To feel to fly off the handle at GP tomorrow?

[Mummaofboys93]

This might be really long winded.

My DS is 10, he has since about age 3 always had issues around food. He is extremely fussy, there is little he likes & what he does like he eventually goes off of to the point I am running out of options for food. My younger son eats bigger meals than he does & he is 5! Ds1 eats maybe about 3/4 mouthfuls of a meal before he says he is finished. It's gotten to the point he hardly even eats crisps & told me yesterday that chocolate is too chocolaty!!

I have since he was 3 been back & fourth to the GP voicing my concerns about his weight, the lack of food he eats ect. I have been told by multiple Dr's that it isn't an concern cos I am slim?! & to just give him the food he wants!!! I am slim yes, infact I have spent a good part of my life underweight, the difference being is that I have a chronic health condition, something my son doesn't have as I was born with it & my DS was tested for it at birth & to tell me to just feed him what he wants is all good & well but it is so now so limited & the amount is awful! He can be sat for 45 minutes & his plate looks untouched, even the way he eats his food I find odd. It is tiny bites or forkfuls. For instance this evening he had meatballs & to eat one meatball he probably took 6 little bites until it was gone?!

He is in the middle of being assessed for possible things like ADHD, I voiced my concerns to the people we see for that & they said although he is underweight he doesn't meet the threshold yet for any dietician intervention this was just before the first lockdown last March.

I literally feel like screaming at the GP!! I am so concerned for his health. It keeps me awake at night. He is as pale as they come & he is literally skin & bone. His clothes hang off of him, I have started to notice he is becoming alot shorter than his peers at school where I now think its effecting his growth. I don't remember the last time I had to buy him new clothes cos he's grown out of them, I literally buy him new stuff cos his older stuff is looking worn!

I am again going to contact my GP tomorrow saying I have weighed him recently yet again he has lost weight. (2nd centile)

I have tried talking to my son multiple times as to what is it that he struggles with when it comes to food & he just shrugs at me & looks at me as though it's going in one ear & out the other. I literally feel at my wits end that nobody will help me & I am so concerned about his health.

How did it go today OP?

Did you have better luck?

Have a look at specialist private eating clinics bear you. Something like SOS feeding might be suitable? I'm not sure you will get anything specialist enough on the NHS.

I see ARFID has been mentioned already, certainly something worth looking into further.

I do think you need to be realistic about what can be achieved though, I get completely how worrying it is but when it comes to eating you can lead a horse to water comes to mind.

I am sure you are but don’t let your worries show, make sure he always has free access to the foods he likes. If he will drink things like milkshakes wonderful.

Ds has arfid, his is at the severe end of the spectrum with him often eating nothing for days on end (this morning I am celebrating a slice of toast!) and if the end he has ended up tube fed because he was so underweight and struggling nutritionally which as I’m sure you will understand from your own experience has been a godsend.

What centile is he on for height? Has he consistently dropped centiles? Dr is right in that 2nd centile is not a huge concern medically.

This sounds so frustrating OP I agree with what others have said about nutritional shakes.

@justilou1 @zzizzer
Phoned GP, they have noted down his weight & we have came to agreement that we will weigh him again in a month's time & if he has lost anymore weight he will see what options we have. Which is a better response than I have had before. They'll also check his bloods & if his bloods come back that his is low in anything I hope this will give them even more reason to look into what is going on with him.

That sounds like a good plan, OP. I'm glad you managed to get them to take it seriously.

It’s a start... but I think you also need to ask for specialist referral re behaviour and mention strong words like “Aversion”, “Phobia”, etc... Don’t be afraid to use the term “Anorexia”. Medically, it simply means “lack of appetite”. (Anorexia Nervosa is the medical condition that is more commonly known.) Doctors respond to the language and tone you use. Don’t be fluffy and wait to be led. Go in with clear expectations that you want action. (You probably have been, but you never know....)