Anyone been referred to a 'feeding clinic' for fussy eating DC?

[fuzzpig]

Mentioned to our outreach worker that DS (4 in August) is going through a long and incredibly fussy phase, even worse than normal. She has offered to try and refer us to a service at the hospital where a few different specialists work together to advise parents.

Just wondering if anyone has experienced similar? And what it involves? :)

No, not heard of this but sounds like something my DD1 could do with. Her diet is quite limited and I'm so frustrated. No fruit or veg for her.

Will watch this for any responses.

How old is your DD?

You could try asking a health visitor or doctor I guess. Our outreach worker wasn't actually sure who they accept referrals from, so it might take her a while to sort it out. I only really mentioned the eating in passing as I wasn't expecting there to be any help available for it.

Not heard of this either. Will watch with interest.

Join us over on the resistant eater support thread. I haven't updated in ages but the ladies there are very supportive.

Here's the link www.mumsnet.com/Talk/behaviour_development/1607441-resistant-eater-support-thread-come-and-join-me

It's not the fastest moving thread so you might wait a couple if days for a reply :-)

Should have said too, dd has been an extremely fussy eater and the advice we've had on Mn has been great. Its taken its time but we are getting there. The other ay she ate sushi at Rainbows and last night she say and are chilli with rice with not one word of complaint

Thanks I will take a look at the thread! :)

Have you read My Child Won't Eat by Carlos Gonzalez too?

Ooh no I haven't, I'll look it up at the library :)

Some things to try while you wait are

Offer smaller portions, she can always ask for more
Eat together
Don't ask her to eat anything, no cajoling etc
Don't get drawn into talking about her eating, for instance "I'm not eating that" just gets met with ok.
If she's not eating, and you've finished clear away and both go and do something else
Never, ever offer alternatives.

We also meal plan and dd gets to choose one family meal per week.

It took her a while to get used to doing this but she does know that if she doesn't eat it there's nothing else coming her way now. Not saying its been easy or quick but it is the only thing we've done that's had any success

My dd is just 4. I've been trying since 10months old to get her back on track but it's so hard. We moved house then and she just went off everything.

There's some good advice on here.

Its so hard isn't it ghost.

It's awful. I would just love her to try something else.

I do give her multivitamins but not sure what that's doing. I know a lot of people believe they're just placebos but what else can you do?

Am also reading the 'resistant eaters' thread with great interest. I never considered she might not "just be fussy" as dm suggests.

She said that she could smell the raw peppers on the table, the other day, and asked me to move the plate. I couldn't smell them at all.

What concerns me is, I'm weaning dd2 at the moment and I'm worried she will follow her sister's lead.

reading this with interest as my DS2 is a fussy eater- the only fruit and veg he eats are bananas, pears and corn on the cob (oh and shock tonight he did eat a whole carrot because I boiled it whole and put it on his plate whole!)

Do any of you say you must eat this much before you can finish or should I just say 'ok' if he says 'me full!' as he does often after eating 1/4 of his plate. I do the 5 more mouthfuls with his brother whos 4 and it works.

Also have problems with him spitting out food he doesn't like (or even food he's eaten most of) should I ignore this or tell him off?? So hard to know what to do....

Ghost my DD (5) is the same. No fruit or veg (although weirdly eats the organix fruit bars). My GP pretty much told me that I've tried everything so not to worry!

I was interested in what you said about the smells. DD is very sensitive to food smells. Even if I've eaten fruit she sometimes stays away from me as she says she can smell it on me. She can get very distressed about food smells (and noises and many other things...)

I should join the thread as I've pretty much given up as it was so disheartening. She eats pasta, meat, fish cakes and has lots of mackerel but without the veg I find myself supplementing a lot of meals with spaghetti hoops.

I guess I have focused on making sure that she eats well within her limited diet rather than expanding it as the battles normally result in her getting upset as eating much less. I also give her multi vitamin drops which I hide in hot chocolate - not ideal but its something and a way of getting her to have some dairy.

Anyway, anyone's thoughts would be much appreciated.

My friends DS recently attended a feeding clinic at the local hospital.

Present were a dietician, speech therapist and psychologist. Who all observed the DS eating