My 3 year old won't eat

[MOB247]

Does any one else have the same problem? How do they get through it? It's causing me a lot of stress at the moment.

My son has always been petite - still in 2-3 clothes and he is nearly 4! Today a nursery teacher pulled me aside and said they were really worried about his eating and that he hardly eats when he's there.

He's the same at home - unless you clap your hands and make a big song and dance after each mouthful he isn't bothered! He never says he's hungry. When we all eat together he will eat about one mouthful by the time we finish our plates!

The nursery also said he had a bad attitude recently (new arrival of a baby sibling may be the cause) so am really struggling at the minute.

Have tried doing a reward chart with him when he's good/eats his food but now he says I don't need a sticker or a special prize !!

Any ideas or tips would be welcome I'm really at my wits end!

[starpatch]

This doesn't sound like fussy eating. He just generally won't each much? He won't eat lots of something he likes? Without worrying unnecessarily it wouldn't hurt to see GP. Mine is nearly 4 tall lad still in 2-3 trousers. I think the general advice for fussy eaters is put a mixture of food on their plate (including a challenging food) and let them get on with it, don't comment.

[Footle]

"Bad attitude" ? If those are the exact words , I'd be worried about the nursery's attitude to him.

[happyis]

What does he eat?

Is he having lots of milk instead? My neice was a terrible eater but would wake 2/3 times a night and drink a whole bottle of milk each time. For far too long sil gave her the milk as she wasn't eating much during the day, but as soon as she stopped the milk dn started eating much better!

[happyis]

That was aged up to FOUR she was waking and having milk at night!

[notagiraffe]

We had similar. He'd have two bites and that was it, at any meal time. (He had severe gastric problems so eating hurt and is also ASD so lots of food textures were rejected.

If he will drink, make the drinks count. Add single cream and Abidec vitamin drops to the milk.

I used to make cake with ground almonds and soya flour, real butter, loads of eggs and mix icing with cream cheese and vanilla, so that even if he just had two bites, it had loads of calories and protein in. Make a list of the things he'll tolerate from each food group and pick the highest calorie ones.

I also used to post food into his mouth when he was watching TV or absorbed in play, in tiny amounts so he barely noticed. That worked best. It has led to some (minor) food issues later in life but he used to be skeletal and now he is normal weight and very strong.

Give lots of tiny meals: Breakfast; a snack on the way to nursery; a snack after nursery on the way home; a snack while watching TV; a small dinner; a snack supper. Doctors advised us to do this and it did help.

It's stressful but try not to show it. When he picked up on my stress he ate nothing at all.

[MOB247]

Thanks for the advice!

My son also won't drink milk he will have a bit with porridge but won't drink it! Have even tried with milkshakes but he won't drink it!

He has eaten scotch eggs & sausage rolls today so not too bad but not too healthy

Would you say to encourage him when he eats or ignore him and let him get on with it?

[notagiraffe]

I found it was best not to make any fuss at all. (Which I learned how to do after a couple of years of fussing far too much!)

[somewheresomehow]

Write a food diary and record each day what and how much he does/will eat and maybe base meals around what he does eat, also smaller quantities so that it doesn't look so much on his plate you can always add more

[persianprincex2]

Help! My 3yr old Son does not eat, it's so frustrating as we are all good eaters and not fussy, my 9yr old will eat whatever food is served. I am a firm believer in serving one family meal for all but will admit that i sometimes serve something else for the 3yr old as i'm worried he'll starve! (even then I normally bin it uneaten) My family and friends tell me to stick to the one meal for all and if he's hungry he'll eat but honestly that's easier said than done. He is so slim and still wearing 2yr old clothes. Amazingly he is FULL OF BEANS, non stop running around and playing - where this energy comes from, who knows?! Over the last month he's started to eat Heinz Tomato soup with some bread, 1/4 of a tin only! He goes to nursery 9-12 daily on an empty stomach as he refuses point blank to eat anything in the morning! If anyone else has gone through this or can offer any help or tips i would REALLY appreciate it.
Thanks S x