7 year old causing a scene at dinner

[LittlemissMama67]

My son has been causing a scene at dinner every night for months and it's Getting to the point I just dread dinner time. No matter what I put in front of him, whether it's something he usually likes or whatever it's the same routine.

stares at it
looks at me with a sad look on his face
and whines
makes excuses "knees are sore" headache "hurt his finger" whatever it might be it's always something
i say please eat your dinner upwards of 50 times a night
then comes the crying
then the negotiations "right just 5 nuggets"
it's becoming an absolute circus. Any tips would be greatly appreciated because I'm losing the will to live here

Tonight he sat doing this routine for 20 minutes and ate not a bite, we had all finished so everyone started to leave the table and he started crying saying we're we all gonna leave him by himself, unfortunately yes we are because we can't make everyone sit at the table until your finished. I have a whole nighttime routine to do for 3 kids I can't sit at the table all evening watching him nibble a chip now and again

is there possibly a deeper issue here? I'm starting ti think there might be. He is obsessed with being skinny and I don't want to think my 7 year old might have an eating disorder but I just don't understand if not why we have to go through this every night. He won't even finish a happy meal

If there is an underlying issue, you giving his behaviour so much attention by reacting to it and feeding into it won't be helping. What happens if you just ignore him? He sits at the table, you put his plate down, if he chooses not to eat it - fine. He can wait until everyone else has finished and then get down if he isn't hungry? I definitely wouldn't be going down the route of bribing etc. He's highly unlikely to starve himself - I'd just leave him to it for a few days and see what happens.