3yr old Son eats NOTHING!

[persianprincex2]

Help! My 3yr old Son does not eat, it's so frustrating as we are all good eaters and not fussy, my 9yr old will eat whatever food is served. I am a firm believer in serving one family meal for all but will admit that i sometimes serve something else for the 3yr old as i'm worried he'll starve! (even then I normally bin it uneaten) My family and friends tell me to stick to the one meal for all and if he's hungry he'll eat but honestly that's easier said than done. He is so slim and still wearing 2yr old clothes. Amazingly he is FULL OF BEANS, non stop running around and playing - where this energy comes from, who knows?! Over the last month he's started to eat Heinz Tomato soup with some bread, 1/4 of a tin only! He goes to nursery 9-12 daily on an empty stomach as he refuses point blank to eat anything in the morning! If anyone else has gone through this or can offer any help or tips i would REALLY appreciate it.
Thanks S x

He must eat more than you are saying. He would not be able to survive on a quarter of a tin of soup and some bread per day. List down exactly what he eats over the course of one day as best you can.

Small piece of apple
Small piece of banana
soup (as above)
drinks lots of water
treats like chocolate cookies, again a few bites (though i try only sugary treats as a reward for eating 'real food')
Honestly not much else, he literally eats NO breakfast, a small glass of milk and sometimes apple or banana as above at lunch and dinner is soup or a few bites of cheese pizza.
I've actually asked nursery if i could leave there until 1pm so that he can eat lunch with the other kids to encourage him! I'm at my wits end!

Hello persianprincex2. It looks like the start-ups board mightn't be the best place for this thread, so we're going to move it over to parenting in a mo. Hopefully you will find the advice you are after over there.

Asking for him to stay at nursery for lunch is a good idea my ds went through a fussy stage at this age and watching other children eating did encourage him to eat too although he never ate the things at home he'd eaten in nursery
Has he always been adverse to food and eating? Have you took him to the GP to rule out anything physically / medically stopping him from eating?

Definitely try him on nursery lunches. My 3 year old will eat anything at nursery but refuses most meals at home.

No advice but I am in exactly the same situation with my 3 year old DD.

No advice but my 2.5 year old is the same...on the weekend!

He'll eat at nursery but with me lived off fresh air! Majorly active too so no idea how he does it

Ok this won't help but next door's DS (just 3) was recovering from illness, not eating either, also lactose intolerant.

Doctor I think suggested (to parents horror!) Nutella on toast/sandwiches. He loves this. It worked, child loves it.

Is still "picky" and apparently both he and his DSis (who's 5 and a half) don't like oven chips, fish fingers, spaghetti hoops etc... These were my staple as a child!!!

Have you tried above?

If I left my 4 year old to his own device she would've the same. As it is I spoon feed him most meals to make sure he eats enough and a good variety. I hate admitting that though as most people tell me I should just bin his untouched food each time but I can't bare to ☹️

When he starts school in September I shall be signing him up for school dinners and I'm hoping the other children will encourage him to start eating more independently.

Try to stop letting him eat canned tomato soup. That stuff is garbage.

Mine is not a big eater so I sympathise. He won't have breakfast so I give him a bottle of milk which he will take and it's something ( if I cut out the milk he still won't eat) he likes milk.

I give him oatcake biscuits instead of sweet biscuits to graze from.

I add cream and butter.

I don't give snacks as it prevents eating at meal times. He eats better at nursery so yes getting another meal in is good.

I act breezy over the food thing, no point making a big deal out of it.

Mine has bundles of energy so I've relaxed about it somewhat.

Keep trying new food groups all the time can take up to 20 times before the eat it.

Don't start making extra/different meals - that route will only get worse.

Snacks if they do happen are chunks of cheese for protein.

I feel your pain!

At 3 years old they need 16 grams of protein- that's my main focus. A cup of milk has a good 4-5 oz and cheese, egg are high.

His fibre can be from things like banana or dry (low sugar ) cherrios the DS thinks is a treat as he has it in a bowl like crisps.

Oatcakes with Nutella if you have to

Try and make your own tomato soup - you can sneak in potato into the soup too that way as potato is rich in so many things.

Find some veg they like and repeat - green beans, avocado, sweet corn ??

Have you tried a grazing box. A little box full of little bits of things that you would be happy for him to eat and some that you know he will eat. Leave it somewhere all day that he can access. So no actual meals. No idea if this will work but I read it somewhere and if you are at your wits end it seems like a viable option.

I'd also offer a kind if lunchbox full of things he does like. Plates/tubs around the house for him to pick at. Don't make it into a big thing. Gradually offer more variety but I would try not to stress about it. Offer a small portion of what you're having, some may be eaten.

Agree to try your own tomato soup only because you could blend in carrot and potato maybe.
Will he eat pasta with grated cheese? You get protein and carbs and most kids will bite on this one. My dsis actually ate this meal only for about 2 years when she was little. Not ideal but she grew out of it

I would get him checked out by a paediatrician. Make sure there is nothing else going on. Once you know everthing is ok I would seek the advice of someone like Lucinda Miller Naturedoc. She's amazing at sorting out fussy eaters

very unhelpful to tell the Op to stop giving her son tomato soup! why bother coming on and saying that!

My dad is a doctor and said mums used to tell him their child ate nothing and he didn't believe them until my own sister survived for months on barely any food at all.

I would forget the 'one meal' rule - I can't understand why that is more important than encouraging him to enjoy food a bit more. Find out what he likes through trial and error and make him a little plate with small amounts of it.

He is only little, it's hardly setting up a bad habit - if he isn't eating the main meal I think it's vital you find what food he will eat.

Op I feel.yiur pain! I have a 2 year old fussy eater and he starved himself to the point of losing 4lbs in a week last year on holiday. He has started to get a little better lately but sometimes I have to feed him to get him to eat. He's quite lazy about it but he's quite skinny so I like to know there's something in his tummy. He like others have said eats better at nursery bit not always x