Problems with eating 6yr old daughter

[willowsthedog]

Hi all, not sure this is the right place to post this if not let me know where and i will move it on!

I am having huge problems with my eldest daughter (6years). To put it mildly she is a very slow eater. Generally tea time lasts around an hour, which we can just about cope with at home but is now becoming a huge issue at school.

She has just moved up to year 2 and now doesn't go in to eat until 12.20, leaving her just 40 mins to eat her lunch. Time after time she is coming home from school having not eaten her lunch and to be honest is an absolute monster and very difficult to cope with and it is quite obvious that she is plain hungry. She has no other behavoural problems, she is a polite well behaved child at all other times.

I have been into the school and spoken to the head dinner lady a couple of times and she has kept an eye on her for a few days and things have been great but it slips back after a while and we are back to the same situation. I have tried sticker charts, blackmail being and being angry, and nothing is working. I am at my wits end now does anyone have any bright ideas? It isn't possible for me to have her home for lunch as i work over lunchtimes.

Thanks in advance

Zoe

I have this problem too. Dd1 has always had trouble eating. I have mentioned it to her teachers before that she was not eating her lunch. They said they would speak to the lunch ladies and ask them to monitor her.

Then at her parents evening, they asked if I was putting her to bed early enough as she was often tired and ratty after lunch

This time I told them exactly how much of her lunch she was eating i.e. a bite of a sandwhich and half a banana and explained that is why she is tired and grumpy.

This time they did actually do something. The dinner lady sits with her and won't let her leave the table to play untill she has eaten 'a reasonable amount' of lunch.

Try having a word with school. If it that bad it is affecting her school work they will be more than willing to help her.

Hi,maybe try askin the school to give her less so she will have time to finish what is on her plate.
And then she will still feel pleased that she has finished her meal like her friends.

If it is pack up,maybe just pack what is important,for energy,fruit,chesse,try ritz/crackers instead of bread.maybe some sort of cold pasta in a tub she can eat with her fingers.
just the basic needs to keep her going till she gets home?
After she has eaten her breakfast maybe a snack on way to school if poss?

and maybe get her sinuses tested as i know from my little lad he couldnt breath through his nose very well and it really slowed him down.
Dont know if this will help,but thought it worth a mention.
good luck.

mine was like this in reception although better now

Piece of toast on the way to school helped - also a snack in my pocker for the walk home, then a snack when she gets home keeps her nice until tea time

DD 6 1/2, eats fairly ok in school, but it's impossible to make her eat properly at home. (On top of that, DD suffers from precocious puberty, meaning she grows in height at a scary speed but since she decided it was not 'fun' eating, she lost in weight. On top of that, DD, who was never sick before, got all sorts of problems lately.) Can it be just a phase when they start to wish they were in control? DD has never been picky, but in the last 6 months, the food is either too spicy or not spicy enough, too hot, too cold ... etc. It would have been ok and i would have probably endured somehow all the crap, but since she started to get ill more and more frequently, not to mention that she starts to look like a 'teenager keeping diet' we decided to go on more strict rules. We plan to set a timer and a consequence that she will not get her evening cartoons if she doesn't eat a decent amount of her meal. Any other ideas?
Also, am I too tough on her???? I just don't know what to do with her anymore and scared about her weight loss.
sorry, willowsthedog for not giving you much help, but hoping you find comfort in knowing you are not alone a hug and hoping for the best (maybe this is just a phase after all ...)

Hi all, thank you to everyone that has replied, it is reassuring to know we aren't the only ones with a simillar problem. I guess we just try and persevere. She has packed lunches so i am going to try changing a few things around and try to give her a good assortment of things over the week. At home we have implimented a timer system so that may or may not help
Cheers
Zoe x

My DS had many eating disorders when he was small. Spent most of his life in and out of hospital.

Dietician gave me some great advice. Small and often is best.

Please don't use a timer it will make your child feel uneasy about meal times, thus causing anxiety issues!!

My son is on packed lunch (allergies stop him eating school meals). He has dry cereal in his. filling and nutrious, and fruit, cheese etc. He also has a piece of fruit during break time. Ask the school if this is ok.

Refer to a dietician if you get too worried.

Good luck