Will starving him work???

[Twinkie1]

Right am finally at the end of my tether regarding DS's (2 in Nov) eating.

He has a very limited diet due to the fact that he refuses to eat most things.

For breakfast he will either eat Cheerios or Sugar Puffs - he will eat weetabix but it seems to burn his bottom when it comes out of the other end!!! He will occasionally eat natural yog with banana and honey.

For lunch he may eat part of a sandwich but more often than not he will just chew it and spit it out - he will only eat cheese or jam no other fillings though and I would say if an eighth of the sandwich gets swallowed we have had a good day!!

For his evening meal he will only eat sausages, sometimes fish fingers or chicken strips and either chips or smiley faces. But I would say that again half of the 2 or 3 chips he eats and maybe a sausage are just chewed and spat out.

He will snack on feta cheese, bananas, satusumas (they will be chewed and spat out), cucumber, crisps, biscuits, raisins or fruit flakes.

I am seriously thinking of making him shepherds pie and good old gravy dinners and if he doesn't eat them just taking them away from him and letting him go without until the next meal. DH said I'm being a bit harsh and I should give him what he likes but other than it being an inconvienince I am worried that he isn't getting a propoerly balanced diet - I don't know why we have got to this stage though as DD eats everything you give her from curry to fajitas and I haven;t treated them any differently!!!

PLEASE HELP!!!

Twinkie, don't know if you remember but my ds2 is about the same age as your ds and just to let you know we are going through something similar at the moment. It is driving me berserk! I just want to find something that we can all enjoy eating but this seems impossible (except possibly quiche which I hide some veg in).

Glad to know I'm not alone!

With my 21 month old DD, I have found that some mind games have worked. She has been off food since she had chicken pox in May, and we have had ups and downs (mostly downs) since then.

However, I sat her down in her chair and then sat with her and the nice bowl of Jamie Oliver pasta, waiting for the "nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo" and pushing the plate away. I then told her that it wasn't for her, but that she had to feed me. On the first day she almost forgot twice that she wasn't supposed to like it and put the spoon to her mouth, but resumed her dramatis personae in time. On the second day I only got two mouthfuls.

It then all went tits up again when we went on holiday the next week, she got another cold, started teething again, and we were back at square one of cheese toasties and eggy bread.

Then this evening a friend was visiting with her children. We all sat at the table, and her four year old DS asked for help with his spaggy bol, so I started to spoon feed him as I was nearest. DD calmly demanded her share, and demolished a huge plate of food - after having eaten her cheese toastie.

Try not to see progress as linear, but as a series of small sucesses. One good meal does not a foodie make, but it does show that if they have done it once they can and will do it again. Until this evening I was very gloomy again, but we are ready for a more upbeat phase once again!

Hurrah for Minedex.

I meant to say... for a bread/ toast fiend, eggy bread/ French toast is a good way of getting protein and iron into a reluctant toddler. It certainly adds to the cheese...

Completely threw a turn at his porridge this morning mind you I gag at porridge can't even bring myself to put it in my mouth!!! He had a nice big bowl of those BAD Cheerios though and a glass of milk and some apple juice!!!

Egga are a problem as they bring out his excema and he has always had an upset tummy after eating them - I do keep trying with them though as the doctor said he would grow out of his problem with them.

Any way onwards and upwards - am sticking to it today and am making a list of foods to stick on the ocado van to make some more nutricious and delicious meals for him!!

Thanks for the help chaps its nice to know that other peolpe have this problem too.

Really Twinkie1 go easy on yourself! I know in an ideal world our children would have a bowl of fresh fruit for breakfast but REALLY cheerios are not that bad (even annabel karmel says they're ok)and his diet could be a lot worse. If his sister eats well I am sure he will follow in due course. I think making food a battleground is far more dangerous than sausages - honestly. Good luck and don't worry, he will be fine, there are thousands of children out there living on chicken nuggets from Iceland and coco pops.

Ok - sugarpop if you are still on this thread I would like to apologise for the nasty tone of my post yesterday. You are right it is a very rare problem.

Unfortunately I didn't steer away from this thread as I usually do similar ones, because as I have received a lot of criticism and comment in RL due to my ds eating problems it is not a subject I can be reasonable on (I become very very defensive).

Sorry if I caused you offence.

Another thing I meant to say as well is that studies have shown that toddler need to be given a new food up to 16 times before they "accept" it as food if that makes sense so why not try putiing something you know he will not eat like what you are having yourself with food he will eat and maybe after seeing it a few times he willl not even give it a second thought and eat it

haha adath, I believe the 16 times thing. But then, how do studies explain why dd will accept a type of food one day and then reject the exact same thing the next day (for another 16 times perhaps)!

My DS was very fussy and it probably reached a peak around 2yrs. I think they just don't need that much food, and they are exercising some power. But now at 4.5yrs he is much much better - still not terrific especially with veg but will eat salmon, rice, pasta, lasagne, etc. The key thing for us was eating with other children (he went to a childminder) who happily scoffed down this food. Also no snacks or very limited ones, and lots of exercise. Also DD was (up until recently) a much better eater and there was a competitive thing about who was the better eater. DD now dreadful (at 22mths), but this means he can lord it over her!

No probs ilovecaboose, Its difficult when a subject is so emotive. Eating disorders are so difficult to deal with.

my ds1 is 7 and is still a poor eater - food just does not interest him - I do not give him snacks or he won't eat his meal.

he will happily skip a meal if he doesn't like it - he very rarely eats at friends' houses.

he is very unadventurous and has a limited range of foods that he will eat - luckily they cover all the food groups.

ds2 however is a dream to feed and loves to try new stuff. Thank heavens for him or I'd blame myself for ds1's little ways

some kids are just very picky and I have one of them