i am so sick of ds1's lack of eating

[myermay]

I am hoping that i'll get some suggestions/tips regarding ds1. He has been a fussy eater since he was 1 years old. Before that he anything and everything. He is now 6 and i've had enough of it.

He is very tired for his age and weighs below average - the school nurse says that he's on the minus something (?) percentile, and that as long as he's growing and has energy there is nothing to worry about.

He will generally eat:
a good breakfast,
ie 2 x crossiants and glass of milk,

lunch
Sandwiches (cheese & ham),
crisps or similar,
fruit (banana or berries)
yoghurt
biscuit or cake
water

Dinner

He never wants dinner unless it's finger fingers, chips, beans or carrots
or pasta cheese, chilli & tacos

He won't even consider anything else, i'm sick of wasting food.

I've tried the putting it down and if not interested take away and offer nothing but after a month of this he'd lost alot of weight which he can't afford to loose.

My mum/dh want me to take him to the doctors because although he love sport and has heaps of energy whilst playing football etc, he is always tired and sucking his thumb, even after 12 hours sleep!

Should i be giving vitamins & minerals in supplement form? also my homepath that i see mentioned that he's treating lots of kids with poor appeites and it often works.

I'm just so worried as he's so small and short too - dh and i both come from short families, so i'm not suprised about his height. But his brother who is 2 years younger than him weighs the same as him.

Should i try the approach that i don't let him down fron the table until he he's eaten say 5 mouthfuls? or is that just setting him up for more food issues?

schlike, sorry to hear your son is also a faddy eater!

Well today my no nag approach worked a dream and i did a food diary..........here goes it is fab!

1 jam crossiant
milk
1 sandwich, ham& cheese
crisps
yoghurt tube
kiwi
2 biscuits
3 fish fingers
beans
bit of cheesy jkt pot
3 pancakes with a bit of sugar
chocolate & smoothie for after school snack

So there we go, now i write it down it sounds a lot!

what sort of fruit does he eat?

hi sorry only just seen this, he eats pear with skin off, banana, kiwi, mango & blueberries, so not too bad on the fruit front

That sounds pretty good. I think you should be advising all of us rather than the other way around!

Does it make any difference if you give him his tea as soon as he gets in from school rather than a filling snack and then no appetite for tea later?

You could then continue to give a snack before bed.

Maybe if he isn't very good on quantity it's best to give him a 'proper meal' when he is hungriest. After a snack late afternoon he just might not be not hungry eough for tea.

Sorry, bit long winded but hopefully you get what I mean.

Try adding in supper as well...we had to do this with our 9 year old who was also very skinny and underweight. He now has cereal/banana and custard/full fat yoghurt for supper every day and it has helped him.

yep i might try tea and no snack after school & then peanut butter on toast & milk & biscuits b4 bed. Good thinking, just need to get my arse in gear and get cooking earlier!

Well, I let him have the snack/tea/supper...sometimes he has supper within an hour of his tea but I don't care...it is food going in and he needs it lol! It's whatever works best for you

the problem is though that all this food i'm feeding him, i keep having a mouthful of! and my jeans are feeling tight already

My ds1 is also extremely fussy and under a dietician because of it,although he is much younger than your ds.
He will eat a bowl of cereal and smoothie for breakfast,a sandwich for lunch(as long as it's peanut butter or Nutella),a chunk of cheese and a yoghurt and then refuses to eat dinner.
He has never tried rice,egg,potato(of any kind,inc chips and mash),won't eat anything breaded,battered or in a sauce and won't touch any vegetables either.It drives me crazy and every mealtime is such a struggle.Occassionally he'll eat some pasta for his tea but for the last 2 weeks he's gone to bed without any dinner.Tonight he ate 2 cherry tomatoes!
However,he will eat most fruits and according to the dietician I should just give him what he wants and apparently he's eating enough during the day and I shouldn't worry about dinnertime.
I do also give him a spoonful of vitamin syrup everyday aswell.
I've also got the problem of trying to keep him at the table and she suggested an egg timer(with the sand) for him to watch and to get him to stay in his chair until it runs out.The 1st day we tried it,it fell on the floor and smashed.She's coming over next Friday to see how things are,so it should be interesting to see if she suggests anything else.

i would say up his iron intake - dried apricots

Don't know if this helps, but I was a completely faddy eater at your son's age. My parents did what you have decided to do, and just gave me stuff that I would eat. I had a LOT of jam sandwiches and strained soup! I do actually remember being fearful of new food, and really revolted by seeing people mash lots of different foods together on their forks. No idea the psychology behind it! Anyway, I was as skinny as a bean, but I did eventually learn to eat fine. At about 16, I ate more of what my friends were eating, and by the time I was a student, I'd eat ANYTHING! I suppose that I was faddy for a long time really, but it has done me no harm. Good luck with your son!

Hi, can i just say too that my DS is only 2.2 and is a really funny eater and i stressed myself so much that i would end up crying nearly every day because he wouldnt eat what i put in front of him and then i watch the same programme, my child wont eat, and although it went against all the advice id ever heard or read, it just made sense!

So now he eats whatever he wants and i give him a spoon of abidec every day and hes fine. Hes still a bit skinny and underweight but im sure that will come in time.

So much stress is put on feeding your child by "experts" that maybe one day, one of them will realise that not all children are the same!

BTW, my husband is still a funny eater now, no salad, no fruit and only peas and carrots, no dairy so theres no wonder my DS is like he is!

x