Underweight DS age 9 not eating enough...what do I do?

[JustMeAnon]

There is a long back story with DS's eating. He was a difficult feeder as a baby (in hindsight I think he may have had silent reflux) and an absolute nightmare toddler who would go long periods eating virtually nothing. He finally settled into eating more but very fussily by about 4 and has been very very slowly improving his range of foods since. The last few months however he has been slowly cutting things out of his will-eat repertoire again and has announced that he is vegetarian too. He looks pale, he is droopy and listless a lot, and I have just weighed him and the NHS BMI calculator has said he is 1st centile for weight ie pretty underweight for his age and height. I do plan to talk it through with the GP tomorrow but wondered if any one had any tips on encouraging a 9 year old to eat..?

[Penfold007]

No real advice but what will your DS eat?

[Ironmanrocks]

I used to add spoonfuls of Philadelphia soft cheese to every thing when my boy was a toddler to build him up. Sandwich - Philly cheese before other toppings...pasta - dollops of cheese in sauce...just to build my DS up. Yours may notice being older but mine didn't...it really worked. Hope you have some luck...as penfold says...what does he eat? X

[dorothymichaels]

My 9yr old is a poor eater too, and was always fussy. I've not checked but she is skinny compared to her peers.
Things I feed her up with.
Macaroni cheese
Homemade rice pudding with full fat milk
Pasta and pesto
Lasagne
Omelettes
Anything she loves, even if boring and repetitive!

[lougle]

DD1 is 1st centile too. She is eating a bit better but tends to hyperactivity (SN) so seems to burn more than she eats. It's a bit of a viscious circle.

[JustMeAnon]

Thanks for the replies. Thinking about it I guess he does still have an ok-ish range of things he will eat at the mo - pasta, rice, breakfast cereals, fish...my anxiety is that he picks at his meals, and now that he is going off stuff too it's making me twitchy. Unfortunately repeating stuff doesn't work well, he complains if he's had something recently and wont eat it even if it was his favourite the week before!!

He is 147cm tall and weighs 4 stone 1. Not good.

[RawCoconutMacaroon]

Has he had any medical tests to see if there's an underlying problem? Specifically I'm wondering about Ceoliac disease. Failure to thrive in a young child could be a symptom of that.

Even if no medical underlying cause, if he's listless and pale, that suggests iron deficiency (which can be due to not eating enough iron rich foods, or be caused by various gut issues).

I think you should be exploring this with your GP.

[Ironmanrocks]

Can you sit down with him and work out a menu each week...? Plan it together...maybe shop and cook it together so he plays more of a part in it and gets a say? Also when you say he eats fish...do the same fish with a different sauce...serve with mash/wedges/rice on different days? This is prob no help as you've prob tried everything. Good luck though and keep us posted...

[JustMeAnon]

Been to the GP this morning and she has referred him for a wide range of blood tests including coeliacs. Turns out he has been having stomach pains when he eats which I had kind of dismissed as him coming up with any excuse not to eat

Feel a bit stupid generally really, I've been slow noticing quite how thin he had become lately

I will update when test results come back.

[RawCoconutMacaroon]

Don't feel stupid! You knew there was some sort of issue, and had already arranged a GP appointment.

Hopefully the tests he's having will identify what the issue is, and the solution :)