At what point should you ask for help with eating issues?

[meerschweinchen]

DS, aged 4, is a ridiculously fussy eater. And it's not really a 'stage' he's going through, he's been like it since day 1 of weaning. In fact he was 9 months old before he'd eat anything at all.

People say he'll grow out of it. I'm really hoping he does, but do we just keep hoping he'll start trying new foods? Or should we be doing something now? I'm not even sure who'd I'd ask for help - doctor, health visitor, dietician?

If anyone else has been through this and has any advice, I'd be really grateful.

My son (4) is similar. He eats the following:

Pancakes
White bread and Cheese sandwiches
Apples and clementines
Egg white
Chocolate Cheerios
Nutella
Crisps
Chocolate Mini rolls

I have tried offering other foods but he refuses to even try them. No advice but would be interested to hear how you get on.

It's really reassuring to hear that other people have been in a similar position, and it has got better. I can't believe the story of the Brownie who suddenly started eating, Fate, that's amazing.

I really hope that as he gets older he'll eat a greater variety. It sounds like school dinners would be a good move. We've got until next September to decide what to do. I suppose I've been worrying that he'd eat absolutely nothing unless I gave him a packed lunch. With all the changes that starting school brings, I was wary of making mealtimes a big issue. (And if he knows he's having school dinners, he's bound to be worrying about it) I'd thought that perhaps he could have packed lunches in reception and maybe move to school dinners in Year 1.

Now I'm thinking we should perhaps just go for it from the start and hope for the best...

Assuming the free school meals for all policy is still in place in September, then chances are most reception children will have school dinners and so he may well just 'go with the flow' and eat with everyone else in the class.

I would go for school dinners right from Day 1, so that he doesn't know any different. He'll soon adapt and get used to it. He won't not eat, he just won't. School would let you know if that was happening anyway.

Gosh, this is an interesting thread - DS is 4 and not a great eater. I think I should get some of the books mentioned up-thread, as we do tend to bribe with food / activities .

I just wanted to say a couple of things. School dinners didn't work for us - DS hardly ate a thing for nearly 2 months, so now he has a packed lunch. And the other thing is that giving him his supper (e.g. houmous and breadsticks) while he winds down watching Mr Maker tends to work.

It's all so frustrating though - particularly the I don't like its, when he hasn't even tried it .

School dinners didn't work for us either.

DD2 was always resistant and pressure to eat was totally counter-productive. The lunchtime supervisors decided how much the children should eat of each food and they couldn't leave the table until they had done so. No amount of pleading with them to let her choose how much to eat helped and, in the end, she was eating nothing at all and sitting at the table for the whole lunch time.

We changed to packed lunches and I sent very tiny amounts so that she could successfully finish very easily, keeping them happy and the pressure to eat off her.

I would check how the school manages the issue of how much children eat before deciding whether he should have them.

School dinners didn't work for my fussy eater either. She refused to eat her meal and the dinner ladies forced her to just try it. She did, gagged and then was sick on her plate. Then I got a phone call at work to go and pick her up because she'd vomited even though there was nothing wrong with her She had packed lunches after that. Luckily she will eat plain ham or marmite sandwiches (no butter or marg).