I've been at the end of my tether (it seems like forever) with my DS. Whenever I mention it to his paediatrician he says that as long as he is healthy (which he is) then not to worry too much about it.
These are my problems:-
- When we sit down to eat he immediately starts drinking water, he completely fills himself up with water and then only eats a few mouthfuls before declaring himself full. I have tried saying no drinks til the end or just a few sips but somehow he manages to have enough water to make himself full. And if he is genuinely thirsty what can I do to deny him a drink?
- He will regularly come home from school (we live abroad where we have two 'snack' breaks rather than a proper lunch hour) having eaten two cherry tomatoes or 2 carrots. His packed lunch will otherwise be intact and he won't eat when we get home. :(
- He is NEVER hungry. He is so thin and it's the first thing anyone says to him (i.e me!)
- A new thing which has started this week is gagging when he is eating. 2 or 3 times I have heard him gagging and I've run to see if he's choking and he says something (like a stringy part of cheese) has gone down his throat so he had to gag. I don't know, I just feel like this is part of something that is going to get worse :(
- Every single meal time is a huge drama, I feel he is using it to get attention. I really, really try not to make issues about eating, to talk about it excessively etc, but it's so frustrating having spent hours cooking and getting everything on the table and he just picks at everything. I am not joking when I say he will sit and eat one grain of rice at a time until I am just driven round the bend!!!
- If by chance he does have a good proper meal, he'll lift up his tshirt (skin and bone!!) and say look how fat my tummy is. I don't know where he gets this from, both DH and I love our food and eat well, healthily, the odd takeaway etc - we don't make a big deal of our weight or anything.
I just never feel like he has had a good meal or has enough to last him for the day. he is SO SO active so is always burning more than he is taking in - I just would love him to come running in one day and say 'mum i'm starving, ooh is that spaghetti bolognese, my favourite!' and scoff it all down.
Does anyone have any tips?
Sorry for the long post. :(