Fussy eaters support thread

[FourOnTheHill]

I know there are hundreds of fussy eating threads on mumsnet but none seem to be current and half of them seem to start with an OP listing a huge variety of food their ‘fussy eater’ will eat! Anyone want to share the pain/ different approaches that have worked for their DC?

DS1 is 6 and currently ill and only eating tiny amounts of ice cream and drinking strawberry yop. When well his diet is limited to ribena (has never drunk water and used to get awfully dehydrated), white sliced bread with jam, most fruits, occasional bowls of porridge with honey, chips with ketchup, occasional morsels of chicken. I don’t think he eats much at school. He sometimes nibbles a bit of pizza. He gets very stressed about mealtimes and food.

DD2 eats a huge wonderful variety of homemade food, homemade bread, good quality meat, veg and fruit. I am always amazed they are so different.

Ugh. I am with you.

This is my second resistant eater. I know there is hope as my eldest is 8 and has come round to trying few different foods (no fruit of veg). Day to day he eats the same three foods. So no variety. However he eats well of them and has always had a good appetite even when he refused to eat anything but cereal--he always ate enough of it and enjoyed it.

Now here I am again...my younger son will try nothing and lacks the appetite to even finish an accepted food beyond a few bites. I know he is hungry and gets locked up in a cycle of crying for food and then rejecting it.

Here are the younger child's foods:

-eggy bread with golden syrup over it (previously accepted now rejected after a few morsels)
-chicken nuggets (ok but stops after one maybe two nugget)
-Weetabix
-cheerios
-toast with nutella
-slice of bread no butter
-crisps and choc
-Garlic bread (only pizza express with the cheese)

Very occasionally half a banana or 1/4 of an Apple.

It doesn't sound that bad but there really is virtually nothing to go on here for a main meal at dinner time. One nugget and he's done but still crying.

I'm sad about it at the moment (though I try not to show him) and can't see my way through.

My eldest was tough but we muddled through because I could always fill him up but my wee one won't eat enough. Does that make sense? I'm trying to say that he is more distressing as he is not full. It's the lack of any enjoyment/fullness I'm worried about rather than the lack of variety. Lack of variety I'm at peace with after my eldest.

Sorry I've no advice... though I could tell you what I did with my eldest. It isn't working on my youngest.

Oh no 2 fussy eaters that’s tough. What did you do with your eldest? I’m happy to try anything except the let them go to bed hungry approach as my DS is so thin at the moment.

Sorry for the delayed reply!

With my eldest I gave in and fed him what he wanted to eat which was cereal three times a day. At least it was fortified, lol. My Old frowned on this but he was also a terrible sleeper and the food helped his sleep.

Gradually, once the pressure was off, he started to try a few things. He tried and liked rotisserie chicken so I build on that to get him to try thinly sliced sirloin steak and other roasted meats. He doesn't eat these things often or in any quantity and doesn't like any gravy or accompanying veg. However, he now can find something in a restaurant to eat.

Last year, age 7, he tried and liked roast potatoes (he already liked roast beef). When we were on holiday he tried a burger and will now eat that too!! This year, age 8, he tried and liked pizza hut margarita pizza but has tried and doesn't like any store bought. Again, at least he can eat out now and with other people. So... a real success story.

Having said all of that, day to day he eats sausage and beans for dinner with a Weetabix (no sugar) for "desert". Weekends he eats it for lunch too.. so no variety.

But as I said, he is full enough after a meal and happy with lots of energy and I stopped worrying once we left the cereal-at-every-meal phase which was about 3 years ago.

He is just as fussy with sweets/won't try them/won't eat cake or baked goods.

In a nutshell, I just left him to it but applied gentle pressure and ligic to expand a little on the foods he was willing to try. He is athletic and I increased his sports ten fold which increased his appetite and willingness and improved his mood (he used to cry A LOT).

Sorry tgat was long but I hope it helps a tiny bit.

Tell me more about yours. Was the fussiness always there? My ds was impossible to wean so the issue was there from the start but he was already improving by age 6 and I really feel for you that there's no improvement in sight!

That should say "my ILs frowned on this".

Ah that’s interesting. Yes my DS was also difficult to wean, I started him on BLW but he wasn’t interested apart from fruit, which he’s always liked, so after a while I tried purées and he only ate the fruit ones. I remember all the blw people being smug because they weren’t ‘force feeding’ their babies and interment thinking if only force feeding were actually possible! Purees would just get spat out just like everything else. Anyway, he’s always been just borderline in terms of his weight, not actually underweight until he gets ill, and since he’s been at school he’s been ill a lot more, and we are in a vicious cycle of being ill and not eating, and getting ill because he’s run down and not eating properly. Last year thins were better once spring arrived and he got outside more, hopefully this year will be similar.

Stupid typos, you get my drift...

Also yes I do know what you mean about it being most upsetting when they are hungry but won’t eat