What would you do? 3 year old has eaten nothing but bread for 18 months

[citybranch]

Hi
Since 18 months old my son had eaten nothing but bread and butter / peanut butter on toast, the occasional yoghurt/breadstick/cracker. Of course, he could eat chocolate or sweets all day long but rarely gets them.

No joke, I'm talking breakfast lunch and dinner will be exactly the same thing. He goes to nursery part time afternoons and eats nothing at all there.

I've spoken to the GP numerous times plus the health visitor, I've been to Ear nose and throat at the hospital in case it is his tonsils. Everyone just says do not worry, he will grow out of it.

I worry for him, although healthy and full of beans he is occasionally constipated and I have to give him vitamins. He doesn't know how to use cutlery as he has never really eaten a proper dinner.

When questioned he instits the dinner he has been derved is too hot, or just says he doesn't like it.

I'm getting really stressed about it, GP and HV totally disinterested. Would you pay for a dietician or would you sit it out?

Thanks!

pagwatch I'm gluten and dairy intolerant, how did you get your ds tested?

I didn't actually.

It is not a course I would recommend but I could not get any support at the time ( ASD kids just eat funny apparently so I just replaced gluten and dairy and then kept a really really detailed food diary.
I then did a couple of food challenges where he showed awful reactions to gluten or dairy so I have kept him off. The very bad reaction to any accidental infringements has kept me on it.

We moved a few months after I made DS go cold turkey and after that my GP was happy to watch and monitor results for me.
DS2's improved sleep and behaviour, the end of his constipation and his horrible reaction when he had the eliminated foods were enough for GP to be convinced too and prescribe GFCF foods

This was 10 years ago though. I think GPs would be more supportive now [hopes]

I think some people whose children aren't really fussy believe that if you just stick with it the child will give in and eat the offered food but in my experience they don't, they just starve.

I would challenge anyone to persist when a child is weak with hunger.

I think lots of exposure to lots of different foods, whether he eats them or not, and lots of playing with the food too. Try to resist pursuading him to try it, just let him see you enjoying it.

Now I see I'm spouting like an expert and I was crap at it all really. It's taken me ten years to reach this stage!

I once saw a programme on a little boy who would eat nothing but ice cream. His mother was at the end of her tether and went to a food psychologist type person. Turns out that she used to be a nanny in Saudi Arabia and the child in her care had nearly choked on a piece of food. This frightened her so much that she had unwittingly passed her fears onto her ds.

The advice was not to keep hounding him into trying new food, but just to let it go. Comment on how nice your food is, describe the tastes and be positive whenever you talk about food.

Although it was very slow, this little boy starting asking her what this and this tasted like and eventually he got to the stage where he was willing to try other food such as mash and yoghurt (all pureed food note) and they were hoping that his interest in food would grow and he would eventually be eating normally.

Hope this helps you.

Betwwen the age of 2.5 and about 5, I ate nothing but ketchup sandwiches.

I couldn't bear anything else.

i would like to reassure you that I grew out of it, after my mother shrieked and shouted and threatened and panicked - she took me to a dietician who told her to stop making me sit at the table, stop trying to make me eat things I didn't like, and stop commenting on how much I did/didn't eat.

I now eat a more varied diet than most.

And she's absolutely fine apart from the odd red colour of her skin....

A friend of mine was recommended by her HV to ignore both 'good and bad' eating. So, don't just ignore them when they don't eat, but also ignore them when they do. No bribing, no promises of pudding, no phoning daddy at work to say she's eaten a slice of apple etc. Just put the food down and take it away afterwards, regardless of how much is eaten. It made a massive difference to her dd (although my friend had made mealtimes into a total battle of wills and so her dd was getting bucketloads of attention).

Obviously, it is hard - my ds2 is v v v fussy and I have very much fallen into the habit of only making what he'll eat, meaning he'll probably just get fussier and the ignoring thing hasn't helped him lots (yet.....), but thought I'd mention another approach.

Lots of great advice here, not sure if anyone mentioned this one : give him a little bit of what he likes and a little of what he doesn't on the same plate. He will eventually try it fingers crossed.

If you can get him trying things only give small amounts Dont overload the plate.

DD2 is nearly 12 and hasn't eaten muc more than bread her entire life.

She will eat chicken and roast potato these days. She will help to grow and cook stuff and even tries lots of things but just doesn't like the taste and texture of normal food.

Took her to a dietitian who justtold her to eat vegetables as if I hadn't tried tht one.

For every meal she sits with what he rest of us have in front of her with some bread on the side.

MAkes eating out a nightmare and I do worry about long term health things and the fact that she'll never be able to eat out with friends.

I'd ask the GP to refer him to someone now (dietitian, child psych, anyone)