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15 year old fussy eater (please help)

2 replies

fostermumtomany · 19/03/2013 02:11

hi all, im hoping you can give me some advice as I am at my wits ends.
my son is 15 and is a fussy eater. it started with refusing fish, cauliflower and cheese, all ok with me as I figured they were things he could cope without in his diet. recently its become a nightmare. he wont eat red meat, vegetables, fish.....oh who am I kidding, I would be here all day telling you what he wont eat so I will tell you what he will eat. home made curries, kfc and maccy d's and that's it.
so his dad and I sat down with him and said ok make a list of things you would like us to buy when we go shopping. he made his list and I went out and bought everything on it. one of the things he will eat (and in abundance) is chicken (not chicken casserole though). anyway I got everything on his list and that afternoon asked him what he would like for his tea. his reply was there is nothing I like. so I pointed out that we bought him everything he asked for and he told me he had gone off everything on his list.

now he is mildly autistic but this surely cant be part of that can it? I mean I have two teen daughters also who eat whatever I give them, always have with no issues. so why is my son doing this?
I have tried doing the whole if you don't eat what I make then you don't eat, I have tried involving him in the cooking, which he loved but he still refused to eat what we made. I stopped giving him money for kfc and maccy d's and I stopped making home made curries. so he took it upon himself to make his own curries. now I know this sounds like an argument I could choose to let go but its pissing me off now.
I mean today his dad (bless him, delia he is not) made a chicken casserole type thing but he made it a bit spicy for our son, he spent all day cooking this thing (I know it shouldn't have taken all day but oh bless he tried so hard) and we told our son what it was, he said sounds good. he asked if he could eat in the other room as he was revising for his mocks (he is dyslexic so uses a reader) we said ok that's fine, off he went. 40 seconds later he came back in with a clean plate and told us he had enjoyed the meal. I said there was no way he had eaten it that fast so he happily told me he had thrown it in the loo cos it looked like crap.
I went nuts. not just because he had thrown it but because he had lied to me and his dad had spent so much time making it especially for him!
I honestly do not know what to do about this anymore. im worried about his attitude obviously but I am more concerned about the health implications.
my son is 5 foot 9 and weighs about 9 stone. he is solid from head to toe and goes to the gym regularly with friends. I have told him he needs to eat a balanced diet but he is ignoring me. please help me. there must be a way to get him to eat real food?

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Itssnowingagain · 19/03/2013 07:07

Hi OP, will watch with interest, my ds is nearly 15, about 6' and hopefully weighs about 8 st, as he hasn't told me in a while what he weighs. He's unbelievably skinny, gets teased about it, but eats like a bird. Also refuses many foods, dh cooks better than me and still won't eat many things offered. His bio dad and I were both tall skinny kids until we were 30! But we ate full meals and snacked, my ds literally forgets to eat or picks at his food.
I feel for you.

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Cloudminnow · 21/03/2013 09:58

My DS 14 is also very skinny and is a very fussy eater - always has been since a toddler. He also eats like a bird and throws lots of it away. Like you foster I asked for a list of foods, but it was so limited or unhealthy it didn't really work. I find the more plain and bland the more he is likely to eat it. He doesn't appear to eat very well at school either - says there's not enough time for school dinners and I gave up on packed lunches as they kept coming home uneaten (apart from the Penguin or whatever snack). I feel the main problem with this fussiness is that he is very tired every morning (but does stay awake listening to the radio or playing on his lap top if he can get away with it). I generally feel that as long as he is growing and not getting even thinner it is probably ok.

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