To refuse to give my son more food?

[HecateQueenOfWitches]

He's had his lunch. He's had seconds. Two hours ago.

Now he wants choc spread on toast.

I said no.

He insisted he was hungry.

I said after the huge lunch you had? I don't think so! If you are, go and get some fruit out of the bowl.

No. He doesn't want fruit.

Yoghurt?

No, he doesn't want yoghurt.

So I said if you were hungry, you would eat fruit or yoghurt, so you are just being greedy and wanting to eat because it tastes nice. You aren't having any. Go and play.

Now he says he's got a headache and needs to go to hospital!

But fruit and yogurt aren't filling, otherwise I'd be skinny. I find that fruit makes me hungrier, seems to get the juices flowing or something and yogurt might as well not have been eaten for all the difference it makes.

Give him a drink, thirst is often confused with hunger

I can't remember who told me this but apparently children become like that when they're due a growth spurt.

They grow a hell of alot between 8-13 which is the age people seem to say their children wont stop eating.

I always offer a snack at about 3pm, usually fruit and toast (with a savory topping) or veg sticks and a biscuit.

I would be wary of making fruit into a bad thing though.

(admittedly my 'is it hunger or greed' test is a banana for DS1 who doesnt like them but when hungry will begrudenly eat one.

ps I find yoghurt really filling.

Def check for worms My DS and DH were eating all the time -worms!

how did you find out it was worms??

On QI last week they said that you don't eat more if you have worms - it's just a myth.

Everyone in my family eats loads just before they are ill though eg go down with a cold. I've noticed it in my kids and am now aware of it in myself. I'll be really hungry one day and the next I have a sore throat and am off my food. It's almost as if my body wants to get some stores in while it can.

You are being unreasonable if your plan is to never give him food ever again.

I took ds1 to GP, and I suggested worms. Was told no. came back 3 months later for height and weight check, as advised. still nothing of him. still eats like a horse.
my sil said to offer water. thirst confused as hunger, as someone else said earlier.

Good for you - I do the same. Yes if he is still truely hungry after seconds he would eat fruit or yogurt. Mine love bananas.

My smallest is often actually just tierd when he says he is hungry.

Have to say I would love to live on carbs too but I know it's not healthy/balanced and I want to give them the best start.

I have a 6 year old eating machine who is very skinny too. Sometimes I do end up saying 'But you;re just being greedy now, no more.'

worst thing ot give in my experiecne if you are peckish between meals is starch (ir toast and choc spread) - small pacekt of nuts or (if like DS hated nuts) small piece of cheese and an apple.

Had a peek at his bum at about 9pm when he was fast asleep.

They come out to lay eggs around the bum hole at night time. So gross, I know.

Little white worms about 5mm long and shiny.

DS1 is very skinny and was eating non stop - that's what raised my suspitions.

Definately worth a check, and nothing to be ashamed of. It's a bit like lice - is part and parcel of having kids.
Though I must say, I much prefer headlice.

I have worked hard to let my children know that they should only eat if they are hungry and to stop eating if they are full. If mine then said, about 4pm ish, that they were hungry, I would believe them and offer them something a bit more than a piece of fruit, or perhaps an apple and cheese, rice cake, piece of toast whatever. I personally think it's a bit silly to tell people they aren't hungry when they say they are, but I do agree that they can't be that hungry if they refuse fruit or yoghurt.

Now, if they ate an orange or a small yoghurt and said they were still hungry, that would be reasonable too!

I was told by a very honest mum that her children had worms after mine had played with hers for several weekends in a row. Sure enough, I did the above check (whilst giggling hysterically with my husband) and found the youngest had them, which explained her screaming and crying at night which had started a week or so previously.

Apparently, they come in waves, the chemist told me they'd had a run on the medicine in the shop, so there must have been lots with worms.

You also have to clean all the bedding daily, wash them daily and get them to wash their hands more. It is a faff, but far nicer than the alternative...

Onetoomany- I am glad you have said your kids have had worms too as I was getting worried no-one else on here was saying anything about them and they are common and minging.
:o

bloody hell. worms.

I don't fancy creeping into his bedroom in the middle of the night and prising his arse cheeks apart! Is there any other way to check?

fwiw, he isn't complaining of any itching or anything.

And he most certainly would!

So I was mean mummy and made him wait until dinner. Which he ate and then an hour later wanted supper.

I am terrified of either of them being fat. They are well padded and according to the charts "at risk of becoming overweight" - and at times the charts have said overweight but then they grow and I up their exercise and they go back to "at risk of..." or "healthy"

This isn't because I would love them less or anything stupid like that, but because I was a fat child (now a fat adult!) and it ruined my childhood.

Sellotape across the anus and check after? Not sure how they can sleep like that though. Still stand by it doesn't make them hungry though. If he's not itching he probably doesn't have them.

Hectate - I then wouldnt give him anymore, I do with mine but he is very skinny, DS2 on the other hand is a bit of chub so I am more tight with him (obviously very subtly)

We dont have chocolate spread in the house much as he would ask for it constantly!

worms! lmao. remember DD1 complaining of very itchy bum and doctor saying check bum hole at night -with a torch! I did and there were worms!!! Gross, gross, gross.
One tablet for everyone in the family and they were gone

Yikes worms!!!..yet to experience them ...I offer fruit..maybe a cuppa soup..yogurt..piece of toast..

when my dts (5.10) pull this trick (which they do regularly) i've come to realise that sometimes it's because they are actually thirsty.

YANBU but I do find it odd - maybe I'm just a v bad parent but as long as mine eat their 'proper' meals I have no problem with them snacking if hungry - I'd feel a hypocrite if I didn't let them eat biccies mid-afternoon, say, as I certainly do.

My mum fed us all copious amounts of mid-afternoon cakes, biccies etc as children and me and siblings are now all slim, none of us ever overweight - whereas others I know whose mums limited their consumption of such treats struggle perpetually with their weight.

I'm a firm believer in a little of what you fancy does you good. Though I suppose one's philosophy probably depends to a degree on if one's dcs are naturally thinnish or fattish.

Tablets are orange - come in a pack of 4. One to everyone in the family. Taking one does not harm if no worms and enormous good if there are worms. No need to look just dose up and see if there's a difference. Mine used to get one when they complained of itchiness (prob about 3 times in 10 years) the itchiness was always gone in 24 hours. Better safe than sorry I say.