Should you "feed up" a skinny child?

[morningpaper]

My dd1 is 4 - she is skinny and off the growth and height charts (off the bottom end )

She doesn't really EAT much. We all sit down for three meals a day and she is offered what we are all having but she doesn't like most foods and basically lives on bread and water.

Should I try to "feed her up" a bit? Or should I just leave her to decide what she wants to eat?

I remember watching a programme (perhaps child of our time) and it described some people as Supertasters, they are more sensitive to tastes.

I was the same as a child and really did gag at some foods, I still do with peas and mushrooms . I won't force mine or threaten them to eat. They don't seem to like mixing foods either and eat them all seperatly off the plate. DS nearly 10 is just starting to get to grips with bits through his food like bits of tomato or peppers in a sauce.

I am not going to focre the issue, I really love food now and will eat all sorts, even though I was limited as a child. The tatse buds obviously develop differently in every child and I want my children to love and enjoy food too.

Am I the only one who has noticed a lot of withdrawn messages? What's that about?

I was like your daughter (my ds is) and you will be glad to know I grew out of it in my teens and now I am a bit of a foodie. I despair when I see how skinny DS is but his diet is ok(ish) but he struggles to fight off infections. DP still hasn't grown out of his fussy eating though.

was musing over this while dd didn't eat dinner tonight.

Do you think she has texture preferences too? white bread mash beans fairly similar texture is all.

Mine currently won't eat anything in a sauce but the same thing deconstructed with sauce on the side goes down.

at DP

could this help...
"compartment" plate - keep the food separate
eat the food, see the chicken
sorry, clutching at straws!
plate

my dd is probably the skinnies kid inher school but enjoys reaaly healthy ;ight food, doesnt like stodgy puddings etc, doesnt like milk very much although she does like french diping biscuits but it works out a bit expensive to go to france just for them..lol!! she loves roast parsnips, and nutella[choc /nut spread is good for them and full of calories plus we use spirulina protein shake sachets that are a powder tha tyou can add to their food or drinks and they comein various flavours and they are high on protein and lots of multi vis and minerals and dietician is impressed with them after i showed her wha tid found, they com ein sachets from usually independant[good] health shops..they are a good way to get caloris into them without them realising , they work for us!!i fill my dd up with nuts and seeds aswell and put maple syrup on her cereal and then shell have som emilk on it but not much..we use fruit sugar which is a better alternative to normal sugar [next to regular sugar in supermarkets] you still get the calories but you dont get the rebound effect that you normally get with normal sugar..hyperactivity etc..and it is low on glyceamic chart..

Don't worry about it and don't do anything about it. Both DS's were v skinny, as were DH and I as children. Other people's children look fat to me!

Mid-teens DS1 is still slim, but has enormous appetite. DS2 has finally started to eat with onset of teenage growth spurt. It's true that some children are extra-sensitive to tastes (I remember it well - I spent most of my childhood trying to eat stuff I didn't like) and I also - even now - feel uncomfortable being full. I know DS2 feels the same. I don't think this is strange, just normal.

When you see so many obese children going about these days....I think our skinnies are the comparatively healthy ones.

Sadly I have become much more interested in food as I've got older....sigh...and consequently not so sylph-like. But that's normal, too!

ok everyone. How many times in a row have you thrown your DC's dinner in the bin?
How many times does it take for you to start feeling uncomfortable about it?
I am on night 3

My dd who is also 4 is skinny and tall, she has always been very skinny, I have no idea how much she weighs but compared to her school friends (she was 4 in Aug and started school in Sept) she looks all skin and bones.

She too doesnt eat much, but I tend to make sure whatever she has she has the most calorific version, full fat etc. She doesnt eat much in the way of sweets but she does eat chocolate a couple of times a week.

She has 3 meals a day and if she doesnt eat it she doesnt get offered anything else apart from Fruit which she can help herself to whenever she wants. She has just started to have school dinners occasionally in the hope that she will eat more with a bit of peer pressure from her friends but its a bit hard for me to find out exactly how much she has ate.

She has loads of energy and is certainly growing in height so I'm not too worried, I too was also very tall and skinny for most of my childhood.

I haven't read ALL the thread but MP, your description of what your DD's average food intake is, is very similar to my DD (2.10) ... but she is really tall and pretty chunky. I don't know how she manages to grow on what she eats but she does ... she won't touch anything that looks green 'My not like green stuff Mum!' ... so I do give her vitamins everyday ...

So maybe a lot of it is to do with natural metabolism etc etc ...

dd1 was very skinny as a toddler, but has now got a bit of a podge on her, whereas dd2, was very chubby as a baby/toddler but is very skinny now at 4. both have very similar diets, dd2 is more restrictive as she is very funny about her food.