Toddlers and fussy eating (merged)

rach!_3

thanks siren, he is due to start school in september this year.
although he will be having packed lunches as do my girls
as the head teacher focuses too much on them eating veg etc, rewarding children who do and ignoring the ones who dont which i dont think is fair

bonnie_2

Maybe he dosen't need 3 meals a day, we are all different. My dd only eats 2 meals a day. she loves cereal, but she wont eat tea unless we have fish, chicken or pasta. She wont eat meat fullstop.
She was tube fed as a baby until she was 2, but they'll only do this if there weight is way of the bottom of the chart and also she had reflux and a cleft so couldn't suck properly. if his eating breakfast and lunch that is plenty.My oh would only eat cornflakes till he was about 10 and is now 5ft10 and 12st.

splishsplash

Hi Rach!
I'm not sure - what time do you and your kids sit to eat your main meal?
DD2 sounds just like your son. I used to find if I left it for too long, she was too tired to eat much (still happens to this day, and she's a teenager now!).
Have you tried offering him his main meal in the middle of the day? Like 1pm or so? It may be that he's hungry then, and will eat more than later in the day. At least that way, you know he's fed, so if he only picks at things while you all sit down together, that's no problem.
The other thing I would do is get rid of all snacks (especially yoghurts and especially fromage frais type things - they're really filling).
Best of luck. As others have said, it's more likely to become a real problem if you make an issue of it.

rach!_3

thing is he honestly doesnt have snacks, if he has a yogurt its with his dinner bag of crisps/iscuit with his dinner usually between 1.30 ish and teatime usually between 5/6m he doesnt snack sometimes if he hasnt eaten much dinner he will have an apple/banana or something

cold-mummy

my daughter wont eat lunch!ie sandwiches etc
i give her cucumber tomato cheese and a bit of ham and shes quite happy to pick.
you shouldnt worry about food kids usually eat when they feel like it.
just leaving a few things on a plate without trying to regement them seems to work in our house.not everyone will agree with me but thats what works for us.:o

lilac_lady

One of my sons was a fussy eater. Now he's in his 30s, 6ft tall and healthy. When he was about 4 he lived on toast, cereal with milk and sausages, not exactly a balanced diet. He wouldn't eat fruit or vegetables but did drink fresh orange juice. It's a phase that usually passes when they socialise and don't want to be the odd one out by being too fussy.

Amanda65

Went through this with DD1 who was a nightmare to feed. As she was the first, and I was an anxious parent, I cannot count the number of times we would both end up at the table in tears with a plate of cold congealed food in front of us.

Eventually the turning point for her was having her tonsils and adenoids out aged three. I know that this is not the answer for everyone but after 9 bouts of tonsilitis in a year I insisisted on being referred to ENT and the surgeon said that she had enormous tonsils and adennoids which meant that when she had food in her mouth the tonsils made it hard to swallow and when she closed her mouth to chew the size of her adenoids made it difficult to breathe causing her to feel like she was choking.

I do realise that this is quite rare, and that in many cases children work out the power that not eating gives them, but it may be worth asking your doctor to just have a look to check that nothing physical is causing a problem.

And by the way - she's now 16, gorgeous and eats everything!

rach!_3

actuallamanda he does always seem to have swollen glands in his throat, much more than the girls. and i also had to have my adenoids out when i was younger can it be hereditory?

Amanda65

rach! wrote: »

actuallamanda he does always seem to have swollen glands in his throat, much more than the girls. and i also had to have my adenoids out when i was younger can it be hereditory?

Well my OH had his tonsils out aged 34 and DD2 had tonsils and adenoids out aged 6 (following 2 ops for grommets) so I would guess it could be

perfectlypoor

Hi just saw your son is called Cameron, so is our little man- must be something in the name lol. Just a thought how about keeping a food diary of exactly what and when he eats, we had a list and our Cameron gave told us what he loved to eat most and what he didn't like etc.