Packed lunch children.

[Martha200]

Does anyone else have children who take a packed lunch and they hardly eat a thing or get fussy over what they do eat from what is packed on the day?

My son who normally eats like a horse, started school this year and am so glad I give him packed lunches because I get to see what he does/n't eat with the left overs.

I only pack things he does eat (not junk, but balanced lunch) but on Fri he ate bugger all except the melon! I am trying to educate him on the days he eats little he will feel more hungry, stroppy etc, but I have no idea how to encourage him to eat more.

His Dad had him sit down Fri at tea time to eat his sarnie before anything else to prove he did eat sandwiches!

Is my child the only one who seems to exist on thin air at school?!!

he might just be adjusting to the culture shock of eating in a huge room full of children and only having limited time to eat. ds often gets chatting and doesnt have time to finish lunch. make sure he has some high calorie stuff in there like cheese that he will definately eat to keep him going. hopefully he will get used to it and start eating normally again

No. DS#1 did for a while. DD is doing so now. It is because they suddenly discover that the things they took for granted at home are unacceptable at school. Did you know for example that wholemeal bread and fruit are 'gay'? And unless you fill their lunchboxes with junk they won't be able to eat it. Obviously as you won't be doing that, just carry on as you and it will pass. Honest

If you're really worried about him eating, make sure it's full of stuff he really likes - even if it's junk. Once he gets into the habit of it, you can implement healther stuff!

And one person's definition of junk is completely different from another's anyway ...

Peskipixie - yes he often refers to having one minute to eat his lunch in Perhaps he is gassing too much!

Would love to stick some cheese in there but being intolerant to dairy that's one of the reasons I also went for packed lunch over school meals as it's simpler than planning which days he could/ could not do school dinners due to his requirements.

I try and make sure the snack for morning too is a cracker or banana for a bit of energy.

I have the opposite problem.

Ds demolishes his massive packed lunch then stands and begs at the canteen hatch and gets the left over puddings from the dinner lady!

I'm going to have to have a word soon because he's getting muffins and syrup puddings daily. He got 2 burgers and a hotdog last week too

Both mine went through that phase too. Ours didn't have a huge amount of time to eat their lunch, and they are easily distracted by chatting. Or they hadn't finshed theirs when others were off to play football. Or sin of sins, I'd given them something different like pasta salad and the jam butty brigade laughted at them. You'd probably find it no different if they had school dinners, but at least this way you know what they've had. One big hit with both of mine was what when I put cubes of cheese,slices of ham, chopped cucumber etc in a flat box, so they could nibble at bits n pieces rather than eat yet another boring sandwich. Also, I found I was putting too much in when my DC1 started school, they were over-faced by it I think. Perhaps reduce what you put in - e.g. small sandwich and small piece of fruit, adding more as they regularly finish it. If it's an orange, peel it and wrap it in clingfilm so all they have to do is eat it rather than waste time peeling.

xposted Martha, just read re the cheese. Also, if they are having a mid-morning snack, perhaps it is that there is just too much in his lunch box for the time they're given? There's not long between morning break and lunch, so maybe just not starving by that time?

Hmm.. good job he has not figured out fruit is supposedly 'gay'

He will eat the fruit/salad ALWAYS, and the odd small cake I put in every other day, just not much of the bread or pasta or meat.

Guess I am just worried about him having problems for the rest of the day because he is hungry! Oh well, better fill him up at the weekend and evenings

Thanks for your responses

One thing I found was that ds just wasn't very keen on sandwiches. So I bought a vacuum flask and some days he has something hot - usually stuff that was left over from the previous night's dinner.

He always eats this.

And make sure he has a good breakfast too martha! Mine had trouble with breakfast after I banned chocolate cereals ( don't actually know how they crept in to our cupboards TBH as I'd always sworn never to touch them ) but now they all have big, if unconventional, breakfasts

Look at what he eats over the whole day, not just lunch. Reduce the amount of bread. Try crackers.Or hot cross bun/tea cake. Went through this with both of mine, easier with hindsight!