Selective Eating Disorder

[pog1]

My 5 year old will only eat certain foods, although what he does eat is healthy.The range is very restricted and we struggle to ensure he gets all the nutrients he needs especially now he is getting older.

We have had help and been advised to encourage him to play with food,touch it,lick it etc but hasn't helped at all.He gets very upset if we put something new on his plate and he ends up not eating anything.

It is becoming a problem especially when he goes to a friends house or we eat out (unless they serve spaghetti from a tin).

It it is also affecting his moods. He becomes very grumpy, mood swings, and loses concentration. We have tried offering him new foods and if he doesn't eat it not offering anything else but then his blood sugar level drops which is quite scary. It causes him to have a headache, thirst, sleepiness, disorientated.

Don't know what the answer is but it is becoming a real problem. Can anyone give any advice?

I can empathise 100%. My daughter also 5 has a very restricted diet but again, what she eats is very healthy. I think she gets everything she needs from her food but give her a good vitamin supplement aswell.
Eating out is a nightmare, but we get round this by going to family friendly places and taking a packed lunch! Fankie and Bennys are the best about this. And if we go to friends I do the same or tell them what she likes/dislikes.
She has always been fussy and I rarely worry/get wound up by it now. I just occasionally remind her of the flavours she is missing out on and hope one day she will be tempted to try new things.
The moods and physical stuff is, i think, worth mentioning to your GP as these do not seem linked to his restricted diet or does he eat fussily AND not eat much? The symtpoms sound like diabetes to me, but I must stress I am not medically trained. But if dd had these symptoms I would ask for a blood test at least.
Out of interest what does he eat?

Also, I have mostly stopped trying new foods on her plate as she is exactly the same, getting really anxious about it and then not eating anything. I figure that making food a huge issue and incresing her anxiety about it can only be a bad thing both short term and long term, so we now let her eat and enjoy what we know she likes. i never thought she would eat anything new, but in the last sixth months she has added pasta, tomato pasta sauce and garlic bread to her repetoire!

Thanks very much for your reply. I also worried about diabetes and took him to the doctors. His urine was tested and he was apparently fine. Maybe we need to give him some snack foods throughout the day, but difficult when he is at school. He eats toast with fruit spread that can be bought from health food shops, cereal and we try the low salt products, spaghetti from a tin, pancakes (we add chick peas for protein) yogurts, rice cakes and oat cakes with his fruit spread. He also eats lots of fruit like bananas, apples, cranberries. He will eat the Ellas kitchen vegetable purees in a sachet that are designed for babies and baby porridge from the jars. No veg or meat (I am vegetarian but we would be happy for him to eat meat). He drinks carrot juice, goats milk and pomegranate juice as well as water and various fruit juices. He likes cakes as long as there are no lumps and meringues and ice cream. He also has granola bars. And that is about it. Sometimes I dim the lights and give him bread with seeds in and omelette instead of pancakes!
Do you think we should stop worrying? Surely he wont go to a restaurant when he is an adult and ask for spaghetti on toast??

Possibly he will. My dd is 8.9 and has a ridiculously limited diet. I have given up worrying, she is growing and appears healthy.
I had this conversation with her last night on the way home. She asked what we were having for tea, I told her sausages, mash, onion gravy and peas. She immediately started crying about the mashed potato and got herself into a real pickle worrying about it. In the end she had a quarter of a boiled potato, two sausages a tbsn of peas and no gravy. She had a yoghurt afterwards.

I think the majority of people grow out of this to be honest. Kids are fussy by nature!

My DH has this problem and it is a bit of a problem (he eats no veg and fruit which is worrying) - mainly in social situations. However my DH spent a lot of time in hospital when he was young and there is a link with eating problems and this. It seems to be a very pyschological thing for him - like if he got a piece of veg in his mouth by accident he starts retching.

Anyway I am not trying to worry you - quite the opposite - many children are fussy and 99% grow out of it in the end. I would say try not to force the issue - it sounds like his diet is fairly healthy and varied tbh. My DH only eats pizza, pancakes, chicken, chocolate and bread products all of which have to be prepared/cooked in a certain way. Hopefully as your DS gets older he will get more interested in trying new things.

I think his diet is very healthy and you should try to worry less, as a mother you will never stop worrying totally! I think many mums on here would be delighted if their children ate like your son - if he was living on mcnuggets, then its time to be concerned.
If you can relax about food he will notice and it will - eventually - have a knock on effect. Like I said, i now just let dd eat what she enjoys and we have so much less stress about food. Anxiety is no good for anyone.
He maybe needs more snacks as my daughter is also very prone to low blood sugar moods etc and we give her snacks throughout day. We also ensure she has a big breakfast. She has fruit at school in morning and then as soon as gets in from school she eats something, has tea at 5ish AND has supper. These aren't huge snacks or meals but i think some people need little and often, whereas i don't eat all day and then have a big meal.
If his symptoms still worry you, see your doctor for peace of mind.
Kids are fussy, and some fussy kids grow into fussy adults, but most don't! We joke that if our dd gets married the wedding breakfast will be houmous!