Help a 7 year old eating me out of house and home!

thriftmonster

My ds1 is 11 and ds2 is 8 and they both eat enough for a small adult (and are both normal/skinny) What I have done recently is up the protein content of breakfast - if it's bread based - I've added cold meat, salami or peanut butter. Eggy bread is a favourite and can be eaten with the fingers - as could cheese on toast. Yesterday they had reheated l/o potatoes - but |I added bacon to it - 5 mins to reheat. If we're desperately short of time a mug of hot chocolate will fill a few corners with a couple of digestives - not perfect but better than some sugary cereals.

Also primary school dinners don't fill up my two - even under the new regs. Ds1 used to come home starving. Secondary school is better - he has dinner one day a week and takes packed lunches the rest of the time.

Good luck

Savvy_Sue

Sarahsaver wrote: »

Savvy Sue are you thinking of Prader Willi syndrome? www.pwsa.co.uk I thought of that but couldn't remember the name. Monkeys' son doesn't sound that extreme. I think her son and mine were separated at birth

I don't think it ever had a name in the Toddler Taming book! It just stuck in my mind ...

mjjjoj

I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE WITH A 8 YEAR OLD THAT EATS UNTIL SHE SLEEPS SHE IS SO FULL OF ENERGY AS WELL NEVER SITS STILL, I JUST PUT IT DOWN TO GROWTH SPERT AND NEEDING THE FOOD FOR ENERGY AS SHE BURNS IT OFF QUICK , ITHINK AS LONG AS IT IS HEALTHY FOOD AND NOT JUNK THEN IT CAN ONLY BE GOOD.:j

filigree_2

I thought of Prader-Willi because of the eating and special needs, but PW children have other characteristics and I'd assume that the doctors would have noticed them. One factor is that PW sufferers have a very slow metabolism and are usually very overweight. Even if they stick to a strict low-calorie diet (1000 a day for adults) and exercise regularly they are still fat, but the OP says her son is skinny for his age.

When I first replied I didn't realise the lad had learning difficulties. Knowing that I think that he should see a doctor to check there isn't some underlying medical problem. It might not be Prader-Willi but maybe there's some other metabolic disorder we don't know about.

Savvy_Sue

Asperger's definitely can cause 'problems' with food - I thought more often with pickiness (to put it politely! darned awkward is another way!) but the OP didn't describe anything that I've seen or heard of in that respect. However, it doesn't mean that the constant eating ISN'T related to the special needs.

It may be that the sobbing with hunger is a diversion for getting out of things he doesn't want to do at school, and the not knowing when he's full may be tackled in time if he gets the 'rules' bug - this is what we eat and when we eat it, and when we've had it then we don't eat anything else kind of thing.

But if he's under the care of a paediatrician or psychologist or anyone like that I would definitely mention it! I'm not saying any of my suggestions are right, nor that there's anything wrong, just random thoughts floating into my head.

Sarahsaver

He sounds SO much like my DS. Today someone at the school said to me 'I think your son has aspergers because he's just like so-and-so who I know' It is not until you look at behaviours like this in that context that the little lightbulb goes on;) DS had got really angry with someone at school about his food because they spilled it and he could not express his anger other that to scream like a toddler, despite being 7 1/2. I have tried to turn his interest/obsession with food to something positive. He loves Jamie Oliver's current series and wants the book for xmas:)
He has other obsessions as I expect the OP's son has too. Mine lines things up and ties things together. He is flippin awkward if you give him the 'wrong' spoon but he cooks a lovely soup.