8 year old's diet

[likearollingscone]

Starting to get concerned over DS8 and his picky eating.

He is tall and slim (142cm and 29kg). He is active and plays sport twice a week. He has a fast metabolism and gets irritable before meals.

He looks pale atm but could just be tired from Xmas and the school holidays.
He eats a good breakfast so I can pack the calories in there. He’s currently leaving a lot of protein at mealtimes. He dislikes anything 'burnt' but he means brown sausages/crispy breaded chicken. He does have a healthy snack in between meals.

My Dad was tall and very slim (I was till middle age lol) so I think it’s the genes.

It’s all about texture. He wolfs down saucy food (pasta in lots of sauce, spaghetti hoops/baked beans/casseroles/soups etc) so I hide veg in that. Chips have to have gravy/tomato sauce. He’ll eat mash/roasties/chips but never finishes them and prefers pasta (his absolute favourite).

The only solid fruit he’ll eat is tiny amounts of peeled and chopped apples, watermelon and raisins.

He will eat broccoli, cauliflower, baby sweetcorn and carrots so I suppose that's good going. His favourite food is cauliflower cheese.

He refuses fruit with skin on or veg with skin on like apples, peas, sweetcorn, peppers, green beans etc. Doesn’t like bananas. He will drink a smoothie so has one a day.

His brother eats pretty much anything.

I get stuck for meal ideas and don't know if I'm worrying too much.

I think you're worrying too much although I completely understand worrying over picky eating - I have the opposite problem with a child who WON'T eat anything in a sauce! Which rules out all curries, stews, casseroles, risottos and so on. If his energy levels are reasonable then I wouldn't be too concerned - does he have a multivitamin as well as the smoothie?

Yes he has the Wellkid liquid which contains iron.

My other son doesn't like beans, eggs, cheese, too much sauce. I could do with a spreadsheet :)

I'm keeping a food diary and it seems like he does get what he needs overall plus he is always bouncing around the living room.

The GP said my son was too skinny and pale ( when he was a teen and I had taken him to GP's about acne) and that I should feed him more butter, full fat milk, even biscuits but both myself and family and his dad were very skinny teens and his dad and my DS are pretty tall. I kept a food diary for a week or so and noted portion sizes/weight and found my son was getting plenty of calories and my NHS dietician friend looked at it and declared that nutritionally all was good. My son is 20 now and is filling out but still skinny. No one would have questioned how he looked in the 1970's or 80's when most people were leaner.

I got very into mayonnaise when I was expecting DS. It's great with everything ( imo), chips, pasta, whatever...Loads of calories of course... Would that help your DS? Also re fruit, would he accept fruit crumble/ pie etc with custard/ice cream/ cream?

I wouldn't be too worried, it sounds like he eats fairly well. Could you do things to enrich the foods he does like, e.g. a tbsp of nut butter in his daily smoothie? I add ground almonds and an egg yolk into my DD's porridge for added protein / fibre / fat. She is also tall and slim. Could you add more protein to the casserole type things he eats e.g. a can of pulses mixed in.

I remember my mother telling me that if you serve rice with peas mixed together it forms a complete protein (something about them both having different amino acids...not sure of the science) so we always had peas in our rice.

If I make my DD a cheese toastie I mix the grated cheese first with an egg yolk and spread that onto the bread, before it goes in the toastie maker. Its undetectable as egg once its cooked, but she woofs it down.

Would he eat cooked fruit e.g. in home made muffins? My DD is hard to get fruit into but I often make low sugar banana cake or muffins with grated apples / pears in etc. and she likes those OK.

I'm not 100% certain I understand your concern? Is it that he's not getting enough protein or vegetables? As he likes pasta and sauces, surely the answer is just to add lots of protein and vegetables, chopped up, to pasta sauces? Perhaps see if you can get him to eat more rice as well to vary things a little. I wouldn't be too concerned about a child who doesn't like chips.

I think I was concerned because he's leaving half his meals but he had a funny tum after Xmas so might have lost his appetite after that?

I made him some baguette with ham and cheese at lunchtime and he ate half. I chopped sausages into his pasta last night and he picked them out. He ate them last week.

Tonight he had chicken burgers (his fav) and filled pasta and he ate a 1/4 of the chicken burger. He demolished the spinach and ricotta in pesto and the veg that went with it though so that's good.

Writing it down, he does do pretty well.

He sometimes gets hiccups during eating. He is a slow eater and DH sits next to him and wolfs down a big plate in 3 minutes flat. We eat together most nights as DH WFH. Once DH is finished, he sometimes jokes, ooh Daddy will have that meat if you're leaving it.

He likes rice so that's good to mix it up a bit.

I’ve been keeping a diary and looking at what he’s eaten over the last week, he’s getting a good spread of everything. He eats veg, cheese, some meat and carbs. I think he might be just getting over a tummy bug plus they all go through stages. He’s tall, solid and active.

I’ve got a pretty slim 9 yr old. Sometimes I make him a smoothie with full fat milk, banana, dates and cocoa powder as a treat. Or FF milk, frozen berries and frozen spinach with a bit of honey. I like to think I’m getting some decent calories in that way.