming, rollerskating, cycling. My daughter has jogged around the park with me sometimes. Let her know by the way you act personally that there are many other things of importance above and beyond appearance.
You can get vitamin powder in Boots, you sprinkle it on food or in a milkshake, its own brand stuff.
Its stroke awareness week next week and blue peter are running an awareness campaign focussed on healthy eating. If you go to https://www.stroke.org they will send you free worksheets and stickers. They sent me a whole class pack for my daughters class ;D
Pm me if you want a chat on msngr sometime, as ive had this problem with my daughter for AGES.
By the way she started on the lower half of the 'growth chart' and is now in the middle, even on her rations! Id rather have a skinny daughter than an obese one...

dizzzyqueen

Hi

I have an 8yr old daughter, who isnt slim but isn't overweight either and she went through this last year.
Its really hard and I shed many tears over this..
I went and spoke to the teacher who was very supportive, and she offered to talk to the child in question. i didnt want this as I thought it could make matters worse.
I gave my daughter one of my skirts and told her to try it on, when she did it just hung off her.. I asked her if I was fat, she said "no" so i told her that she couldnt possibly be if she was smaller than me.
Lots of love, reassurance and talking should do the trick but if the problem persists then contact your Health Visitor.
Don't let it become a problem by talking about diets, healthy eating etc,,, it could make her worse.
Good luck

Lucie_2

Don't let it become a problem by talking about diets, healthy eating etc,,, it could make her worse.

How true this is..............A few years ago my sister in law was obsessed by her weight & dieted so drastically her periods stopped & she made herself ill. All this rubbed off onto my already skinny niece who started to refuse butter & go on about how fat she was. What a nightmare!

Sorry 160, not a great help to you, but it just shows that most kids go through something like this at one time or another. It's a good opportunity to teach her about healthy eating, balanced diets & exercising.

16011996

spendless, started last Friday so not gone so far as GP's yet. I want to nip it in the bud though if I can. thanks for all your advice, helps lots.