DD almost 7yo starves herself for the last 4 weeks

[joburg]

It?s been just weird for the last month. DD suddenly started to bring ALL her food back home from the school. Just like that. She was eating like a wolf, anything and everything and the teacher even asked us to pack more food for her lunch box, because she was eating other kids? food after finishing hers. Then one day, about a month ago she just decided to go on ?diet?.

I suspected it might be some kind of rebellion thing, so we never made a big fuss about it. Just trying to talk to her, explain she only hurts herself by not eating, etc, etc (DD is very skinny anyway, but when I say skinny, I mean, really thin! Almost looking unhealthy despite the fact she was eating so well). The ?talking? thing didn?t work so we set consequences, and took away the cartoons in the evening for every time she brings the food back home (by then DD went on a whole day without having breakfast being too late for the school bus, not eating a thing in school and ending by having one meal a day in the evening).

But this didn?t work either!!! And if there is one thing DD loves in this world, that is CARTOONS!!! And she still doesn?t eat. One evening she told DH that she doesn?t eat because we tell her too, which would confirm my guess of the rebellion thing, but NOT EVEN when she can?t have cartoons???? What on earth can this be?

I would of reacted the same way as you to be honest.

It does sound like a control thing to me - anything different happen at home or school recently - doesnt need to be food related?

If she was eating her own food and other people's, maybe someone has called her greedy or told her she will get fat.
Children bring the stuff their parents say to them into school.Our eldest son was as thin as a rake but had a friend with a weight problem (because he ate nothing but fried food and coke)his own mother used to go on about his weight all the time so he transferred this onto my son who had a healthy appetite for healthy food. He started bringing uneaten lunches home but we realised what the problem was when he refused to wear his school jumper because he "looked fat in it".

We will try the reverse psychology thing tmrw. I packed all the 3 boxes she usually has but instead of the real food there are just bits and pieces for her to eat. I've had enough DD is having a problem with authority regarding many other issues, she is stubborn, refusing to listen, and i do came to think that this eating issue is just like all the others. She just has to take it as 'sorry,my dear, i thought you were not hungry, so i only packed this for you' .... we'll see what happens tmrw .... i'm dead curious how she will react.

shockers, i thought about this and other moms suggested it also. We tried to ask things in order to find out abt this. DD knows by know about healthy food, etc, but the funny thing is that she doesn't even eat her FRUIT box. She doesn't touch anything at all .... i mean how absurd can this be? day after day after day????? Not every second day, not eating lunch today and snack tomrw, but not eating at all?! I think she eat 4 times in the last 4 weeks?????? and not all the food, sometimes the snack, sometimes the lunch .... never all of it

PixieOnaLeaf, good to see you're not angry with me I'm curious about the whole 'reverse psychology' thing myself. Could almost start a bet on it ..... .... is it gonna work?

DD came from school today .... i had packed an apple and a piece of bread for her. She did say she was hungry, which never happened before after throwing away all the food. I gave her fruits and i told her that next time, if she wants real food for the lunch box, she just has to ask for it, otherwise i'm not gonna waste food if she plans to throw it to the bin. The result? She has been having 3yo-like tantrums for the last 2 hours

i'll see if she asks for food when time comes to pack the lunch box.

don't you just love being a parent when you're dealing with stuff like this

Didn't reply to you moms yet, because i was waiting for DD's response. Anyway, here is the continuation of 'young and restless' or 'hanna montanna's diet' episodes for this thread I'm so desperate that i can't help to just hysterically laugh at all these.

So .... DD got her 'empty' bread lunch box and then gave us a horrible 3 year old tantrum in the afternoon when she got the news that 'no lunch - no cartoons, then begged me to pack proper food for the next day promising solemnly she would eat the next day so she can watch her beloved cartoons. Guess what?! The next day, the whole lunch box came back home untouched!

I can't for my life understand what the hell is going on in her head. We tried to talk here and there about bullying, about her eating from other kids, nothing comes out ... deep mystery ...

CarGirl, I just wish i had three more of these trouble making creatures so i would completely feel powerless and stop worrying about all these all together